The , abbreviated to ''Senchakushū'', is the

magnum opus A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...

Hōnen was the religious reformer and founder of the first independent branch of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism called . He is also considered the Seventh Jōdo Shinshū Patriarch. Hōnen became a Tendai initiate at an early age, but grew disaffected and ...

, founder of the

Jōdo-shū , also known as Jōdo Buddhism, is a branch of Pure Land Buddhism derived from the teachings of the Japanese ex-Tendai monk Hōnen. It was established in 1175 and is the most widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan, along with Jōdo Shi ...

school of Japanese

Pure Land Buddhism Pure Land Buddhism (; ja, 浄土仏教, translit=Jōdo bukkyō; , also referred to as Amidism in English,) is a broad branch of Mahayana Buddhism focused on achieving rebirth in a Buddha's Buddha-field or Pure Land. It is one of the most wid ...

. The title means "Collection of Selections on Nenbutsu and the Original Vow" and draws upon past Pure Land Buddhist sources, sutras and especially from the writings of Chinese Pure Land Buddhists

Shan-tao Shandao (; ja, Zendō; 613–681) was an influential writer for the Pure Land Buddhism, prominent in China, Korea, Vietnam and Japan. His writings had a strong influence on later Pure Land masters including Hōnen and Shinran in Japan. The Samg ...

and Tanluan to bolster Hōnen's doctrine of relying upon the sole recitation of Amitabha Buddha's name for rebirth in the

Pure Land A pure land is the celestial realm of a buddha or bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism. The term "pure land" is particular to East Asian Buddhism () and related traditions; in Sanskrit the equivalent concept is called a buddha-field (Sanskrit ). Th ...

. Hōnen also asserts for the first time that he is establishing a new school of Buddhism. Originally the ''Senchakushū'' had been composed at the behest of Hōnen's patron and disciple, Lord Kūjō Kanezane, in 1198, but Hōnen was hesitant to show the Senchakushū to a wider audience during his lifetime due to fears of criticism. Instead, he showed the text to his closest disciples only including

Benchō , was a Japanese Buddhist monk and second patriarch of the main Chinzei branch of the Jōdo-shū sect of Japanese Buddhism, after Hōnen. In Jodo Shu Buddhism, he is often called by adherents as or . According to biographies, he first ordained as ...

Shinran ''Popular Buddhism in Japan: Shin Buddhist Religion & Culture'' by Esben Andreasen, pp. 13, 14, 15, 17. University of Hawaii Press 1998, was a Japanese Buddhist monk, who was born in Hino (now a part of Fushimi, Kyoto) at the turbulent close of ...

Shōkū , sometimes called , was a disciple of Hōnen, founder of the Jōdo-shū Buddhist sect. Shōkū later succeeded Jōhen, another disciple of Hōnen, as the head of a former Shingon Buddhist temple, Eikan-dō Zenrin-ji, Eikandō, established a separ ...

among others. Hōnen stated that his disciples could do what they wanted with the text after his death, and in time the Senchakushū was distributed among Buddhist circles. Jōkei, Hōnen's strongest critic, analyzed the Senchakushū as part of his refutation of Hōnen's Pure Land doctrine, as did

Myōe (February 21, 1173 – February 11, 1232) was a Japanese Buddhist monk active during the Kamakura period who also went by the name ''Kōben'' ( ja, 高弁). He was a contemporary of Jōkei and Hōnen. Biography Myōe was born in what is no ...

Format

The ''Senchakushū'' consists of sixteen chapters and each chapter begins with a heading explaining the content of the chapter and then presents quotations from the Pure Land sutras and the works of major Pure Land scholars, followed by Hōnen's comments and explanations interspersed between and after the various quotes. The Chapter format is as follows: # Classification of the Buddhist Teachings # The Practices of Pure Land Buddhism # Amida's Choice of the Nembutsu in His Original Vow # The Nembutsu and the Miscellaneous Practices # The Benefits of the Nembutsu # The Eternal Endurance of the Nembutsu # The Light of Amida Buddha # The Faith of Nembutsu Practitioners # The Practitioners' Religious Life # Amida Buddha's Transformation Body # Shakyamuni Buddha's Praise of Nembutsu Practitioners # Shakyamuni Buddha's Entrusting of the Nembutsu # The Many Good Acts of the Nembutsu # The Testimony of the Many Buddhas of the Six Directions # The Protection of the Nembutsu Practitioner by the Many Buddhas of the Six Directions # The Entrusting of Amida Buddha's Name

References

Bibliography

* Hōnen; Senchakushū English Translation Project (1998), Hōnen's Senchakushū: passages on the selection of the nembutsu in the original vow (Senchaku hongan nembutsu shū), Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press

External links

The Senchaku Hongan Nembutsushu
by the Jodo Shu Research Institute {{DEFAULTSORT:Senchakushu Jōdo-shū Shinran Hōnen Kamakura-period books about Buddhism