A nun called Shōnyobō who practiced Nembutsu and embraced the teaching of Honen Shonin became sick, and as she was lying on her death bed she sent word that she would like to see him one last time. At that moment Honen was in a Nembutsu retreat and he wrote her the following letter (words in brackets are my own):
“I am very sorry indeed to hear about Shonyobo’s illness. Having heard that she is ill, in fact seriously so, I should like to go and see her, and make sure whether she is going right on with the practice of the Nembutsu up to the very end; but especially so when I remember how often she used to call upon me to ask questions about the way of salvation. So as soon as word reached me, I at once wanted to go and see her. But I had just before that decided upon the special Nembutsu practice (Nembutsu retreat) for some days, and not to go out of my chamber for anything whatsoever. Now circumstances h...