The term Ōjō ( ja, 往生) is a term in

Japanese Buddhism Buddhism has been practiced in Japan since about the 6th century CE. Japanese Buddhism () created many new Buddhist schools, and some schools are original to Japan and some are derived from Chinese Buddhist schools. Japanese Buddhism has had ...

for 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 ). T ...

of Amitabha Buddha. Sometimes the term is expressed as . The subject of how to obtain birth in the Pure Land remained an important question throughout Japanese Buddhist history even until today.

The Nara Schools

The early Nara Buddhism schools provided different opinions as to how to obtain rebirth in the Pure Land, though in some cases, such as the Hossō school taught that icchantikas (people who committed the Five Grave Acts) could not obtain rebirth ever. Other schools taught that while accessible to all, the rituals involved were difficult, or that rebirth was not desirable.

Tendai and Shingon

Early sects, particularly 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 ...

and

Shingon Shingon monks at Mount Koya is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asia, originally spread from India to China through traveling monks such as Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra. Kn ...

sects relied on esoteric texts, or interpretations of the

Contemplation Sutra The ''Amitāyurdhyāna Sūtra'' ( Sanskrit; , ''Guan-wuliangshou-jing;'' Vietnamese: Phật Thuyết Kinh Quán Vô Lượng Thọ Phật; English: ''Sutra on the Visualization of he BuddhaImmeasurable Life'') is a Mahayana sutra in Pure Lan ...

to develop rituals and visualizations of rebirth in the Pure Land. Genshin, a Tendai monk, wrote the '' Ōjōyōshū'' in which he described the horrors of

Hell in Buddhism Naraka ( sa, नरक; pi, 𑀦𑀺𑀭𑀬 Niraya) is a term in Buddhist cosmology usually referred to in English as "hell" (or "hell realm") or "purgatory". The Narakas of Buddhism are closely related to ''Diyu'', the hell in Chinese myth ...

, and the delights of the

of Amitabha Buddha, then teaches the importance of reciting the nembutsu while maintaining a regimen of visualization and meditation practices. For the Tendai sect in particular, the importance of rebirth in the Pure Land gained prominence among

Saichō was a Japanese Buddhist monk credited with founding the Tendai school of Buddhism based on the Chinese Tiantai school he was exposed to during his trip to Tang China beginning in 804. He founded the temple and headquarters of Tendai at Enryaku- ...

's later disciples, almost equal in importance to the central teaching of the

Lotus Sutra The ''Lotus Sūtra'' ( zh, 妙法蓮華經; sa, सद्धर्मपुण्डरीकसूत्रम्, translit=Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtram, lit=Sūtra on the White Lotus of the True Dharma, italic=) is one of the most influ ...

Kamakura Buddhism

As new, reform Buddhist sects arose in the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first '' shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

, the importance of the concept of the Age of Dharma Decline gained prominence during this difficult period in history. It was during this time that independent schools of Jōdo and

Jōdo Shinshū , also known as Shin Buddhism or True Pure Land Buddhism, is a school of Pure Land Buddhism. It was founded by the former Tendai Japanese monk Shinran. Shin Buddhism is the most widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan. History Shinran ...

arose, with Hōnen teaching based on the Larger Sutra that rebirth could be obtained, even for

icchantika In Mahayana Buddhism the ''icchantika'' is a deluded being who can never attain enlightenment (Buddhahood). Description According to some Mahayana Buddhist scriptures, the ''icchantika'' is the most base and spiritually deluded of all types of bei ...

s, solely by reciting Amitabha's name: the nembutsu. Hōnen's doctrine led to resistance among monks of the more traditional and state-sanctioned sects, leading to persecution or alternate teachings. One of Hōnen's sharpest critics, Myoe, taught another means of rebirth in the Pure Land through chanting of the Mantra of Light as a counter to Hōnen's doctrine.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ojo Pure Land Buddhism Buddhism in Japan