Ji-shū
Ji-shu
Japanese Buddhist sect
Ji-shū (時宗, lit. time sect) is one of four schools belonging to the Pure Land within Japanese Buddhism . The other three are Jōdo-shū ("the Pure Land"), Jōdo Shinshū ("the True Pure Land") and Yūzū Nembutsu . The school has around 500 temples and 3,400,000 followers. Ji-shū means "school of time"[1] and the name is derived from its central teaching of reciting Nembutsu at regular intervals.[2]
In the general classification of Buddhism in Japan, the Jōdo-shū, the Jōdo Shinshu, the Ji-shu and the Yuzu Nembutsu shu are collectively classified into the lineage of Jōdo Buddhism. (Jōdo kei, 浄土系)[3][4]
The school was founded in 1270 by Ippen .[5] In addition to practicing nembutsu,[6] he was strongly influenced by the non-dualism within Zen . He even received Dharma transmission as a Zen master from Rōshi Kakushin.[7][8]
Other practices associated with the Ji-shū include scheduled sessions of chanting (hence the name Ji-shū "Time sect"), the handing out of slips of paper with the nembutsu written on them,[2] and keeping a register of the converted.
Shōjōkō-ji (清浄光寺), a temple located in Fujisawa, Kanagawa, and serves as the headquarters of the sect today.[9] [10]