Pure Land Buddhism: The Way of Shinran

In recent years, Tricycle has featured a number of articles on Pure Land Buddhism, a tradition with which many of our readers have little familiarity. Because of its long history and extensive influence in Buddhism in the West, we have given particular emphasis to the Shin school of Pure Land, which was founded by Shinran (1173-1263), a Japanese monk that Rev. Dr. Alfred Bloom calls a “towering figure” in Buddhism. Read the articles below to get a sense of Shinran and his teachings, and the modern practice of Jodo Shinshu.

Reading list

• Shinran: The Original Buddhist Rebel by Mark Unno
• To the Pure Land and Back by Kenneth Tanaka
• Born Together With All Beings by Jeff Wilson
• The Buddha of Infinite Light and Life, an interview with Mark and Taitetsu Unno
• Born-Again Buddhist by Clark Strand
• Beyond Religion: An interview with Rev. Dr. Alfred Bloom
• Essential and Pure: Core Principles in Shin Buddhism by Jeff Wilson
• The Great Compassion, an interview with Rev. Patricia Kanaya Usuki
• Number One Fool by Taitetsu Unno
• Living Buddhism by Dharmavidya David Brazier
• Unconditional Love by Dharmavidya David Brazier
• Get Real: An interview with Shin Reverend Patti Nakai
• Let Grace In by Dharmavidya David Brazier
• Review of Shin Buddhism by Taitetsu Unno
• Come Together by Jeff Wilson
• A Successful Encounter by Duncan Ryuken Williams
• Even Dewdrops Fall: An Interview with Taitetsu Unno
• Ordinary Struggles by Clark Strand
• In the Pure Land by Rick Fields
• Other-Power by David Brazier

OTHER RESOURCES

• Daibutsu: The Great Buddha of Kamakura

• The Eastern Buddhist is a journal started by D. T. Suzuki in 1921. Suzuki became a Shin practitioner in later life and wrote the influential book Shin Buddhism, which was later retitled “Buddha of Infinite Light.”
• Monshu Koshin Ohtani’s book “The Buddha’s Wish for the World,” released on the occasion of the 750th memorial for Shinran Shonin, is available on Amazon and Facebook.
• The Buddhist Churches of America (BCA) has a great bookstore, which is the perfect spot to look for books on Shin Buddhism.
• The four websites below are valuable resources on the practice of Shin Buddhism, as well as the life of Shinran Shonin, and the history of Buddhism in Japan:
• Jodo-Shinshu Buddhism: Dharma for the Modern Age
• Buddhist Churches of America, Berkeley, California
• Jodo Shinshu Nishi Hongwanji

Namu Amida Butsu!