A Buddhology of the Name: Traditional Pure Land Buddhology Revisited

By Raymond Lam

Let me dwell in the blessed assembly of the Buddha of Infinite Splendour, born in a
beautiful and holy lotus
And receive a prophecy of enlightenment (Vyakarana) in the Presence of
Amitābha.

– Samantabhadra’s Vows

Introduction

Buddhology has existed ever since Shakyamuni Buddha attained enlightenment and
grew as a field of religious study after his death. In Buddhist philosophical circles, the
question of what makes an individual a Buddha has been discussed with expanding
scope and deepening complexity especially after the advent of the Mahayana, or the
Great Vehicle. The idea of the bodhisattvas, the trikaya, and Buddha-lands forever
altered the structure and meaning of the Buddhist vocation. Buddhology reached a
new milestone with the advent of the Pure Land school, in which three essential
concepts: Light, Life, and the Name – became the central aspects of devotion through
which sentient beings could come to a personal relationship with the Buddha and to
attain Nirvana. These three crucial aspects form the crux of Pure Land doctrine: in the
holy scriptures, the Larger Sutra states that Amitābha’s nature is of infinite light (Vow
Twelve), infinite life (Vow Thirteen), and of the supreme Name (Vow Seventeen).
Amitābha’s Eighteenth Vow, which all Pure Land traditions revere as the most
important of the forty-eight, communicate his intention to have all sentient beings
know his Name and to attain liberation in his Pure Land.

This essay is a holistic revisiting of Pure Land Buddhology for modern students. I am
convinced – and many writers have asserted this before me – that culture, language,
or societal forms cannot limit the Pure Land School. Its Buddhology must also be
cosmic enough to include, where possible and legitimate, the notions and concepts of
all traditions claiming loyalty to Amitābha. It is not helpful to overlook Chinese
influence on Japanese Pure Land teachings, nor is it beneficial to ignore the
significance of Japanese thinkers within the totality of the Mahayana movement. A
good case in point would be Shinran. Many Chinese and Japanese thinkers do not
consider many of his ideas legitimate, yet I am convinced that much of his teaching is
pertinent to modern discipleship in Buddhism. It would be an ad hoc assumption to
disregard his experience of the Pure Land simply because I declare loyalty to the
Chinese tradition.

Therefore, this relatively short work came about as my personal and no doubt
imperfect attempt to coherently articulate the holy qualities of Amitābha for a
younger readership interested in Mahayana Buddhism and the Pure Land perspective
on its central Buddha, Amitābha. The paper aims to help Buddhists understand the
import of the Name in the universe and to help non-Buddhists to understand why the
Name is believed to embody such importance. Therefore, it is a treatise addressing an
important aspect of Mahayana philosophy as succinctly but as systematically as my
skills permit. It is academic in its approach, but in the end, it remains my own search
for the face of the Name.
Preliminary Observations

The proper form (word-stem) of Amitābha's name in Sanskrit is the masculine

Amitābha, and the nominative singular is Amitābhah. This is a compound of the
Sanskrit words amita (“without bound, infinite”) and ābhā (“light, splendour”).
Consequently, the Holy Name is to be interpreted as “He who possesses light without
bound, he whose splendour is infinite.” The name Amitāyus (nominative form
Amitāyuh) is also used. This is a compound of amita and āyus (“life”), and so means
“He whose life is boundless” (Harvey, 1990, pp. 129 – 30).

Amitābha is the supreme (Larger Sutra, 270b, 11), wonderful, and unequaled
(Discourse on the Pure Land, verse 18) Lord of cosmic compassion, venerated by all
Mahayana traditions and particularly in exoteric East Asian Buddhism (Tsung-pen,
1994, p. 173). Amitābha is the primordial Buddha that embodies the essence of all
Buddhas and is praised by them eternally. Amitābha contains all Buddhas within the
infinite light and life of his Dharma Realm Treasury Body (Smith, 1993, p. 46), which
contains the cosmos whilst transcending it entirely. Amitābha is therefore infinity and
as such is (ultimately) indescribable. Amitābha only desires the liberation of all
beings so that they will become Buddhas themselves, unlimited in life and wisdom.
Amitābha’s position as Tathagata – as the foremost of Tathagatas and as the father of
all sentient beings (Tsung-pen, 1994, p. 173) – is therefore one of utterly
inconceivable perfection and compassion, unimpeded in its power and strength.
As inadequate as our languages are to even articulate such untraceability (Sebastian,
2005, p. 100), this essay aims to revisit the systematic Buddhology that define
Amitābha’s uniqueness as a Buddha and express, at its highest level, the complex
nature of Buddhahood that is rooted in suchness or true reality and the world of
sentient beings.

We can begin by asserting that Amitābha is actually devoid of nature: Amitābha is

beyond form and formlessness, beyond pure and impure, beyond non-self and self,
beyond supremacy and lowliness, beyond eternity and ephemerality. In the cosmos of
saṃsāra and in our world of Endurance, suffering and ignorant beings mistake the
impure as pure, the self-less as self, suffering as happiness, impermanence as
permanence (2005, p. 112), and the insignificant as significant. But when we
remember Amitābha’s omnipresence by invoking the Name, all conventional
conceptualization is transcended and we experience the enlightened mind as we vow
to serve Amitābha and all sentient beings.

Light, Life, and the Name

The Pure Land tradition (and the Mahayana in general) is the historical form and
expression of a non-historical, transcendent reality (Ingram, 1977, p. 77). At the
highest level of practice, which runs close parallels with other mystical traditions,
Amitābha represents the formless True Mind or Self-Nature common to Buddhas and
sentient beings – all-encompassing and all-inclusive. This deeper understanding
provides the rationale for the harmonization of Zen and Pure Land, the two most
popular schools of Mahayana Buddhism (Smith, 1993, p. 235). However, the
identities of sentient beings and Amitābha still remain metaphysically distinct and
separate (Ingram, 1977, p. 80).

Amitābha’s dharmakaya or Body of Truth is the absolute suchness of enlightenment,

the absolute reality. Amitābha is the Buddha Nature common to all beings, Buddhas,
and bodhisattvas. This Body of Truth is encountered by beings born into the Pure
Land or by those who devote their lives to Amitābha, personified by Amitābha’s
sambhogakaya, or manifestation of the dharmakaya through skilful means (as
described in the Contemplation Sutra). Amitābha in the nirmanakaya is the historical
manifestation as Dharmakara, fulfilling his forty-eight bodhisattva vows.

But this forms only a glimpse of Amitābha’s unique nature.

In Pure Land Buddhology, Amitābha’s nature consists of three characteristics (apart

from the presupposition that Amitābha is a Truth-Body Buddha that approaches
sentient beings to liberate them). These are directly referred to in the scriptures.
Amitābha’s unceasing light is demonstrated in Vow Twelve: “If, when I attain
Buddhahood, my light should be limited, illuminating even a hundred thousand kotis
of nayutas of Buddha lands, may I not attain perfect enlightenment” (268a). The
Buddha’s eternity is highlighted in Vow Thirteen: “If, when I attain Buddhahood, my
lifespan should be limited, even to the extent of a hundred thousand kotis of nayutas
of kalpas, may I not attain perfect enlightenment” (268a). Vow Seventeen indicates
Amitābha’s unique supremacy among all other Buddhas: “If, when I attain
Buddhahood, innumerable Buddhas in the lands of the ten directions should not all
praise and glorify my Name, may I not attain perfect enlightenment” (268a).

Amitābha is therefore the Buddha who has taken on the forms of light, life, and Name
to awaken sentient beings and bring them to his Pure Land. Light and life are the
qualities depicted in the Name and reveal Amitābha’s universality and
transtemporality. The Name itself is the manifestation of the Buddha’s presence, the
embodiment of perfection, enlightenment, and how it communicates itself to the
universe of unenlightened beings. Of course, Amitaba possesses countless other
characteristics, but these are the central Buddhological teachings that articulate and
systemize Amitābha’s relation to sentient beings (note that it is impossible to
systemize the traits of the actual Buddha because the Buddha is fundamentally
inconceivable). And of course, Amitābha’s infinite compassion is revealed in the
aforementioned Primal (purva) Vow – the supreme Eighteenth Vow which states that
any being that invokes, thinks of, or is mindful of the Name will experience the Pure
Land. The Primal Vow is called thus because it is prior to the beginningless beginning
of time, taking in all beings unconditionally (Unno, 1998, p. 20).

Infinite Light (Amitābha, Twelfth Vow)

The name of “Infinite Light” and light symbolism is extremely important in the
Buddhist tradition and forms the central object of faith, worship and veneration
(Ingram, 1977, p. 85). It has other qualities like purity and joy and often symbolized
by the sun. The notion of light is grounded in merit-acquiring practices of Mahayana
soteriological disciplines. One must know the Buddha’s unimpeded light, and by
partaking in the light, one will be saved:
 The light of Amitāyus shines brilliantly, illuminating all the Buddha lands of the ten
directions. There is no place where it is not perceived. I am not the only one who now
praises his light. All the Buddhas, sravakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas praise
and glorify it in the same way. If sentient beings, having heard of the majestic virtue
of his light, glorify it continually, day and night, with sincerity of heart, they will be
able to attain birth in his land as they wish (Larger Sutra, 270b, 11).

The Buddha Amitāyus possesses eighty-four thousand physical characteristics, each

having eighty-four thousand secondary marks of excellence. Each secondary mark
emits eighty-four thousand rays of light; each ray of light shines universally upon the
lands of the ten directions, embracing and not forsaking those who are mindful of the
Buddha (Contemplation Sutra, 343b, 17).

As “infinite” indicates, Amitābha’s light should not be understood as a reality

standing in dualistic opposition to samsaric existence. Instead, it illuminates and
embraces blind passions and takes them into itself. It is able to shine on all beings,
including those who are do not know the religious path (Yoshifumi, Hirota, 1989, pp.
115 – 6). Yet how does Amitābha’s light provide salvation? This Pure Land
soteriology has its roots in India, where the Mahayana movement first began. It is
recorded that Shakyamuni Buddha attained Nirvana after looking upon the morning
star at dawn, after the evening’s final struggle with Mara. This experience has been
universalized as the final step towards enlightenment. Because Amitābha is the
Buddha of Unceasing Light, salvation is naturally guaranteed thanks to Dharmakara’s
vows and the truth of light as the illumination of reality. Amitābha’s ineffable light
therefore allows a sentient being to understand the true nature of reality through
devotion, meditation and prayer. The nature of light in the Mahayana tradition is
therefore the wisdom that a Buddha or bodhisattva possesses. To know is to become.
Knowing the light, one becomes the light; encountering reality, one becomes truly
real.

But Amitābha’s light is not “light” in the conventional sense because there are many
locations where light cannot shine. This light is merely physical light: it can only be
known through the senses and conceived of in the brain. We cannot conceive of it
fully, because its concrete qualities are essentially different from what we know as
light. The all-pervasive activity of the Buddha’s wisdom and his transcendent activity
of bringing sentient beings to awareness is expressed in terms of the concept of light,
but this light still transcends the conception of any being. Amitābha’s wisdom-light is
unhindered and inconceivable; therefore it has no form and cannot be truly
understood as anything less than a pervasive, invisible, truth (Yoshifumi, Hirota,
1989, p. 116).

Infinite Life (Amitāyus, Thirteenth Vow)

In the primeval past, countless trillions of aeons in prehistory, Amitābha’s Body of

Truth manifested form and announced a Holy Name, appearing as Dharmakara
Bodhisattva in order to awaken beings to itself and to themselves. This bodhisattva,
according to the Pure Land canon, established the Forty-Eight Vows to bring all
beings to enlightenment and became Amitābha Buddha (Yoshifumi, 1978, p. 65).
This is a narrative expressed in historical terms and is set in a primordial age before
the creation of our world-system, Saha (Endurance). Infinite life also does not mean
enduring indefinitely within time (for within time, all things have the marks of
impermanence, change, and suffering). Infinite life stands beyond our conceptual
framework of time, but possesses the power to become present in every moment of
time. This is, like infinite light, tied to the union of saṃsāra with the true and real.
Unhindered, boundless life is obviously eternal, but enters into the time and history of
all world-systems and fuses with the existences of all beings.

The Name (All Buddhas throughout the cosmos praise Amitābha’s Name, the
central gateway to salvation – Seventeenth Vow)

We can say with confidence that the Name is the central object of worship in Pure
Land Buddhism, particularly because of the holy reality it embodies (Yoshifumi,
Hirota, 1989, pp. 118 – 9). It is what distinguishes Amitābha from other Buddhas (for
light and life, while domains of Amitābha, are also universal to other Buddhas and
bodhisattvas). Unno notes brilliantly: “Philosophically speaking, the nembutsu is the
self-articulation of fundamental reality… The Name is vibrant with mythic
significance.” He understands the Name as the “source of creative life, the power that
affirms reality-as-is” (Unno, 1998, p. 27 – 8). The revelation of the Name enters in to
the realm of conditioned and impermanent life at its essential and fundamental level,
irrupting into the universe and acting meaningfully to intelligent beings in the mode
of language. The Name is given to us so that the transtemporal Amitābha’s light and
life becomes conceivable as the overriding presence in time and in saṃsāra. In
hearing of it and in pronouncing it, the Buddha’s presence becomes truly embodied in
samsaric existence, like his light and life (Yoshifumi, Hirota, 1989, p. 118). The
Name is therefore the Presence of Amitābha Buddha suffusing the multiverse.

According to Yoshifumi and Hirota, the Seventeenth Vow holds a double

significance. Firstly, it assures that the Name will be heard by all beings in the
cosmos. Secondly, the Buddhas’ praise of the Name testifies to Amitābha’s power
and efficacy in delivering beings by revealing the Name as the fundamental presence
of Buddhahood in saṃsāra. This is why a quarter of Amitābha’s Vows define the
virtues of hearing the Name, as seen in Vow 32, 42, 45, 43, 44, and 47 (Yoshifumi,
Hirota, 1989, p. 119).

We have determined that Amitābha coalesces himself in infinite light, infinite life,
and the Name. We have also determined that the Name is the manifestation of the
Presence. I will now briefly address the bond between the Presence (the Buddha) and
sentient beings.

Amitābha’s Desire

Who is the Name? What does the Name want sentient beings to be? How can human
beings respond to the Name?

Amitābha desires nothing less than liberating every individual – god, titan, human,
animal, hell-being – from their alienation from each other and from their
estrangement from reality. Because Buddha Nature is immanent within every atom of
the cosmos, Amitābha works tirelessly to bring sentient beings to realization of their
intrinsic purity and blessedness – their innate potential to become Buddhas and
bodhisattvas themselves. Chief among Dharmakara’s Forty-Eight Vows was the
creation of a Buddha Universe called the Land of Ultimate Bliss and Peace, outside of
space and time and only as distant as our heart pushes it away. Any who invoke
Amitābha sincerely (canonically, it is interpreted as ten times) can enter into this
inconceivable paradise, through verbal and mental contemplation. According to the
Dasabhumikavibhasa Sastra, with Amitābha’s guidance, those who dwell in the Pure
Land then attain bodhisattvahood or Buddhahood and can return to saṃsāra to help
yet more sentient beings (Williams, 1989, p. 258). The Pure Land is situated
differently to our conceptions of spatial distance – hence it is set in the primordial
west beyond our universe, yet remains close to us (Contemplation Sutra, 341c).

Amitābha is inconceivable, but Amitābha is infinitely compassionate and hence

employs innumerable skilful means (upaya) to teach sentient beings. The ancient
Mahayana masters understood this to an almost surprising degree of simplicity – the
Buddha of Infinite Light, beyond all metaphysical, ontological and mathematical
conception, is best approached through the recitation of Amitābha’s Holy Name.
There is no better and more effective way to approach Amitābha than through simply
contemplating Amitābha. The Pure Land Patriarch, T’an-luan, noted that reciting and
praising the name of Amitābha assumes highest priority. To invoke the Name is also
the articulation of Reality (Williams, 1989, p. 259). Each time it is intoned, true life is
experienced and a glimpse of infinite light is revealed in the mind. What is essential,
however, is the “quality of the heart inherent in each saying, the purity of response to
the call of the Buddha of Immeasurable Light and Life” (Unno, 1998, p. 29 – 30).
T’an-luan interprets the reference in the Larger Sutra of Amitābha to reciting the
Name ten times (the divine number) means to invoke it with a perfectly unified mind.
The number of invocations is not so important. To repeat the Name constantly and
with devoted, worshipful concentration is to purify the mind of its sins and ensure
rebirth in the Pure Land, which is ultimately enlightenment itself (Williams, 1989, p.
259). Infinite light, infinite life, the Pure Land, enlightenment, Buddhahood, and the
bodhisattva vocation are all interrelated and cannot be understood except as a totality
within the Name.

In the East Asian tradition, the Name is understood to refer not only to Amitābha
Buddha, but also to the invocation of “Namo Amitābha Buddha.” “Namo” is a
transliteration of the Sanskrit namas, meaning to take refuge in. Through the Name,
Amitābha has included the means by which beings can know and take refuge in him.
The awakening and salvation of beings is, according to the Larger Sutra, an integral
aspect of Amitābha’s Buddhahood (Yoshifumi, Hirota, 1989, p. 119).

Why West?

It is obviously possible to invoke Amitābha anywhere, and East Asian Buddhists have
done so for many generations. But soteriologically, it is in the west that Amitābha has
revealed the Pure Land to sentient beings, giving us the very possibility of invoking
the Name anywhere. West is the cosmic direction of the Pure Land because it is the
direction of the sunset and hence of death. During sunset the sun is gentle, and
humans can directly look into its fierce power without coming to any harm. As it
disappears into the west, the sun resembles a proud and mighty king, who at the end
of a day of stern protocol turns gentle and jovial, and allows anyone to approach him
for petitions or friendship. Amitabha is therefore the supreme power and energy of the
universe, cast on an earthly plain and accessible to all. In fact, the Pure Land is not
merely transcendent; it is immanent in the pure consciousness of all beings that
exercise spiritual effort to encounter infinite light. All beings will meet Amitābha, and
Amitābha is ever-present amongst them.
Aside from invoking Amitābha’s name, there are many prayers, gathas, meditations
and dedications one can undertake to crack the shutters of the alienated mind and let
Amitābha’s compassionate light purify our universe. But most importantly of all, if
we wish to repay Amitābha’s all-embracing kindness we must dedicate our lives –
and all our lives to come – to the compassionate service of all sentient beings
(Ingram, 1977, p. 110). The Pure Land Buddhist believes that this is the purpose of
human life – to embody the unhindered love and compassion every sentient being is
secretly and shyly awaiting. Every individual is a beloved of the Name. Only through
concrete involvement with the suffering of the universe will human beings understand
what is meant by the Name. And in that Name, they will glimpse the radiant truth of
infinite light and life.
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