beginingless past　無始 Unlike Judeo-Christian tradition that teaches the creation of the universe by God, Buddhism does not speak of the beginning of the world. Pure Land thinkers, including Shinran and Rennyo, put emphasis on this notion in order to describe blind passions as the inextricable essence of human beings. According to the Pure Land tradition, it is only through the compassion of the Buddha that we are unfailingly emancipated from the sufferings caused by our blind passions we have had since the beginningless past.