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1988.
RYUICHIABE ́SHINRAN
Shinran (Zenshin, Shakku; 1173–1263) was a Pure
Land Buddhist teacher of medieval Japan and founder
of the Jodo Shinshu(Shin Buddhism) tradition. His
teachings focused on FAITH(shinjin) in conjunction
with the practice of the nenbutsu,invoking Amida
(AMITABHA) Buddha’s name, as the basis for birth in
the Pure Land, where he believed Buddhist enlighten-
ment is immediate. Shinran considered the Buddha’s
power, rather than human effort, to be the motive force
behind all true religious practice and behind enlight-
enment itself. The Shinshu, in accord with Shinran’s
own example, broke with the Buddhist tradition of
clerical celibacy, and allowed priests to marry and have
families. Three centuries later, Shinran’s modest fol-
lowing grew into a huge and powerful Buddhist school
headed by Honganji in Kyoto, which originated at his
gravesite.
Shinran spent the first twenty years of his career as
a Tendai monk on Mount Hiei, but in 1201, after a
hundred-day religious retreat at the Rokkakudochapel
in Kyoto, he abandoned monastic life and became the
disciple of HONEN(1133-1212). In 1207 Shinran was
banished to Echigo province (present-day Niigata pre-
fecture) in a general suppression of Honen’s Pure Land
movement that occurred after provocative behavior by
certain followers. Shinran never saw his teacher again,
and for over twenty-five years he lived away from Ky-
oto. The last two decades of this period were spent in
the Kanto region (around modern-day Tokyo), where
Shinran became a peripatetic Pure Land teacher. His
marriage occurred shortly before, or soon after, his
banishment. Shinran continued to dress in Buddhist
clerical robes and shaved his head as priests do, even
while living with his wife, Eshinni (1182–ca. 1268), and
their children.
The gist of Shinran’s teaching is that Amida Bud-
dha has vowed to bring all living beings to enlighten-
ment, and the power of his vow surpasses any religious
practice humans can perform. Thus, the consummate
religious state is single-hearted reliance on Amida, or
faith. This faith is none other than the Buddha oper-
ating in a person, rather than a person’s own created
mental condition. The nenbutsu,likewise, is an act ini-
tiated by Amida, as well as an extension of him in the
world. When people hear Amida’s name it awakens
them to his grand vow, and when they intone the nen-
butsutheir practice coalesces with Amida’s compas-
sionate activity. The upshot of this teaching is that
Amida’s saving power extends to everyone without dif-
ferentiation: clerical or lay, male or female, good or
evil. In fact, evildoers are a prime object of Amida’s
vow (akunin shoki).
Shinran returned to Kyoto in the early 1230s. By
that time he had completed a preliminary draft of his
magnum opus, Kyogyoshinsho (Teaching, Practice,
Faith, and Attainment). He spent the rest of his days
in Kyoto, but remained in touch with his Kanto fol-
lowers through letters and occasional visits on their
part. In old age he dedicated himself to study and writ-
ing, completing his Kyogyoshinsho and composing a
variety of other Buddhist works, including wasan
hymns. His wife and most of their children moved to
Echigo in the 1250s to live on property she inherited.
But Shinran remained in Kyoto with their youngest
daughter Kakushinni (1224–1283), who looked after
him in his last years. He died in Kyoto in 1263, chant-
ing Amida’s name and surrounded by followers. Many
revered him as an earthly manifestation of Amida Bud-
dha or of Kannon (Avalokites ́vara) Bodhisattva.See also:Japan; Kamakura Buddhism, Japan; Nen-
butsu (Chinese, Nianfo; Korean, Yo ̆ ̆mbul); Pure Land
Buddhism; Pure Land SchoolsSHINRAN