Tags: Religious.
Hōnen (法然 May 13 1133 – February 29 1212) is the religious reformer and founder of the first independent branch of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism called Jōdo-shū (浄土宗 The Pure Land School). In the related Jōdo Shinshū sect he is considered the Seventh Patriarch. Hōnen became a monk of the Tendai sect at an early age but grew disaffected and sought an approach to Buddhism that anyone could follow even during the perceived Age of Dharma Decline.
