Review by Choice Review
Dobbins (Oberlin College) combines his excellent skills as a translator of Japanese texts with the methodology of a historian of religion to produce the most complete and important book on the early history of Shin Buddhism to appear in English. Most of the other excellent works on Japanese Shin or Pure Land Buddhism in English center either on the founder of Shin Buddhism, Shinran (1173-1262) (e.g. Takamichi Takahatake's Young Man Shinran: A Reappraisal of Shinran's Life, 1987), or on a particular doctrine of Shin Buddhism (e.g., Alfred Bloom's Shinran's Gospel of Pure Grace, CH, Feb '67). No other work in English combines the biography of the founder with such a detailed study of the complex development of Shin Buddhism from its simple beginnings as a small, rural primarily lay Buddhist movement in the 12th century to its rapid growth as a powerful urban religion in the 15th century. Included are very useful endnotes, a glossary of Japanese and Chinese terms, and an excellent bibliography of primary and secondary sources. Appropriate for graduate students and upper-division undergraduates. -K. Dollarhide, Oklahoma State University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
