Jodo Buddhism was founded by Saint Honen in 1175. The founder was forty-two years old at the time. The word Jodo, from which the name of the sect was derived, means “Pure Land”, is the name given to the Western Paradise or the realm of Amida Buddha, the Buddha of Infinite Life and Light. Saint Honen’s teaching was based upon salvation by Amida Buddha, gaining merit and compassion by calling his name.
Rather than staying among the learned, Saint Honen spread this teaching to people of all classes, attaching little importance to complicated rituals and ceremonies. This was revolutionary since Buddhism in Japan was primarily taught to and practiced among the social and political elite in his time. Saint Honen emphasized the practice of calling Amida Buddha’s name, Namu Amida Butsu, wholeheartedly, concentrating on a single-minded focus, and said that by so doing, salvation was secured. Thus, the interests of both this and the other worlds were to be served. His teaching soon spread all over Japan, and in the course of over eight hundred years, his teaching has found its way into Japanese culture and tradition.
Today, the teaching of Nembutsu has spread to all corners of the world. It was introduced to Hawai’i in 1894 and continues to grow here.
The key point of Pure Land Buddhism is transcending the human intellect. This is what Saint Honen taught by saying: “Return to the foolish self”. But nothing is more difficult in the present age than to throw away or transcend the human intellect and return to a state of ignorance for science progresses daily and admits no limits to knowledge. To be intelligent is considered the privilege of modern people. However wide the realm of intellect becomes, it will always be impossible to enter the realm of spirituality only by means of intellect. The latter stands on a plane different from that of the former. Saint Honen’s admonition, “Return to the foolish self,” teaches us this.