Is Pureland even Buddhism? (video)

Religion for Breakfast, 4/28/22; Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Pure Land Buddhism: The Mahayana Multiverse

(ReligionForBreakfast) Signup for a FREE trial to Wondrium here: ow.ly/v6kW30sfmau. Patreon community: patreon.com/religionforbreakfast... One-time donations here: paypal.me/religionforbreakfast...

Check out RFB's favorite religious studies books by following this affiliate link to an Amazon page: amazon.com/shop/religionf...

The Bodhisattva Ideal

Pureland Buddhism in Southern California did an amazing thing. Members set up a booth at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books and handed out free Dharma texts to anyone interested.

Students and passersby browsed, asked questions, and walked away with an amazing list of titles -- classic Theravada texts (still misidentified as "Hinayana") and published talks by a current Pureland master.

It's unexpected because Pureland is closer to Christianity and Hinduism, promoting a universal style of watered-down popular religion based on faith and a "just do this and you'll be okay" guarantee reminiscent of Catholicism ("Universalism").

Muslims nearby were also proselytizing and handing out mini-Korans (Islamic Bibles). The rest of the fest was mostly fiction with other niche literary interests.

The 31 Planes of Existence

What is a "pure land"? For this school it is realm created by or for a "Cosmic Buddha," a fantastica figure or ideal. But ancient Theravada references exist to suddhavasa ("Pure Abode") planes of existence. These places are reserved for partially awakened beings who are still not arhats but striving for it. Their personal experience of full enlightenment is pending and may take a long time. But these wonderful worlds, which only exist during the dispensation (sasana) of a supremely enlightened buddha, are places of learning and practice for final liberation.

• One must distinguish "full" enlightenment (arhatship) from "supreme" enlightenment (samma-sam-bodhi). Supreme is full but much more than that because it comes with the features and extraordinary abilities of a person capable of effectively teaching the timeless Dharma and establishing a noble Sangha or community of awakened monastic practitioners and preservers of the Teaching.

A bodhisattva is not an "enlightened being," as Religion for Breakfast states. That's an arhat. It means a "being bent on supreme enlightenment." Supreme enlightenment is the awakening of a teaching buddha, like the historical figure Shakyamuni (Gautama Buddha).

A very good text on the distinction between Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism is The Bodhisattva Ideal: Essays on the Emergence of Mahayana by Ven. Nyanatusita.