Ancient and medieval thought
Before feudalism was firmly defining in Japan, Buddhism occupied the mainstream of Japanese thought. The Buddhist culture gave politically by Prince Shōtoku was completed as the "making a country safe" thought in the Nara period. When the Heian period 794–1185 began, in substitution for the "making a country safe thought", a work of esoteric Buddhism collectively known as mikkyō became widespread. However, in the late noble era when pessimism was popular due to the "belief that Buddhism will decline during the latter days of this world", the Pure Land movements spread out encouraging anticipation of a "future life" as a means to cope with desperation over "life in this world". During the Kamakura period 1185–1333 when government dominated by the samurai a collection of matters sharing a common attribute began, a “new” Buddhism for the newly-risen class samurai appears.
In ancient Japan, the arrival of Buddhism closely relates to the national construction and the national centralization of power. Prince Shōtoku and the Soga line fought and overcame the Mononobe family, who had handled the ancient Japanese religion, and elaborated a schedule for national governance based on the unification of the legal codes system and Buddhism. While cooperating with the Soga family, Prince Shōtoku, who was the regent of the Empress Suiko, showed a deep understanding in "foreign" Buddhism, and target to stabilize national politics through the ownership of Buddhism. The thought that national peace and security came through the energy of Buddhism is called the "making a country safe" thought. In the Nara period, in specific the times of Emperor Shōmu, the Kokubun-ji temples and Kokubun-ni-ji temples were erected throughout the whole country and Tōdai-ji Temple and the Daibutsu were erected in Nara. The Buddhist policy of the state reached its apex during the Nara period, as evidenced by Jianzhen of the Tang dynasty bringing an imperial ordination platform to Todai-ji Temple,
While Nara Buddhism followed only the "making a country safe" thought, Heian Buddhism brought not only national peace and security but also the personal worldly profit. Because practitioners of Heian Buddhism frequently performed severe ascetic practices, incantations and prayers in the mountains; this Buddhism came to be called mikkyō. Kūkai, a Buddhist monk, learned Chinese esoteric Buddhism while on a diplomatic mission to the Chinese court, and combined Japanese Buddhism with Chinese esoteric Buddhist practices to construct Japanese Shingon Buddhism. Saichō, a Buddhist monk who also journeyed to China, learned the practices of the Chinese Tendai sect and argued that the teachings of the Lotus Sutra should be the core of Japanese Buddhism.
By the behind Heian era, the earthly focus of Heian Buddhism led Buddhist monks to declare a "sinful age" wherein the opportunity of relief in this world was denied and therefore a trend of looking for reincarnation to the Buddhists' paradise after death arose. Additionally, the new thought that "Buddhism will decline during the latter days of this world" led to the rise of the Pure Land movement. This movement, spearheaded by Kūya, a follower of Pure Land Buddhism, preached faith to the Amitābha and taught that all people couldthe Buddhist paradise, not just Buddhist monks.
The Jishu sect, began "the chanting religious dance".
As contrast with dependent Jōdō faith, Zen Buddhism attempts to be spiritually self-awakened by Zen meditation. Eisai learned the Rinzai sect in China. He shown pupils a unmanageable problem and he made them solve it, and so they would be enlightened by themselves. Rinzai Zen was supported widely by the upper samurai a collection of matters sharing a common features in the Kamakura period. Dōgen learned the Sōtō sect in China. Oppose to Eisai, he preached enlightenment by earnest sitting meditation zazen. Soto Zen was supported by the local samurais.
Most schools of Nichiren Buddhism Japanese: 法華系仏教 refer to the priest and teacher Nichiren as their founding father. In his teachings he underlined the, to his mind, supremacy of the Lotus Sutra. He advocated the attainment of Buddhahood during one's lifetime and regarded his interpretation of the Buddhist teachings as the modification form of practice for the Latter Day of the Law mappō. One of his major treatises is the "Rissho Ankoku Ron" On Establishing the right teaching for the Peace of the Land. The chanting of the Mantra "Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō" is to this day the central practice to nearly all Nichiren Buddhist schools and organisations.