Kosai
Kosai
幸西 (1163–1247)
Also known as Jokaku-bo. A priest of the Pure Land ( Jodo) school in Japan and a disciple of the school's founder Honen. He first studied the Tendai doctrine on Mount Hiei, but converted to the Pure Land teachings in 1198. He advocated the doctrine of one-time recitation of the Nembutsu. This doctrine states that rebirth in the Pure Land is assured with a single recitation of the Nembutsu—the invocation of Amida Buddha's name with the phrase Namu Amida Butsu ("Homage to Amida Buddha"); therefore, there is no need for repeated recitation or chanting of this phrase. Kosai is regarded as the originator of the doctrine of one-time recitation.
In contrast, Ryukan, another disciple of Honen, taught the many-time recitation of the Nembutsu. In 1206, when disciples of Honen held a prayer gathering at Shishigatani in Kyoto, two court ladies who served the Retired Emperor Gotoba attended the ceremony and decided to become nuns of the Pure Land school. This angered the retired emperor, who punished Honen and his main disciples. Four disciples were executed, and Honen was exiled. In the second month of the next year, Kosai was exiled to the island of Shikoku, but later pardoned. In 1227, when the Pure Land school was again persecuted, Kosai was exiled to the island of Iki. Later he was pardoned and propagated the Pure Land teachings in Shimosa Province.
Kōsai (幸西?, 1163 - May 20, 1247) was a former monk of the Tendai Buddhist sect and controversial disciple of Hōnen who advocated the ichinen-gi (一念義?, "Single recitation doctrine") that led to his public censure, his later expulsion by Hōnen and eventual exile to Shikoku. Kōsai taught that one recitation of Amitabha Buddha's name, the nembutsu, would be sufficient for rebirth in the Pure Land, and that further recitations would indicate a lack of faith on the part of the believer. Thus, he taught a path strictly based on faith without any Buddhist practice, which drew criticism from established Buddhist sects at the time, and even Hōnen's other disciples.
After Hōnen's primary patron, Kujō Kanezane complained in a letter to Hōnen expressing confusion, Hōnen censured Kōsai, and asked his other disciples to sign a seven-article pledge agreeing to adhere to wholesome Buddhist conduct, as well as not slandering other teachings. Unrepentant, Kōsai, continued to teach his doctrine, and like other disciples, was exiled from Kyoto in 1207 during the Karoku Persecution.
Kōsai continued to teach the single-recitation method of Pure Land Buddhism in Shikoku, and gathered other followers before his sect was discredited and died out. Among his harshest and most vocal critics was Benchō, another disciple of Hōnen.
