Pure Land
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Topic: Pure Land
Books
Currents and Countercurrents
Soon after the inception of Buddhism in the sixth or fifth century B.C.E., the Buddha ordered his small band of monks to wander forth for the welfare and weal of the many, a command that initiated one of the greatest missionary movements in world religious history. But this account of a monolithic missionary movement spreading outward from the Buddhist homeland of India across the Asian continent is just one part of the story. The case of East Asian Buddhism suggests another tale, one in which the dominant eastward current of diffusion creates important eddies, or countercurrents, of influence that redound back toward the center. These countercurrents have had significant, even profound, impact on neighboring traditions.
In East Asia perhaps the most important countercurrent of influence came from Korea, the focus of this volume. Chapters examine the role played by the Paekche kingdom in introducing Buddhist material culture (especially monastic architecture) to Japan and the impact of Korean scholiasts on the creation of several distinctive features that eventually came to characterize Japanese Pure Land Buddhism. The lives and intellectual importance of the monks Sungnang (fl. ca. 490) and Wonch’uk (613–696) are reassessed, bringing to light their role in the development of early intellectual schools within Chinese Buddhism. Later chapters discuss the influential teachings of the semi-legendary master Musang (684–762), the patriarch of two of the earliest schools of Ch’an; the work of a dozen or so Korean monks active in the Chinese T’ient’ai tradition; and the Huiyin monastery. Source: University of Hawai'i Press
In East Asia perhaps the most important countercurrent of influence came from Korea, the focus of this volume. Chapters examine the role played by the Paekche kingdom in introducing Buddhist material culture (especially monastic architecture) to Japan and the impact of Korean scholiasts on the creation of several distinctive features that eventually came to characterize Japanese Pure Land Buddhism. The lives and intellectual importance of the monks Sungnang (fl. ca. 490) and Wonch’uk (613–696) are reassessed, bringing to light their role in the development of early intellectual schools within Chinese Buddhism. Later chapters discuss the influential teachings of the semi-legendary master Musang (684–762), the patriarch of two of the earliest schools of Ch’an; the work of a dozen or so Korean monks active in the Chinese T’ient’ai tradition; and the Huiyin monastery. Source: University of Hawai'i Press
Buswell, Robert E., ed. Currents and Countercurrents: Korean Influences on the East Asian Buddhist Traditions. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2005.
Buswell, Robert E., ed. Currents and Countercurrents: Korean Influences on the East Asian Buddhist Traditions. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2005.;Currents and Countercurrents;Tien Tai;History;Zen - Chan;Pure Land;Currents and Countercurrents: Korean Influences on the East Asian Buddhist Traditions
The Realm of Awakening
This translation and study of Chapter Ten of Asanga's Mahayanasamgraha, one of the foundational documents of the Yogacara school of Mahayana Buddhism, presents the systematic thinking of one of the greatest early Buddhist theoreticians on the nature of the Buddha. Providing insight into Asanga's thought and influence in the development of Mahayana Buddhism in India, Tibet, China, and Japan, the book includes translations of early Indian commentaries on the text which have been preserved in earlier Chinese and Tibetan translations. (Source Accessed March 20, 2020)
Griffiths, Paul J., Noriaki Hakamaya, John P. Keenan, and Paul L. Swanson, trans. The Realm of Awakening: A Translation and Study of the Tenth Chapter of Asaṅga's Mahāyānasaṅgraha. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. http://promienie.net/images/dharma/books/asanga_mahayanasangraha.pdf.
Griffiths, Paul J., Noriaki Hakamaya, John P. Keenan, and Paul L. Swanson, trans. The Realm of Awakening: A Translation and Study of the Tenth Chapter of Asaṅga's Mahāyānasaṅgraha. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. http://promienie.net/images/dharma/books/asanga_mahayanasangraha.pdf.;The Realm of Awakening;Pure Land;Textual study;Yogācāra;Asaṅga;ཐོགས་མེད་;thogs med;slob dpon thogs med;སློབ་དཔོན་ཐོགས་མེད་;Āryāsaṅga; Paul J. Griffiths;Hakamaya Noriaki;John P. Keenan;Paul Swanson;The Realm of Awakening: A Translation and Study of the Tenth Chapter of Asaṅga's Mahāyānasaṅgraha;Asaṅga
Articles
The Path of Gratitude
The goal of Shin Buddhism’s central practice, nembutsu, is not to attain buddhahood for ourselves, says Jeff Wilson, but to express gratitude for all we have received.
Wilson, Jeff. "The Path of Gratitude." Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly, November 1, 2019.
Wilson, Jeff. "The Path of Gratitude." Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly, November 1, 2019.;The Path of Gratitude;Pure Land;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Japanese Buddhism;Hōnen;Shinran;Jeff Wilson; 
Multimedia
Seiji Kumagai at the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium
Seiji Kumagai discusses the theory of “innate enlightenment” (hongaku) in Japanese Buddhism. He argues that Shinran clearly showed a negative attitude toward innate enlightenment despite the fact that he used terms which are often regarded to be associated with the theory.
Kumagai, Seiji. "How the Concepts of 'Buddha-Nature' (Tathāgatagarbha) and 'Innate Enlightenment' (Hongaku) Were Interpreted by Shinran (1173–1263), Founder of the Jōdo-Shin-Shū School of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism." Paper presented at the University of Vienna Symposium, Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia, Vienna, Austria, July 2019. Video, 47:28. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KwdudJF4hc.
Kumagai, Seiji. "How the Concepts of 'Buddha-Nature' (Tathāgatagarbha) and 'Innate Enlightenment' (Hongaku) Were Interpreted by Shinran (1173–1263), Founder of the Jōdo-Shin-Shū School of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism." Paper presented at the University of Vienna Symposium, Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia, Vienna, Austria, July 2019. Video, 47:28. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KwdudJF4hc.;Seiji Kumagai at the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium;Shinran;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Japanese Buddhism;Tien Tai;Genshin;Hōnen;Tanluan;Pure Land;Original Enlightenment;Tamura, Y.;Seiji Kumagai; How the Concepts of “buddha-nature” (Tathāgatagarbha) and “innate enlightenment” (Hongaku) were interpreted by Shinran (1173-1263)
