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 form 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 late Heian era, the earthly focus of Heian Buddhism led Buddhist monks to declare a "sinful age" wherein the possibility 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 could reach the Buddhist paradise, not just Buddhist monks. Kamakura Buddhism The Jōdo faith, which affected by the Jodo sect of the late Heian period, relies on salvation through the benevolence of Amitābha, and is going to be relieved by its power. Hōnen, who initiated the Jodo sect of Buddhism, abandoned other ascetic practices entirely. He preached his pupils to believe in Amitabha and to earnestly pray "namu-amida-butsu", and so they would go to the paradise. His pupil, Shinran who initiated Pure Land Buddhism, thoroughly carried out Honen's teaching and preached the absolute dependence. In addition, Shinran advocated that an object of the relief of the Amitabha was a criminal who was aware of a worldly and desirous criminal oneself. Ippen, who initiated 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 gave pupils a difficult problem and he made them solve it, and so they would be enlightened by themselves. Rinzai Zen was supported widely by the upper samurai class 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: ) refer to the priest and teacher Nichiren as their founding father. In his teachings