Dr. Taitetsu Unno is considered by many to be America's foremost authority on Pure Land Buddhism as developed by Honen and Shinran in thirteenth-century Japan.

Born in Japan, he immigrated to U.S. at age of six. After graduating from U.C. Berkeley, he received M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Buddhist Studies from Tokyo University. Having retired from Smith College in December 1998, Taitetsu Unno is now the Jill Ker Conway Professor Emeritus of Religion. He taught Buddhism and Japanese aesthetics at that institution since 1971. Dr. Unno is an ordained Shin Buddhist minister, and the founder and Sensei of the Northampton Shin Buddhist Sangha. He has published many articles and books on the subject of Shin or Pure Land Buddhism, his most famous works include, Shin Buddhism: Bits of Rubble Turn Into Gold; River of Fire, River of Water and Tannisho: A Shin Buddhist Classic. He is married to his wife Alice, and lives in Northampton, MA.

Dr. Taitestsu Unno is the author of the introduction to World Wisdom's Living in Amida’s Universal Vow: Essays on Shin Buddhism, a collection of articles on Shin Buddhism edited by Alfred Bloom. Dr. Unno also contributed the essay “The Practice of Jodo-shinshu” to Living in Amida’s Universal Vow.