One of the most widely practiced Buddhist traditions in East Asia, the tradition emphasizes an acceptance of the human condition as well as the possibility of achieving Buddhahood through a favorable rebirth. Along the path to enlightenment, the Pure Land practitioner places his or her faith in the power of Amida Buddha to guide them to the awakened state. As such, the central practice of the tradition is the nembutsu, the recitation of the Buddha’s name, which is repeated to cultivate mindfulness of Amida Buddha. 

Click through this deck to learn more about the philosophy and practices of Pure Land Buddhism. 

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Who is Amida Buddha? The Buddha of “immeasurable light,” whose light shines everywhere regardless of conditions, is the guiding focus for Pure Land Buddhists. 

What is the Pure Land? The spiritual dimension, or “field,” known as Sukhavati is the best possible place to be reborn; a realm where the path to liberation is unobstructed. 

What is the bombu paradigm? Pure Land Buddhist is built on an acceptance of the human condition and one’s individual bombu (“ordinary person”) nature. 

What is other-power? On every step of the path to liberation, a practitioner relies on the power of Amida Buddha rather than that of his or her own limited self. 

What is the nembutsu? This central practice is one of “mindfulness of [Amida] Buddha.” 

What does it mean to receive or dedicate merit? Merit, a kind of karmic currency, plays a particularly important role in Pure Land Buddhism. 

What is the importance of faith in Pure Land Buddhism? While many Western Buddhists reject the necessity of faith in spiritual practice, Pure Land Buddhists rely on a faith that is based in experience. 

What are the three minds? These three attitudes work together to cultivate a state of humility and joy. 

What do Pure Land Buddhists believe happens when you die? With a heart that turns toward Amida Buddha, one can be immediately accepted into the Pure Land.  

What are the principal Pure Land texts? The tradition is founded on three sutras and two commentaries.  

Who were the founders of Pure Land teaching in India and China? The great Indian philosopher and sage Nagarjuna is among the founders of the Pure Land Schools. 

Who were the founders of Pure Land teaching in Japan? In 1175, the Japanese monk Honen became the founder of the first distinct Pure Land School (Jodo-shu) in Japan.

What is a myokonin? The spiritual ideal of Pure Land Buddhism is the myokonin, a person of simple faith and devotion.

Recommended Reading: 

• To the Pure Land and Back, by Rev. Dr. Kenneth Tanaka 
• Pure and Simple Practice, by Dharmavidya David Brazier 
• The Pure Land in the New World, by Taitetsu Unno 
• In the Pure Land, by Rick Fields
• The Buddha of Infinite Light and Life, by Jeff Wilson

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Like the bodhisattva Manjushri, Amida is associated with wisdom, but where Manjushri’s wisdom is sharp and penetrating, Amida’s is gentle and all-accepting. It is this all-embracing quality that has made Amida a favorite buddha in much of East Asia. Pure Land Buddhism starts from a humble appreciation of the human condition—a recognition that all human beings are fallible and prone to error. Rather than expecting us to overcome our weaknesses, Amida Buddha accepts us just as we are.

In the Larger Pure Land Sutra, one of the Pure Land school’s central texts, Shakyamuni tells his disciple Ananda the story of Amida Buddha: how, long ago, a young man began his spiritual quest by going to see the buddha of that era, Lokeshvararaja. The young man, Dharmakara, is so overwhelmed by meeting Lokeshvara that he is inspired to make 48 great vows, and he perfects them through many rebirths to become Amida Buddha. The most important of these vows is the promise to receive in his Pure Land all those who simply turn their minds toward him and calls his name.

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The Pure Land of Amida Buddha, or Amitabha Buddha—one of the most venerated buddhas in the Mahayana tradition—is Sukhavati, literally “blissful land.” Sukhavati is a domain where all wishes are fulfilled; it is not as a reward paradise, however, but rather a place where the practitioner experiences life more intensely within the buddha’s field of influence and so arrives more quickly at complete liberation. The Pure Land can, therefore, be a kind of last stop before enlightenment.

Since Pure Land Buddhists believe in rebirth, they want to be reborn somewhere good in their next life and believe Sukhavati is the best possible place to be reborn. Furthermore, Amida Buddha has promised to admit anyone to this land who sincerely turns toward him and longs to be born there.

An implication of these beliefs is that if one feels accepted by Amida and confident that Sukhavati is one’s true home to which one will soon return, there is a natural tendency to try to make wherever one is now into a kind of miniature version of this blissful land. Consequently, Pure Land Buddhism has been associated with social reform or even political revolution at times in history, as when the Chinese White Lotus societies helped organize the revolution that expelled the Mongols from China and restored the Ming Dynasty.

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Because Pure Land Buddhism rests upon this proposition (known as the bombu paradigm), its practitioners are invested with humility, or acknowledgment of their bombu nature, as well as with gratitude for the gift of the dharma and acceptance into Amida Buddha’s pure domain. The recognition of one’s own bombu faults and delusions also naturally leads to an increased fellow-feeling for others and the cultivation of compassion in the place of judgment.

From the Pure Land perspective, one does not need to arrive at superlative spiritual achievements before being accepted, nor does one have to think about how to win salvation or get enlightened. By giving up personal ambition to achieve enlightenment and relying instead entirely on Amida’s acceptance, the Pure Land practitioner is free to carry out the spirit of the Buddha right away.

It may seem paradoxical that giving up the ambition to achieve enlightenment can lead to living a more enlightened life, but to Pure Land practitioners this makes sense because one’s karma, and therefore one’s individual power, is very limited. If one relies instead entirely upon the Buddha, it is like plugging into a big generator rather than a small battery.

The myokonin Saichi Asahara (1850–1932) wrote:

The ocean is full of water;
it has the seabed to support it.
Saichi is full of blind passion;
it has Amida to support it.

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In their discussion of tariki and jiriki, Tanluan and the Pure Land teachers of Japan referred to a text attributed (although questioned by scholars) to the celebrated Indian Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna in which these two approaches are described as the difficult path and the easy path. The difficult path of self-power is likened to crossing mountains on foot, whereas the easy path of other-power is like being carried along in a boat.

Honen once acknowledged that the teachings found in many texts explaining how to attain personal perfection were all true and wonderful—but he added that he did not know anyone who was actually able to follow them. Pure Land Buddhists believe that once we recognize our limitations and understand that the deluded, fallible individual cannot rely on ego to achieve perfection and reach the Pure Land, the logical consequence will be abandonment of self-power for a fullhearted embrace of other-power. 

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Nembutsu can be practiced out loud or inwardly. It can be coordinated with the breath in meditation, although Pure Land schools tend not to put emphasis upon seated meditation. Pilgrimage to holy places with recitation of nembutsu along the way and at the site, perhaps the standard form of Buddhist practice for early lay Buddhists, is still common today. Services at Pure Land temples include recitations of Pure Land texts as well as nembutsu, which may be practiced in blocks of ten (junen). 

Nembutsu may also be practiced informally by Pure Land Buddhists in all aspects of daily life to link everything that happens with the spirit of Buddha. It serves thereby as preparation for mindfulness of Amida Buddha at the great moment of life, which is the moment of death. 

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In Pure Land Buddhism this idea of merit transference takes on two distinctive forms: the transference of merit toward the goal of entry into the Pure Land, and the transfer of merit from the Buddha to the practitioner. This latter is somewhat similar to the notion of grace in theistic religions.

An important Pure Land teaching is that of the three minds: the sincere mind, the deep mind, and the mind that transfers merit toward birth in the Pure Land. Another key teaching is the importance attributed to the vows made by Amida Buddha, especially the vow to accept all beings who turn toward the Buddha and call out to him. These teachings, together with the notion that the merit of the ordinary individual is relatively tiny, yield the principle that one’s personal merit is of very little account and can readily be given away. If one lives one’s life depending upon the transfer of much greater merit to oneself from the Buddha, which ensures one’s birth in the Pure Land, then one is unconcerned with accumulating merit by one’s deeds. One easily relinquishes whatever merit one has and dedicates it to the purpose of Pure Land entry for all. Receiving merit from Buddha, one feels limitless gratitude and has no need to claim credit for one’s deeds. 

When a Pure Land practitioner considers the calculus of merit it is apparent that we inevitably receive more than we give. Every day the sun rises and shines upon us. We did not make it, we do not own it, and we did not earn it. What could we possibly do that would equal and justify such benefit? In addition we receive many other blessings, and we live in a land and time when the dharma has appeared in the world. It soon becomes evident to the practitioner we are far from worthy of all the gifts we receive, and gratitude and humility become foundations of Pure Land spiritual life.

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Shinjin and anshin are two Japanese words for faith. The first refers to the experience of the arising of faith, and has some common ground with the Zen ideas of satori [awakening]or kensho [seeing one’s true nature]. Anshin refers to settled faith, or peaceful mind. (For mind, here, we could also say heart, as these are the same word in Chinese and Japanese.) Settled faith, good heart, and peaceful mind are virtually synonymous terms in Pure Land Buddhism. The state of having one’s heart at peace is essentially one in which one has a secure faith. This does not necessarily mean that one has adherence to particular beliefs, but rather that one has confidence, assurance, and willingness; proceeds in faith and take life as it comes; and one trusts oneself. Pure Land teaches it is valuable not to shy away from the idea of faith, but to realize its vital importance in life. 

The practitioner, having realized the futility of self-power, entrusts himself or herself to the limitless flow of merit that derives from the Buddha. This is called taking refuge, and it is the fundamental religious act of Buddhism. Whatever form of Buddhism one practices, one enters by taking refuge. In Pure Land, the act of saying the nembutsu is a distinctive way of reaffirming refuge and rely upon the protection and assurance provided by other-power.

Pure Land Buddhism teaches that faith is the opposite of relying upon one’s ego. It is both letting go and receiving. This is like being in the ocean. If a person falls into the sea, he might initially thrash about trying to save himself, but the efforts he expends only make the situation worse. When he relaxes and has faith in the ocean, he discovers that it holds him up and he floats on the surface. In the same way, a person first coming to Buddhism is likely to think that by making a great effort she will succeed in achieving enlightenment. If, however, she realizes that this effort to possess and master the teaching is actually self-defeating, as Pure Land teaches, she may find that there is a more natural, less stressful way through the route of entrusting. This realization may come as a revelation experienced as liberating (shinjin). If he or she then practices in this way, the faith will become stabilized through experience (anshin).

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An utterly sincere mind is one that is not hypocritical. We begin by recognizing that our habitual manner of being in the world may involve considerable hypocrisy. Perhaps we put on airs and try to display ourselves as more clever, virtuous, and well-adjusted than is really the case. Perhaps we try to hide the aspects of our life that cause us embarrassment, all on account of our desire to impress and our fear of rejection. The ideal offered by Buddha is to live free of social embarrassment, manipulation, and pretense. This is the ideal of an utterly sincere mind. It means admitting our bombu condition to ourselves, at least.

The profound mind has two aspects: one is a matter of deepening the sincere mind into a full appreciation of our dependent nature, and the second aspect comes with realizing and accepting the protection we receive from the Buddha. When we feel deeply accepted just as we are, it shatters our habitual conceit. Sincere mind and deep mind thus work together, reinforcing and extending one another. As we feel more accepted we are able to admit more of our frail human nature and as we do so we are able to take refuge more deeply.

The aspiring mind is one that is turned toward the Buddha. One longs to be with Amida and gives it all one has got: the merit of one’s past life and lives. When this stock of inner happiness is turned toward Amida’s Pure Land, the tradition teaches, it is reinforced immensely. In this way, one’s faith that that is one’s true home becomes stronger and stronger, and this changed sense of belonging and identity enters into every aspect of one’s life.

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In Pure Land belief, however, the pure light is understood to be the appearance of Amida Buddha, and to be received into it one needn’t be an advanced practitioner, someone who is perfectly virtuous and master of all the samadhis (states of concentration). All that is necessary is to have a heart that turns toward and longs for Amida Buddha. Then one will be immediately transposed into the Pure Land, no other bardo state intervening.

Thus, it is said that those who have faith in the Pure Land way have been “seized by Amida never to be forsaken.” Even while still in this life, they have crossed a threshold such that they will inevitably proceed to nirvana without falling back, even while remaining, as yet, deluded mortals with all the faults and failings that flesh is heir to.

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