Shinran-Shonin Day

Shinran-Shonin Day

May-June

Shinran-Shonin (1173-1262) was a Japanese Buddhist monk and a disciple of Honen, the founder of the Pure Land sect of Buddhism in Japan. Although Shinran did not wish to oppose his teacher by founding a new denomination, he did strive to clarify how the principles of Pure Land Buddhism were constituted, and the school of Buddhism he founded is therefore known as the "True Pure Land School," or Jodo Shin-shu.
Shinran thought that people achieved salvation through faith rather than through religious practices. Therefore, he disagreed with the celibacy and hardships imposed by monastic Buddhism. Although Shinran was not the first Buddhist monk to marry, his marriage signified the point in history where Japan began to turn in the direction of lay Buddhism. Shinran-Shonin Day is observed in May or June by Japanese Pure Land Buddhists.

SOURCES:
OxDictWrldRel-1997, p. 891
WrldBuddhism-1984, p. 223