During the end of the 11th century there was war between the Taira and the Minamoto families.
Marimoto no Yoritomo was victorious and this marks the beginning of the first Kamakura Shogunate
(Kamakura bakufu); officially established in 1192 C.E. He relocated his government from Kyoto to
Kamakura in the vicinity of the present day Tokyo.
Two new sects, Jōdo shū (Pure Land Buddhism) and Zen (Meditation), made Buddhism more available to common people.
‘Mappō’ (Degeneration of the True Dharma) Theory was initially conceived by Chih-I of the Chinese T’ien T’ai School. This theory held that the Buddhist religion was destined to decline in three successive stages and that the last stage had begun.
One of the first references that can be classified as embryonic mappō thought is found in the Samyutta Nikaya:
“The neglect of certain practices will cause the true Dhamma to pass away not long after the demise of the Buddha.” (S V, 173)
Hui-szu (515-577 C.E.) of the T’ien T’ai sect was the first in China to clearly distinguish the periods and
assign them definite dates. In the Li-shih-yuan-wen he arranged them as follows:
1) True Teachings – 500 years. After the death of the Buddha, when the teaching, practice and attainment of Buddhist doctrines were possible.
2) Simulated Teachings – 1000 years. When only the teaching and practice remain.
3) Degeneration – 10,000 years. When the teaching alone remains and there is no longer any practice or attainment.
Amitabha (Pure Land Buddhism)
The first of the three great traditions of Kamakura Buddhism, the doctrine of Pure Land continued the
development which had begun in the Heian period. This was the founding of an independent sect of
Jōdo shū by Genku (1133 to 1212 C.E.) also known as Hōnen.
Hōnen summarized his own beliefs as Senshu (specialized) Nembutsu. Nembutsu means literally
“mindfulness of the Buddha” (interpreted as “I entrust in the Buddha of Immeasurable Light and
Eternal Life”). This is meant as having an awareness of the Buddha in every moment of life.
Among able disciples of Hōnen was Shinran (1173-1263 C.E.), founder of the Jōdo Shin School or the
True Pure Land sect in Japan.
He also advocated the practice of nembutsu like his predecessors, but with a difference. Jōdo Shin
sect’s theology is basically oriented towards those who have already attained the stages of self-
awareness, which, in other words, can be termed as the recognition of faith as a starting point of a
Buddhist way of life. They are the individuals capable of recognizing deceitful guises of the ego. The
basis of attitude toward life in Jōdo Shin School is a profound self-reflection – an act that makes one
painfully aware of the total futility and absurdity of all one’s actions.