More than thirteen centuries of clergy, laity, and social conditions interacted to mold Japan's Buddhism. Today's resulting characteristics, which distinguish it from its mainland sources, include a proliferation of independent sects, emphasis on religion for lay members, and de-emphasis of clerical codes. The twenty main biographies and seventy-five sketches presented in this book span the sixth through twentieth centuries.

They reveal both the individual and the social aspects of Buddhist evolution in Japan. They cover the many separate interchanges that brought Buddhist texts and practices from Korea and China as well as the innovations that arose in Japan.

1. Life stories of priests and a few outstanding lay Buddhists appear in straightforward language, using English terminology throughout. For the reader interested in further details, however, extensive appendixes and indexes provide full identification (in Japanese, Chinese, and Sanskrit as applicable) of persons, documents, and special terms that occur in the text. The book thus can be read either to satisfy the interests of the ordinary reader or as an introduction and source reference for scholars.