Japan: Portrait of the Buddhist monk Honen by Fujiwara Takanobu, 12th Century

Hōnen (法然, May 13, 1133 - February 29, 1212) was the religious reformer and founder of the first independent branch of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism called Jōdo shū (浄土宗, 'The Pure Land School'). In the related Jōdo Shinshū sect, he is considered the Seventh Patriarch. Hōnen became a monk of the Tendai sect at an early age, but grew disaffected, and sought an approach to Buddhism that anyone could follow, even during the perceived Age of Dharma Decline. After discovering the writings of Chinese Buddhist, Shan-tao, he undertook the teaching of rebirth in the Pure Land of Amitabha through reciting the Buddha's name, or nembutsu.

Hōnen gathered a wide array of followers, but also critics. The emperor exiled Hōnen and his followers in 1207, after an incident regarding two of his disciples, in addition to persuasion by certain influential Buddhist communities. Hōnen was eventually pardoned and allowed to return to Kyoto where he stayed for a short time before his death.

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