page_title: Faith in Buddhism
section_title: Pure Land Buddhism
hierarchical_section_title: Faith in Buddhism / History / Mahāyāna Buddhism / Pure Land Buddhism
caption_attribution_description: English: Two Patriarchs - Shandao, Otani University Museum, Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan 日本語: 二祖対面図 善導
context_page_description: In Buddhism, faith refers to a serene commitment to the practice of the Buddha's teaching and trust in enlightened or highly developed beings, such as Buddhas or bodhisattvas. Buddhists usually recognize multiple objects of faith, but many are especially devoted to one in particular, such as one particular Buddha. Faith may not only be devotion to a person, but exists in relation to Buddhist concepts like the efficacy of karma and the possibility of enlightenment.
  Faith in early Buddhism focused on the Triple Gem, that is, the Buddha; his teaching; and finally, the community of spiritually developed followers or the monastic community seeking enlightenment. A faithful devotee was called an upāsaka or upāsika, a status for which no formal initiation was required. Early Buddhism valued personal verification of spiritual truth highest in attaining such truth, and considered sacred scriptures, reason or faith in a teacher less valuable sources of authority. As important as faith was, it was merely a first step on the path to wisdom and enlightenment, and was made obsolete or redefined at the final stage of that path.
context_section_description: It is perhaps in the "Pure Land" sūtras that faith and devotion reach a pinnacle of soteriological importance. When devotion to celestial Buddhas developed in Mahāyāna Buddhism, the idea arose that these Buddhas were able to create 'Buddha-fields' Sanskrit: buddha-kṣetra), or Pure Lands (Sanskrit: sukhāvatī). In Pure Land Buddhism, it is one's faith in the salvific compassion of the Buddha Amitābha, coupled with the earnest wish to enter his Pure Land that is said to bring deliverance there. This Pure Land  prepares the devotee for entry into awakening and Nirvana. Pure Land Buddhism differed in many ways from most forms of Buddhism at the time, which were based on personal effort and techniques of self-mastery.
  Mahāyānist Buddhists considered Amitābha (Sanskrit, 'limitless light') as one of the celestial Buddhas. The Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra describes the Buddha Amitābha as a monk who, practicing under a Buddha in a previous age, vowed to create a land through his spiritual powers. Through this ideal land he would easily be able to guide many living beings to final enlightenment. He therefore vowed that once he had attained Buddhahood, just calling his name would be enough for living beings to be born in this Pure Land. Widespread in Japan, Korea, China and Tibet, devotion to the Buddha Amitābha arose in India around the beginning of the Common Era. Central to Pure Land Buddhism is the idea that the current age humans live in is the Age of Dharma Decline (Chinese: mofa, Japanese: mappō), the final stage of the current Buddha's dispensation. Pure Land Buddhists believe that in this period people are severely limited in their own capability for attaining salvation. They must therefore rely on external power (the Buddha Amitābha) to find salvation, and delay their attainment of Nirvana to another life (during their rebirth in the Pure Land). This shared sentiment may have been due to the violent civil conflicts, famines, fires and decay of monastic institutions. But the idea of reliance on an external power might also have been a consequence of the Mahāyāna teachings on the nature of the Buddha, which made the distance between the unenlightened and Buddhahood much greater.
  Pure Land Buddhism was established as an institution by the teacher Huiyuan (334–416 CE) on Mount Lu with the founding of the White Lotus Society. Shandao (613–681) started emphasizing reciting mantras in honour of Amitābha Buddha (Chinese: nianfo; Japanese: nembutsu), combined with several other practices. There seems to have been a paradox in Pure Land faith from the start, in that two ideals were advocated simultaneously: on the one hand, Pure Land teachers taught that the bodhisattvas who created their Pure Lands were exemplary in their own efforts to make merits as an energy to create the Pure Land from, inspiring the devotee to follow this example. On the other hand, it was taught that practitioners should solely rely on their devotion to the Buddhas in the Pure Land, in particular Amitābha, who would come to their rescue. In Japanese Pure Land Buddhism, the latter ideal became prevalent. But even in Japan, there was much debate as to what emphasis to give to the active efforts of the devotee on the one hand, and the passive reliance on Amitābha Buddha and his vow on the other hand.
  Pure Land Buddhism is currently still one of the most popular forms of religion in East Asia, and is practised by most East Asian monks. As of the 1990s, the older generation of Chinese people still used the Amitābha mantra in common everyday greetings.
caption: Painting of the Chinese priest and writer Shandao
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