Honen, founder of Japan's Jodo school, dies in Kyoto after teaching that the nembutsu alone, said in faith, carries the believer to the Pure Land; exiled once for the teaching's radical simplicity, he is remembered as the father of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism.
The Event
- Date
- 1212 (exact)
- Era
- Medieval; Standard periodization of Buddhist history
- Location
- Kyoto; today Japan
- Traditions
- Buddhism
- Streams
- Pure Land
- Key figures
- Honen
- Key texts
- Senchakushu
Primary Sources
- Honen, Senchakushu
Secondary Sources
- Stone, Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism (Hawaii, 1999)
- Buswell and Lopez, The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (Princeton, 2014)
Provenance: HIST-0422; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-27.
Related on This Site
- Death of Shandao History Event
- Death of Shinran History Event
- Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution (China) History Event
- Huiyuan's White Lotus Society on Mount Lu History Event
- St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology Library
- Five Precepts (Pancasila) Prayer or Creed
- Refuge Prayer (Tisarana) Prayer or Creed
- Buddhism World View