A “Pure Land” is a celestial realm or pure abode of a Buddha. The Pure Land sect originated in ancient India as one of the early schools of Mahayana Buddhism. Soon after its appearance in India the Pure Land school divided into three distinct subsects: Pure Land Philosophy, the Eastern Land of Bliss, and the Western Pure Land. The Pure Land philosophy focuses on the bodhisattva Maitreya, his abode in the Tuṣita Pure Land, and the Pure Land on Earth. The Eastern Land of Bliss centers on Akṣobhya. Sukhavati (also known as the Western Pure Land) focuses on Amitābha. By the time Buddhism came to China the first two had already fallen out of favor, and following the middle of the Tang Dynasty the Pure Land school focusing on Amitābha gradually became one of the most important schools of East Asian Buddhism.
However, as the Pure Land school spread, its essential doctrines gradually became distorted, partly because of historical and cultural factors, and partly because Buddhism was on the decline. Therefore, in the twentieth century Master Taixu started to propagate the concept of “humanistic Buddhism” in hope of correcting these misinterpretations. Next, Master Yinshun, a follower of Taixu, further developed the concept of “Humanistic Buddhism”.
Reinterpreting the traditional doctrines of the Pure Land, Yinshun emphasized humanistic Buddhism and published a series of books on the Pure Land, the most well-known being Reinterpreting the Pure Land. Although this book triggered much criticism from traditional Pure Land supporters, Yinshun never gave up his new interpretation of the Pure Land as a teaching for this world.
By making a detailed analysis of Yinshun’s publications, this study probes into his criticisms of Chinese Pure Land, and whether the humanistic Pure Land is meaningful at the present, or whether it merely presents a criticism of the traditional Pure Land school.
