This paper examines the influence of the Chinese monk Yongming Yanshou (904–975) on Japanese Pure Land thought, which flourished in Nara during the Insei period (1086–1185). Renowned Japanese Buddhist thinkers of the time, such as Yōkan (1033–1111) and Chinkai (1091–1152), who respectively authored the Ōjōjūin and Bodaishinshū, were informed by Yanshou’s writings.
Yongming Yanshou was a disciple of Tiantai Deshao (891–972) and the third ancestor of the Fayan Chan lineage. Zen monks frequently cited Yanshou’s seminal text Zongjing lu, though he also was prominent as a patriarch of Pure Land teachings in Japan during the Heian period. The Shinshū ōjōden describes Yanshou as having achieved the highest of the nine grades of birth in the Pure Land. This story repeatedly appears in Chinkai’s Bodaishinshū, the Agui text Gensenshū, Kōfukuji sōjō, and other Buddhist writings. Yanshou’s legend circulated with the latest information that came from China in the Heian period. Here, I discuss the transmission of Yanshou’s teachings and legends from the Tōnan-in temple at Tōdai-ji and its impact on Pure Land Buddhism during this time.
