Lecture – The Larger Sutra

The Sutra of Limitless Life (or Larger Sutra) is the most important doctrinal basis of Shin Buddhism that Shinran (1173-1262) founded. In these five video lectures I discuss the first of the two volumes of the sutra. The first volume contains a story in which a young seeker by the name of Dharmakara becomes a Buddha called Amida (or Amitabha) by meeting a teacher, making his vows, and performing various practices. I discuss how Shinran systematized Shin Buddhism on the basis of the sutra. — Nobuo Haneda