Mantra · Buddhist practice

Nembutsu

Homage to Amitābha Buddha

南無阿彌陀佛

Namu Amida Butsu

The Japanese recitation of Amida Buddha’s name, central to Jōdo Shū and Jōdo Shinshū. These traditions explain its relationship to faith, practice and birth in the Pure Land in different ways; other Pure Land communities also combine name-recitation with additional practices.

Source: Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra; Japanese form established by Hōnen, Senchakushū (1198)

The count shown here is Japa's suggestion, not a rule of the tradition. Follow the form and number you were taught.

What the words say

Namu is the Japanese reading of namas, 'homage' or 'I take refuge in'. Amida is Amitābha, the Buddha of Immeasurable Light, who vowed not to accept awakening unless those who called on him could be born in his Pure Land. Butsu is buddha. The characters are written in their old forms, 彌 and 佛, and carry Buddhist readings a general Japanese voice has no reason to know.

Where it comes from

The vow is set out in the Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra. Hōnen (1133–1212) made the spoken name the single sufficient practice in his Senchakushū, and his student Shinran founded Jōdo Shinshū on the reading that even the calling is Amida's gift rather than the reciter's achievement. The same practice is the nianfo in China and the niệm Phật in Vietnam.

How it is practised

Said continuously rather than counted in some lineages and counted on a juzu in others; Shinran's reading in particular treats the number as beside the point, since one utterance in trust is held to be complete.

References

• Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra (Larger Pure Land Sūtra)
• Hōnen, Senchaku hongan nembutsu shū (1198)

Keep it, and count it every day.

Japa keeps this text beside a large, calm counter on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, with a haptic for every bead and an optional bell at the end of each round. Counting is unlimited and free.

More Buddhist practices

• Om Mani Padme Hum
• Gate Gate Pāragate
• Homage to the Buddha
• Metta
• Awgatha
• The Nine Qualities of the Buddha