What is "kyogyoshinsho"

, often abbreviated to , is the magnum opus of Shinran Shonin, the founder of the Japanese Buddhist sect, Jodo Shinshu. The title is often translated as The True Teaching, Practice, and Realization of the Pure Land Way in English. The work was written after Shinran's exile, and is believed to have been composed in the year 1224. It represents a synthesis of various Buddhist sutras in Mahayana literature, including the Larger Sutra of Immeasurable Life, the Nirvana Sutra, the Avatamsaka Sutra and the Mahaprajñaparamita Sutra. In this way, Shinran expounds Jodo Shinshu thought. The work is divided into six chapters, not including the Preface:

• Chapter 1 - Teaching
• Chapter 2 - Practice
• Chapter 3 - Shinjin, plus additional preface
• Chapter 4 - Realizing
• Chapter 5 - The True Buddha and Land
• Chapter 6 - The Transformed Buddha and Land

In addition to frequent quotations from Buddhist sutras, Shinran often quotes the Jodo Shinshu dharma masters, who comprise the teaching lineage, which extends from Shakyamuni Buddha to Shinran's teacher Honen. At the beginning of each chapter Shinran begins with the phrase (in English) "Compiled by Gutoku Shinran, Disciple of Shakyamuni". The name Gutoku or "foolish, stubble-headed one" was the name Shinran gave himself after he was exiled from Kyoto.