New schools of Kamakura Buddhism: Shinran, Dōgen and Nichiren
In the first century of warrior rule, three monks trained in the Tendai monastery on Mount Hiei gave rise to schools that are still active today: the True Pure Land school (Jōdo Shinshū), of which Shinran is regarded as the founder, Dōgen’s Sōtō Zen and Nichiren’s Lotus school. Each centred on a single practice — reliance on the Buddha Amida’s vow, seated meditation or chanting the title of the Lotus Sutra — and found followers among warriors and commoners.
- Date
- 1224–1253year known · duration: ≈ 29 years
- Place
- Kyototoday: Kyoto, Japan · East Asia
- Participants
- Shinran, Dōgen
- Threads
- Asia, Africa and the Americas in the 13th century
- Also known as
- Kamakura Buddhism; Jōdo Shinshū; Sōtō Zen; Nichiren Buddhism; Камакурский буддизм; Дзёдо-синсю; Сото-сю; Буддизм Нитирэн
The new schools arose in an age of war, disasters and a widespread sense that the “Latter Day of the Law” (mappō), the age of the decline of the Buddha’s teaching, had come. Hōnen (1133–1212) had already founded the Pure Land school, devoted to Amida, and Eisai (1141–1215) the Rinzai school of Zen. Hōnen’s disciple Shinran, exiled to Echigo in 1207, later spent some twenty years in the Kantō and taught complete reliance on Amida’s Original Vow; his main work, the Kyōgyōshinshō, is believed to date from 1224, though scholars debate the year. Shinran did not set out to found a separate school, but it is he who is regarded as the founder of Jōdo Shinshū.
Dōgen studied Chan in Song China under Rujing and returned in 1227 (or 1228), teaching seated meditation (zazen) as the heart of practice. He founded Kōshō-ji near Kyoto in 1233 and, after moving to Echizen in 1243 at the invitation of the warrior Hatano Yoshishige, the monastery later named Eihei-ji. His chief work is the Shōbōgenzō. Nichiren, who had also studied on Mount Hiei, proclaimed his teaching in 1253 in his native province of Awa and then preached in Kamakura, where his attacks on other schools and his warnings to the government twice brought him exile.
Connections
Includes
- Nichiren proclaims his teaching26 May 1253 · East Asia
Related events
- Genpei War and the rise of the Kamakura shogunate5 May 1180 – 21 August 1192 · East AsiaThe new schools grew up in the age of warrior rule that began with the Genpei War, and found followers among the samurai
Same place
- The capital moves to Heijō-kyō (Nara)13 April 710 · East Asia
- The Kojiki and the Nihon shoki, the oldest Japanese histories9 March 712 – 1 July 720 · East Asia
- Emperor Shōmu’s Great Buddha of Tōdai-ji6 November 743 – 26 May 752 · East Asia
- Emperor Kanmu moves the capital to Heian-kyō (Kyoto)18 November 794 · East Asia
- Saichō and Kūkai bring Tendai and Shingon Buddhism from Tang China14 August 804 – 5 December 806 · East Asia
- Compilation of the Kokin wakashū, the first imperial anthology of waka905 – between 913 and 920 · East Asia
- Murasaki Shikibu writes The Tale of Genjic. 1000 – c. 1012 · East Asia
- Emperor Shirakawa abdicates: the beginning of cloistered rule3 January 1087 · East Asia
- Ōnin War1467–1477 · East Asia
Adjacent events in the thread
- Reign of Razia Sultan in DelhiNovember 1236 – April 1240 · South Asia
- Ibn al-Nafis describes the pulmonary circulationbetween 1239 and 1242 · Middle East and Egypt
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Battle of Legnica9 April 1241
- Battle of Mohi11 April 1241
- Rebuilding of Chartres Cathedral and the High Gothic10 June 1194 – 24 October 1260
- Albigensian Crusade1209–1229
- Rise of the universities: Paris, Oxford and Cambridge1200 – 13 April 1231
+ 1 event
Eastern Europe
- Mongol invasion of Europe1236–1242
- Siege of KozelskMarch–May 1238
- Battle of the Sit Riverbetween 25 February and 4 March 1238
- Siege of Vladimir3 February – between 7 February and 8 February 1238
- Siege of Ryazan16–21 December 1237
+ 9 events
Balkans and Anatolia
- John III Vatatzes and the revival of the Empire of Nicaeabetween December 1221 and December 1222 – 3 November 1254
- Battle of Köse Dağbetween 26 June and 3 July 1243
Middle East and Egypt
- Ibn al-Nafis describes the pulmonary circulationbetween 1239 and 1242
- Treaty of Jaffa18 February 1229
- Battle of al-Mansurah8–11 February 1250
- Mamluks seize power in Egypt2 May 1250
- Seventh Crusade1248–1254
+ 1 event
Africa
- Battle of Kirinac. 1235
- Mapungubwe Hill, capital of the kingdom of Mapungubwec. 1220 – c. 1300
- Great Zimbabwe, the stone capital of a Shona kingdom1200–1299 – c. 1450
Central and Northern Asia
- Karakorum becomes the Mongol capital1235
- Mission of Giovanni da Pian del Carpine to the Mongols16 April 1245 – 1247
- Completion of the Secret History of the Mongolsbetween 1228 and 1264
- Death of Yaroslav II in Karakorum30 September 1246
- William of Rubruck’s journey to Karakorum7 May 1253 – 15 August 1255
+ 1 event
South Asia
- Reign of Razia Sultan in DelhiNovember 1236 – April 1240
- Konark Sun Templec. 1250
- Construction of the Qutb Minarbetween 1193 and 1199 – between 1220 and 1232
North America
- Ancestral Puebloans build Cliff Palace at Mesa Verdec. 1190 – c. 1280
- The Thule migrate east across the Arctic to Greenlandc. 1200 – c. 1300
- Mississippian centres after Cahokia: Moundville, Etowah and the Southeastern Ceremonial Complexc. 1200 – c. 1450
Latin America
- The Mexica enter the Valley of Mexico and settle at Chapultepecbetween 1245 and 1280 – 1299
- Chimor: the Chimú kingdom and its capital Chan Chanc. 900 – c. 1470
- The Kingdom of Cusco: the Inca state before the empirec. 1200 – c. 1438
- Mayapan, capital of Postclassic Yucatán1220s – between 1441 and 1461
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Kamakura period
- Wikipedia (English): Shinran
- Wikipedia (English): Dōgen
- Wikipedia (English): Nichiren
- Wikipedia (English): Kyōgyōshinshō
- Wikipedia (Japanese): 鎌倉仏教
- Wikipedia (Russian): Синран
- Wikipedia (Japanese): 親鸞
- Wikipedia (Russian): Догэн
- Wikipedia (Russian): Нитирэн
- Bowring R. The Religious Traditions of Japan, 500–1600. — Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.