is a school of

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 ). The ...

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

that focuses on the ritual recitation of the ''Nembutsu'' (or

Nianfo Nianfo (, Japanese: , , vi, niệm Phật) is a term commonly seen in Pure Land Buddhism. In the context of Pure Land practice, it generally refers to the repetition of the name of Amitābha. It is a translation of Sanskrit '' '' (or, "recoll ...

), the name of the Amitabha

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...

. Followers believe this recitation benefits not just the speaker, but the entire world as well. The sect began in the twelfth century when a

Tendai , also known as the Tendai Lotus School (天台法華宗 ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just "''hokke shū''") is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition (with significant esoteric elements) officially established in Japan in 806 by the Japanese m ...

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedic ...

named Ryōnin (良忍, 1072–1132) wrote commentary on rituals and hymns in practice at the time and founded the school. The distinction of this Pure Land sect lies in its emphasis on the nature of interconnectedness amongst phenomena.Buddhist Dictionary
Tung Lin Kok Yuen Buddhist Door The recitation of the nembutsu was not merely an individual quest for salvation in the

. A practitioner's chants of nembutsu benefitted everybody else and everybody else's chants of nembutsu benefitted the solo practitioner.

Notes

References

Encyclopædia Britannica entry
Pure Land Buddhism {{Japan-reli-stub