the succession of the apostles, teachers and rulers, and the validity of
this or that method of ordination, form a large part of the literature
of controversy. Nevertheless, as in the case of many a Christian sect
which calls itself the only true church, the date of the organization of
J[=o]-d[=o] was centuries later than that of the Founder and apostles of
the original faith. Five hundred years after Zen-d[=o] (A.D. 600-650),
the great propagator of the J[=o]-d[=o] philosophy, H[=o]-nen, the
founder of the J[=o]-d[=o] sect, was born; and this phase of organized
Buddhism, like that of Shin Shu and Nichirer Shu, may be classed under
the head of Eastern or Japanese Buddhism.

When only nine years of age, the boy afterward called H[=o]-nen, was
converted by his father's dying words. He went to school in his native
province, but his priest-teacher foreseeing his greatness, sent him to
the monastery of Hiyéizan, near Ki[=o]to. The boy's letter of
introduction contained only these words: "I send you an image of the
Bodhisattva, (Mon-ju) Manjusri." The boy shaved his head and received
the precepts of the Ten-dai sect, but in his eighteenth year, waiving
the prospect of obtaining the headship of the great denomination, he
built a hut in the Black Ravine and there five times read through the
five thousand volumes[4] of the Tripitaka. He did this for the purpose
of finding out, for the ordinary and ignorant people of the present day,
how to escape from misery. He studied Zen-d[=o]'s commentary, and
repeated his examination eight times. At last, he noticed a passage in
it beginning with the words, "Chiefly remember or repeat the name of
Amida with a whole and undivided heart." Then he at once understood the
thought of Zen-d[=o], who taught in his work that whoever at any time
practises to remember Buddha, or calls his name even but once, will gain
the right effect of going to be born in the Pure Land after death. This
Japanese student then abandoned all sorts of practices which he had