Ideas across traditions · meditation · Chinese
nianfo
Works in 2 traditions beyond Chinese attest this concept, on 27 cited pages. Translators have rendered it as “nembutsu”, “buddhanusmrti”, “nembutsu-prayer”, “recitation of the buddha's name” and 5 other ways; a link through a rendering is marked as such, because another translator chose differently.
Also under: “nembutsu” · “buddhanusmrti” · “nembutsu-prayer” · “recitation of the buddha's name” · “nembutsus” · “nenbutsu” · “buddhanussati” · “buddhasmarana” · “buddhanusmriti”
In other traditions
Ordered by the earliest work in each tradition that attests the concept. Within a tradition, works run from earliest to latest by conventional composition date.
Buddhist
- 430 CEVisuddhimagga (Path of Purification)a translator’s rendering
- 430 CEBuddhaghosa, Visuddhimaggaa translator’s rendering
Japanese
- 1332Tsurezuregusa (Essays in Idleness)a translator’s rendering
- 1418Fushikaden (Kadensho, Zeami's Treatise on Noh)a translator’s rendering
- 1420Noh plays of dream (mugen nō): Atsumori, Izutsu, Kantana translator’s rendering
- nembutsu — prayer to Amida Buddha...painfully, chanting the観世流謡本 (Kanze-ryū Utaibon), Vol. 6, 1840, p. 8 · flagged as a term by the translator
- Nembutsu — invocation of the Buddhathe setting sun, newly burning and settling. The sleeve of the cloud of the Law, the sound of the bell, the color of the観世流謡本 (Kanze-ryū Utaibon), Vol. 4, 1840, p. -13 · flagged as a term by the translator
- Nembutsu — invocation of Amida Buddhat is the reason? Again, acting as a person who enters the belly, riding on strength, the humble one Nite pointing to the観世流謡本 (Kanze-ryū Utaibon), Vol. 13, 1840, p. 17 · flagged as a term by the translator
- 1716Hagakure (Hidden by the Leaves)a translator’s rendering
At home in Chinese
No work labelled Chinese on the four maps attests it behind the gate; the concept’s own tradition may be under-mapped, or its home works are held only in vocabulary lists.
Evidence gate. A work is listed only where a translator marked the word as a term with a gloss, or kept the original word beside the English, on at least one page of a held edition. Vocabulary lists and keywords alone do not count: in a Greek vocabulary list ἡσυχία is the ordinary word for quiet. Up to 3 pages are shown per work, preferring those with a gloss. The vocabulary was built 2026-09-11; the graph on 2026-09-13.