The study of Pure Land practices in both China and Japan has frequently been undertaken from the perspective of the Japanese Pure Land schools, particularly the Jôdo and Jôdo Shinshû denominations. As a result, scholarship of Pure Land practice tends to be teleological, with the development of the Japanese Pure Land schools viewed as the end point toward which all Pure Land practices point. Concomitantly, scholars have given relatively little attention to post-Song developments in Chinese Pure Land practice, the use of Pure Land imagery outside of the main Pure Land traditions, and early modern interchange between Chinese and Japanese Pure Land practitioners because these phenomena do not figure significantly in the formation of Japanese Pure Land orthodoxy.

The presenters of these papers, which are part of a forthcoming volume, widen the current perspective by revealing the great variety in Pure Land imagery and practice as well as the numerous cross-fertilizations between Chinese and Japanese Pure Land practitioners. In this panel we will examine the appropriation of the imagery of Amitâyus/Amitâbha and rebirth into Pure Lands by Chinese and Japanese esoteric practitioners; varying interpretations of the theory, practice and goals of Buddha invocation/Buddha contemplation (C. nianfo/J. nenbutsu); and the early modern interpretation of Pure Land theory and practice in the Myôshinji stream of Japanese Rinzai Zen. These presentations move beyond the notion of syncretism between hermetically sealed traditions and the conception of a monolithic, unidirectional Pure Land practice. In so doing the presenters intend to demonstrate the richness and pan-sectarian significance of Pure Land practice in East Asian Buddhism.

Charles Brewer Jones, Catholic University of America

The Pure Land tradition in East Asian Buddhism, in both its Chinese and Japanese manifestations, has presented itself as "the easy path," open to all and practicable by all. At its simplest level, it consists of the simple premise that orally invoking the name of the Buddha Amitâbha ensures rebirth in the Pure Land Sukhâvatî after death.

However, the ease of this practice should not be taken as an indication that the tradition as a whole is simple or monotonous. When one surveys the broad range of Pure Land writings in China, one finds that in actuality masters have recommended many ways of performing nianfo (buddha invocation or buddha-contemplation) that lead to a variety of goals. Guifeng Zongmi (780–841) subdivided the practice into four distinct levels. Yunqi Zhuhong (1535–1615) proposed a more elaborate scheme based on a distinction of phenomenal nianfo (shi nianfo) and noumenal nianfo (li nianfo). The twelfth "patriarch" of the Pure Land school, Jixing Chewu (1741–1810) taught a form of nianfo based on mind-only thought that lead to purification of the mind and the vision of Amitâbha as a sign of rebirth in this life. The thirteenth "patriarch" Yinguang (1861–1940) used nianfo in his youth to cure conjunctivitis. Many other examples could be cited.

This presentation’s purpose, therefore, will be to alert scholars that the theoretical underpinnings of nianfo have a highly ramified and complex history in China, and that the practice leads include a variety of pre- and post-mortem goals according to the practitioner’s understanding, intent, and method.

Charles D. Orzech, University of North Carolina; James H. Sanford, University of North Carolina

Four decades ago, Yoshioka Yoshitoyo perceptively characterized post T’ang Buddhism as consisting of the three practice-oriented schools of Ch’an, Ch’ing-t’u, and Mi-chiao (Dokyô to bukkyô vol. 1, 1959, p. 36). Both in the case of China and in the case of Japan, sectarian and sectarian influenced scholarship had often presented these currents as hermetically sealed "schools," and their interaction as syncretic. Fortunately this portrait has changed. The interaction between Ch’an and Pure Land traditions has been the topic of numerous studies and scholars have more recently turned to the interpenetration of Ch’an and Esoteric Buddhism, both in China and in Japan. However, fusions of Pure Land and Esoteric traditions have received far less scrutiny. This presentation will explore Pure Land-Esoteric interactions in China and Japan and will be in two parts. In the first, Charles D. Orzech will examine China, and in the second James H. Sanford will examine Japan.

Charles D. Orzech, University of North Carolina

The first part of this presentation will survey the textual sources for the study of Pure Land-Esoteric fusion from the mid-T’ang ritual manuals produced in the circle of Pu-k’ung through the use of esoteric rites by the Ming cleric Chu-hung. Such fusions are of two distinct types. First are the esoteric tradition’s appropriations of Amitâyus and Avalokitesvara, in the Mahâvairocana sûtra and other "mainstream" esoteric texts such as the Chin-kang-ting ching kuan-tzu-tzai wang ju-lai hsiu-hsing fa (attributed to Pu-k’ung, T 931). In these texts, Pure Land soteriology is erased in favor of esoteric soteriology. A second genre of texts like the Wu-liang shou ju-lai kuan hsing kung-yang i-kuei [Kalpa for Contemplation of and Making Offerings to Amitâyus Tathâgata, T 930] and the Chiu p’in wang sheng a-mi-t’o san-ma-ti chi t’o-lo-ni ching [Scripture of Collected Dhâranîs for the Samâdhi of Amitâbha for the Nine Classes of Rebirth in the Sukhâvatî, T 933] employ esoteric ritual and meditative technology to insure rebirth in the Pure Land. The survey will serve as context for a more focused treatment of these latter texts and their influence in China and ultimately in Japan.

James H. Sanford, University of North Carolina

Non-normative versions of and visions of the Pure Land are found in several Japanese venues: in the "Esoteric Nenbutsu" tradition of Shingon Buddhism, in the works of several important Zen writers, and in certain off-shoots of the major Pure Land schools such as the Kakure Nenbutsu (Hidden Nenbutsu) "heresies." This presentation will survey these phenomena as a context for a closer discussion of the work of a single figure, the Shingon monk Kakuban, as exemplified in his several brief treatments of the Mitsugon Pure Land of Mahâvairocana (Dainichi) and in his "Esoteric Nenbutsu" text, the Gorin kujimyô himitsu shaku [Secret Explication of the Five Cakras and the Nine-syllable Vidya].

Richard M. Jaffe, North Carolina State University

During the early Edo period, increased attention to lay teaching and the diffusion of Ming Chinese ideas about Zen-nenbutsu fusion catalyzed the spread of recitation practice into various denominations of Japanese Zen. Various forms of Pure Land imagery and practices can be seen clearly in the writings of Suzuki Shôsan and in popular didactic songs (dôka) written by members of the Myôshinji stream of Rinzai Zen, including Ungo Kiyô, Gudô Tôshoku, and Shidô Munan.