top of page
Shinran Shonin:

Shinran Shonin was born on May 21, 1173.  At the age of 9 he received ordination and entered the priesthood.  He underwent rigorous training and study at Mt. Hiei, the great center of Tendai teaching and disciplines.  After 20 years of effort to find the way of Enlightenment he becae disillusioned by the trend of Hiei-san which not only tended to cater to the social and political authorities, but also compromised with traditional folklores and had lost sight of the essential teachings of the Buddha.

 

Shinran left Mount Hiei and eventually met and studied with his teacher Honen Shonin (1133-1212) who was preaching the doctrine of Nembutsu (saying the name of Amida Buddha).  Shinran became a leading disciple of Honen.  In 1207  the Nembutsu was prohibited by Imperial Edict and Shinran and Honen were exiled. Shinran was banished to Echigo (present day Niigata).

 

Shinran was pardoned from exile in 1211.  In 1214 he settled in the Kanto region and was now 42 years old.  Shinran diligently and earnestly  shared the Nembutsu teaching to many in the  Kanto area.  He systemized the teaching of Nembutsu in his major work the “Kyo Gyo Shin Sho” (Teaching, Practice, Faith & Attainment).  In this important work Shinran extols the virtues of the Nembutsu of Absolute Other Power (Primal Vow) of Amida Buddha.

 

After 20 years in the Kanto area Shinran returned to Kyoto with his family.  He was now 62 years old. There he devoted the rest of his life to writing as a means of propogating the Nembutsu teaching. Shinran died at the age of 89 in 1262.

​

Back to Learn
bottom of page