Kumagai Naozane - Monastic Life

Monastic Life

Later in life, Kumagai remained remorseful over the people he killed in his career as a soldier, and grew discontented with following Minamoto Yoritomo, so he visited the Pure Land Buddhist monk, Hōnen and explained that he was concerned with the afterlife. Hōnen told him that he need only recite the name of Amida Buddha, the nembutsu, and that regardless of his former life, he would be reborn in the Pure Land. Kumagai was said to have burst into tears, fearing that Hōnen would instruct him to "cut off his hands and feet or give up his life" in order to find salvation from his sins.

From there, Kumagai became a close follower of Hōnen and Jodo Shu Buddhism, and took the ordained named Rensei (蓮生). Letters are still preserved between Hōnen and Rensei, where Hōnen advises Rensei to continue reciting the nembutsu, and to look after his aging mother. Rensei later made a written vow before a statue of Amida Buddha, stating that he would strive to reach the highest rebirth in the Pure Land, as depicted in the Buddhist text, the Contemplation Sutra:

I, Rensei, on the 13th of the fifth month of 1203, do make this vow here in this place called Toba, right in front of the picture of Amida which represents his coming down to welcome those into the highest rank of the highest class. It would be such an eternal delight to be Born into the Land of Bliss, even in the lowest rank of the lowest class. But according to the great Master T'ien-tai's interpretation, no one Born into any but the highest of the nine ranks can come back to this vile world. In this way, I myself want to have the joy of welcoming every karmically connected sentient being to that land. But in order to be able to include the estranged as well, I have determined to attain Birth into the highest rank of all. Otherwise, I will decline to accept Birth into any rank whatsoever.

As a close disciple of Hōnen, Rensei became a popular instructor on Pure Land Buddhism and helped spread the new doctrine to others who also became Hōnen's disciples. In the summer of 1206, Rensei/Kumagai died one morning while repeating the nembutsu over and over in front of a hung image of Amida Buddha and his attendant Bodhisattvas.