[paragraph continues] Yakushi Nyorai, Kokuzo and Jizo, duly reverenced, bestowed peace after death upon their worshippers. Princes and nobles were generous in finding endowments for temples, and the services were frequent and reverent. And then came Honen, who turned away from his master, rejected his disciples, and bade men worship none but the Buddha of the Western land.

Honen pushed aside the Nyorai of the Eastern Quarter, he exalted only the four volumes containing the Three Books of the Pure Land, and threw away the whole sacred Canon of the "Whole Life in Five Periods." As a consequence of his preaching, men refused to make contributions to temples that were not dedicated to Amida, and forgot to pay their tithes to priests who were not of the Nembutsu. Thus temples and halls have fallen into ruin, so that for a long time they have been uninhabitable, and many cloisters have fallen into disrepair, and are covered with rank vegetation on which the dew lies thick and undisturbed. But none heeded the ruin of the temples, none would repair or give support; and therefore the priests who lived there, and the deities who protected the people, have left the temples and refuse to return. For all this who is to blame but Honen and his Senchaku?

Woe, woe! During the last thirty or forty years, thousands of people have been enchanted and led astray, so that they wander in Buddhism as men without a guide. Is it not to be expected that the good deities should be angry when men depart from the truth? Is it not natural that evil spirits should make the most of their

opportunities, when they see men forsake justice and love unrighteous deeds? It is better far to exert ourselves to stay an impending calamity than to repeat the vain Nembutsu.

The Visitor (changing colour). Since the time when our true teacher S'akyamuni preached the Three Sutras of the Pure Land, we have had a succession of teachers elaborating this theme. Donran Hoshi preached much on the Four S'astras and devoted himself solely to the subject of the Pure Land; Doshaku ceased to think about the great work of the Nirvana, and gave himself wholly to the service of the Western Direction; Zendo laid aside all miscellaneous devotions to concentrate himself upon this special worship; Genshin organized (within the Tendai) a society of Nembutsu worshippers whose faith rested on many Sutras. All these men worshipped Amida. Were not their labours blessed to the salvation of many? (Ojo no hito sore ikubaku zo ya?)

Again, you must remember that Honen Shonin, as a young man, went up Mount Tendai (i.e. Hieizan), where he read through sixty volumes of Sutras, though he was but a young man, and mastered the principal doctrines of all the eight sects. He read the Sutras through, seven times in all, and no commentaries or biographies escaped his attention. His knowledge was as bright as the sun,