Pure Land Buddhism

By Barbara O'Brien, About.com Guide

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Origins of Pure Land Buddhism

Mount Lushan, in southeast China, is celebrated for the soft mists that blanket its sheer peaks and deep forest valleys. This scenic area is also a world cultural site. Since ancient times many spiritual and educational centers have been located there. Among these is the birthplace of Pure Land Buddhism.

In 402 CE the monk and teacher Hui-yuan (336-416) gathered 123 followers in a monastery he had built on the slopes of Mount Lushan. This group, called the White Lotus Society, vowed before an image of Amitabha Buddha that they would be reborn in the Western Paradise.

In the centuries to follow, Pure Land Buddhism would spread throughout China.

The Western Paradise

Sukhavati, the Pure Land of the West, is discussed in the Amitabha Sutra, one of the three sutras that are the principal texts of Pure Land. It is the most important of the many blissful paradises into which Pure Land Buddhists hope to be reborn.

Buddhist scholars generally understand a Pure Land as a transcendent state of being. In Asian folklore, on the other hand, a Pure Land is thought of as a real place, not unlike the way many people conceptualize Heaven. The Pure Land is not the final destination, however.

Hui-yuan and other early masters of Pure Land believed that achieving the liberation of Nirvana through a life of monastic austerity was too difficult for most people. They rejected the "self effort" emphasized by earlier schools of Buddhism. Instead, the ideal is rebirth in a Pure Land, where the toils and worries of ordinary life do not interfere with devoted practice of the Buddha's teachings. By the grace of Amitabha's compassion, those reborn in a Pure Land find themselves only a short step from Nirvana.

Practices of Pure Land

Pure Land Buddhists accept the basic Buddhist teachings of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. The primary practice common to all schools of Pure Land is the recitation of the name of Amitabha, who is also called Amida.

In Chinese, this chant is "Na-mu A-mi-to Fo" (Hail, Amida Buddha). The same chant in Japanese, called the Nembutsu, is "Namu Amida Butsu." Sincere and focused chanting becomes a kind of meditation that helps the Pure Land Buddhist visualize Amitabha Buddha. In the most advanced stage of practice, the follower contemplates Amitabha as not separate from his own being.