The Jōdo-shū as an independent sect is not to be confused with the term "Jōdo Tradition" (Jōdo-kei, 浄土系) which is used as a classification for "Japanese Pure land Buddhism" in general.

In time, Hōnen gathered disciples from all walks of life, and developed a large following, notably women, who had been excluded from serious Buddhist practice up to this point.

[13] Eventually, Hōnen was pardoned and returned to Kyoto in 1211, but died soon after in 1212, just two days after giving his final testament, the One-Sheet Document to disciple Genchi.

[15] Ryūkan (1148–1227) emphasized faith in Amida’s vow as the path to salvation and actively defended Hōnen against criticism from Tendai and other sects.

Kōsai (1163–1247) promoted the idea that a single recitation of the nembutsu (ichinen-gi) was sufficient for birth in the Pure Land, drawing on the doctrine of innate enlightenment (hongaku).

Unlike Ryūkan and Kōsai, Shōku avoided exile during the persecution and led the nembutsu community in Kyoto, where five prominent lineages later emerged.

Shinran and Ryūkan’s followers established nembutsu communities in the Kantō region, while Benchō strengthened the movement in Kyūshū, and Kōsai spread Pure Land teachings in Shikoku.

[15] As doctrinal disagreements between Hōnen's disciples Ryūkan, Chōsai, Kōsai and Shōkú escalated, a major debate occurred between two opposing positions: once-calling (Jp: ichinengi) and many-calling (tanengi).

[18] His teaching may have influenced Shinran (1173–1262), later recognized as the founder of Jōdo Shinshū (True Pure Land), who also emphasized absolute reliance on Amida’s other-power (tariki), rejecting personal effort as a means to salvation.

For Shinran, reciting the nembutsu was not a practice to achieve birth in the pure land, but an expression of gratitude for already being saved by Amida.

[15] Shinran also copied and preserved the earliest known compilation of Hōnen’s words, which he titled Saihō Shinanshō (A Teaching to the Western Land, T.

[18] For Ryūkan, constant recitation throughout one's life is what allowed one to attain birth in the pure land through the final moment at death by Amida's power.

Drawing from the Daichidoron, he wrote extensively to systematize Hōnen’s teachings, notably in Matsudai Nembutsu Jushuin and Tetsu Senchakushū.

[15] Shōku (1177 –1247) remained in Kyoto as the primary leader of Hōnen’s followers, guiding various groups despite brief periods of suppression in 1235 and 1240, which were less severe than the earlier persecutions.

[17] Chōsai (1199–1287), drawing on the Sutra of Immeasurable Life, maintained that all Buddhist practices, not just the nembutsu, could lead to birth in the Pure Land.

Despite this criticism, Chōsai’s approach gained acceptance among established Buddhist schools such as Tendai and Shingon, leading to a significant increase in his followers.

[17] Ryōchū directly challenged Chōsai’s view, arguing that only the nembutsu aligned with Amida’s original vow, and that other Buddhist practices were not inherently conducive to rebirth in the Pure Land.

While rejecting the idea that non-nembutsu practices corresponded to Amida’s vow, Ryōchū nonetheless acknowledged that they could still play a role in reaching the Pure Land.

[17] While in Kyoto, Ryōchū gave a series of influential lectures in which he argued that the nembutsu teaching supplanted and surpassed the "perfect precepts" of Tendai.

He also argued that the nembutsu was a kind of voluntary confession, seeing each recitation of Amida’s name as spontaneously evoking a sense of repentance, leading naturally to the purification of past karmic transgressions.

Renjaku-bo felt that Genchi and Benchō had been in complete agreement, so he willingly united his lineage with Ryōchū's, helping to further increase its standing.

[28] Another important figure within the reform movement was Fukuda Gyōkai (福田行誡), a Buddhist scholar, poet, and the head priest of Chion-in from 1887 to 1888.

[30] Before and during World War II, Jōdo-shū, along with other Buddhist sects, faced pressure to endorse the actions of Imperial Japan and its policy of State Shintō.

This included building several temples within Japan’s overseas colonies (all of which would later be destroyed in the years following the war) and providing memorial services to deceased soldiers as well as relief for their families.

[31] After the Second World War, during the 1940s and early 1950s, several temples broke off from the main Chinzei Branch of Jōdo-shū, forming their own independent sects.

In particular, Honen argued that it was through Amida Buddha's merit and compassion that one achieved rebirth, and since the nembutsu was explicitly called out in the Immeasurable Life Sutra in the 18th Vow (also known as the Primal Vow), it was the only practice that would work, especially in the latter age of Mappō, when people could no longer effectively put the teachings of the Buddha into practice anymore.

Toward the end of the Immeasurable Life Sutra is the following passage: The Buddha further said, "I have expounded this teaching for the sake of sentient beings and enabled you to see Amitāyus and all in his land.

Those beings who encounter it will attain deliverance in accord with their aspirations.Since the Jōdo-shū school was founded near the end of the Heian period, when Buddhism in Japan had become deeply involved in political schemes, and some in Japan saw monks flaunting wealth and power, it was felt that society had already reached the era of latter days of the Dharma, and that, based on the passage above, all other practices had ceased to have any efficacy.

namu amida butsu (南無阿弥陀仏, "Praise to the Buddha Amitabha"), is the most fundamental practice of Jōdo-shū, which derives from the Primal Vow of Amitābha.

There is no strict rule on this however, as Jōdo-shū stresses that the compassion of Amitābha is extended to all beings who recite the nembutsu, so how one observes auxiliary practices is left to the individual to decide.