page_title: Pure Land Buddhism
section_title: Going to the Pure Land
hierarchical_section_title: Pure Land Buddhism / Going to the Pure Land
caption_attribution_description: English: Amitabha in Sukhavati Paradise, Tibetan, circa 1700, Ink, pigments, and gold on cotton, San Antonio Museum of Art
context_page_description: Pure Land Buddhism, also referred to as Amidism in English, is a broad branch of Mahayana Buddhism and one of the most widely practiced traditions of Buddhism in East Asia. Pure Land is a tradition of Buddhist teachings that are focused on the Buddha Amitābha. The three primary texts of the tradition, known as the "Three Pure Land Sutras", are the Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra, Amitayurdhyana Sutra and the Shorter Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra.
  Pure Land oriented practices and concepts are found within basic Mahāyāna Buddhist cosmology, and form an important component of the Mahāyāna Buddhist traditions of China, Japan, Korea, Tibet and Vietnam. The term "Pure Land Buddhism" is used to describe both the Pure Land soteriology of Mahayana Buddhism, which may be better understood as "Pure Land traditions" or "Pure Land teachings," and the separate Pure Land sects that developed in Japan from the work of Hōnen. Pure Land Buddhism is built on the belief that we will never have a world which is not corrupt, so we must strive for re-birth in another plane, referred to as the "Pure Land".
context_section_description: Practitioners claim there is evidence of dying people going to the pure land, such as:
  Knowing the time of death (預知時至): some prepare by bathing and nianfo.
  The "Three Saints of the West" (西方三聖): Amitābha and the two bodhisattvas, Avalokiteśvara on his right and Mahāsthāmaprāpta on his left, appear and welcome the dying person. Visions of other buddhas or bodhisattvas are disregarded as they may be bad spirits disguising themselves, attempting to stop the person from entering the Pure Land.
  Records of practicing Pure Land Buddhists who have died have been known to leave śarīra, or relics, after cremation.
  The last part of the body to become cold is the top of the head (posterior fontanelle). In Buddhist teaching, souls who enter the Pure Land leave the body through the fontanelle at the top of the skull. Hence, this part of the body stays warmer longer than the rest of the body. The Verses on the Structure of the Eight Consciousnesses (Chinese: 八識規矩補註), reads: "to birth in saints the last body temperature in top of head, to deva in eyes, to human in heart, to hungry ghosts in belly, to animals in knee cap, to the hells-realm in sole of feet." See also: phowa.
  The dying person may demonstrate some, but not necessarily all, of these evidences. For example, his facial expression may be happy, but he may not demonstrate other signs, such as sharira and dreams.
  When a person dies, at first "good luck at the underworld" is prayed for the dead person. The next, the family is in mourning during 49 days till the dead person's reincarnation (Pure Land sects may say "till achieving Pure Land"). It is thought that the great sinner transmigrates to a beast or a hungry ogre without being able to go to the Pure Land.
caption: Tibetan painting of Amitābha in Sukhāvatī
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