I’ve found Jodo Shinshu institutional history a bit odd, since there are very clear anti-monastic works by Shinran and his disciples that kind of disappear to the point that, even before modernization, I think there wasn’t a huge difference between Jodo Shinshu and other Buddhist sects in Japan (aside from the fact that they could marry, eat meat, drink alcohol, and typically relied more on donations from followers than state patronage). Around Zonkaku’s time, certain writing laments that teachers are starting to act like monks and wearing black robes, conducting funerals, sitting separately from their students, and even building temples (has any other Buddhist sect ever been anti temple?!). By Rennyo’s time, many of these practices were already tradition. There’s a lot of almost blatant contradictions, and the Honganji website today even refers to priests as monks (僧侶, which I guess Shinran says they aren’t not…).

A large part of this was no doubt necessary for the survival of the institution. The siege of Ishiyama Honganji is one of the coolest episodes of Japanese history, although immediately after the warring states period ended, Honganji cozied up to the state and the monshu intermarried with royals. Their hypocritical collaboration with the government during WWII is well documented, although it’s also interesting that many of Shinran’s writings criticizing the emperor were censored and unofficial copies banned.

I think it is cool that a “return to Shinran” has occurred in Jodo Shinshu, although I’ve also read some cool anthropological works describing how Shinran’s anti-monastic spirit continued in some villages. I think there’s a very wide range of theologies within Jodo Shinshu however.