Nianfo
Encyclopedia
Nianfo is a term commonly seen in the Pure Land
school of Mahāyāna
Buddhism
. It derives from the Sanskrit
term , which means "mindfulness of the Buddha
." In the context of Pure Land practice, it generally refers to the repetition of the name of Amitābha
Buddha.
is not mentioned originally in the bodies of the two main Pure Land sutras, it appears in the opening of the extant Sanskrit Infinite Life Sutra
as the following:
The apostrophe and omission of the first "A" in "Amitābha" comes from normal Sanskrit sandhi
transformation, and implies that the first "A" is implied and spoken more quickly. A more accessible rendering might be:
The phrase literally means "Homage to Infinite Light". The Sanskrit pronunciation is the following:
In China, the practice of nianfo was codified with the establishment of the separate Pure Land school of Buddhism. The most common form of this is the six syllable mantra, some shorten into Āmítuó Fó.
(skt. "Realm of Bliss"). It is felt that this act would help to negate vast stores of negative karma that might hinder one's pursuit of buddhahood
.
Sukhāvatī is a place of refuge where one can become enlightened without being distracted by the sufferings of our existence.
In Chinese Buddhism, the nianfo is specifically taken to be a type of mantra
used in meditation
, and it is often practiced while counting with Buddhist prayer beads
. In China there is also the combined practice of Pure Land and Chán
. As taught by Venerable Nan Huaijin, the nianfo is chanted slowly, and the mind is emptied out after each repetition. When idle thoughts arise, the nianfo is repeated again to clear them. With constant practice, the mind progressively empties and the meditator attains samādhi
.
Various Pure Land schools in Japan have different interpretations of the nianfo, often based on faith in Amitābha rather than on meditation. In the Jodo Shinshu
Buddhist tradition, the nianfo is reinterpreted as an expression of gratitude to Amitābha Buddha. The idea behind this is that rebirth into Sukhāvatī is assured the moment one first has faith in Amitābha.
(first century BCE), which is thought to have originated in ancient kingdom of Gandhāra
. This sutra does not enumerate any vows of Amitābha or the qualities of Sukhāvatī, but rather briefly describes the repetition of the name of Amitābha as a means to enter his realm through meditation.
Both the Immeasurable Life Sūtra
(Larger Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra) and the Amitābha Sūtra
(Smaller Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra) subsequently included instructions for practicing nianfo in this manner. However, it has not been determined which sūtra was composed first, and to what degree the practice of this form of nianfo had already been popularized in India. Nianfo directed at other buddhas and bodhisattvas is also advocated in sūtras from this period, for figures such as Akṣobhya
Buddha and Avalokitasvara Bodhisattva.
The practice of nianfo for Amitābha Buddha became very popular in India. With translations of the aforementioned sūtras as well as instruction from Indian monks, the practice rapidly spread to East Asia.
, Japan
in 1207 where Hōnen and his followers were banned from the city and forced into exile. This occurred when the leaders of older schools of Buddhism persuaded the civil authorities to prohibit the newer practices including the recitation of Namu Amida Butsu. The ban was lifted in 1211.
ese Mahāyāna monk who famously burned himself to death
in an act of protest, said the nianfo as his last words immediately before death. He sat in the lotus position
, rotated a string of wooden prayer beads, and recited the words "Nam Mô A Di Đà Phật" before striking the match and dropping it on himself.
Pure land
A pure land, in Mahayana Buddhism, is the celestial realm or pure abode of a Buddha or Bodhisattva. The various traditions that focus on Pure Lands have been given the nomenclature Pure Land Buddhism. Pure lands are also evident in the literature and traditions of Taoism and Bön.The notion of 'pure...
school of Mahāyāna
Mahayana
Mahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...
Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
. It derives from the Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
term , which means "mindfulness of the Buddha
Buddha
In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...
." In the context of Pure Land practice, it generally refers to the repetition of the name of Amitābha
Amitabha
Amitābha is a celestial buddha described in the scriptures of the Mahāyāna school of Buddhism...
Buddha.
Indian Sanskrit Nianfo
Although the Sanskrit phrase used in IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
is not mentioned originally in the bodies of the two main Pure Land sutras, it appears in the opening of the extant Sanskrit Infinite Life Sutra
Infinite Life Sutra
The Infinite Life Sūtra, or Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra is a Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtra, and the primary text of Pure Land Buddhism. It is the longest of the three major texts of Pure Land Buddhism...
as the following:
- namo'mitābhāya.
The apostrophe and omission of the first "A" in "Amitābha" comes from normal Sanskrit sandhi
Sandhi
Sandhi is a cover term for a wide variety of phonological processes that occur at morpheme or word boundaries . Examples include the fusion of sounds across word boundaries and the alteration of sounds due to neighboring sounds or due to the grammatical function of adjacent words...
transformation, and implies that the first "A" is implied and spoken more quickly. A more accessible rendering might be:
- Namo Amitābhāya.
The phrase literally means "Homage to Infinite Light". The Sanskrit pronunciation is the following:
- nɐmoːɐmit̪ɑːbʱɑːjɐ
Nianfo in Various forms
As the practice of nianfo spread from India to various other regions, the original pronunciation changed to fit various native languages.| Language | As written | Phonetic |
|---|---|---|
| Sanskrit | नमोऽमिताभाय | Namo Amitābhāya |
| Chinese | Traditional: 南無阿彌陀佛 Simplified: 南无阿弥陀佛 |
Nāmó Ēmítuófó |
| Japanese | Kanji Kanji Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet... : 南無阿弥陀仏 Hiragana Hiragana is a Japanese syllabary, one basic component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet . Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora... : なむ あみだ ぶつ |
Namu Amida Butsu |
| Korean | Hanja Hanja Hanja is the Korean name for the Chinese characters hanzi. More specifically, it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated into the Korean language with Korean pronunciation... : 南無阿彌陀佛 Hangul Hangul Hangul,Pronounced or ; Korean: 한글 Hangeul/Han'gŭl or 조선글 Chosŏn'gŭl/Joseongeul the Korean alphabet, is the native alphabet of the Korean language. It is a separate script from Hanja, the logographic Chinese characters which are also sometimes used to write Korean... : 나무아미타불 |
Namu Amita Bul |
| Vietnamese | Nam mô A di đà Phật | Nammo Ayida Fut (Southern) Nammo Azida Fut (Northern) |
In China, the practice of nianfo was codified with the establishment of the separate Pure Land school of Buddhism. The most common form of this is the six syllable mantra, some shorten into Āmítuó Fó.
Purpose of Nianfo
In most Pure Land traditions, mindfully chanting of the name of Amitābha Buddha is viewed as allowing one to obtain birth in Amitābha's western pure land called SukhāvatīSukhavati
Sukhāvatī refers to the western Pure Land of the Buddha Amitābha in Mahāyāna Buddhism. Sukhāvatī translates to "Land of Bliss."-In other languages:In traditional Mahayana Buddhist countries, there are a number of translations for Sukhāvatī....
(skt. "Realm of Bliss"). It is felt that this act would help to negate vast stores of negative karma that might hinder one's pursuit of buddhahood
Buddhahood
In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...
.
Sukhāvatī is a place of refuge where one can become enlightened without being distracted by the sufferings of our existence.
In Chinese Buddhism, the nianfo is specifically taken to be a type of mantra
Mantra
A mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that is considered capable of "creating transformation"...
used in meditation
Meditation
Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....
, and it is often practiced while counting with Buddhist prayer beads
Buddhist prayer beads
Buddhist prayer beads are a traditional tool used to count the number of times a mantra is recited whilst meditating. They are similar to other forms of prayer beads used in various world religions; thus some call this tool the Buddhist rosary.-Mala:...
. In China there is also the combined practice of Pure Land and Chán
Zen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
. As taught by Venerable Nan Huaijin, the nianfo is chanted slowly, and the mind is emptied out after each repetition. When idle thoughts arise, the nianfo is repeated again to clear them. With constant practice, the mind progressively empties and the meditator attains samādhi
Samadhi
Samadhi in Hinduism, Buddhism,Jainism, Sikhism and yogic schools is a higher level of concentrated meditation, or dhyāna. In the yoga tradition, it is the eighth and final limb identified in the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali....
.
Various Pure Land schools in Japan have different interpretations of the nianfo, often based on faith in Amitābha rather than on meditation. In the Jodo Shinshu
Jodo Shinshu
, also known as Shin Buddhism, is a school of Pure Land Buddhism. It was founded by the former Tendai Japanese monk Shinran. Today, Shin Buddhism is considered the most widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan.-Shinran :...
Buddhist tradition, the nianfo is reinterpreted as an expression of gratitude to Amitābha Buddha. The idea behind this is that rebirth into Sukhāvatī is assured the moment one first has faith in Amitābha.
Origins of the Nianfo
The earliest dated sutra describing the nianfo is the Pratyutpanna Samādhi SūtraPratyutpanna Sutra
The Pratyutpanna Sutra is an early Mahayana Buddhist scripture, which probably originated around the 1st century BCE in the Gandhara area of northwestern India.The Pratyutpanna Sutra was first translated into Chinese by the Kushan Buddhist monk Lokaksema...
(first century BCE), which is thought to have originated in ancient kingdom of Gandhāra
Gandhara
Gandhāra , is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River...
. This sutra does not enumerate any vows of Amitābha or the qualities of Sukhāvatī, but rather briefly describes the repetition of the name of Amitābha as a means to enter his realm through meditation.
Both the Immeasurable Life Sūtra
Infinite Life Sutra
The Infinite Life Sūtra, or Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra is a Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtra, and the primary text of Pure Land Buddhism. It is the longest of the three major texts of Pure Land Buddhism...
(Larger Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra) and the Amitābha Sūtra
Amitabha Sutra
The Amitābha Sūtra is a popular colloquial name for the Shorter Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra. The Amitābha Sūtra is a Mahāyāna Buddhist text, and it is one of the primary sūtras recited and upheld in the Pure Land Buddhist schools.-History:...
(Smaller Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra) subsequently included instructions for practicing nianfo in this manner. However, it has not been determined which sūtra was composed first, and to what degree the practice of this form of nianfo had already been popularized in India. Nianfo directed at other buddhas and bodhisattvas is also advocated in sūtras from this period, for figures such as Akṣobhya
Akshobhya
In Vajrayana Buddhism, Akṣobhya is one of the Five Wisdom Buddhas, a product of the Adibuddha, who represents consciousness as an aspect of reality...
Buddha and Avalokitasvara Bodhisattva.
The practice of nianfo for Amitābha Buddha became very popular in India. With translations of the aforementioned sūtras as well as instruction from Indian monks, the practice rapidly spread to East Asia.
Nembutsu-ban
The term nembutsu-ban is applied to the event in KyotoKyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
in 1207 where Hōnen and his followers were banned from the city and forced into exile. This occurred when the leaders of older schools of Buddhism persuaded the civil authorities to prohibit the newer practices including the recitation of Namu Amida Butsu. The ban was lifted in 1211.
Nianfo in Modern History
Thích Quảng Đức, a VietnamVietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
ese Mahāyāna monk who famously burned himself to death
Self-immolation
Self-immolation refers to setting oneself on fire, often as a form of protest or for the purposes of martyrdom or suicide. It has centuries-long traditions in some cultures, while in modern times it has become a type of radical political protest...
in an act of protest, said the nianfo as his last words immediately before death. He sat in the lotus position
Lotus position
The Lotus Position is a cross-legged sitting posture originating in meditative practices of ancient India, in which the feet are placed on the opposing thighs. It is an established posture, commonly used for meditation, in the Hindu Yoga and Buddhist contemplative traditions...
, rotated a string of wooden prayer beads, and recited the words "Nam Mô A Di Đà Phật" before striking the match and dropping it on himself.