[THE SOCIAL, political, religious and environmental climate during 13th century Japan was the fertile ground that gave rise to new religious thought.] Kamakura was the age of the great popularization of Buddhism. In the time of disunity and violence, deepening pessimism increased the appeal of the search for salvation. Two new sects, Jodo (Pure Land) and Zen (Meditation), dominated the period. The old Heian sects had been quite esoteric and appealed more to the intellectuals than to the masses. The Mount Hiei monasteries had become politically powerful but appealed primarily to those capable of the study of the sect's teachings. This situation gave rise to the Jodo sect, based on unconditional faith and devotion and prayer to Amida Buddha. Zen rejected all temporal and scriptural authority, stressing moral character rather than intellectual attainments, an emphasis that appealed to the military class. Growing numbers of the military class turned to Zen masters, regarded as embodiments of truth [Source: Library of Congress. Fact Detail.com]
This is the milieu into which Nichien Daishonin's Buddhism emerged.
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