Pure Land Buddhism (
zh. 净土宗,
pinyin jing4tu3zong1), also known as
Amidism, is a branch of mainstream
Mahayana Buddhism and one of the most popular schools of
Buddhism in the Far East. It is based upon the Pure Land sutra (
sa. sukhavati-vyuha) first brought to
China circa 150, which describes Amitabha ("Infinite-Light"), later personified as Buddha Amitabha. This concept, personified or otherwise, can be translated variously but is usually shortened to "Amituo" or "Amitofo" in Chinese, "Amida" in Japanese and "Adida" in Korean and Vietnamese. Contemporary Pure Land traditions see the Buddha Amitabha preaching the
Dharma in his buddha-field (
sa. buddhakchetra), called the "Pure Land" (
zh. 净土,
pinyin jing4tu3,
jp. jodo) or "western heaven" (
zh. 西天), a region offering respite from
karmic transmigration. In such traditions, entering the Pure Land is popularly perceived as equivalent to the attainment of
nirvana.
In fact, the main idea behind Pure Land Buddhism is that it is practically impossible to attain Nirvana in this life. Instead devotion to Amitabha will gain one enough karmic merit to go to the Pure Land (reminiscent of Heaven) from which it is easier to attain Nirvana, because in this paradise there are no negative experiences so no new negative karma is created. Existing negative karma would disappear.
Honen Shonin (
1133-
1212) established Pure Land Buddhism as an independent sect in
Japan, known as "Jodo Shu".
- Eitel, Ernest J. Hand-Book of Chinese Buddhism, being a Sanskrit-Chinese Dictionary with Vocabularies of Buddhist Terms in Pali, Singhalese, Siamese, Burmese, Tibetan, Mongolian and Japanese (Second Edition). New Delhi, Madras: Asian Educational Services. 1992.