MEDIEVAL JAPAN Emergence of Popular Buddhist Sects: "Pure Land" and "Lotus Sutra" |
Robert Oxnam :: As Buddhism spread across Japan various popular sects emerged, offering the common people salvation through faith. Followers of the "Pure Land" or Amida sect believed that they would be welcomed into the "pure land" of paradise simply by calling out the name of Amida, the Buddha of Boundless Light. Followers of another sect focused on the final collection of the Buddha's teachings, known as the "Lotus Sutra." They believed that reciting the phrase "Praise to the wonderful law of the Lotus Sutra" would bring salvation. Donald Keene :: Many ignorant people who couldn't possibly understand the difficult truths of Buddhism that are described in the Sutras, became devout Buddhists because they were told that all that one needed was to say one simple formula. "I call on the Amida Buddha," or there's another one, "I call on the Lotus Sutra." But in either case, it meant the same thing. It meant that people said, I cannot save myself, I can only be saved by the saving grace of Buddha. And this was a new attitude towards religion. Up until this time people thought, if I'm very good, or if I dedicate so many temples and pagodas, I will be saved. My works will save me. But from this time on, people thought, I cannot save myself, the only way to be saved is by the saving grace of Buddha. Whether the Amida Buddha or the Buddha described in the Lotus Sutra. Robert Oxnam :: Amida Buddhism believed that human history was a process of decline, a sort of negative movement further and further away from Buddhist Law. |
| Back to Asian Topics Home |
