Kuya

• Born: 903
• Died: 972
• Japanese: 空也 (Kuuya)

Kûya, or Kûya Shônin, was a Tendai monk and prominent early proponent of the recitation of the nenbutsu (i.e. chanting the name of Amida Buddha as a means to gain salvation).

He is known for walking through the streets chanting the nenbutsu and singing songs about Amida.

A famous sculpture of Kûya depicts the monk carrying a staff topped by deer antlers, and with a series of tiny Buddhas emerging from his mouth, a representation of the nenbutsu being chanted and of its spiritual effect.

References

• “Amida, The Pure Land, and the Response of the Old Buddhism to the New.” in Wm. Theodore De Bary, Donald Keene, George Tanabe, and Paul Varley eds., Sources of Japanese Tradition, Second Edition, Columbia University Press (New York, 2001), 212-213.