The Pure Land is imagined as a land in the far distance, and that description is found explicitly in the Smaller Sukhāvatīvyūha and some other sūtras. But, in Chinese Pure Land Buddhism, it was denied that the Pure Land is located in the far distance. The doctrine that “the Pure Land is Only Mind” dominated in Chinese Pure Land Buddhism, especially in the Song Dynasty. Kenni 顕意 (1238–1304) was a Japanese monk belonging to the Jōdo School, who recognized and denied that doctrine. In this paper, I reexamine how Kenni tried to prove the reality of the external Amida Buddha.
