Pure Land - Discussion

Discussion

In Mahayana sutras, there are many pure lands. Boddhisatvas, such as Avalokitesvara and Manjusri, would have their pure lands after they attain buddhahood. In the Lotus sutra, Buddha followers such as Sariputta, Mahākāśyapa, Subhuti, Moggallana and Rahula would also have their pure lands. The relative time of pure lands may be different. A day in a pure land may be the same duration as years in another.

Pure land systems of devotion may be reconciled within the larger system of Buddhism as 'compassionate' (Sanskrit: karuna) upaya, often advocated for the less philosophically or intellectually inclined. Though this is not a definitive characteristic. Other concepts such as 'devotion, faith and conviction' (Sanskrit: śraddhā) are essential to the path as evidenced by Buddhavacana and many scholars, philosophers and learned people feel considerable devotion and faith in their sadhana and commitments.

Pure lands have been documented as arising due to the intention and aspiration of a Bodhisattva such as the case of Amitabha, but other discourse has codified that they are entwined with 'emanation' (Sanskrit: nirmana) and sambhogakaya theory and are understood to manifest effortlessly and spontaneously due to other activities (Wylie: phrin las) of a Buddha, in suite with the Buddha's pure qualities (Wylie: yon tan) and mysteries of body, speech and mind. In the latter effortless and spontaneous methodology, the Five Certainties/Five Excellences (Tibetan: nges-pa lnga), attributes of the body of perfect rapture (Sanskrit: sambhogakāya) play a role, namely, those of the perfected: 'teacher' (Wylie: ston-pa), 'teaching' (Wylie: bstan-pa), 'retinue' (Wylie: 'khor), 'place' (Wylie: gnas) and 'time' (Wylie: dus).

Nakamura (1980, 1987: p. 207) establishes the Dharmic grounding of the padma 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 by Brahmin 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.