[caption id="attachment_2043" align="alignnone" width="285" caption="http://www.honen-shinran.com/"][/caption] A very special exhibition has been organised by the Tokyo National Museum to commemorate the 800th Grand Memorial of Honen and the 750th Grand Memorial of Shinran, the two great masters of Kamakura Buddhism.

Visit exhibition website (in Japanese): Treasures Related to the Great Masters of the Kamakura Buddhism

The Kamakura period (1185-1333) in Japan was a period marked by the concentration of military power in the hands of a specialised fighting class. It was during these unsettling times that Buddhism flourished. Honen (1133-1212) was a religious reformer who is considered the founder of the first independent branch of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism called Jodo shu. During those turbulent times, Honen propagated the belief that salvation could be achieved by reciting the name of Amitabha or the Buddha of Infinite Light (practice known as nembutsu). Shinran (1173-1263), was a disciple of Honen and ultimately became the founder of the Jodo Shinshu sect. Unlike his mentor, Shinran taught that the nembutsu should be recited as a form of gratitude and not as a means of salvation. His teachings were different enough from Honen as such later followers use the term Jōdo Shinshū or "True [Essence of the] Pure Land Sect", in contrast to Honen's Jodo Shu or "Pure Land Sect". This exhibition will feature for first time, various treasures to narrate the lives of these two important Buddhist teachers.