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Honen (1133-1212), the founder of the Jodo (Pure Land) School of Buddhism in Japan, wrote his only doctrinal text, Senchaku hongan nembutsu shu ...,1 in 1198. This text systematically presents the teachings of the nembutsu (the recitation of "Namu Amida Butsu") chosen in the Original Vow of Amida.2 It is believed that Honen established the Jodo sect in 1175, twenty-three years prior to the authorship of the Senchaku-shu, when he was convinced of the truth of the Jodo belief that the grace of Amida was granted only through the nembutsu. Honen's profound conviction resulted from his deep realization that he was incapable of achieving samadhi,3 although he had engaged in the wholehearted study and practice of Buddhist teachings for nearly thirty years.4 Moreover, he came to realize that this truth applied not only to his own experience but to that of any person: the human mind is such that it is prone to distraction. In Zendo's (Shan-tao ...) Kanmuryojukyo sho ... (Commentary on the Meditation Sutra), Honen found a better alternative - the recitation of the nembutsu - for helping all human beings to leave this earthly existence regardless of their level of spiritual progress. In chapter 16 of the Senchaku-shu, answering questions on why he uses only Zendo's Commentary to support his own teachings of the nembutsu, Honen states:
[T]hey were still not able to achieve samadhi. Master Shan-tao was a man who did indeed achieve samadhi. Precisely because he attained such a realization of the way, we rely on him.5
Honen clearly sees the attainment of samadhi as a sign of spiritual elevation, and he grounds the legitimacy of the claim for the nembutsu in this kind of personal spiritual experience, although he dismisses it as a requirement for attaining full liberation. In any case, Honen appears to conceive some connection between samadhi and a true understanding of the nembutsu. What is that connection?
Despite the fact that Honen refrains from urging the nembutsu practitioner to focus on the mental components of nembutsu practice while introducing it as the easiest and most efficacious method for people from all walks of life, a close reading of his own text reveals that he holds a systematic view of a...