The pure land thought of Chinese Buddhist scholars developed according to the continuous development of the concept concerning Buddha-kaya. In the very beginning,the Maitreya faith was the most popular. Later on,the Amitabha faith had argument with the Maitreya faith and took its place and gradually became the mainstream. Due to the unification of Tien-tai School,Ch'an School,etc. and Amitabha faith, since mid-T'ang Dynasty,the concept of "mind-only" pure land had become more and more popular,and finally became the guiding concept of pure land thought in China. Until modern time,"earthly" pure land thought was developed.
Based on the above historical background,this paper is divided into four parts:1. The rise and decline of Maitreya pure land faith. 2. The different interpretation of Amitabha pure land thought. 3. The dissemination of "mind-only" pure land concept. 4. The propagation of "earthly" pure land ideal.
At the end,the author stressed that the Chinese Buddhism suggests the ideals that self-mind is nirvana, self-nature is the Buddha, and "earthly" Buddhism is to achieve pure land right here and right now. This shows the characteristics of thinking:the stress on human mind,the stress on human life,the stress on human world,and the stress on pragmatism.