Zen expected to become familiar with the classics of the Zen canon". A review of the early historical documents and literature of early Zen masters clearly reveals that they were well versed in numerous Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtras, including Madhyamaka. Especially the Lotus Sutra played a large role in the development of East Asian Buddhism, including Zen. Nevertheless, Zen is often pictured as anti-intellectual. This picture of Zen emerged during the Song Dynasty (960–1297), when Chán became the dominant form of Buddhism in China, and gained great popularity among the educated and literary classes of Chinese society. The use of koans, which
Faith in Buddhism hand. Pure Land Buddhism is currently still one of the most popular forms of religion in East Asia, and is practised by most East Asian monks. As of the 1990s, the older generation of Chinese people still used the Amitābha mantra in common everyday greetings. The Tendai scholar Genshin (942–1017), Tendai priest Hōnen (1133–1212) and his student Shinran (1173–1262) applied Shandao's teachings in Japan, creating Pure Land Buddhism there as a separate school for the first time. They believed and taught that mindfully reciting the "nembutsu" would be enough to secure the faithful person's entrance into the Western Paradise. Although