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Shinran Shonin was ordained as a novice Tendai Buddhism monk at age 8 and spent 20 years following the rigorous practices and ascetic routines which were practiced by the sect at that time. Frustrated to the point of feeling a total failure, he came down from Mt. Hiei (the monastic stronghold of Tendai Buddhism) at age 28 and sought guidance through meditation for 100 days at the shrine of Prince Shotoku. As recorded in a letter by his wife, Eshinni, Shinran had a vision after the 95th day and found his way to the man who would become his greatest influence, Honen Shonin (1133-1212). Honen broke through Shinran's shell of hardened self-power and allowed him to directly experience the saving power of Amida Buddha's Primal Vow.
Honen, Shinran and others were persecuted by the Tendai establishment, which succeeded in convincing the emperor to banish Honen and his followers and prohibit the Nembutsu. This was rescinded a few years later, but Shinran - exiled to the remote province of Echigo in the far North - returned only as far as Kanto, hearing that Honen had died and seeing no point to travel all the way back.
In Kanto, Shinran formed a sangha devoted to Amida Buddha through sole practice of the Nembutsu. During those years, it is thought, Shinran conceived and composed his great treatise, Kyo-Gyo-Shin-Sho (On the Teaching, Practice, Faith and Realization of the Pure Land Way), regarded by many as the summation of over a thousand years' evolution of Pure Land thinking and a work of great depth and poetic beauty. Included in the text of this great work is a beautiful poem called Shoshinge, which is a brief summation of the essence of Pure Land faith and history. It is chanted daily by millions of Shin Buddhists around the world.
Hisao Inagaki has posted a portion of his translation of Kyo-Gyo-Shin-Sho at the Horai Dharma Net website under "Translations". For additional information on Shinran Shonin and Jodo-shinshu Buddhism, see Shinran and Jodo-shinshu by Hisao Inagaki, also at the Horai Dharma Net website.
On one occasion, Shinran spoke to some seekers who travelled hundred of miles at peril to their own lives in hopes that he had some secret inside information about the Nembutsu (faith in the name of Amida Buddha). His response is recorded as follows:
"Here you have come crossing the borders of more than ten provinces, unconcerned about any risk to your own lives. And what is it you wish to ask? Solely about the path leading to birth in Pure Land. But you are gravely mistaken if you presume that I know of any path ot Pure Land outside of the nembutsu or that I am aware of other scriptures indicating one. If that is what you desire, there are many learned priests in Nara and on Mt. Hiei; you should go and ask them what is required for birth in Pure Land. As for me, Shinran, I have received and put my faith in the words of the good man, Honen: 'Simply utter the nembutsu and you will be saved by Amida.' Apart from this, I have nothing else to point out." --- adapted from J.C. Dobbins, JODO SHINSHU, Indiana Univ. Press, 1989.
This short passage is indicative of the simplicity and purity of Shinran's faith and teaching.
Perhaps the most succinct statement of Shinran's thinking is found in the famous, brief tract entitled Tannisho, a collection of sayings compiled by a loyal follower of Shinran whose name is thought to be Yuien. This collection of sayings was compiled in order to clarify points of Jodo-shinshu doctrine which had become confused after Shinran's passing. It has come to represent a major cornerstone of the Jodo-shinshu canon.