MURYOKO
'Infinite Light'
Journal of Shin Buddhism
Harold Stewart
Rennyo Shonin
Rennyo Shonin (1415-99) was the most able abbot among the later followers of Shinran and is known as 'Rennyo the Renewer' because he brought about a widespread revival of Shin Buddhism two centuries after his master's death, when the Shin sect seemed in some danger of dying out. It was he, indeed, who established this branch of the Pure Land teachings as a great popular religious institution; and his letters, in five volumes, called Ofumi or Gobunsho, are still read as part of Shinshu services. In a letter to his follower, Ken-en, Rennyo suggests that there is really no self-power because there is no self. Since all power derives from the Other Power of Amida Buddha, who graciously delegates to us that power which we erroneously believe to be our own, everything that we receive in this life, including life itself, comes to us as a free gift from his Light and Life.