Nianfo

The Nianfo (Chinese: 念佛; pinyin: niànfó, alternatively in Japanese 念仏 (ねんぶつ, nenbutsu); Korean: 염불; RR: yeombul; or Vietnamese: niệm Phật) is a Buddhist practice central to East Asian Buddhism.

In the context of East Asian Pure Land practice, nianfo typically refers to the oral repetition of the name of Amitābha through the phrase "Homage to Amitabha Buddha" (Ch: 南無阿彌陀佛, Mandarin: Nāmó Āmítuófó, Jp: Namu Amida Butsu; from the Sanskrit: Namo'mitābhāya Buddhāya).

In some contexts, the term nianfo can also refer to other meditative practices, such as various visualizations or the recitations of other phrases, dharanis, or mantras associated with Pure Land Buddhism, the Buddha Amitābha and his attendant bodhisattvas.

The earliest dated sutra translated into Chinese that describes Amitabha-focused nianfo (buddhānusmṛti) is the Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sūtra (1st century BCE), which is thought to have originated in ancient kingdom of Gandhāra.

[6] Among the most frequently cited examples in East Asian Pure Land Buddhism is found in the Sutra on the Buddha of Immeasurable Life where Amitabha's vows are enumerated.

[9] It also explains how one's assurance of birth in the Pure Land may be attained before death:When he is about to die, he may meet a good teacher, who consoles him in various ways…but he is too tormented by pain to do so.

[9] In the Sanskrit editions, phrases related to nianfo in the Sukhāvatīvyūha include "producing a thought directed toward a vision of Amitabha" (cittam utpādayanty amitābhasya...darśanāya) and "hearing the name" (buddhanāmaṣravaṇena).

[11][12] The Sanskrit edition of the longer sutra also speaks of "remembering [the Buddha] with a faithful mind" (prasannacittā māmanusmareyuḥ) and "obtaining even as little as one moment of a serene thought about the Tathagata" (hīnādhimuktikā bhaviṣyanti ye 'ntaśaekacittaprasādamapi tasmiṃstathāgate).

Tanluan taught that, through nianfo, which included visualizing Amitabha and reciting his name with faith, one could tune into the "other power" of this Buddha, which could purify one's mind and take one to the Pure Land of Sukhavati.

[29] For Shandao, the nianfo of "orally holding Amitāyus's name" (kǒuchēng Mítuó mínghào 口稱彌陀名號) was Pure Land Buddhism's main practice.

For example, in The Meritorious Dharma Gate of the Samādhi Involving Contemplation of the Ocean-like Marks of the Buddha Amitābha (Chinese: 阿彌陀佛相海三昧功德法門; pinyin: Ēmítuófó xiāng hǎi sānmèi gōngdé fǎmén), Shandao prescribes a specific set of rituals and practices (including visualization techniques) to help dying Buddhist devotees avoid bad rebirths and attain rebirth in the Pure Land.

These sources reflect a traditional Chinese concern about various more complicated requirements for rebirth in the Pure Land, which include but are not limited to the recitation of Amitābha's name on one's deathbed.

[41] The Eminent monks of the Ming, such as Zhibo Zhenke and Yunqi Zhuhong (1535–1615), also taught on the unity of Chan and Pure land nianfo, as well as drawing on Huayan and Tiantai thought.

Aside from being a popular chant and meditation, the nianfo is also seen as auspicious and is written and reproduced in many ways including calligraphy scrolls, public inscriptions, charms, amulets, and altarpieces.

[55] According to Wŏnhyo's Muryangsu-gyŏng chongyo (無量壽經宗要, Doctrinal Essentials of the Sūtra on the Visualization of Immeasurable Life), the most important element of the practice of nianfo is to recite the name with bodhicitta and with a sincere repentant mind (K: chisim 至心).

[55] Another important Korean exponent of nianfo practice is Uisang (625–702), who wrote a commentary on the Amitabha sutra, the Amit’a-gyŏng ŭigi (阿彌陀經義記 The meaning of the Amituo jing).

[56] The nembutsu was also important in the Tendai school, the Japanese branch of Tiantai which relied on meditation practices taught in Zhiyi's Mohe Zhiguan.

[58] By the end of the 12th century, distinctive sects focused exclusively on the practice of nembutsu as a verbal recitation for the purposes of being reborn in the Pure Land arose.

[66] Another important Shingon author on nembutsu was Chingai, who writes of the “essence of the pure [land] teachings,” in his Ketsujō ōjō shū 決定往生集 (T. 2684).

As such, the nembutsu is a powerful mantra that turns one's heart-mind towards an awareness of one's own innate buddha-nature, which is none other than the Dharmakaya itself, the fundamental empty consciousness at the ground of all things.

[75] This branch of Jodo-shu has been seen by modern scholars as being the source of the Pure Land tract Attaining the Settled Mind (Anjin ketsujō shō).

They are taught by monastics and lay teachers and are found in classic text and popular publications like Zhèng Wéiān's Forty-Eight Ways to Nianfo (Ch.

[92] Tiānrú Wéizé's (1286?–1354) Questions about Pure Land (T.1972) meanwhile provides two main categories: visualization (guānxiǎng 觀想), and recollection and invocation (yìniàn 意念).

[113] While Zōngmì held that the fourth method of nianfo was the most profound, the later Pure Land patriarch Yúnqī Zhūhóng reversed this progression in his Commentary and Notes on the Amitābha Sūtra (Ch.

[115] The Japanese Tendai monk Genshin devotes a chapter on nianfo practice in his influential Ōjōyōshū (Essentials for Birth in the Pure Land).

[119] True faith was also emphasized by Japanese authors like Shinran, who saw complete entrustment (Jp: shinjin) as the one central and essential element of nianfo practice.

While almost unknown, and unused outside of the original Sanskrit, the texts provide a recitation of Amitābha's alternate aspect of Amitāyus as: A literal translation of this version would be "Namo Buddha of Infinite Life".

[136] Shingon Buddhism makes use of the following mantra of Amitabha which is found in The Nine Grades of Rebirth Amita Samādhi Dhāraṇī Sūtra (九品往生阿彌陀三摩地集陀羅尼經, Taisho no.

The founder, Shinran, used a nine-character Kujimyōgō (九字名号) in the Shoshinge and the Sanamidabutsuge (讃阿弥陀佛偈) hymns: 南無不可思議光如来 Na mu fu ka shi gi kō nyo rai "I take refuge in Inconceivable Light Tathagata!"

Namo Acintya-prabha TathagataFurther, the "restorer" of Jodo Shinshu, Rennyo, frequently inscribed the nianfo for followers using a 10-character Jūjimyōgō (十字名号): 帰命尽十方無碍光如来 Ki myō jin jip-pō mu ge kō nyo rai