By Rev. Ken Yamada
Visitors to Higashi Honganji’s mother temple in Kyoto must be surprised to find on its main altar—not the Buddha—but rather, a statue of Shinran Shonin. Even I was surprised when I first saw it.
The largest hall at the denomination’s headquarters is dedicated to Jōdo Shinshū’s founder, which makes sense. Nonetheless, over the centuries the image of Shinran (1173-1263) played an outsized role in the transmission and understanding of Shinshū teachings. In turn, the way people viewed him changed over time. Continue reading “Changing Image of Shinran Shonin”