Honen The Buddhist Saint: Essential Writings and Official Biography

by Joseph A. Fitzgerald (Editor)

Honen Shonin (1133-1212 A.D.) founded the largest Buddhist sect in Japan (Pure Land, or Shin). This edited biography contains an Introduction by renowned Buddhist scholar, Alfred Bloom.

Genres: Buddhism

192 pages, Paperback

First published June 22, 2006

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: Good Biography, But Would Recommend The Promise of Amida Buddha To Learn Honen's Teachings

This book is a very good resource to learn about Honen's life and followers.

However, without reading other resources on Honen's teaching, it may be possible to misunderstand some of his teachings, both due the brevity of the sections on the teachings and this book's frequent use of Christian terminology for Buddhist terms. The Promise of Amida Buddha is a much better resource to learn Honen's teachings.

[Drew Tschirki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m surprised it took me this long to read this book due to this being my field of study. The book itself is fine, but I agree with another reviewer that in order to get a better view of Honen’s doctrine that the Atone book is better.

But as a (partial) translation of an illustrated biography of Honen this book is wonderful.