But apart from this political activity, new sects which appeared in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries suited the popular needs of the time and were a sign of true religious life.  Two of these sects, the Jodo and Shinshu,[1071] are Amidist—­that is to say they teach that the only or at least the best way of winning salvation is to appeal to the mercy of Amida, who will give his worshippers a place in his paradise after death.  The Jodo is relatively old fashioned, and does not differ much in practice from the worship of Amida as seen in China, but the Shinshu has no exact parallel elsewhere.  Though it has not introduced many innovations in theology, its abandonment of monastic discipline, its progressive and popular spirit and its conspicuous success make it a distinct and remarkable type.  Its priests marry and eat meat:  it has no endowments and relies on voluntary subscription, yet its temples are among the largest and most conspicuous in Japan.  But the hierarchical spirit is not absent and since Shinshu priests can marry, there arose the institution of hereditary abbots who were even more like barons than the celibate prelates of the older sects.

The Nichiren sect is a purely Japanese growth, without any prototype in China, and is a protest against Amidism and an attempt to restore Shaka—­the historical Buddha—­to his proper position from which he has been ousted.  Nichiren, the founder, is one of the most picturesque figures of Japanese history.  His teaching, which was based on the Lotus Sutra, was remarkable for its combative spirit and he himself played a considerable part in the politics of his age.  His followers form one of the most influential and conspicuous sects at the present day, although not so numerous as the Amidists.

Zen is the Japanese equivalent of Ch’an or Dhyana and is the name given to the sect founded in China by Bodhidharma.  It is said to have been introduced into Japan in the seventh century, but died out.  Later, under the Hojo Regents, and especially during the Ashikaga period, it flourished exceedingly.  Zen ecclesiastics managed politics like the French cardinals of the seventeenth century and profoundly influenced art and literature, since they produced a long line of painters and writers.  But the most interesting feature in the history of this sect in Japan is that, though it preserves the teaching of Bodhidharma without much change, yet it underwent a curious social metamorphosis, for it became the chosen creed of the military class and contributed not a little to the Bushido or code of chivalry.  It is strange that this mystical doctrine should have spread among warriors, but its insistence on simplicity of life, discipline of mind and body, and concentration of thought harmonized with their ideals.

Apart from differences of doctrine such as divide the Shinshu, Nichiren and Zen, Japanese sects show a remarkable tendency to multiply subdivisions, due chiefly to disputes as to the proper succession of abbots.  Thus the Jodo sect has four subsects, and the first and second of these are again subdivided into six and four respectively.  And so with many others.  Even the little Ji sect, which is credited with only 509 temples in all Japan, includes thirteen subdivisions.