Pure Land Essentials
Nembutsu念仏
This means concentration on Buddha and his virtues, or recitation of the Buddha’s name.
No special way of reciting the name is laid down. It can be done silently or aloud, alone or in a group and with or without musical accompaniment. The important thing is to chant the name single-mindedly, while sincerely wishing to be reborn in the Pure Land.
Scripture
The Pure Land scriptures include The Infinite Life Sutra, The Contemplation Sutra and The Amitabha Sutra.
Chanting
Chanting the name of Amitabha Buddha does not do anything at all to help the person to the Pure Land. Chanting is nothing more than an expression of gratitude to Amitabha Buddha and an expression of the chanter’s faith.
But it’s not possible to do away with the chanting: Shinran wrote “the True Faith is necessarily accompanied by the utterance of the Name”.
Faith
Shin Buddhists say that faith in Amitabha Buddha is not something that the believer should take the credit for since it’s not something that the believer does for themselves. Their faith is a gift from Amitabha Buddha.
And in keeping with this style of humility, Shin Buddhists don’t accept the idea that beings can earn merit for themselves by their own acts; neither good deeds, nor performing rituals help.
This has huge moral implications in that it implies (and Shinran quite explicitly said) that a sinner with faith will be made welcome in the Pure Land – even more welcome than a good man who has faith and pride.
Popularity
The sect’s teachings brought it huge popularity in Japan, since here was a form of Buddhism that didn’t require a person to be clever, or a monk, and that was open to the outcasts of society.
It remains a popular group in Buddhism – and the reasons that made it popular 700 years ago are exactly the same ones that make it popular today.
Understanding Pure Land
Is this a new understanding of Buddhism?
On the surface Pure Land Buddhism seems to have moved a very long way from the basic Buddhist ideas, and it’s important to see how it might actually fit in. The way to do this is to tackle each issue and see what’s really going on.
Amitabha Buddha is treated as if he were God
On the surface, yes. But perhaps chanting Amitabha Buddha’s name is not praying to an external deity, but really a way of calling out one’s own essential Buddha nature. However some of Shinran’s writings do speak of Amitabha Buddha in language that a westerner would regard as describing God.
The Pure Land appears to be a supernatural place
On the surface, yes. But perhaps the Pure Land is really a poetic metaphor for a higher state of consciousness. Chanting the name can then be seen as a meditative practice that enables the follower to alter their state of mind. (This argument is quite hard to sustain in the face of the importance given to chanting the name in faith at the moment of death – when some supernatural event is clearly expected by most followers. And the chanting is not regarded solely as a meditative practice by most followers. However gaps between populist and sophisticated understanding of religious concepts are common in all faiths.)
There is no reliance on the self to achieve enlightenment
On the surface, yes. But in fact this is just a further move in the direction that Mahayana Buddhism has already taken to allow assistance in the journey to liberation. And the being still has much work to do when they arrive in the Pure Land. (Shinran however taught that arriving in the Pure Land was actually the final liberation – the Pure Land was nirvana.)
This text is originated from BBC News
