Customer Reviews

Honen The Buddhist Saint: Essential Writings and Official Biography (Spiritual Masters: East and West)

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Joseph A. Fitzgerald edits Honen The Buddhist Saint: Essential Writings And Official Biography, a condensed biography in English translation of a 1925 original publication. Buddhist readers will relish the rare presentation of Honen's life and teachings, as well as the background history and Fitzgerald has done a fine job of synthesizing an original multi-volume scholarly presentation into a standard paperback even non-Buddhists will learn from.

Honen was the father of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism and yet he is often overshadowed by his student Shinran. This is curious, since Shinran himself never claimed to teach anything other then what his late master taught him. Quotations from Honen are hard to come by and that alone makes this book worth buying. But aside from Honen's voluminous writings and the scholary account of this extradorniary man's life, this book is embellished with dozens of beautiful images. Most are reproductions of prints from Honen's offical biography (of which this work is an abridgment) while others are photos of statues, pagodas, and depictions of Amida.

The material of Honen's is a combinations of quotations, letters he wrote to disciples, and an abridged 'catechism' of sorts on the practice of nembutsu that he wrote for posterity. It truly is amazing that though his message is essentially so simple that the most uneducated peasent could understand, it nonetheless possesses a philosophical depth comparable to any other school of Buddhism. These 'deeper' aspects of Jodo Buddhism are explained in this book for those who feel inclined to study. Nonetheless, even the above teachings are not in any way superflous to Honen's simple teaching. Honen was a highly erudite, but ultimately practical man who had no patience for aimless philosophical conjecture. Even his highest intellectual achievements do not deviate or detract one iota from his simple message: that all sentient beings, no matter their level of intelligence or moral development, can achieve enlightenment through Amida's primal vow.

"Honen the Buddhist Saint: Essential Writings and Official Biography is a remarkably accessible edition of the original volume that was first translated in 1925 by Rev. Harper Havelock Coates and Rev. Ryugaku Ishizuka entitled Honen the Buddhist Saint: His Life and Teaching (Kyoto: Chionin, 1925). This initial work was encyclopedic in scope consisting of five volumes offering the most detailed study of Honen available in English. The drawback of this monumental work was its inaccessibility as it was daunting for Buddhist practitioners and lay readers to approach. However, this new abridged edition makes Honen available to both scholars and lay readers alike, providing what is most noteworthy in regards to the life of this great medieval Japanese monk and his teachings. The Introduction contains a comprehensive overview of Pure Land Buddhism written by Alfred Bloom, a foremost authority on Shin Buddhism, and there is also a Foreword by Clark Strand a Buddhist teacher, practitioner and writer."

-AHP Perspective, December 2008/January 2009

Maybe this review isn't fair since I will read anything about Honen. I found this book both as a good read as well as a reference.

Worth the price.