aith is the only means to
enter."

Salvation Through the Merits of Another.

In this absolute trust in the all-saving power of Amida as compared with
the ways promulgated before, we see the emergence of the Buddhist
doctrine of justification by faith, the simplification of theology, and
a revolt against Buddhist scholasticism. The Japanese technical term,
"_tariki_," or relying upon the strength of another, renouncing all idea
of _ji-riki_ or self-power,[8] is the substance of the J[=o]-d[=o]
doctrine; but the expanded term _ta-riki chin no ji-riki_, or
"self-effort depending on another," while expressing the whole dogma, is
rather scornfully applied to the J[=o]-d[=o]ists by the men of the Shin
sect. The invocation of Amida is a meritorious act of the believer, much
repetition being the substance of this combination of personal and
vicarious work.

H[=o]-nen, after making his discovery, believing it possible for all
mankind eventually to attain to perfect Buddhaship, left, as we have
seen, the Ten-dai sect, which represented particularism and laid
emphasis on the idea of the elect. H[=o]-nen taught Buddhist
universalism. Belief and repetition of prayer secure birth into the Pure
Land after the death of the body, and then the soul moves onward toward
the perfection of Buddha-hood.

The Japanese were delighted to have among them a genius who could thus
Japanize Buddhism, and J[=o]-d[=o] doctrine went forth conquering and to
conquer. From the twelfth century, the tendency of Japanese Buddhism is
in the direction of universalism and democracy. In later developments of
J[=o]-d[=o], the pantheistic tendencies are emphasized and the
syncretistic powers are enlarged. While mysticism is a striking feature
of the sect and the attainment of truth is by the grace of Amida, yet
the native Kami of Japan are logically accepted as avatars of Buddha.
History had little or no rights in the case; philosophy was dictator,
and that philosophy was H[=o]-nen's. Those later Chinese deities made by
personifying attributes or abstract ideas, which sprang up after the
introduction of Buddhism into China, are also welcomed into the temples
of this sect. That the common people really believe that they themselves
may attain Buddha-hood at death, and enter the Pure Land, is shown in
the fact that their ordinary expression for the dead saint is Hotoke--a
general term for all the gods that were once human. Some popular
proverbs indicate this