, was a Japanese Buddhist

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 ...

and second patriarch of the main

Chinzei The branch, also called the , of Jōdo-shū Buddhism is the main branch that exists today, and was first established by Benchō a disciple of Hōnen, but formalized into a separate branch by Benchō's disciple Ryōchū. Originally based in Kyush ...

branch 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 Shin ...

sect of Japanese Buddhism, after

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 ...

. In Jodo Shu Buddhism, he is often called by adherents as or . According to biographies, he first ordained as a priest of the

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 ...

sect at the age of fourteen, and entered

Enryaku-ji is a Tendai monastery located on Mount Hiei in Ōtsu, overlooking Kyoto. It was first founded in 788 during the early Heian period (794–1185) by Saichō (767–822), also known as Dengyō Daishi, who introduced the Tendai sect of Mahayan ...

temple in 1183. He first met Hōnen in 1197. Later, after Hōnen and many of his followers were exiled in 1207, Shōkō was exiled on the island of

Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...

and taught the practice of the

nembutsu 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 ...

there. Unlike other disciples of Hōnen, Shōkō favored studying the more traditional Buddhist paths along with the Pure Land path. He also criticized the interpretations by other disciples of Hōnen, particularly

Kōsai was a former monk of the Tendai Buddhist sect and controversial disciple of Hōnen who advocated the that led to his public censure, his later expulsion by Hōnen and eventual exile to Shikoku. Kōsai taught that one recitation of Amitabha Budd ...

and

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, Eikandō, established a separate branch of Jōdo ...

, who emphasized the

over other practices. However, unlike Chōsai, his teachings still emphasized repeated recitations of the nembutsu as the primary practice in Jōdo-shū. In the spectrum of followers of Hōnen, Benchō balances faith in the

with acceptance of other practices leading to 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 ). The ...

of Amida Buddha. After Hōnen died, Benchō attempted to counter divergences in Hōnen's teachings among other disciples by writing a treatise titled , which contained a full account of the teachings that Benchō heard directly from Hōnen. He also wrote ''The Way of Practice for Birth by the Nembutsu'' (''nembutsu ojo shugyomon'') to counter teachings from other disciples of Hōnen, particularly

and the "single-nembutsu" movement. Benchō died in 1238 and was succeeded by the third patriarch, Ryōchū (良忠, 1199–1287), who formally established

branch.

References

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External links

The History of Honen's Disciples

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bencho 1162 births 1238 deaths Buddhist patriarchs Japanese Buddhist clergy Kamakura period Buddhist clergy