Honen (redirected from Hon)

Honen

 orig. Seishimaru

(born May 13, 1133, Inaoka, Mimasaka province, Japan—died Feb. 29, 1212, Kyoto) Japanese Buddhist leader. As a monk at the Mount Hiei monastery of the Tendai (Tiantai) sect, he learned the Pure Land doctrines of Chinese Buddhism (see Pure Land Buddhism), which taught salvation by the mercy of Amitabha Buddha, and he subsequently became the founder of the Pure Land (Jodo) sect in Japan. Honen believed that few people were spiritually capable of following the Buddha's own path to enlightenment, and in 1175 he proclaimed that the only thing needed for salvation was the nembutsu, or chanting of the name of Amida (Amitabha). Honen settled at Kyoto and gathered disciples, including Shinran. Persecuted by other Buddhists, he was driven into exile in 1207 but returned to Kyoto in 1211.