The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1680 page)

Nehemiah
.

Governor of
Judah
after the Babylonian
exile
. Nehemiah restored the walls of
Jerusalem
and established order within the community. In the
aggadah
he is identified with
Zerubbabel
. See also
EZRA
.

 
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Nei-ch’i
:

see
NEI-TAN
.

 
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(Chin., ‘inner viewing’). A Taoist practice of visualizing the interior of the body, in order to facilitate the distribution of vitality (
ch’i
) and to contact the inner powers/deities. It also produces great mental calm.

 
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Nei-tan
.

Interior
alchemy
or inner elixir. Contrasted with Wai-tan (exterior alchemy), or techniques of concocting the elixir of immortal transcendency by cooking certain substances in a cauldron. In Nei-tan the ‘substances’ are the basic elements of life—
ch’i
(vital breath),
ching
(generative essence), and
shen
(spirit)—and the ‘cauldron’ is the practitioner's own body. Important in the development of Nei-tan was Chang Po-tuan (984–1082), who shifted the emphasis away from chemical transmutation to interior achievement of immortality (see his
Wu-chen p’ien
, Essay on the Awakening to the Truth).

 
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(Jap.; Chin.,
nien-fo
). The foremost religious practice in the
Pure Land Schools
of Buddhism. Nembutsu literally means ‘Mindfulness of the Buddha’. It was thus originally a meditational practice with the Buddha and his innumerable merits ‘kept in mind’, i.e. as an object of contemplation. In the earliest period of Pure Land development it was interpreted as a form of meditation in which the Buddha
Amida
(Jap.; Chin., O-mi-t’o; Skt., Amit
bha/Amit
yus) and his transcendent Pure Land are visualized. In China and Japan it was reinterpreted to mean invoking the name of the Buddha in the form
Namu Amida Butsu
(Jap.; Chin.,
Na-mo O-mi-to fo
), ‘I take refuge in the Buddha Amida’. This interpretation was most forcefully enunciated by Shan-tao in China, and by
Honen
in Japan.

 
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