The formation of a tradition proper is highlighted in later chapters. These ideas were (1) that all beings could perceive the Pure Land as a ‘complete enjoyment land’ (2) that the ten nian required for rebirth are oral invocations and not mental contemplations (3) that beings in all nine levels of rebirth in the Pure Land are ordinary beings and not āryans (advanced sages) and (4) that rebirth in the Pure Land comes about primarily through the power of Amitābha’s original vows. His innovations instilled confidence that any practitioner at any level of attainment would be certain to gain entrance to the Pure Land. Shandao contributed four new ideas that made the Pure Land path clearer and more accessible.
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Jones considers Shandao so important that he devotes the full chapter to him, explaining: Chapter Two discusses the Indian expression of “Pure Land” practice, although “any and every Buddhist in India aspired to rebirth in Utmost Bliss it did not belong to any identifiable school or sect.” (37) In other words, Indic antecedents, while never forming an outright school, were critical in providing the Mahayana worldview that Chinese Pure Land Buddhism would draw from for a formalized body of Pure Land doctrine.Ĭhapter four, appropriately titled “Shandao’s Breakthrough,” outlines Master Shandao’s (613–81) critical contributions. The first chapter explains the narrative of Amitabha and his creation of Sukhavati, the Western Land of Bliss, where Pure Land devotees aspire to be reborn with the assurance of future buddhahood. There are important points worth noting in all chapters, although there are some core rubrics. Part Two, Themes and Practices, includes the sections:Ĥ. Hōnen and the Jōdo Shū, Shinran and the Jōdo Shinshū The Story of Amitābha and His Pure Landġ0. Part One, History and Development, encompasses the sub-sections:ġ.
The book is divided into two primary parts. In the epoch of the Dharma-ending Age, only Amitabha can save us from ourselves. In fact, Pure Land practitioners believe that their sacred texts-the three Pure Land sutras-bear witness to Shakyamuni directing all beings to Amitabha Buddha in the context of Pure Land eschatology and soteriology, which offer the most assured path to liberation. As anyone who practices Pure Land would assert, the focus on Amitabha Buddha does not mean abandoning Shakyamuni Buddha’s teachings like the Noble Eightfold Path, karma, and so on. There remains much content about Chinese Pure Land development, but further analyzed and unpacked are key periods, figures, and thought currents in India and Japan, the two other major centers of Pure Land philosophy.įrom the outset, Jones says his book is “about a buddha and his buddha-land.” This frames the entire tradition on its own terms-that among the diverse extant schools of Buddhism, Pure Land Buddhism is known for its firm faith in a specific Buddha other than Shakyamuni. It also sets about dispelling long-held stereotypes about this Mahayana tradition. His new book from Shambhala Publications, Pure Land: History, Tradition, and Practice (2021), contextualizes Pure Land in a broader manner, examining its overall contribution to the Buddhist body of thought over nearly two millennia. In 2019, the associate professor of Religion and Cultures at Catholic University of America published a monograph with University of Hawaii Press, Chinese Pure Land Buddhism: Understanding a Tradition of Practice (2019), which adopts a Chinese Pure Land perspective and focuses on how Pure Land became an authentic tradition of practice in Chinese society. Jones has recently published a slate of vastly informative publications on the Pure Land tradition.