Shinran: Path to Purity

In the 12th century, Buddhism was still a relatively new religion in Japan. Various Zen schools offered students a lengthy path, literally composed of a blank wall and unceasing meditation and were designed to cater to the few who were able to give up everything else in their lives and focus on liberation. This is the situation that The young Shinran discovered when he began exploring Buddhism as an alternative to the violence and ceaseless civil wars that racked Japan at the time.