The Shin Buddhist Classical Tradition: A Reader in Pure Land Teaching

by Alfred Bloom (Editor), Kenneth K. Tanaka (Foreword by)

Overview

This book is an anthology of passages gathered from the leading monks and teachers of the Pure Land, or Shin, school of Buddhist teaching. Extending from the foundational texts and first interpreters in the 4th century, to Rennyo in the15th century, Professor Bloom’s selections trace the development of Shin Buddhist teaching from monastic visualization practices to the widely popular path to salvation through faith in, and recitation of, the name of Amida Buddha. The collection features a foreword by Kenneth K. Tanaka and an insightful introduction by renowned scholar and editor, Alfred Bloom, whose selected passages have been arranged topically for easy reference on issues of Pure Land teaching. The key interpreters featured are the Seven Great Teachers from India, China, and Japan (Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu; T’an-luan, Tao-ch’o, Shan-tao; Genshin, Honen), selected as doctrinal authorities by Shinran (1173-1263), the founder of the Japanese Pure Land sect.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781936597277
Publisher:	World Wisdom
Publication date:	10/01/2013
Series:	Treasures of the World's Religions
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Alfred Bloom, former professor at the University of Hawaii and Dean of the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, California, is the author of Shinran’s Gospel of Pure Grace and editor of The Essential Shinran and Living in Amida’s Universal Vow. He lives in Kailua, HI.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Foreword Kenneth K. Tanaka xi

Introduction Alfred Bloom xv

Conventions xxxv

I Foundational Scriptures 1

A In Praise of Sutras 1

1 The Larger Pure Land Sutra 1

2 The Shorter Pure Land Sutra 1

3 The Contemplation Sutra 2

B Praise of Sakyamuni in the Pure Land Sutras 2

1 The Larger Pure Land Sutra 2

2 The Shorter Pure Land Sutra 4

a Praise of Sakyamuni's Virtue by all the Buddhas 4

C Dharmakara Bodhisattva Enlightenment as Amida Buddha in The Larger Pure Land Sutra 4

1 Renunciation: Dharmakara Bodhisattva Renounces His Throne; Takes Refuge under Buddha Lokeshvararaja 4

2 Dharmakara Bodhisattva Resolves to Become Buddha 6

3 Dharmakara Bodhisattvas Forty-Eight Vows 7

4 Summary of Amida's Vows (Juseige-Verses on Weighty Vows and Sanseige-Verses on Three Vows) from The Larger Pure Land Sutra 12

5 Fulfillment Text of Dharmakara Bodhisattva's Eighteenth Vow 13

6 Dharmakara Practices the Bodhisattva Path 13

a Dharmakara Bodhisattvas Pure Practice 14

7 Dharmakara Bodhisattva Attains Buddhahood 14

8 The Pure Land Established by Dharmakara Bodhisattva/Amida Buddha 15

9 Amida Buddha's Light 15

10 Amida Buddha's Lifespan 16

11 Praise of Amida Buddha: The Larger Pure Land Sutra 16

12 True Disciple of the Buddha 16

13 Description of the Pure Land 16

a The Larger Pure Land Sutra 16

b The Shorter Amida Sutra 17

c The Nirvana Sutra 19

14 Birth in the Pure Land 19

a The Larger Pure Land Sutra 19

b The Shorter Pure Land Sutra 21

c The Contemplation Sutra 21

A The Contemplation Sutra-Levels of Birth 21

i Birth in the Highest Grade 21

ii Birth in the Lowest Grade 22

D The Human Condition: The Larger Pure Land Sutra 22

1 The Human Condition: The Lowest Grade 22

2 Passions and Their Fruits 23

3 Worldly Evils 26

4 Buddha and Society 29

5 Encountering the Buddha-Dharma 29

E Drama of the Human Condition: The Contemplation Sutra 30

1 Prince Ajatasatru's Evil 30

2 Spiritual Emancipation in The Contemplation Sutra 31

a Queen Vaidehi: Visualization and Meditation 31

b Queen Vaidehi's Aspiration for the Pure Land 31

3 The Contemplation Sutra and the Path to the Pure Land 32

z Visualizing the Pure Land 32

b The Thirteen Contemplations 33

c Vision of Amida 33

d Response to Buddha's Teaching 35

e Benefits of Response to Buddha's Teaching 35

E Miscellaneous Sutra Sources 35

1 The Nirvana Sutra 35

2 The Garland Sutra 40

3 The Samadhi of All Buddhas Presence Sutra 44

4 The Sun Matrix Sutra 44

5 The Vows of Medicine Master Buddha Sutra 45

6 The Bodhisattva Precepts Sutra 45

II Teachings of the Pure Land Tradition

A Pure Land Teaching 47

1 The Reason for the Pure Land Teaching: Last Age in the Decline of the Dharma 47

a General Perspective 47

b Stages in the Decline of Dharma 49

2 The Nature of Pure Land Teaching 52

3 Correspondence of the Times and Beings 58

B Amida Buddha, Bodhisattvas, and Other Buddhas 60

C Amida Buddha's Primal Vows 82

1 The Thirty-Fifth Vow and Women 100

2 Eighteenth Vow Exclusion Clause 103

D Amida Buddha's Name 104

E The Pure Land 109

E Birth in the Pure Land 119

G Awakening of True Entrusting 137

1 Encountering the Buddha-Dharma 137

2 Bodhi-Mind 140

3 True Entrusting: The Three Minds 143

a Uncalculating Trust 171

b Non-Retrogression 172

c Trust in Ordinary Life and the Last Moment of Life 173

d Turning of the Mind 176

4 Two Types of Deep Faith 177

5 Spiritual Status of the Disciple and True Disciple of the Buddha 178

6 Dedication: Mode of Practice 180

Selected Glossary 183

Bibliography 193

Index of Quoted Sources 197

Biographical Notes 201

Editorial Reviews

The Shin Buddhist Classical Tradition symbolizes Dr. Bloom’s deep personal wish for this branch of Buddhism to be made known to as wide an audience as possible. The vital passages of the tradition are categorized along topics that make the teachings more accessible to a contemporary audience regardless of their previous knowledge of Pure Land Buddhism

Kenneth K. Tanaka

Professor Alfred Bloom has spent a full and productive career making the ideas and values of Shin Buddhism accessible to English readers. In this momentous undertaking, he brings together his lifetime of insights into the tradition by gathering and organizing passages from the complete range of Pure Land teachings. Like Shinran’s Kyogyoshinsho, Bloom’s selections serve as a handbook for personal study and engagement with the tradition. Keeping his own commentary to a minimum, Bloom leaves it to his readers to discover the spiritual riches for themselves.

Thomas P. Kasulis

Alfred Bloom’s new anthology brings together a wide range of excerpts from sutras, commentaries, sermons, essays, letters, poetry, and other sources. Many of these materials have hitherto not been readily available in English translation. The volume’s thematic arrangement recommends it to both scholars and general readers. It will be welcomed by those interested in Shinran’s intellectual antecedents as well as the broader East Asian tradition of Pure Land Buddhism.

Jacqueline Stone