JJRS > Volume 43 Issue 1 Recognizing the Founder, Seeing Amida Buddha: Kakunyo’s Hōon kōshiki

Callahan, Christopher

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With the production of a eulogy known as Hōon kōshiki and illustrated biographies known as the Shinran den’e, Kakunyo re-envisioned Shinran as the founder of a distinct religious community that would come to be called Jōdo Shinshū and redefined Shin Buddhist piety as gratitude toward Amida Buddha. This article examines the close organic relation between the Hōon kōshiki and Shinran den’e, reading the two texts side by side with attention to their performative dimensions and demonstrating how they transformed the memorial services for Shinran into an opportunity to recognize him as the founder and “see” him as Amida Buddha.