Hōnen

Life and teachings

Hōnen was the only son of Uruma Tokikuni, a regional military chief, who on his deathbed instructed his young son to enter the priesthood. After a period of local instruction, Hōnen at age 15 was sent to Mount Hiei, the monastic centre of the Tendai sect of Buddhism.

Hōnen came under the influence of the Pure Land doctrine, which taught salvation by the mercy of Amida (or Amitābha) Buddha. Hōnen was greatly inspired by the Ōjōyōshū (“Essentials of Salvation”), written by a 10th–11th-century Japanese Buddhist, Genshin, and the Kuan-ching-su (“Commentary on the Meditation Sutra”), by a 7th-century Chinese Pure Land master, Shan-tao (Japanese: Zendō). In 1175 Hōnen, then 43 years old, proclaimed his message that the one and only thing needed for salvation is nembutsu.

In his main work, the Senchaku hongan nembutsu-shū (“Collection on the Choice of the Nembutsu of the Original Vow”), or Senchaku-shū, written in 1198, Hōnen classified all the teachings of Buddhism under two headings: Shōdō (Sacred Way) and Jōdo (Pure Land). According to him, the Buddha, confident of man’s inner character, had shown men the Sacred Way to enlightenment by means of precepts, meditation, and knowledge, thus enabling them to be emancipated from this world of lust and delusion and to attain the other world of ultimate peace. Hōnen, convinced of his own “sinful and avaricious” nature, however, came to the conclusion that, while it was theoretically possible, it was practically impossible for him and others like him to follow the Sacred Way. The only alternative open for them was the way of Jōdo, which is based on implicit trust in the Original Vow (Japanese: hongan) of Amida Buddha, the lord of the Sukhāvatī, who in his mercy assures salvation to the believer who clings to Amida’s hand and calls upon Amida’s holy name—namu Amida Butsu (“Homage to Amida Buddha”)—with all his heart. This is the nembutsu (“calling the name”) of the Senchaku-shū.

Hōnen established his headquarters in the midst of the city of Kyōto, away from ecclesiastical establishments, and gathered together devoted disciples, including Shinran, who was to become the founder of the Jōdo Shinshū (True Pure Land sect). Hōnen and his followers accepted the legendary periodization of Buddhist history, according to which the first 1,000 years following the demise of the Buddha was the period of the “perfect law” (shōbō), in which the true teaching prospers; the second 1,000 years was the period of the “copied law” (zōbō), in which piety continues but true teaching declines; and the last 1,000 years is the period of the “end of law” (mappō), in which Buddhism declines and the world is destined to be overwhelmed by vice and strife. It is to be noted that, according to the accepted calculation of the Japanese Buddhist, the last period began in 1051 ce. And, as though to substantiate this view of history, Japanese society during the 12th century suffered from political instability and social disintegration that resulted in the establishment of feudal government under the leadership of the warrior class. Understandably, Hōnen’s teaching found eager followers among the various levels of Japanese society of that time.

The popularity of the faith in the Pure Land of Amida Buddha aroused jealousy from the established schools of Buddhism, and it so happened that two court ladies were converted to Hōnen’s teaching and gave up the court form of Buddhism. Hōnen was thereupon charged with their seduction and was banished, together with his immediate disciples, from the capital in 1207 (some of his disciples were beheaded). Compelled to use a nonclerical name, he called himself Fujii Motohiko and proved to be an effective evangelist even during his exile to the island of Shikoku. He was permitted to leave Shikoku at the end of the year but not to return to Kyōto until 1211, when he received a warm, popular welcome.

Although he insisted on faith in Amida and the recitation of the name as the best way to salvation, Hōnen was markedly tolerant and nonpolemical, urging his followers to respect the other buddhas and other Buddhist ways of faith and practice. Observance of other forms of discipline, indeed, according to him, might be occasions leading toward Amida and his paradise. Hōnen was also especially careful to warn against the temptation of accompanying the nembutsu with an immoral life or of believing that its recitation removes the stain of violations of Buddhist discipline or other immoral acts. The Jōdo-shū founded by him continues to be one of the most influential schools of Japanese Buddhism as does the far more numerous Jōdo Shinshū founded by his disciple Shinran.