The Japanese Pure Land master Shinran (1173-1262) was a product of his age. His angst in the period of the decay of the Dharma, his subsequent search for spiritual liberation, and his ultimate discovery of the path of the nembutsu could not have occurred isolated from the social temper of his time, any more than his religious thought could have developed beyond the fabric of traditional Japanese Buddhist teachings and practices.

This study concentrates on the relationship between Shinran's experiences in the first half of his life and his historical and social environment. Both the...