In my earlier study, published in Studies on Sheng Yen, vol.1, I concluded that Venerable Sheng Yen’s Pure Land thought can be traced back to two scriptural sources. His advocacy that “when the mind is pure, one’s abode is pure” comes from the doctrinal position of prajñā or emptiness in Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa-sūtra. His contention that “if for a single thought-moment one accords with Buddha, then in that instant one is a Buddha; if one accords with Buddha for a day, then for that day one a Buddha; if one’s successive thought-moments accord with Buddha, then every moment one is a Buddha” can be traced back to the Huayan (華嚴) doctrine. In this paper, I re-examine Venerable Sheng Yen’s Pure Land thought on the apparent contradiction between form and formless recitation of Buddha’s name practice. I examine the essential doctrine contained in the following six scriptures: Amitābhasūtra, Sūtra on the Buddha of Immeasurable Life, Sūtra of Visualization of Amitāyus Buddha, Śurangama-samādhi-sūtra, Pratyutpanna-buddha-saṃmukhāvathita-samādhi-sūtra, and the Saptaśatikāprajñāpāramitā-sūtra. I observe that the two types of recitation methods correlate with the general methods of meditative contemplation, and that they are expressions of the identity and interpenetration of phenomenal reality and essential nature. The paper is divided into three main actions: The first section discusses Venerable Sheng Yen’s interpretation of form and formless recitation methods. The second section examines how Sheng Yen resolves the apparent contradiction between these two types of recitation practice in his commentaries of the above mentioned six scriptures. The third section highlights what Sheng Yen’s Pure Land thought has to offer to contemporary practices of Buddha’s name recitation.
