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Ippen

Type Figure Region Japan Time 1239–1289 Also known as 一遍上人、智真、游行上人、Ippen、Ippen Shōnin、Chishin

Ippen (1239–1289), lay name Chishin, from Iyo Province, a Japanese Pure Land monk of the Kamakura period and founder of the Ji school.…

Timeline

  1. 1239–1251Iyo Province · IyoIppen was born into a warrior family in Iyo Province and later took ordination under the name Chishin. In his youth, family misfortune and faith led him to Buddhism, leaving lay life and laying the groundwork for his later travels to Mount Hiei and Kyushu to study Pure Land.
  2. c. 1251–1273Mount Hiei · YamashiroChishin first received Tendai and precept training on Mount Hiei, then went to Kyushu to study Pure Land nembutsu with Shōtatsu and others. At this stage he was still a traveling monk within existing communities, not yet having formed an independent fusa-suda traveling teaching.
  3. 1274–1288Kumano Hongū · KiiIn the eleventh year of Bun'ei, Ippen received an oracle at Kumano and began distributing fusa-suda talismans inscribed with "Namu Amida Butsu" to passersby, leading groups in travel and promoting dancing nembutsu. He taught that the Name itself is salvation, independent of temple estates and fixed temples, forming the core practice of the later Ji school.
  4. 1289Hyōgo, Settsu Province · SettsuIn the autumn of the second year of Shōō, Ippen passed away near Hyōgo in Settsu at the age of fifty-one. His disciples continued traveling and distributing fusa-suda, gradually forming a genealogically organized Ji school community. His dharma words were later compiled in works such as the Ippen Shōnin Goroku, though early texts were mostly arranged by disciples.

Sources