Genshin
Genshin studied under Ryōgen, a key reformer of the Tendai tradition, and became well known for his intellectual prowess, particularly after his success in a major debate at Mount Hiei in 974.
[1][2] Genshin spent much of his later life at the secluded Eshin-in monastery in Yokawa on Mount Hiei, where he focused on scholarly pursuits and meditation.
[3] Genshin was the first Japanese figure to write a systematic Pure Land Buddhist treatise, emphasizing a holistic path that incorporated various practices such as meditation and precepts in conjunction with the nembutsu.
As the tension and violence between the two factions of the Tendai sect worsened, in large part due to Ryōgen's policies overtly favoring one over the other, Genshin retired to more remote Yokawa region of Mount Hiei by 981, and evidence shows increasing interest in Pure Land Buddhist teachings than before.
While Genshin was deeply interested in Pure Land, his works also cover many other topics, including Tendai soteriology, Buddhist logic, and Abhidharma.
According to the records from the time, the stated goal of the Fellowship was for its members to mutually assist one another in their efforts to be reborn in the Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha and away from the turbulent of the declining age of the Dharma they believed they were living in.
[8] In 986, Genshin did journey on a pilgrimage to Kyushu where he came into contact with Chinese Buddhist monks (and merchant escorts) who were staying there, and they exchanged works with one another.
A merchant named Yang Renzhao (楊仁昭) reported that a copy of Ōjōyōshū was deposited there at Guoqingsi Temple on Mount Tiantai some time before 990.
[11] In his final days, he lay mostly bedridden, grasping a string tied to the hand of a statue of Amitabha Buddha per his own "deathbed nembutsu" practice.
As such, his writings reflect a standard Tendai worldview and a deep understanding of the classic Tiantai teachings on meditation (as found in Zhiyi's Mohe Zhiguan), and doctrine (such as the three truths).
As such, Genshin is similar to previous Tendai affiliated Pure Land figures like the popular preacher Kūya and the scholar-monk Senkan.
[4] A related belief common at the time was that the world had entered the degenerate age of the Dharma (Japanese: mappo), and that the only hope for salvation lay in the reliance on the power of Amitabha.
The most important and widely cited sources in Genshin's Ōjōyōshū are the works of the Chinese Pure Land masters Shandao and Huaigan.
"nine-phase pictures") in which nine stages of a corpse in decay were displayed that served the purpose of liberation from sensual desires by contemplation of impurity.
[5] Genshin's influence in contemporary Japanese culture today is primarily due to his treatise, Ōjōyōshū, particularly its graphic descriptions of the Buddhist hell realms (地獄 jigoku), which inspired a genre of horror and morality stories.
