Nianfo

Nianfo (Chinese: ; pinyin: niànfó 念仏 (ねんぶつ, nenbutsu^?) Hangul: 염불; RR: yeombul Vietnamese: ) is a term commonly seen in Pure Land Buddhism. In the context of Pure Land practice, it generally refers to the repetition of the name of Amitābha. It is a translation of Sanskrit buddhānusmṛti (or, "recollection of the Buddha").

Although the Sanskrit phrase used in India is not mentioned originally in the bodies of the two main Pure Land sutras, it appears in the opening of the extant Sanskrit Infinite Life Sutra as the following:

The apostrophe and omission of the first "A" in "Amitābha" comes from normal Sanskrit sandhi transformation, and implies that the first "A" is implied and spoken more quickly. A more accessible rendering might be:

The phrase literally means "Homage to Infinite Light". The Sanskrit pronunciation is the following:

As the practice of nianfo spread from India to various other regions, the original pronunciation changed to fit various native languages.

In China, the practice of nianfo was codified with the establishment of the separate Pure Land school of Buddhism. The most common form of this is the six syllable nianfo; some shorten it into Āmítuó Fó. In the Japanese Jodo Shinshu sect, it is often shortened to na man da bu.

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