, was a Japanese Buddhist

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

and second patriarch of the main Chinzei branch of the

Jōdo-shū Jōdo-shū (浄土宗, "The Pure Land School"), is a Japanese branch of Pure Land Buddhism derived from the teachings of the Kamakura era monk Hōnen (1133–1212). The school is traditionally considered as having been established in 1175 and i ...

sect of Japanese Buddhism, after

Hōnen , also known as Genkū, was the founding figure of the , the first independent branch of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism. Hōnen became a Tendai initiate at an early age, but grew disaffected and sought an approach to Buddhism that all people of all ...

. In Jodo Shu Buddhism, he is often called by adherents as or . According to biographies, he was first ordained as a priest of the

Tendai , also known as the Tendai Dharma Flower School (天台法華宗, ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just ''Hokkeshū''), is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition with significant esoteric elements that was officially established in Japan in 806 by t ...

sect at the age of fourteen, and entered

Enryaku-ji is a Tendai monastery located on Mount Hiei in Ōtsu, overlooking Kyoto. It was first founded in 788 during the early Heian period (794–1185) by Saichō (767–822), also known as Dengyō Daishi, who introduced the Tendai sect of Mahayana ...

temple in 1183. He first met Hōnen in 1197. Later, after Hōnen and many of his followers were exiled in 1207, Shōkō was exiled on the island of

Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa and the other Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Islands). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regio ...

and taught the practice of the

nembutsu file:玉里華山寺 (21)南無阿彌陀佛古碑.jpg, 250px, Chinese Nianfo carving The Nianfo ( zh, t=wikt:念佛, 念佛, p=niànfó, alternatively in Japanese language, Japanese ; ; or ) is a Buddhist practice central to East Asian Buddhism. ...

there, founding the Zendō-ji temple. Unlike other disciples of Hōnen, Shōkō favored studying the more traditional Buddhist paths along with the

Pure Land Pure Land is a Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhist concept referring to a transcendent realm emanated by a buddhahood, buddha or bodhisattva which has been purified by their activity and Other power, sustaining power. Pure lands are said to be places ...

path. He also criticized the interpretations by other disciples of Hōnen, particularly Kōsai and Shōkū, who emphasized the

over other practices. However, unlike Chōsai, his teachings still emphasized repeated recitations of the nembutsu as the primary practice in Jōdo-shū. In the spectrum of followers of Hōnen, Benchō balances faith in the

with acceptance of other practices leading to rebirth in the

of Amida Buddha. After Hōnen died, Benchō attempted to counter divergences in Hōnen's teachings among other disciples by writing a treatise titled , which contained a full account of the teachings that Benchō heard directly from Hōnen. He also wrote ''The Way of Practice for Birth by the Nembutsu'' (''nembutsu ojo shugyomon'') to counter teachings from other disciples of Hōnen, particularly Kōsai and the "single-nembutsu" movement. Benchō died in 1238 and was succeeded by the third patriarch, Ryōchū (良忠, 1199–1287), who formally established Chinzei branch.

References

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External links

The History of Honen's Disciples

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bencho 1162 births 1238 deaths Buddhist patriarchs Japanese Buddhist clergy Buddhist clergy of the Kamakura period Jōdo-shū Buddhist priests