Examine distinctive feature(s) of a Buddhist fraternity and how you might use the beliefs to express a Christian concept.

Within Mahyna Buddhism there is the Bohdisattva doctrine, the uniqueness of which is that the goal of all religious practise is Buddhahood itself, this means that all who aspire to this goal will be liberated Bodhisattvas and future Buddhas. This path is started by the formulation of a vow but part of this vow is a decision to stay in this world till all beings are saved form samsara, from impermanence and striving and the suffering that results from this (Hajime, 1989:219). Added to this is the belief in Mahyna Buddhism that a Bodhisattva can sacrifice his own karmic merit in order to bring about another beings liberation. This view that karmic merit is transferrable is a distinguishing feature of Mahyna Buddhism and is a main feature of Pure Land thought (Schumann, ET 1973:111). In the Lotus Stra, foundational for all forms of Mahyna Buddhism, the historical Buddha, Gautama - referred to as Skyamuni, reveals that he has been enlightened many aeons ago and since then he has been teaching many times in this world system. Over the ages he had already appeared in the form of past Buddhas such as Dpakara. These earthly Buddhas had always taught according to peoples spiritual capacities and, as such, had taught that Buddhas upon their death pass into nirva beyond contact of human beings. This however was merely a skilful ploy to ensure that people did not become dependent on Buddhas and used the teachings and knowledge of the Dharma that the Buddhas had imparted (Watson, 1993:229). Skyamuni is the skilful projection of a long enlightened heavenly Buddha (also known as Skyamuni) who appears in the form of earthly Buddhas and is still available to the faithful through visionary experiences. At a popular level Skyamuni is seen as eternal, omnipresent and omniscient and therefore worthy of worship. However, he still became enlightened through the Bodhisattva path, starting as an ordinary being not a recently enlightened human or a monotheistic God type figure. (Harvey, 1990:125) In about 300CE these early ideas about Bhuddas were systematised by one the two main philosophical schools within Mahynan Buddhism, Yogcra, into the Three body doctrine. This central plank of Mahynan belief sees Buddhahood as having three aspects, the Tansformation, Enjoyment and Dharma bodies. The Transformation-body describes earthly Buddhas, projections into a material form for the purpose of teaching, a compassionate act to show people the path to Buddhahood. The Enjoyment-body is seen as a body of limitless form, the product of the merit of the Bodhisattvas training. It is adopted by the heavenly Bhudda for the enjoyment of Bodhisattvas by appearing to them in visionary experiences or directly to Great Beings (Bodhisattvas at the seventh stage of the ten perfections who are no longer reborn but exist as heavenly saviours able to project and help beings in other worlds much like the heavenly Buddha, Skyamuni) (Harvey,1990:126). Each Enjoyment-body Buddha is said to preside over his own Buddha-land the world system in which he obtained Buddhahood, many are also known as Pure Lands. They are mystical universes that are created by the Enjoyment-body Buddha. Combining the ubiquitous Buddhist ideal that karma is the dominant force in the world and the Yogcran philosophical idealism that sees reality 1

as thought only (Harvey, 1990:109), an idea developed that a Buddha could draw on his limitless store of merit and the power of his mind to create an ideal world for the benefit of others. While they may seem similar to paradisiacal heavens of other religions they are in fact lands where it is easier to hear and practise the Dharma and therefore achieve enlightenment (Harvey, 1990:126). These Pure Lands are outside the normal system of personal karma. In order to be reborn into one of these Pure Lands requires devout prayer upon which the presiding Buddha transfers some of his limitless merit. This faith that has led to a rebirth in a Pure Land, either as human-like being or god, allows the person to develop wisdom and become enlightened either as an arhat or a Great Being Bodhisattva. It is this distinctive feature and belief within Mahynan Buddhism that resulted in the school known as Pure Land Buddhism. The final Dharma-body refers to the ultimate nature of both Buddhas and of reality in general. It takes on a semi-personalised aspect. In the tenth century this personification was taken further with the concept of the dibuddha, a primordial ever-enlightened Buddha (Harvey, 1990:127). In Pure Land Buddhism, a form of Mahyna Buddhism, this faith is no rational accepting of something as true but more akin to faithful confidence or devotion. Faith is the central virtue that all others flow from. It is doubly effective as it both produces karmic merit of a higher plane than that produced by common morals and since it has as its object the Transcendent Bodhisattva or Buddha, it also evokes his compassion and help (Schumann, ET 1973:133). Faith in Pure Land Bhuddhism is not to Skyamuni but to, Amitbha, or the Infinite Light. He obtained supreme Buddhahood incalculable aeons ago. To his followers, Amitbha is not just one Buddha amongst many but Buddhahood itself in the most beautiful and perfect form conceivable by man. There centred upon Amitbha, the devotion that had been spread between a multitude of other Buddhas and Bodhisattvas - though probably a myth in origin as there is no historical evidence that he ever existed. The main sources of knowledge about Amitbha and therefore the main stras for the Buddhism of faith and devotion are the Larger and Smaller Sukhvat-vyha Stras or the Array of the Happy Land. In order to understand Pure Land Buddhism and its distinctive faith in Amitbha these texts need to be examined. (Sangharakshita, 1987:356-357) The Larger Stra describes the Bodhisattva Dharmkara who in the presence of a previous Buddha, Lokevararja, conceived and mentally created a Buddha-land which encapsulated and eclipsed all the countless other Buddha-lands exceeding them all. He then made forty-eight Bodhisattva vows common to all these was the condition that if the vows were not fulfilled, that Dharmkara would not attain Buddhahood. Another condition of the vows is that any being born into his Buddha-land or Pure Land will never return to the lower realms. These forty-eight vows constitute the core of the Larger Stra and are the basis of Pure Land teaching (Willaims, 1989:253). The Bohdisattva Dharmkara indeed fulfils his vows and achieves Budhahood becoming the Tathgata Amitbha reingning in his pure Land, Sukhvat. Those who believe (have faith) in Amitbha and genuinely want to be reborn in his Pure Land have to repeat the name of Amitbha or think of him only ten times to be reborn there. This is providing they have not committed any of the five great crimes, amongst them causing a schism in the Sangha or slandering the Dharma (Williams, 1989:253). The Smaller Stra is an eighth the size of the Larger Stra but doctrinally there is a very important difference between the two texts. The Larger Stra teaches that rebirth in Sukhvat involves at least some accumulation of karmic merit. However the Smaller Stra denies this. Beings are not born in that Buddha-country of the Tathgata Amityus *the Infinite Life a name of Amitbha+ as a reward or result of good works performed in this present life. (Sangharakshita, 1987:362) 2

Due to his great compassion, the hallmark of the Bodhisattva path, Amitbhas attainment of Buddhahood was on the precondition of the establishment of a Pure Land that was not just for a privileged few but all sentient beings. According to the Larger Stra this rebirth was based upon some basic moral adherements or the Smaller Stra merely invoking Amitbhas name. In this view the Pure Land can be seen as a cosmic Sangha but infinitely more perfect than that of the one in the impure land of earth. Just as the Sangha was established to create a society within a society for those who felt the draw of the transcendental and provide an environment that was ideally suited for holy living and the pursuit of enlightenment, so the Pure Land functions in the same manner but is available to all (Sangharakshita, 1987:371). Secondly the being who is reborn into Sukhvat no longer has to worry about a bad karmic rebirth as he will no longer have an evil destiny or be rebirthed in anything other than a god or human on the progress to enlightenment. His entire concern is that of enlightenment, unburdened by cares for food, clothing or any other sustenance. Added to that Amitbha and his Bodhisattvas will provide instruction so that enlightenment is all but assured (Sangharakshita, 1987:372). This then is the doctrinal basis of Pure Land Buddhism and it is a shift from the intellectual Indian philosophical Buddhist systems to a devotional and emotional mode. The transcendent reality that is being attested to is the same but in one system it is indicated by concepts and stresses self-reliance and the in the other it is attested to by symbol, myth and imagination with a reliance on the other. (Sangharakshita, 1987:379) The development of the Pure Land doctrine into an independent school began with the Pure Land Stras being translated into Chinese in the second century. Hui Yuan is seen as the first patriarch of the school and founded a society in 402CE. It achieved rapid growth with the suppression of the Three Ages School in the eighth century (Reat, 1994:154). The Three Ages school held that the world was in a state of spiritual decline since its peak at the time of the Gautama and the current age was utterly degenerate, that is, the third age. Pure Land held this view also but was not explicitly critical of governments and was able to flourish while the Three Ages School was suppressed. This allowed for rapid expansion and the rise of two masters, Dao Zhu (562-645) who encouraged a single minded dedication to chanting the name of Amitbha in order to gain rebirth in the pure land and Shan Dao (613-681) who encouraged the chanting of sutras as well as worship of Buddha images and meditation upon the Buddha (Reat, 1994:154). This difference is then echoed in the two forms of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism, however, exactly the opposite process of evolution occurred. Hnens disciple Shinran (1173-1262) simplified the faith through an eagerness to fully develop the implications of Hnens teaching (Reat, 1994:202). Hnens (founded Jodo Shu Pure Land) teaching is similar to that of the doctrine of grace in Christianity. Salvation was through the grace of Amitbha which brought up questions on the role of morality and good works karmic seed in gaining this salvation. This polarity was expressed in Japan through the terms self-power and other-power, the saving power of Amitbhas grace. Hnens opponents vociferously levelled the charge of antinomianism towards this doctrine due to its disregard for morality or good works, the causality of karma in the salvific process. Shinran (founded Jodo Shinshu True Pure Land) reacted to this by stressing the utter reliance on Amitbhas saving grace rejecting all morality or good works. Ultimately he rejected the robes and celibacy of monks, rituals, merit making and all aspects of traditional piety. He went as far as rejecting the chanting of the nembutsu reciting the name of Amitbha - as stated in the eighteenth primal vow and the chief distinguishing mark of the Pure Land sect (Reat, 1994:203). This was a radical step as if the goal of faith is the Pure Land and the object is Amitbha then the means would be the nembutsu. Recital of the nembutsu was central to 3

Hnens doctrine. It stated that ordinary people, who could not cut off their passions, could obtain birth in the Pure Land through the power of Amitbhas vow if they recited the nembutsu (Yoshinori, 1999:217). Shinran had a greater appreciation of human evil and mans inability to sav e itself. The recital of the nembutsu was seen in some way to be a self-effort in salvation. Shinran rejected this, stating it was the universal Buddha nature within beings that produced an arising of faith that results in the nembutsu being recited (Netland, 2009:53-55). Therefore there is an even more distinct concept of faith within Shinrans doctrine. Faith as the realisation of Buddha nature is located in Amitbhas compassion and promise to deliver all beings as expressed in his Bohdisattva vows. This results in a shift of religious effort from the ego-centric self-power to an altruistic nature as a result of the complete reliance on the grace of the otherpower and is a mark of Shinrans interpretation of salvation on the basis of the universality of Amitbhas vows. For Shinran an evil person is able to receive Buddha nature and salvation the same way as a good person does. For if a good person achieves salvation through self-power it would be in contradiction to Amitbhas primal vows. So it is the same for both the evil and good person, an abandonment of self-power and faith (faithful confidence and devotion) to the other-power that will allow one to enter the Pure Land (Chung, 2004:303). On the surface there seems to be great harmony between The Bohdisattva path within Mahyna Buddhism and the Christian ideal of the compassion of Christ in his self-sacrifice in order to save all human beings. Perhaps one could consider Genesis 3.15 as Christs Bodhisattva vow in Genesis 3.15. In particular the form that this doctrine takes in Pure Land teaching and in particular that of the True Pure Land school of Shinran has strong parallels with ideas of grace and faith in Christianity. These analogies seem palpable; Christ is the object of faith just as Amitbha is. Heaven or the new earth and new creation (Rev 21:1) could be seen as the Pure Land, the goal of faith. Faith in Christs saving power or the confession of Jesus (a Christian nembutsu?) is the means of salvation. The reliance on other-power, Christ rather than our own self-power is also another evident comparison. The response to the grace of the saving power of the other power as one of gratitude and worship and that work or use self- power in order to achieve our salvation is impossible has its strongest parallels in Lutheran and Reformed expressions of grace and faith in Christianity. However caution should be observed in trying to draw direct correlations such as these. Jesus in John 1.1 is declared as God and as such eternal, though born as a man (incarnated), there was never a time when he was not. This is not the same as Amitbha who was indeed the monk and Bodhisattva, Dharmkara. Secondly God and Jesus within Christian thought is a person and an individual, this is not the case with Amitbha in Pure Land Buddhism including that expressed by Shinran,
By the word Amitbha Shinran does not denote any particular personality, not even a Buddha, but Buddhahood or reality itself. Consequently the Compassion to which we surrender, and by which we are carried to nirva, is not the emotion of any individual, however exalted, but a cosmic principle (Sangharakshita, 1987:378)

This cosmic principle or Buddha nature has no comparisons within Christianity - there is certainly no such thing as Christ-nature (Netland, 2009:56).

Finally the seemingly direct correlation of faith within True Pure Land Buddhism and Lutheran and Reformed Christianity when examined also has dissonances as Sangharakshita notes,
[i]t would be an egregious error if some slight coincidence in terminology should ever lead us to confuse the Shin doctrine of salvation by faith with the corresponding protestant Christian dogma. The awakening of faith in Shin Buddhism is an instant of pure egolessness. This instant of pure egolessness occurs when, realising that any attempt to gain enlightenment by means of our own efforts will only strenghthen our sense of separateness, we make the an unconditional surrender to the compassion of Amitbha, unreservedly relying upon it to carry us to nirva (Sangharakshita, 1987:378).

Though faith as the means of salvation (the reliance on the other-self) is very similar the salvation that this brings has no comparisons in Christianity. The Pure Land is there to allow those reborn into it to achieve enlightenment, including the realisation of egolessness or no-self (anatt). This is much in contrast to Christian teaching of personhood and the salvation as the eternal presence of the personal creator God.

Bibliography

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