PURE AND IMPURE LANDS. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a "Pure Land" is a purified land where buddhas and bodhisattvas, the future buddhas, dwell. In contrast, the realms inhabited by ordinary sentient beings are called "Impure...

Pure Land Buddhism is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition originating in India around 100 BCE–100 CE. Although Pure Land is not indigenous to China in terms of its doctrine and scriptures, it became in spirit and character an integral part of Chinese...

TANLUAN (traditional dates 476–542, but more probably c. 488–554) was the author of the first known systematic work to be produced in China on Pure Land (Chin., Jingtu) Buddhism, that branch of the Buddhist tradition that emphasizes faith...

SUZUKI SHŌSAN (1579–1655) was a Japanese Buddhist monk known for his advocacy of Niō-zazen, a meditative technique drawing upon both Zen and Pure Land methodologies. Shōsan was a bodyguard retainer (hatamoto) of Tokugawa...

Pure Land Buddhism (traditional Chinese: 淨土宗; simplified Chinese: 净土宗, Jìngtǔzōng; Japanese: 浄土宗, Jōdoshū; Korean: 정토종, jeongtojong; Vietnamese: 浄土宗, Tịnh Độ Tông), also sometimes incorrectly referred to as...

Generally, the Buddhist path to nirvana calls a person to leave the mundane life and live as a monk, a sage, or a saint who continually works toward the pure state, toward nirvana. The way to Buddhahood can take the practitioner through the...

As Charlie Parker devotees will attest, improvisation at its most thrilling, if not its most ingenious, is often the result of careful planning. Cannot something similar be said of interreligious dialogue? All our planning and study are best put to use when they...