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Pure Land is aMahayana Buddhist concept referring to a transcendent realm emanated by abuddha orbodhisattva which has been purified by their activity andsustaining power. Pure lands are said to be places without the sufferings ofsamsara and to be beyond thethree planes of existence. Many Mahayana Buddhists aspire to be reborn in a Buddha's pure land after death.
The term "Pure Land" is particular toEast Asian Buddhism (Chinese:淨土;pinyin:Jìngtǔ). InSanskrit Buddhist sources, the equivalent concept is called abuddha-field (buddhakṣetra) or more technically apure buddha-field (viśuddha-buddhakṣetra). It is also known by the Sanskrit termbuddhabhūmi (Buddha land).[1] InTibetan Buddhism meanwhile, the term "pure realms" (Tibetan:དག་པའི་ཞིངWylie:dag pa'i zhing) is also used as a synonym for buddhafield.
The various traditions that focus on attainingrebirth in a Pure Land are often calledPure Land Buddhism. The English term is ambiguous. It can refer to a way of practice which is found in most Mahayana traditions which employ various means to attain birth in a pure land. This specific concept is termed the "Pure Land Dharma gate" (Chinese:淨土法門;pinyin:jìngtǔ fǎmén) inEast Asian Buddhism. The English term can also refer to specificBuddhist schools or sects which focus on Pure Land practice. Specifically these would be termedJìngtǔzōng (淨土宗) in Chinese andJōdo bukkyō in Japanese.
Pure Lands are also found in the non-Buddhist traditions ofTaoism andBon.
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TheMahavastu defines a buddha-field as a realm where "atathagata, a holy one,fully and perfectly enlightened, is to be found, lives, exists and teaches theDharma, for the benefit and happiness of the great body of beings, men and gods."[3]
The IndianMahayana sutras describe many buddha-fields.[4][5][6][7] Mahayana sources hold that there are an infinite number of buddhas, each with their own buddha-field where they teach the Dharma and where sentient beings can be reborn into (due to their good karmic acts).[8][9] A buddha-field is a place wherebodhisattvas can more easily progress spiritually on the bodhisattva path.[8]Jan Nattier has argued that this idea became popular because the traditional understanding of the extreme length of the bodhisattva path seemed very difficult and training under a buddha in a buddha-field (especially prepared to train bodhisattvas) was seen as a faster way to buddhahood,[9] known as stream winning.
Sentient beings who are reborn in these pure buddha-fields due to their goodkarma also contribute to the development of a Buddha-field, as can bodhisattvas who are able to travel there. These buddha-fields are therefore powerful places which are very advantageous to spiritual progress.[8]
According to Indian sources, the bodhisattva path, by ending alldefilements, culminates in the arising of a purified buddha-field, which is the manifestation and reflection of a Buddha's activity.[3] Mahayana sources state thatbodhisattvas likeAvalokiteśvara andManjushri will obtain their own buddha-fields after they attain fullbuddhahood.[10] In theLotus Sutra, Buddha's close followers, such asŚāriputra,Mahākāśyapa,Subhūti,Maudgalyāyana and Buddha's sonRāhula are also predicted to attain their own Pure Lands. The relative time-flow in the Pure Lands may be different,[11] with a day in one Pure Land being equivalent to years in another.
Mahayana sources speak of three kinds of buddha-fields: pure, impure, and mixed.[3] An example of an "impure" field is often this world (called Sahā – “the world to be endured"),Sakyamuni's field. Purified fields include Amitabha's buddha-field ofSukhavati.[12] Some sutras say that Sakyamuni chose to come to an impure world due to his vast compassion.[13]
However, not all Mahayana texts agree that Sakyamuni's world is impure. NumerousMahayana sutras, such as thePañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā prajñāpāramitā,Lankavatara,Vimalakirti, andLotus Sutras, also state that this dualism between purity and impurity is illusory and instead state that even this world is a pure buddha-field.[3]
Thus, according to theVimalakirti, this seemingly impure world is actually pure. It onlyappears impure because the deluded and impure minds of sentient beings perceive it like that. As Paul Williams explains: "The impurity that we see is the result of impure awareness, and also the Buddha's compassion in creating a world within which impure beings can grow. Thus the real way to attain a Pure Land is to purify one's own mind. Put another way, we are already in the Pure Land if we but knew it. Whatever the realm, if it is inhabited by people with enlightened pure minds then it is a Pure Land."[13]
Numerous Mahayana sources also connect the concept of a purified buddhafield (pariśuddha-buddhakṣetra) with the purity of one's own mind. Hence, theVimalakirti sutra states: "the bodhisattva who wishes to purify hisbuddhakṣetra should, first of all, skillfully adorn his own mind. And why? Because to the extent that the mind of a bodhisattva is pure is hisbuddhakṣetra purified."[3]
Nakamura (1980, 1987: p. 207) establishes the Indian background of thepadma imagery of the field which is evident iconographically, as well as in motif and metaphor:
The descriptions of Pure Land in Pure Land sutras were greatly influenced byBrahmin and Hindu ideas and the topological situation in India. There was a process of the development of lotus (padma)-symbolism in Pure Land Buddhism. The final outcome of the thought was as follows: the aspirants of faith and assiduity are born transformed (anupapāduka) in the lotus flowers. But those with doubts are born into the lotus-buds. They stay in the calyx of a lotus (garbhāvāsa) for five hundred years without seeing or hearing the Three Treasures. Within the closed lotus-flowers they enjoy pleasures as though they were playing in a garden or palace.
— Nakamura Hajime (Nakamura 1980, p. 207)
TheTheravadinPāḷi literature, including thePāḷi Canon, contains various references to "Buddha-fields" (buddhakhetta). One example is a Pāḷi Canon text calledBuddhāpadāna which discusses the nature of Buddha-fields where many Buddhas reside, describing it as a kind of palace decorated with amazing features like many jewels and lotus flowers.[14] The text states that there are numerous Buddhas with such fields in the ten directions, "as many as are there the numerous jewels, both in the heaven above and on the earth below."[14] Another Pāḷi text, theBuddhavamsa, describes how the Buddha is able to use his supernormal powers to generate jewelled walkways and pillars for the benefit of others.[15]
Buddhaghosa in hisVishuddhimagga discusses three types of Buddha-fields, which may be pure, impure, or mixed:[14]
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Sukhāvatī ("The Blissful") is by far the most popular pure land inEast Asian Mahayana Buddhism. It is also the main goal ofPure Land Buddhism, which is centered around faith and devotion toAmitābha Buddha as the means of attaining rebirth in his pure land. It is also a popular pure land inTibetan Buddhism as well. The key canonical teachings on Sukhāvatī are found in the "three pure land sutras", the main sources for East Asian Pure Land Buddhism: theSmaller Sukhāvatī-vyūha (T 366), theLonger Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra, and theAmitayus Contemplation Sutra (i.e. The Contemplation Sutra).[16]
According to Mahayana scriptures, in his past life, Amitabha was a devoted king of a joyous kingdom in a distant eon who renounced his throne to become a monk andvowed to attain buddhahood. He made forty-eight vows which focus on the greatness of his future pure land, pledging that he would not accept buddhahood if any of these vows went unfulfilled. The vows are dedicated to establishing a pure realm accessible to all beings who aspired to be reborn there. This monk would ultimately become Buddha Amitabha. His vows were grounded in hearing his name ("Amitabha"), establishing virtue, and dedicatingmerit toward rebirth in this pure land.[17]
Some Mahayana sutra teachings say that after Amitabha attainsfinal nirvana, the successors of Amitabha in Sukhāvatī will beAvalokiteśvara, followed byMahāsthāmaprāpta.[18][19][20]
There are numerous East Asian texts discussing the various experiences of Pure Land Buddhists who have gone to the Pure land or had a vision of Sukhavati. Some Buddhists and followers of other religions claimed to have seen Sukhavati and numerous East Asian popular faiths and cults also discuss Sukhavati.[21][22][23]
TheMahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra states thatŚākyamuni Buddha has his own Pure Land which is far away and is called "Unsurpassable" (Chinese: Wúshèng 無勝). Śākyamuni Buddha is said to manifest from his Pure Land into our world in order to teach the Dharma.[24]
Śākyamuni Buddha is also associated with the assembly in open space overVulture Peak (靈鷲山釋迦淨土), which is the site of the preaching of theLotus Sutra.Tiantai tradition holds that while the founderZhiyi was chanting theLotus Sutra, he had a vision of this pure assembly. His teacherNanyue Huisi is said to have told Zhiyi that they had met in a previous life at this assembly.[25] The Japanese monkNichiren taught his disciples that through faith in theLotus Sutra, one could be reborn in the pure land of Vulture Peak after death, promoting it as an alternative postmortem destination to Sukhavati.[26][27]
Japanese Buddhist schools likeTendai andNichiren Buddhism see Śākyamuni's pure land as being continuous with this world. This becomes pronounced in Nichiren Buddhism, which affirms the non-duality of this world and the pure land of Vulture peak. Even when addressing one's postmortem destination, Nichiren insisted that the "pure land of Vulture Peak"—while including the deceased faithful—is also a sacred reality accessible in this world through faith in theLotus Sutra. For Nichiren, thesamsaric world itself, when properly understood and engaged through faith, is the eternally abiding pure land. This leads to the attainment of buddhahood in one's present body (sokushin jōbutsu), without rejecting samsara or aspiring to a realm beyond it.[26][27] This pure land was also associated with the Land of Tranquil Light (jakkōdo 寂光土), the supreme pure land in the Tiantai system.[28][29]
According to theBuddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra, the wholeuniverse is a vast pure buddha-field which has been purified by the cosmicVairocana Buddha. This is the view of Pure Land which is found in the ChineseHuayan tradition and inChinese Esoteric Buddhism.[30] According to this view, our world is just one small part of this universal Pure Land which is named: "Ocean of worlds, whose surface and inside are decorated with an arrangement of flowers" (Sanskrit:Kusumatalagarbha-vyūhālamkāra-lokadhātusamudra).[31] It is also called the "Lotus Treasury World" (Chinese: 華蔵世界, Skt.Padmagarbha-lokadhātu), since it is an array of billions of worlds in alotus flower shape.[32]
Furthermore, Ghanavyūha (Dense Array or Secret Adornment) is considered to be the supreme pure buddhafield specific toVairocana. It appears in Mahayana sutras like theGhanavyūha Sutra.[33] According to this sutra, by following virtuous teachers, hearing and contemplating Buddha Dharma, and letting go of all concepts and craving, one can be reborn there, achieve enlightenment, and manifest in countless ways to help all beings.[34]
In East Asian Esoteric Buddhist traditions, likeShingon, the dualmandalas of theVajradhatu andGarbhadhatu mandalas are considered to be the representation of the buddhafield ofMahāvairocana Buddha, the supreme cosmic Buddha.
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The "Inner Court of Tushita" (兜率內院) isMaitreya's pure land, which is actually located in the deva realm ofTuṣita.[35][36] Some Buddhist scriptures teach that Maitreya is currently teaching at the Inner Court of Tuṣita. Some Buddhist Masters, such asXuanzang, expressed a wish to be reborn there.[37][38]
Other Buddhist monks, such asXuyun, also aspired to be reborn in the Inner Court of Tuṣita in order to meet Maitreya.[39][40]
The Inner Court of Tuṣita was historically a popular place for Buddhists to wish to be reborn in;[41][42][43][44] however, the vast majority of Pure Land Buddhists today hope to be reborn inSukhavati.[41][45][46]
Some followers of theChinese Salvationist religion calledYiguandao have also claimed to have traveled there.[47][48][49]
Later Indian Buddhism developed a schema of five main Buddhas (called theFive Tathāgatas). In this schema, which is popular inEsoteric Buddhism and is organized as amandala, there the five Pure Lands of the five key Buddhas are:[50][51]
InChinese Buddhism, the Pure Land was commonly seen as atranscendent realm beyond thethree realms (the desire realm, form realm and formless realm) into which one can be reborn after death. This view is also called "other direction" or "western direction" pure land.[66] This view of the Pure Land as an actual realm or place was defended by masters of Pure Land Buddhism likeShandao.
Another interpretation of a Pure Land is that it isnon-dual with our world since the whole world ismind-only. TheVimalakīrti Sutra was widely cited by exponents of this non-dual view of the Pure Land, often called "mind-only" Pure Land (wéixīn jìngtǔ 唯心淨土). This was commonly defended by masters of theChan / Zen school, but was also accepted by some figures in various traditions including inTiantai,Pure Land,Yogacara,Zen, andNichiren Buddhism.[67] Another sutra which teaches the view that the pure land is mainly a kind of pure mind or wisdom (i.e. thefive wisdoms) is theBuddhabhūmi-sūtra (Scripture on the Buddha Land, Ch: 佛說佛地經, Taishō Tripitaka no. 680).[68][1]
In thePlatform Sutra for example,Huineng states that only the deluded hope to be born in a faraway land in the west, while the wise who know their nature is empty seek the Pure Land by purifying their minds.[69] These two views of the Pure Land led to many debates inChinese Buddhism.[70]
In a similar fashion, according to theHuayan school patriarchFazang, the ultimate view of the Buddha's Pure Land (derived from theAvatamsaka sutra) is that it is interfused with all worlds in the multiverse and indeed with all phenomena (dharmas).[71] This view of the Buddha's Pure Land is inconceivable and all pervasive. Since for Fazang, the entireDharma realm is visible within each particle in the universe, the Pure Land is therefore contained in every phenomena and is non-dual with our world.[71]
Later Chinese thinkers similarly attempted to synthesize the two ideas.Yúnqī Zhūhóng (1535–1615) saw the Pure Land as an actual place which is a usefulupaya (skill means) created by the Buddha. Once beings reach this realm, they realize that it is just the Buddha mind, and that the Buddha's wisdom was not ever separate from their own mind. Real sages can see that both ideas are interconnected and thus can affirm both without any conflict.[72] Similarly,Hānshān Déqīng (c. 1546–1623) taught a synthesis of these various views on the nature of the pure land.[73]
East Asian Buddhist thinkers taught various schemas which outlined different types or levels of the pure lands. One of the most influential of these was that taught in theTiantai school which outlined four pure lands:[74]
In JapanesePure land Buddhism meanwhile, a common distinction is between two main lands that Pure Land devotees can be reborn in: the Transformed Land and the Fulfilled Land.Shinran (1173 – 1263), the founder ofJōdo Shinshū, discusses this theory, drawing on the teachings ofShandao. Shinran's schema is as follows:[75]
According toHanshan Deqing (1546–1623), who was a leadingChan monk inMing China, there are three kinds of Pure Lands (associated with thetrikaya, the three bodies of the buddha):[73]
In Tibetan Buddhism, buddhafields (Skt.buddhakṣetra;Wylie:sangs rgyas kyi zhing) or pure realms (Wyl.dag pa'i zhing) are understood as realms arising due to the intention and aspiration of a buddha or bodhisattva. They are also understood to manifest effortlessly and spontaneously from the Buddha qualities.[76]
In Tibetan Buddhism, it is generally held there are two main types of pure lands or buddhafields:[77][78]
All buddhafields are understood as ultimately arising from theDharmakāya, the foundational aspect of the "triple body" of Buddhahood (trikaya). TheDharmakāya is thebasis, ground, or "source" (Tibetan:ཆོས་འབྱུང,Wylie:chos 'byung; Sanskrit:dharmodaya), the true nature of reality, out which all buddhas and buddhafields arise.[79]
Tibetan Buddhism also holds that this world is also a pure land, sincesamsara andnirvana arenon-dual. Specifically, our world is the pure land of theSambhoghakayaVairocana Buddha, as stated in theAvatamsaka sutra and other scriptures. Though our realm is already pure, we cannot see the purity of the world due to our delusion andafflictions (as per theVimalakirti Sutra). However, on attaining the higherbodhisattva stages, the purified mind will be able to witness the purity of this world, along with the majestic displays of the jeweled ground, divine flowers, and so on. Furthermore, Tibetan Vajrayanadeity yoga methods require the yogi to maintain a "pure vision" of this realm as being the pure realm of the deity, along with the visualization of theirchosen deity. To fail to do this at all times is a deviation from the tantric practice and the esoteric view taught in thetantras.[80]
As explained byDilgo Khyentse Rinpoche:
Mandalas, especiallysand mandalas, are 'Pure Lands' and may be understood asNirmāṇakāya, as are allmurti,thangka and sacred tools that have consecrated, dedicated and the 'deity' (yidam) invoked and requested to reside.[clarification needed] Somenamkha are Pure Lands. According to Nirmāṇakāya (astulku) theory,nirmanakaya spontaneously arise due to the intention, aspiration, faith and devotion of thesangha.
Chinese Taoism adopted the idea of heaven realms similar to pure lands from Chinese Buddhism. One popular afterlife in Chinese Taoism is the pure land of eternal bliss (Chánglè Jìngtǔ, 長樂淨土). It has a similar function to pure lands in Buddhism. This pure land is the realm ofTàiyǐ Zhēnrén also known by the longer title Heavenly VenerableTaiyi Savior from Suffering, the Great Emperor of Azure Radiance (青華大帝太乙救苦天尊).[82] Taiyi, like Amitabha, is also said to provide salvation for all sentient beings in the 10 directions, with a different incarnation for each direction.[83]
Chinese Manichean texts also contain depictions of pure lands.[84]
There are various Pure Land worlds described in various texts of variousChinese folk religions andChinese new religions.[85][86][87][88][89]
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