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Esoteric Pure Land Buddhism

Author: Aaron P. Proffitt

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

Published: 2023-04-30

Total Pages: 468

ISBN-13: 0824893808

What, if anything, is Esoteric Pure Land Buddhism? In 1224, the medieval Japanese scholar-monk Dōhan (1179–1252) composed The Compendium on Esoteric Mindfulness of Buddha (Himitsu nenbutsu shō), which begins with another seemingly simple question: Why is it that practitioners of mantra and meditation rely on the recitation of the name of the Buddha Amitābha? To answer this question, Dōhan explored diverse areas of study spanning the whole of the East Asian Mahayana Buddhist tradition. Although contemporary scholars often study Esoteric Buddhism and Pure Land Buddhism as if they were mutually exclusive and diametrically opposed schools of Buddhism, in the present volume Aaron Proffitt examines Dōhan’s Compendium in the context of the eastward flow of Mahayana Buddhism from India to Japan and uncovers Mahayana Buddhists employing multiple, overlapping, so-called “esoteric” approaches along the path to awakening. Proffitt divides his study into two parts. In Part I he considers how early Buddhologists, working under colonialism, first constructed Mahayana Buddhism, Pure Land Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism as discrete fields of inquiry. He then surveys the flow of Indian Buddhist spells, dhāraṇī, and mantra texts into China and Japan and the diverse range of Buddhist masters who employed these esoteric techniques to achieve rebirth in Sukhāvatī, the Pure Land of Bliss. In Part II, he considers the life of Dōhan and analyzes the monk’s comprehensive view of buddhānusmṛti as a form of ritual technology that unified body and mind, Sukhāvatī as a this-worldly or other-worldly soteriological goal synonymous with nirvana itself, and the Buddha Amitābha as an object of devotion beyond this world of suffering. The work concludes with the first full translation of Dōhan’s Himitsu nenbutsu shō into a modern language.

Toward a Contemporary Understanding of Pure Land Buddhism

Author: Dennis Hirota

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 2000-03-31

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9780791445297

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Explores the potential significance of Japanese Pure Land Buddhist Thought in the contemporary world, and provides a new model of interreligious dialogue as Buddhist thinkers engage with Christian theologians concerned with the present-day significance of their own tradition.

Pure Land

Author: Charles B. Jones

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 2021-05-18

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 0834843447

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An introductory guide to the beliefs and key concepts of Pure Land Buddhism, the most widely practiced form of Buddhism in East Asia. Pure Land is a brief introduction to the history and practices of Pure Land Buddhism, a popular and growing global tradition. Pure Land practices center on Amitābha Buddha, rebirth in his pure buddha-land, and the guaranteed attainment of buddhahood. It constitutes the dominant tradition of most Buddhists in East Asia and is the most common form of practice within immigrant Buddhist communities in America, yet it remains elusive to many general readers of Buddhism. This brief introduction summarizes the core teachings of this tradition and charts its growth throughout the world. Part of the Buddhist Foundations series, Pure Land covers the spiritual tenets behind the tradition before describing how prayer and devotion to Amitābha allow for rebirth in a realm free from suffering and ideal for progress on the path to enlightenment. It then outlines specific Pure Land practices, all the while providing historical context to account for its widespread popularity throughout East Asia. The author also covers contemporary Pure Land traditions, providing a useful touch point for modern readers. Pure Land practitioners and readers interested in Asian-American Buddhist communities now have a concise guide to the ideas, practices, and origins of this widely popular spiritual tradition.

Pure Land Buddhism - Dialogues with Ancient Masters

Author: Chih I (Patriarch) , T'ien Ju (Zen Master), Thich Thi'en Tam(Dharma Master)

Publisher: The Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation

Published:

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13:

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Buddhism, as a major religion and a way of life, is the subject of numerous books and commentaries. Yet the kernel of its teachings can be expressed in two major concepts: purity of Mind and practice. Traditional Pure Land teachings emphasize the three elements of Faith, Vows and Practice (Buddha Recitation) as the essential conditions for rebirth in the Pure Land -- in the Pure Mind. This approach is presented as the easiest, most expedient path for the majority of people in this day and age. These teachings are in harmony with other Pure Land traditions, such as Jodo Shinshu, in which shinjin, Faith, is ultimately defined as Mind -- the True Mind, encompassing Vows and Practice (Sanshin Jsshin). Pure Land is also in line with Zen, which sees all teachings as expedients, "fingers pointing to the moon" - the moon being the True Mind, the Mind of Thusness, always bright, pure and unchanging. In the same vein, the Dhammapada Sutra, a key text of the Theravada School, summarizes the teachings of the Buddha with the words: "Do not what is evil. Do what is good. Keep your Mind pure. Yet, purity of Mind cannot be achieved by study and verbalization alone. It can be attained only through determined practice. There is a story concerning the famous Chinese official and poet Po Chu-i which illustrates this point. One day, the official, passing along the road, saw a Zen monk seated on the branch of a tree preaching the Dharma. The following dialogue ensued: Official: "Old man, what are you doing in that tree, in such a precarious position? One misstep, and you will fall to your death!" Monk: "I dare say, Your Lordship, that your own position is even more precarious. If I make a misstep, I alone may be killed; if you make a misstep, it can cost the lives of thousands." Official: "Not a bad reply. I'll tell you what. If you can explain the essence of Buddhism to me in one sentence, I'll become your disciple. Otherwise, we will go our separate ways, never to meet again." Monk: "What an easy question! Listen! The essence of Buddhism is to do no evil, do what is good, and keep your Mind pure." Official: "ls that all there is to it? Even a child of eight realizes that!" Monk: "True, a child of eight may realize it, but, even a man of eighty cannot practice it!" Buddhism is Mind, Buddhism is practice -- it is praxis.•

Pure Lands in Asian Texts and Contexts

Author: Georgios T. Halkias

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

Published: 2019-03-31

Total Pages: 808

ISBN-13: 0824877144

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This diverse anthology of original Buddhist texts in translation provides a historical and conceptual framework that will transform contemporary scholarship on Pure Land Buddhism and instigate its recognition as an essential field of Buddhist studies. Traditional and contemporary primary sources carefully selected from Buddhist cultures across historical, geopolitical, and literary boundaries are organized by genre rather than chronologically, geographically, or by religious lineage—a novel juxtaposition that reveals their wider importance in fresh contexts. Together these fundamental texts from different Asian traditions, expertly translated by eminent and up-and-coming scholars, illustrate that the Buddhism of pure lands is not just an East Asian cult or a marginal type of Buddhism, but a pan-Asian and deeply entrenched religious phenomenon. The volume is organized into six parts: Ritual Practices, Contemplative Visualizations, Doctrinal Expositions, Life Writing and Poetry, Ethical and Aesthetic Explications, and Worlds beyond Sukhāvatī. Each part is introduced and summarized, and each translated piece is prefaced by its translator to supply historical and sectarian context as well as insight into the significance of the work. Common and less-common issues of practice, doctrine, and intra-religious transfer are explored, and deeper understandings of the meaning of “pure lands” are gained through the study of the celestial, cosmological, internal, and earthly pure lands associated with various buddhas, bodhisattvas, and devotional figures. The introduction by the volume editors ties the diverse themes of the book together and provides a historical background to Pure Land Buddhist studies. Scholars of Buddhism and Asian religion, including graduate and post-graduate students, as well as Buddhist practitioners, will appreciate the range of translated materials and accompanied discussions made accessible in one essential collection, the first of its kind to center on the formerly-neglected topic of Buddhist pure lands.

Path of No Path

Author: Richard Karl Payne

Publisher: Institute of Buddhist Studies

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13:

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Roger Corless (1938-2007) pursued his own path, one he described as a path with heart. This enabled him to bring new perspectives to the study of Buddhism in general and Pure Land in particular. Honoring his life and his contribution to the field, this collection brings together ten essays by his colleagues and friends. These articles cover a range of topics, from the practice of Pure Land to its historical transmission and its contemporary interpretation. Contributors include Harvey Aronson, Gordon Bermant, Alfred Bloom, Ruben Habito, Charles Jones, Charles Orzech, Richard Payne, Charles Prebish, James Sanford, and Kenneth Tanaka, as well as a remembrance by one of Corless's students, Arthur Holder. As is only appropriate in memory of a pioneer in the field of Pure Land Buddhist studies, this work itself contributes to the further development of research and interpretation of the tradition.

Luminous Bliss

Author: Georgios T. Halkias

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

Published: 2012-09-30

Total Pages: 370

ISBN-13: 0824837746

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With an annotated English translation and critical analysis of the Orgyan-gling gold manuscript of the short Sukhāvativyūha-sūtra Pure Land Buddhism as a whole has received comparatively little attention in Western studies on Buddhism despite the importance of “buddha-fields” (pure lands) for the growth and expression of Mahāyāna Buddhism. In this first religious history of Tibetan Pure Land literature, Georgios Halkias delves into a rich collection of literary, historical, and archaeological sources to highlight important aspects of this neglected pan-Asian Buddhist tradition. He clarifies many of the misconceptions concerning the interpretation of “other-world” soteriology in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and provides translations of original Tibetan sources from the ninth century to the present that represent exoteric and esoteric doctrines that continue to be cherished by Tibetan Buddhists for their joyful descriptions of the Buddhist path. The book is informed by interviews with Tibetan scholars and Buddhist practitioners and by Halkias’ own participant-observation in Tibetan Pure Land rituals and teachings conducted in Europe and the Indian subcontinent. Divided into three sections, Luminous Bliss shows that Tibetan Pure Land literature exemplifies a synthesis of Mahāyāna sutra-based conceptions with a Vajrayana world-view that fits progressive and sudden approaches to the realization of Pure Land teachings. Part I covers the origins and development of Pure Land in India and the historical circumstances of its adaptation in Tibet and Central Asia. Part II offers an English translation of the short Sukhāvatīvyūha-sūtra (imported from India during the Tibetan Empire) and contains a survey of original Tibetan Pure Land scriptures and meditative techniques from the dGe-lugs-pa, bKa’-brgyud, rNying-ma, and Sa-skya schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Part III introduces some of the most innovative and popular mortuary cycles and practices related to the Tantric cult of Buddha Amitābha and his Pure Land from the Treasure traditions in the bKa’-brgyud and rNying-ma schools. Luminous Bliss locates Pure Land Buddhism at the core of Tibet’s religious heritage and demonstrates how this tradition constitutes an integral part of both Tibetan and East Asian Buddhism.

Pure Land

Author: Charles B. Jones

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 2021-05-18

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 1611808901

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Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia

Author: Charles Orzech

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 1223

ISBN-13: 9004184910

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This volume, the result of an international collaboration of forty scholars, provides a comprehensive resource on Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in their Chinese, Korean, and Japanese contexts from the first few centuries of the common era to the present.

Aspiring to Enlightenment

Author: Richard D. McBride II

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

Published: 2020-08-31

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 0824884132

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Centered on the practice of seeking rebirth in the Pure Land paradise Sukhāvatī, the Amitābha cult has been the dominant form of Buddhism in Korea since the middle of the Silla period (ca. 300–935). In Aspiring to Enlightenment, Richard McBride combines analyses of scriptural, exegetical, hagiographical, epigraphical, art historical, and literary materials to provide an episodic account of the cult in Silla times and its rise in an East Asian context through the mutually interconnected perspectives of doctrine and practice. McBride demonstrates that the Pure Land tradition emerging in Korea in the seventh and eighth centuries was vibrant and collaborative and that Silla monk-scholars actively participated in a shared, international Buddhist discourse. Monks such as the exegete par excellence Wŏnhyo and the Yogācāra proponent Kyŏnghŭng did not belong to a specific sect or school, but like their colleagues in China, they participated in a broadly inclusive doctrinal tradition. He examines scholarly debates surrounding the cults of Maitreya and Amitābha, the practice of buddhānusmṛti, the recollection of Amitābha, the “ten recollections” within the larger Mahāyāna context of the bodhisattva’s path of practice, the emerging Huayan intellectual tradition, and the influential interpretations of medieval Chinese Pure Land proponents Tanluan and Shandao. Finally, his work illuminates the legacy of the Silla Pure Land tradition, revealing how the writings of Silla monks continued to be of great value to Japanese monks for several centuries. With its fresh and comprehensive approach to the study of Pure Land Buddhism, Aspiring to Enlightenment is important for not only students and scholars of Korean history and religion and East Asian Buddhism, but also those interested in the complex relationship between doctrinal writings and devotional practice “on the ground.”