Other Pure Land practices besides Amidaha Butsu ones…

 

Other Pure Land practices besides Amidaha Butsu ones…

by George

(Greece)

Hi,

I have been recently introduced to Shingon-shu and found out that there are other Pure Lands beside the Western Pure Land of Amida. Why did this practice become dominant in Japan over other Pure Land practices?

Thank you for your time…

Hello George,

Thank you for your question. I will answer it in a very short manner because the answer is not so difficult.

First, for those who do not know what George is talking about, I would refer you to Shingon And The Pure Land Schools

Secondly, Shingon Buddhism, due to its secretive nature, appealed mostly to the aristocracy. Pure Land Buddhism, on the other side, appealed to the masses because it offered an easy solution, an easy ritual that anyone could follow. One did not need to become a monk or initiate to be saved.

For this reason, the faith spread quite quickly around Japan and it gained a large number of followers.

There exists many other Pure Lands, in fact, all Buddhas have one. Shingon has practices related to Ashuku Nyorai, also called the immovable one.

At the end of the day, though, The Western Pure Land of Amida Nyorai is far more popular than any others, due to the sheer number of followers of the different Pure Land schools (also called Amidist schools)

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