Nembutsu

Nembutsu is the devotional practice of invoking Amitabha Buddha, most often by reciting his name. Its meaning and role vary across Pure Land Buddhist traditions.

Nianfo: The Chinese Buddhist practice of recollecting or invoking a Buddha, especially Amitabha. Nembutsu developed in Japan from this Chinese practice of Buddha-recollection.
Larger Sukhavativyuha Sutra: A Mahayana sutra recounting Amitabha's vows and describing his Pure Land. Its eighteenth vow became a scriptural foundation for nembutsu-based birth in the Pure Land.
Jodo Shinshu: A Japanese Pure Land school founded by Shinran and centered on reliance upon Amitabha's vow. It rejects counting recitations as a self-powered means of attaining birth in the Pure Land.
Pure Land: A purified realm created or sustained by a Buddha, where conditions favor progress toward awakening. Many practitioners recite nembutsu while aspiring to rebirth in Amitabha's Pure Land.
Mappo: The Buddhist doctrine that the true teaching declines in successive ages after the Buddha's death. Honen presented nembutsu as a practice suited to people living in this degenerate age.
Amitabha: A Buddha associated with the Pure Land of Sukhavati and vows to aid beings who aspire to birth there. His name is the central object of nembutsu invocation.
Pure Land Buddhism: A Mahayana Buddhist tradition centered on rebirth in a Buddha's purified realm, especially Amitabha's Sukhavati. Nembutsu is one of the tradition's defining devotional practices.
Jodo Shu: A Japanese Pure Land school founded by Honen that emphasizes reciting Amitabha's name. Its emphasis on repeated recitation differs from Shinran's account of nembutsu as an expression of entrusting.
Gokuraku: The Japanese name for Sukhavati, Amitabha Buddha's western Pure Land. It is the destination sought in Japanese nembutsu devotion.
Ippen: A Japanese Buddhist teacher who founded the Ji school and spread nembutsu through itinerant preaching and dance. His movement carried invocation into public festivals and popular performance.

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