From 1980 and 1984 there appeared around Buddhism circles a dispute about “who, those died with sinful Karma or those without sinful Karma, could enter the Amitabha Buddha’s Pure Land?” It started with replacing the traditional saying of “die with [good, sinful, doubtful, etc.] Karma” by the one “die without [sinful] Karma,” which was advocated by Tibetan Buddhism gymnosophist Chen, ChengMing. Due to the reason that it’s involved with the questions of traditional authority of faith and the interpretation of doctrines, it raised the dissatisfaction and condemnation of people who believed in Pure Land. Moreover, discussions and disputed sayings from all Buddhism sects began to appear one after another. Master Sheng Yen has been continuously paying attention to this issue and introduced it as one of his Pure Land teaching. He had at first contemplated the disputation without criticizing, and then turned to accept part of the opinions from Chen, Cheng-Ming. Master Sheng Yen had incorporated the traditional “with [sinful] Karma” and Chen, Cheng-Ming’s “without [sinful] Karma” into his own theory—“with or without [sinful] Karma one would enter [the Amitabha Buddha’s] Pure Land.” He had believed that “dying without or with less [sinful] Karma is more reliable” and encouraged the public “to practice pious Buddhism to enter Pure Land with pure Karma.” Moreover, though he believed “inherited Karma can’t be changed,” one would still “clear his Karma” by letting go the cling to life. Thus, one’s heart would appear as Pure Land. The results of this thesis are as following: I conclude that Master Sheng Yen had gained his opinions on “die with Karma” and “die without Karma” through his study of scriptures about Pure Land and the practice experiences by other buddhists, and the different principles from greater and lesser vehicle doctrines. It’s obvious that Master Shen Yen has acted as a mediator of the two theories. But sometimes he’d preach accordingly by adopting the theory of the traditional “die with [sinful] Karma” theory, which is proposed by the founder of Pure Land sect of Buddhism, and that of Chen, Cheng-Ming’s “die without [sinful] Karma.” Additionally, sometimes he even adopts the Zen’s theory of “clear Karma with clear mind” in order to actually propose some solutions for a believer’s problems. He also advocated the idea of “enhancing human quality and creating a Pure Land on earth” to help the public to clear as much sinful Karma and bring as less sinful Karma as they can so that they can enter the Buddhism Pure Land and reach a higher lotus level in the future.
