The , abbreviated to Senchakushū, is the magnum opus

Masterpiece

Masterpiece in modern usage refers to a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or to a work of outstanding creativity, skill or workmanship....

 of Hōnen, founder of the Jōdo-shū school of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism

Pure Land Buddhism

Pure Land Buddhism , also referred to as Amidism in English, is a broad branch of Mahāyāna Buddhism and currently one of the most popular traditions of Buddhism in East Asia. Pure Land is a branch of Buddhism focused on Amitābha Buddha...

. The title means "Passages on the Selection of the Nembutsu in the Original Vow" and draws upon past Pure Land Buddhist sources, sutras and especially from the writings of Chinese Pure Land Buddhist Shan-tao

Shan-tao

Shan-tao was an influential writer for the Pure Land school of 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....

 to bolster Hōnen's doctrine of relying upon the sole recitation of Amitabha

Amitabha

Amitābha is a celestial buddha described in the scriptures of the Mahāyāna school of Buddhism...

 Buddha's name for rebirth in the Pure Land

Pure land

A pure land, in Mahayana Buddhism, is the celestial realm or pure abode of a Buddha or Bodhisattva. The various traditions that focus on Pure Lands have been given the nomenclature Pure Land Buddhism. Pure lands are also evident in the literature and traditions of Taoism and Bön.The notion of 'pure...

. 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

Fujiwara no Kanezane

, also known as , is the founder of the Kujō family , although some sources cite Fujiwara no Morosuke as its founder....

, 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

Shoko

Shoko can refer to:*Shoko , disciple of Hōnen and second patriarch of Jōdo-shū*Emperor Shōkō , the 101st Emperor of Japan*Shoko Nakagawa , Japanese idol*Shoko Sawada , Japanese singer-songwriter...

, Shinran

Shinran

was a Japanese Buddhist monk, who was born in Hino at the turbulent close of the Heian Period and lived during the Kamakura Period...

, Shōkū

Shoku

, sometimes called was a disciple of Hōnen, founder of the Jōdo shū Buddhist sect. Shoku later succeeded another disciple of Hōnen, Jōhen as the head of a former Shingon Buddhist temple, Eikandō, established a separate branch of Jōdo shū called the Seizan branch , and completed the transition of...

 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

Jōkei (monk)

was an influential Buddhist, scholar-monk and reformer of the Hosso sect in Japan, posthumously known as .Jokei was a prolific author, asserting and compiling the Hosso/Yogacara doctrine, while simultaneously refuting newer Buddhist movements, particularly the Pure Land movement begun by Honen...

, Hōnen's strongest critic, analyzed the Senchakushū as part of his refutation of Hōnen's Pure Land doctrine, as did Myōe

Myoe

Myōe was a Japanese Buddhist monk active during the Kamakura period who also went by the name Kōben , and contemporary of Jōkei and Honen. Born into the Yuasa family , allegedly descended from a branch of the Fujiwara clan, he came to be ordained in both the Shingon school of Buddhism and the...

.

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:

1. Classification of the Buddhist Teachings
2. The Practices of Pure Land Buddhism
3. Amida's Choice of the Nembutsu in His Original Vow
4. The Nembutsu and the Miscellaneous Practices
5. The Benefits of the Nembutsu
6. The Eternal Endurance of the Nembutsu
7. The Light of Amida Buddha
8. The Faith of Nembutsu Practitioners
9. The Practitioners' Religious Life
10. Amida Buddha's Transformation Body
11. Shakyamuni Buddha's Praise of Nembutsu Practitioners
12. Shakyamuni Buddha's Entrusting of the Nembutsu
13. The Many Good Acts of the Nembutsu
14. The Testimony of the Many Buddhas of the Six Directions
15. The Protection of the Nembutsu Practitioner by the Many Buddhas of the Six Directions
16. The Entrusting of Amida Buddha's Name

External links

• The Senchaku Hongan Nembutsushu by the Jodo Shu Research Institute