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| | Chapter 5 |
 | | The new schools of Kamakura Buddhism were spawned in a period of prolonged social crisis, a period which began in late Heian times (perhaps from the eleventh century) when the tremors of turbulence began to be felt in the capital, Kyoto, behind which loomed Mt. Hiei, the monastic capital and major center of Heian Buddhism. |
 | | The Kamakura period spurred such a breakthrough in Japan, so that Buddhism achieved new spiritual heights and, at the same time, offered itself to the people in a way it had not been able to when it was monopolized by the aristocracy, and functioned merely to serve the interests of the state or clan. |
 | | While each of these various threads of Kamakura Buddhism had its contribution to make as a source of spiritual insight for our contemporary times and problems, we are focusing on Shinran's perspective because I believe his conquest of history within himself provides the most profound view of human existence to emerge in the Kamakura period. |
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