Honen read the work "Guan Jing Shu" (Commentary on the Meditation Sutra) by eminent Chinese Tang Dynasty monk Shandao, which awakened him to the ideas of 'Senju-nembutsu' (Single-Minded Recitation of the Nembutsu) and led to him departing Mt. Hiei-zan determined to disseminate the teachings of the Pure Land sect.
法然は唐時代の高僧・善導の著作『観経疏』を読んで「専修念仏」の思想に開眼し、浄土宗の開宗を決意して比叡山を下りた。