Shan-tao
Shan-tao (Jp. Zendo) [613-681]
Shan-tao is the Chinese patriarch on whom Honen relied for most of his teaching in the Senchakushu. In 641, he visited Tao-ch'o at Hsuan-chung-ssu temple and heard him give a lecture on the Meditation Sutra (Kuan wu-liang-shou ching), which greatly deepened his faith in the Pure Land. Thereafter he went to Ch'ang-an where he disseminated the practice of calling upon the name of Amida Buddha. Shan-tao wrote five works on Pure Land teachings: the Kuan wu-liang-shou ching shu (Commentary on the Meditation Sutra), the Kuan-nien-fa-men (Dharma Gateway of Contemplation), the Wang-sheng-li-tsan (Hymns in Praise of Birth), the Fa-shih-tsan (Liturgical Hymns), and the Pan-chou-tsan (Hymns for Samadhi Wherein All the Buddhas are Present), which, except for the last one, are widely cited in the Senchakushu by Honen. Shan-tao is generally credited for popularizing the nembutsu as the reciting of Amida's name rather than the visualization of him in his Pure Land.
