Pure Land Buddhism

| Friday, June 18, 2010

Pure Land Buddhism (also known as the Lotus sect) ties in with popular Taoist interest in Magic and spiritual forces and so mixes quite well with Chinese folk religions. The help of Buddha may be gained through reciting Buddhist chants, most popularly Nan Men A Me To Fo, This form of Buddhism believes in the idea of a Pure Land, a Western paradise comparable to the idea of heaven, which can be got to through faith in Buddha. There is no idea here of the extinction of Nirvana in more traditional Buddhism. Pure Land Buddhism believes that all possess enough of the Buddha nature that we can possibly achieve this. It’s stress on the equality of all people becomes a good basis for emphasizing class equality and this, along with it’s simple teachings makes this form of Buddhism more appealing to the grass roots Chinese. Pure Land Buddhism has a strong emphasis on moral teaching and basic social virtues, which overlaps with Confucianism.

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