Jōdo-shū (浄土宗, "The Pure Land School") is a Japanese branch of Pure Land Buddhism derived from the teachings of the Kamakura era monk Hōnen (1133–1212). The school is traditionally considered as having been established in 1175 and is the most widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan, along with Jōdo Shinshū. There are various branches of Jōdo-shū, which the largest and most influential ones being Chinzei-ha and Seizan-ha.
Jōdo-shū Buddhism focuses exclusively on devotion to Amitābha Buddha (Amida Nyorai), and its practice is focused on the Nembutsu (recitation of Amitābha’s name). As in other forms of Pure Land Buddhism, adherents believe that the faithful recitation of the phrase "Namu Amida Butsu" (Homage to Amida Buddha) results in birth in the pure land of Sukhavati.
The Jōdo-shū as an independent sect is not to be confused with the term which is used as a classification for "Japanese Pure Land Buddhism" in general. This broader classification would include Jōdo-shū, the Jōdo Shinshu, the Ji-shu and the Yuzu Nembutsu shu.
History
Background
The work of the founder Hōnen is informed primarily by the Chinese Pure Land Buddhism, especially the work of Shandao. He was also influenced by the Tendai school background in which he trained as a monk. The work of Genshin was also important for Hōnen, as he was a Japanese Tendai monk who focused on Pure Land practice.
Hōnen's Jōdo goso den lists five Pure Land patriarchs, all of which informed the thought of Hōnen to varying degrees. The following five patriarchs are still considered to be the main patriarchs of the Japanese Jōdo-shū school:
- Tanluan (476–542)
- Daochuo (562–645)
- Shandao (613–681)
- Huaigan (懷感, 7th century)
- Wulong Shaokang (736–806)
The Founder: Hōnen
thumb|An artistic depiction of [[Hōnen publicly preaching]]
Hōnen (法然) was born in 1133, the son of Uruma no Tokikuni of a local ruling family in Mimasaka Province. After a rival official assassinated his father in 1141, Hōnen was initiated into his uncle's monastery at the age of 9. From then on, Hōnen lived his life as a monk and eventually studied at the famous monastery of Mount Hiei. He practiced traditional Tendai Buddhism for some time, but eventually became dissatisfied with it. Influenced by the writings of Shandao, Hōnen devoted himself solely to Amitābha as expressed through the practice of nembutsu.
thumb|Hōnen
In time, Hōnen gathered disciples from all walks of life, and developed a large following, notably women, who had been excluded from serious Buddhist practice up to this point. This included fishermen, prostitutes, samurai, and fortune tellers. Some of his followers more strictly followed Buddhist conduct, whereas others assumed they were saved by Amida Buddha and behaved recklessly, earning criticism from established monastic communities such as Enryaku-ji and Kofuku-ji. To counter these criticisms, Honen insisted his followers sign the in 1204, pledging not to disparage other sects, and to uphold the Buddha-Dharma. One-hundred and sixty-three followers, including Hōnen's chief disciples, signed the pledge.
In 1207, Kofukuji monks made another petition to the Emperor to ban Hōnen's teaching. Meanwhile, two of Hōnen's disciples, Jūren and Anraku-bō, were caught proselytizing to some of the ladies in waiting of Emperor Go-Toba, who had then decided to take tonsure and leave the service of the Emperor. In anger, the Emperor decreed that Hōnen and several followers be defrocked and sent into exile, while Jūren and Anraku-bō were executed. This is known as the of 1207. Eventually, Hōnen was pardoned and returned to Kyoto in 1211, but died soon after in 1212, just two days after giving his final testament, the One-Sheet Document to disciple Genchi.
Early years after Hōnen
The remaining disciples in the capital collected Hōnen's writings and erected a mausoleum. His disciples had already begun work on carving Hōnen's magnum opus, his Senchakushū, into woodblocks in 1207 for printing. The carving of the blocks was completed in 1211 and the first copied were then printed and distributed publicly. This was the first printing of the text of a Japanese Buddhist author and it was a big sensation at the time.
Ryūkan (1148–1227) emphasized faith in Amida’s vow as the path to salvation and actively defended Hōnen against criticism from Tendai and other sects. Kōsai (1163–1247) promoted the idea that a single recitation of the nembutsu (ichinen-gi) was sufficient for birth in the Pure Land, drawing on the doctrine of innate enlightenment (hongaku). His radical stance gained followers but also provoked strong opposition, even among Hōnen’s disciples. Shōku (1177–1247) argued that all Buddhist practices serve only as preparatory steps toward the ultimate path of nembutsu recitation (seizan-gi), integrating Tendai thought into Pure Land practice. Unlike Ryūkan and Kōsai, Shōku avoided exile during the persecution and led the nembutsu community in Kyoto, where five prominent lineages later emerged.
Kōsai's "single recitation" (ichinen-gi) doctrine held that one can attain birth in the Pure Land through one nembutsu in which "the mind of faith (shinjin) ... is in complete accord with the wisdom of the Buddha."
Other disciples of note:
- Genchi, Honen's disciple and personal attendant who stayed in Kyoto. Later, met Ryōchū in 1248, and agreed to merge with the Chinzei branch after reaching an accord. Was Hōnen's witness when he dictated the One-Sheet Document, his final testament.
- Shinkū, helped to establish Hōnen's mausoleum, and later protect its relics during the persecution of 1227.
- Chōsai, the last of Hōnen's direct disciples. Where Honen and other Pure Land followers focused on the 18th, or Primal Vow, of Amida Buddha, Chōsai felt that the 20th Vow of the Immeasurable Life Sutra also applied, and thus taught that other practices in Buddhism would lead to birth in the Pure Land. This was the teaching. Founder of the Kuhonji-gi branch (九品寺義), based around Kuhonji temple in Kyoto. Ryōchū's teaching was in direct opposition to those of another teacher popular at the time, Chōsai.
Meanwhile, Kenni (1238–1304), a disciple of Ryūshin, was instrumental in systematizing doctrine of Shōku’s Seizan school, especially the Fukakusa doctrine. Regarding Ryōchū as a rival, his work criticizes his views without naming him. Kenni's thought integrates Pure Land thought with the philosophy of the Chinese Tiantai school and his commentary quotes numerous Song dynasty Tiantai scholars extensively.
It was also during this period that Ippen (1239–1289), initially a Seizan school monk, was active and established his Ji-shū sect. leading to an era of great prosperity for the sect that lasted throughout the Edo period and beyond. Due to this new found influence, Jōdo-shū would become the largest Buddhist sect, both in terms of population and influence, throughout the entire Edo period.
At this time, many new temples were founded and the sect spread widely throughout Japan with the aid of the Tokugawa Shoguns. With official support, the major temple of Zōjō-ji was founded in Edo as the family temple of the Tokugawa clan. Several shoguns of the Tokugawa family are still interred in mausoleums at Zōjō-ji, though Ieyasu himself is interred at the Nikkō Tōshō-gū shrine.
In a coordinated effort with the Tokugawa Shogunate, the Jōdo sect was also influential in the conversion and suppression of Christians in Kyushu through monks such as Banzui'i.
Jōdo-shū, having formerly received considerable patronage from the Tokugawa Shogunate, now embarked on a period of internal reform in which several monks emerged as important reformers, such as Yamazaki Ben'nei, Tetsujō Ukai, and Fukuda Gyōkai.
Shōwa Period
thumb|En'ō-ji Main Hall
thumb|Busshozan Honenji
Before and during World War II, Jōdo-shū, along with other Buddhist sects, faced pressure to endorse the actions of Imperial Japan and its policy of State Shintō. Despite the protests of certain members of the sect, the Jōdo-shū organization nevertheless complied with the policy of State Shintō. This included building several temples within Japan’s overseas colonies (all of which would later be destroyed in the years following the war) and providing memorial services to deceased soldiers as well as relief for their families. The school subsequently apologized for its wartime actions alongside the other Buddhist sects of Japan.
After World War II, several temples broke off from the main Chinzei Branch of Jōdo-shū, forming their own independent sects. However, these breakaway branches proved to be relatively short-lived, as, in January 1961, on the 750th anniversary of Hōnen’s death, the majority of the breakaway sects of Jōdo-shū merged back into the primary Chinzei branch, which remains the largest branch of Jōdo-shū.
Outside Japan
Although Jōdo-shū is mainly found in Japan, a sizable Jōdo-shū community exists in Hawaii as well as a few temples in the continental United States and Brazil. The first Jōdo-shū temple built in Hawai'i was the Hāmākua Bukkyo Kaido, constructed in 1896 under the supervision of Reverend Gakuo Okabe.
The head temple of the Jōdo sect in Hawaii is the Jodo Mission of Hawaii in Honolulu, founded in 1907 and moved to its current location in 1932. The Jodo Shu North America Buddhist Missions was the first Jōdo-shū temple to be built in mainland America in 1936 in Los Angeles, California.
Doctrine
The doctrine of the Jōdo-shū sects closely follows that of its founder Hōnen, who is considered the central authority in the tradition. It also relies on the works of the earlier Jōdo patriarchs, especially Shandao as well as the works of later disciples of Hōnen who founded their own lineages after Hōnen's death. The most important figures in this later period were Benchō, founder of the Chinzei-ha, and Shōkū, founder of the Seizan branch.
Hōnen
Pure Land Buddhist teachings had been prevalent in Japan for centuries, particularly in the Tendai sect through Ennin, Genshin, and others, but what distinguished Hōnen's teaching was the notion , whereby the only true means of achieving rebirth in the Pure Land was through reciting the nembutsu. In particular, Hōnen argued that it was through Amida Buddha's merit and vow power that one achieved rebirth. Since the nembutsu was explicitly called out in the Immeasurable Life Sutra in the 18th Vow (also known as the Primal Vow), nembutsu was the only practice that would work, especially in the latter age of Age of Dharma decline (mappō), when people could no longer effectively put the teachings of the Buddha into practice anymore. Other practices would neither add nor detract from Amida Buddha's power.
Basing himself on the writings of past masters like Saichō, on the Immeasurable Life Sutra and other sutras which speak of the Age of Dharma decline, Hōnen felt that society had already reached the era of latter days of the Dharma and thus all practices other than nembutsu had ceased to have any efficacy. This message resonated with the common people living near the end of the Heian period, when traditional Japanese Buddhism had become deeply involved in political schemes, flaunting its wealth and power.
Further, Hōnen sought to provide people a simple Buddhist practice that anybody could use toward enlightenment, no matter how degenerate the times because he was concerned that many people were excluded from existing sects. Thus, Hōnen writes that:
Since, according to Hōnen's line of reasoning, one's birth in the Pure Land was mostly due to Amida Buddha's power, there was no reason why anyone who sincerely recited the nembutsu could not be reborn in the Pure Land.
Hōnen's new tradition relied closely on the works of Shandao, in particular his Commentary on the Contemplation Sutra, where he writes: <blockquote>Not for the purpose of surpassing others... Single-mindedly and exclusively reciting the name of Amida, without questioning the length of time during walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, and without abandoning it thought-moment after thought-moment, this is called the Act of Right Assurance, because it accords with the Buddha's vow. A principal feature of Benchō’s thought is his sustained defense of the tanengi position, the insistence on repeated recitation of the nembutsu. He vigorously critiqued those who upheld the ichinengi view associated with teachers such as Kōsai, arguing that advocates of “once-calling” distorted Hōnen’s intent.
Benchō's understanding of the nembutsu was broad and inclusive. While affirming vocal invocation as the central practice, he accepted the legitimacy of auxiliary disciplines as provisional supports for attaining birth in the Pure Land. He devoted particular attention to practices that earlier Pure Land teachers, including Hōnen, had minimized, such as the “Three Modes of Practice” drawn from Genshin’s Ōjōyōshū. These included extended observances at fixed times, detailed instructions for deathbed rites, contemplative forms of nembutsu, and the aspiration to have a vision of the Buddha. Unlike disciples who rejected meditative practices as potentially pride-inducing exercises of self-effort, Benchō upheld the value of samādhi and taught that concentrated nembutsu leading to visions of Amida represented a superior mode of practice, even while acknowledging that birth could also be attained with an unfocused mind.
This inclusive stance extended to Benchō’s broader doctrinal synthesis. He proposed a schema in which all Buddhist practices were classified into two main categories: a comprehensive, all-embracing nembutsu, and the particular practice of name-recitation, ultimately subsumed by the latter. He also held that the various modes of nembutsu were, when taken individually, equal in value. Drawing on sources such as the Daśabhūmikavibhāṣā, he argued that where the Buddha’s compassionate power is operative, practices often labeled “self-powered” can still function within the Pure Land path. He even allowed that reciting the names of other Buddhas and bodhisattvas could be considered part of the Pure Land’s “easy practice,” further underscoring the range of methods he regarded as compatible with Amida-centered devotion.
Benchō’s emphasis on disciplined practice reached its culmination in his teachings on deathbed rites. He insisted that the final moments of life were crucial and defended traditional procedures intended to secure right mindfulness at death, opposing those who de-emphasized these rituals. In Benchō’s view, proper preparations included arranging images, scriptures, ritual implements, and continuous chanting until the final breath, ideally under the guidance of a qualified teacher. He warned that to die without such support was analogous to attempting a dangerous journey without proper equipment. Benchō also distinguished between “good” and “bad” deaths, maintaining that peaceful passing accompanied by recitation or auspicious signs indicated Pure Land attainment, whereas deaths marked by pain, confusion, or distress foretold unfortunate rebirths.
Seizan doctrine
The teachings of the Seizan school follow the works of Shōkū and its influence is seen in works like the Anjin Ketsujō Shō. Unlike Benchō who emphasized strict practice, Shōkū emphasized settled faith (anjin) and the non-duality of the Buddha with all sentient beings. He held that the recitation of the nembutsu arises from a state of anjin, or settled trust, in which one relinquishes any confidence in one’s own spiritual capacity and instead relies fully on Amida Buddha’s primal vow. Drawing on Shandao’s doctrine of the three devotional minds, he described genuine settled faith as a movement of wholehearted sincerity, deep confidence in Amida’s timeless vow, and an earnest aspiration for rebirth in the Pure Land. Because Amida’s enlightenment guarantees the liberation of beings, Shōkū treated the absence of doubt regarding this vow as identical with faith itself.
This conception of faith informed his interpretation of the nembutsu. For Shōkū, the formula Namu Amida Butsu expresses both the devotee’s entrusting attitude and Amida’s salvific activity. As such, its recitation reveals the ultimate non-duality of practitioner and Buddha. He characterized this unity of Buddha and sentient being as the unity of Buddha and person, kihō ittai. For Shōkū, the nembutsu devotee becomes inseparably linked with Amida’s Dharma-body at the moment that true trust is established. Because of this relationship, faith effects immediate participation in the Pure Land and turns all subsequent actions into manifestations of Amida’s power.
Within this framework, Shōkū developed the doctrine of the “unvarnished nembutsu,” insisting that nembutsu recitation should remain free of all self-powered embellishments. Although he did not dismiss other forms of Buddhist practice, he denied that they contribute to rebirth in the Pure Land, seeing them as merely expressions of Amida’s working. The nembutsu itself requires no doctrinal elaboration, moral purification, or meditative achievement. Shōkū also stressed that even those lacking virtue and knowledge can attain liberation simply by invoking Amida’s name, provided the invocation is grounded in reliance on other-power rather than one’s own efforts.
Shōkū also articulated a distinctive approach to the broader range of Buddhist practices. He argued that all virtuous activities, including the five Pure Land observances described by Shandao and the threefold training, can function as other-power practices if undertaken with an attitude of reliance upon Amida. For Shōkū, the decisive distinction between self-power and other-power lies not in the type of practice itself but in the practitioner’s relation to Amida’s vow. When one recognizes one’s limitations and entrusts everything to the Buddha, even ordinary desires can be redirected toward Pure Land aspiration.
Practice
thumb|Interior of the Daiden, [[Zōjō-ji]]
thumb|185x185px|A priest of Jodo-shu in rural Fukui prefecture visits the home of a parishioner to chant a sutra for a deceased family member in front of a [[butsudan.]]
The recitation of the nembutsu using the phrase: , is the most fundamental practice of Jōdo-shū. It is considered to be derived from the Primal Vow of Amitābha. Since it is traditionally believed to be an easy practice that taps into Amida Buddha's other-power, it is held to be the best Buddhist practice for our era of Dharma decline. Through this practice, all beings can attain birth in the Pure Land of Sukhavati, where becoming a Buddha is much easier.
In Jōdo-shū home practice, or in temple liturgy, the nembutsu may be recited in any number of styles including:
- – reciting the nembutsu ten times, with eight recitations of "Namu Amida Bu," followed by one "Namu Amida Butsu," and one final drawn out "Namu Amida Bu," accompanied by a bow.
- – reciting the nembutsu as many times as possible in a sitting, regardless of number.
- – style involving three drawn-out recitations of the nembutsu, followed by a bow. This is repeated twice more for a total of nine recitations.
In addition to practicing the nembutsu, Jōdo-shū practitioners are encouraged to engage in "auxiliary" practices, such as observing the five precepts, Buddha contemplation meditation, the chanting of the Pure Land sutras, and other forms of good conduct. There is no strict rule on this however, as Jōdo-shū stresses that the compassion of Amitābha is extended to all beings who recite the nembutsu, so how one observes auxiliary practices depends on the individual. Furthermore, Jōdo-shū practitioners are allowed to worship kami and visit Shinto shrines as long as they do not worship the kami as a means to enter the Pure Land.
Scripture
thumb|left|220px|[[Chion-in, the highest temple of Jōdo-shū]]
Of the entire Buddhist canon, Sutra of Immeasurable Life is the central Buddhist scripture for Jōdo-shū, and the foundation of the belief in the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha. In addition to this, the Amitāyurdhyāna Sūtra and the Amitābha Sūtra are important to the Jōdo-shū school. Collectively, these are known as the .
Further, the writings of Hōnen, are another source for Jōdo-shū thought. The most central of his works include the Senchaku Hongan Nembutsushū (often abbreviated to Senchakushū) and the . Most of what is known about Honen and his thought is attributed through sayings collected in the following century, the Senchakushū, and letters to his students and disciples. The One-Sheet Document is also read aloud in daily services as part of Jōdo-shū liturgy.
Temples and Clergy
thumb|Jōdo monk at [[Chion-in, Kyoto]]
thumb|Jōdo monks celebrating [[Buddha's Birthday (hanamatsuri) at Zōjō-ji]]
Jōdo-shū, like other Buddhist schools, maintains a professional, monastic priesthood. Jōdo monks are ordained in the bodhisattva precepts as passed down by the Tendai founder Saichō and transmitted through Hōnen. Monks are often educated at the tradition's official universities and seminaries, which include Bukkyo University (佛教大学, Bukkyō daigaku).
The heads of the Jōdo-shū school are called monshu in Japanese, and the Chinzei sect's monshu lives at the head temple of Chion-in.
The Chinzei branch has two "head temples", one at Chion-in in Kyoto, and one at Zojoji in Tokyo.
For the Seizan branch, there are three sub-branches, each with their own head temples, including Eikan-dō Zenrin-ji.