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Buddhism: Pure Land Buddhism
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Pure Land Buddhism is one of the most influential forms of Mahayana Buddhism. According to some Mahayana schools, the cosmos contains many Pure Lands in each of which dwells one Buddha. The most popular of these is Sukhavati, the Land of Bliss of Amitabha, located in the West; it is on Sukhavati that Pure Land Buddhism focuses. Through devotion to Amitabha, it is claimed, Buddhists can be reborn and saved in his paradise.
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These two versions of Buddhism, along with tantric influences, exist throughout the Mahayana world. The actual social organization is complex, as Mahayana Buddhism is divided into a variety of schools. Whereas in China various schools may be followed by monks in the same monastery, in Japan each monastery is affiliated with just one school. The Nichiren school, which gives preeminence to the Lotus sutra and emphasizes the desirability of close ties with the state, is specifically Japanese. The best known such group is Nichiren Shoshu. Distinctive of Japan is that monks who belong to some branches of the Pure Land school may be married.
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The form of Buddhism focuses on the Buddha Amitabha and the "Pure Land" he created. Appearing in China in the fourth century c.e. and later in Japan, Korea and other nations, this form of Buddhism has the largest following of all the different types of Buddhism. Pure Land is aimed at the average person in its recognition that most people cannot achieve enlightenment and so are doomed forever to stay in samsara. So Amitabha set up a "Pure Land" in the "west"--a paradise--to which people can go when they die. To gain entrance, people simply have to call on the power of Amitabha.
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Pure Land Buddhism