Born a son of Uruma no Tokikuni, a warrior of Mimasaka (Okayama). His childhood name was Seishimaru.
At 8 he lost his father in a night attack born of a dispute. His father is said to have told him, "Do not hate the enemy; revenge would never end the strife. Become a monk and seek a way for all to be saved."
Around this time he went up Mount Hiei to study Tendai doctrine (year debated). A tireless scholar, he was called "Hōnen-bō, foremost in wisdom".
At 17 he withdrew to Kurodani deep in Mount Hiei to train under the master Eikū. Indifferent to advancement, he sought only the path of salvation; the name Hōnen dates from this time.
In the year of the Hōgen Rebellion he visited Seiryō-ji in Kyoto and elsewhere, still agonizing over a path for people who could not be saved by learning alone, it is said.
Reading the Chinese master Shandao, he reached the teaching that anyone who chants "Namu Amida Butsu" can be reborn in the Pure Land. At 42 he left Mount Hiei and began preaching in Higashiyama, Kyoto—regarded as the founding of Jōdo-shū.
At Ōhara near Kyoto he is said to have discussed the nenbutsu with scholar-monks of many schools, impressing many (year debated).
At the request of the regent Kujō Kanezane he wrote the Senchakushū, setting out the nenbutsu teaching. People of every rank—nobles, warriors and commoners—gathered to hear him.
The young monk Shinran, who had left Mount Hiei, became his disciple and revered him all his life.
When Mount Hiei monks demanded a ban on the nenbutsu, he issued a seven-article admonition against his disciples' excesses and had them sign it.
Over his disciples' conduct the nenbutsu was banned; Hōnen was stripped of his monk's status and exiled to Sanuki in Shikoku, and several disciples were executed. Even so, he reportedly said it was a chance to teach people in the provinces.
Pardoned, he returned to Ōtani in Higashiyama, Kyoto, his aged body now frail.
Shortly before his death, at a disciple's request, he wrote the One-Sheet Document summarizing the nenbutsu teaching. He passed away peacefully while chanting the nenbutsu.
Minamoto no YoritomoHōjō MasakoMinamoto no YoshitsuneShinranHōjō YasutokiDōgenNichirenHōjō Tokimune
People of the Kamakura period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.