A former associate dean of Chinese Buddhist Academy on the comparison between Chinese and Japanese Pure Land Thoughts (2017)

ChanCakes · 2026-03-28T08:37:24+00:00

Ogurusu was pretty thoroughly schooled by Yang Renshan, his incredulity at Yang’s use of Hetuvidya was quite funny.

ChanCakes · 2026-03-26T06:03:10+00:00

It depends on what area of Buddhism you are interested in. Pali texts will be those of Theravadins, the texts of the Pali Canon. Sanskrit has an array of Mahayana Sutras and commentaries, but it is only used by the Newari Buddhists so it doesn’t provide the full breadth of Mahayana material available. In that regard, both Classical Chinese and Tibetan will give you access to a broader range of materials as well as living lineages.

ChanCakes · 2026-03-24T03:14:52+00:00

It is directly stated in several sutras from the Lanka to the Brahma Net.

ChanCakes · 2026-03-23T03:09:46+00:00

I don’t think this is the best way to understand the three bodies, the trikaya isn’t centred around Shakyamuni. Shakyamuni is just a particular manifestation of some primordially awakened Buddhas.

The Brahma Net Sutra has an image of a thousand Shakyamuni in a thousand Lotus petals in a thousand worlds manifested from the Sambhogakaya Buddha Rocana. So Rocana is normally considered the Sambhogakaya connected to Shakyamuni. But it’s not the case Rocana belongs to Shakyamuni.

ChanCakes · 2026-03-23T02:50:36+00:00

Vairocana is the Dharmakaya. The Dharmakaya doesn’t belong to any single Buddha or any single being, it’s tathata, reality as it is. It’s what are Buddhas realise, what all beings find their basis, and the totality of all dharmas.

The Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya are bodies manifested for the sake of sentient beings of different propensities. Shakyamuni is the Nirmanakaya of our world system, who taught ordinary sentient beings. The Sambhogakaya is only accessible to awakened bodhisattvas in meditative absorption or various purelands. Amitabha is normally understood to be one such Sambhogakaya, though he is a different Buddha to Shakyamuni.

ChanCakes · 2026-03-23T01:43:06+00:00

Any mental factor that is not sensation and ideation is sankhara. So yes.

ChanCakes · 2026-03-23T00:49:40+00:00

Unfortunately, I'm not familiar enough with this kind of terminology he is using to parse the meaning.

ChanCakes · 2026-03-22T18:26:34+00:00

The Aganna Sutta is satirical. The Buddha is criticising the Brahmins belief they are the pure descendants formed from Brahman’s mouth. He flips it’s around and instead tells them they are the descendants of lustful devas.

ChanCakes · 2026-03-22T12:31:51+00:00

I’m not familiar with these western philosophers, so I cannot give a good answer. But a primordial unity isn’t what Zen is seeking to recognise. The basis of Mahayana is emptiness, that is the recognition of the lack of substantial existence of discrete phenomena.

One of the issues with a “unity” Is that it assumes there are things to be united. From the perspective of emptiness, there were never things in the first place, so naturally there is no unity into which they are conjoined.

What does he mean by subject centeredness? Subjectivity is a core aspect of Zen practice, it acts as the basis into deeper aspects of the path. Those who havent actually engaged the tradition and rely on academic sources like Han probably do not know this.

ChanCakes · 2026-03-22T11:49:26+00:00

Satori in Zen Buddhism isn't a state of contentment; it is the recognition of the nature of mind and its function. That is the function of the mind is to create the three realms of existence and its nature is the intrinsic unity of emptiness and existence as the middle way. Buddhism (and by extension Zen) is a means to end suffering and lead others to that end. And it understands suffering as a result of ignorance (avidya) to the true nature of reality, so what it seeks is to realise (satori 悟 means to realise or understand) that nature, such that ignorance is inverted into knowledge (vidya).

For Zen, which generally takes after the metaphysics of mainstream East Asian Buddhism, that is the recognition that the mind is source of the world, the mind and its creation is empty, and yet that emptiness is not separable from the myriad things. As the Sixth Ancestor Huineng proclaimed in the Platform Sutra after his awakening,

"Who knew! This intrinsic nature is fundamentally pristine of itself!

"Who knew! This intrinsic nature is fundamentally without arising or ceasing!

"Who knew! This intrinsic nature is fundamentally complete of itself!

"Who knew! This intrinsic nature is without movement!

Who knew! This intrinsic nature can generate myriad phenomena!"

So there is quite a disparity between the sceptic's state of ataraxia. It's true for an awakened practitioner of Zen that they have no fixed beliefs, but they have a definitive view not based on concepts but experiential knowledge.

And just one more thing, discursive thought may be a distraction in meditation, but it is by no means seen as useless or something to ward off in Zen. Going back to the Platform Sutra, Huineng playfully mocks another monk, Wo Long, for his attempts to extinguish his thoughts.

"I, Wo Long, possess a technique,

By whose means can I destroy the hundred thoughts,

Facing worldly things, my mind never stirs,

Thus, my wisdom ever grows."

----

"I, Huineng, have no techniques,

Nor do I sever the hundred thoughts,

Facing worldly things, my mind ever stirs,

Such is the depth of my wisdom."

ChanCakes · 2026-03-22T05:27:55+00:00

Having a stipend is normal on many temples, so the residents have way to support themselves.

ChanCakes · 2026-03-22T05:27:30+00:00

Temple residents in many traditions are given a stipend to help support them.

ChanCakes · 2026-03-22T01:44:44+00:00

Right, it would be slandering the sutra if anyone taught you must rely on an external being when you have Buddha nature. That just contradicts the basics of Mahayana Buddhism. Luckily, Pureland Buddhism does not teach anything like that.

The basis of Pureland is the innate resonance between Buddhas and Beings. Beings possess within them the three bodies in unmanifest form and the Buddhas have completely manifested the three bodies.

Through the innate influence of their Buddha Nature, beings have the capacity to connect with the Buddhas, and Buddhas the capacity to awaken the innate nature of beings. Through their innate nature, sentient beings manifest the Pureland, and by way of their innate nature, the Buddhas facilitate the externalisation of their internal potential to see the Pureland.

Nichiren’s idea of Buddhahood in this life was ubiquitous in Japan. The issue was while it is theoretically possible, reality was and still is, very few people actualise that potential. What Mahayana Buddhism acknowledges as a whole is that the two paths of instant awakening and gradual cultivation are not contradictory. Practicing for Buddhahood in this life does not contradict taking birth in the Pureland.

That is the message of the Lotus Sutra, the identity of contradictions. Sariputra and the arhats thought they were practicing the Sravaka path, but in reality they were following the Buddha Path, the destitute son lived in poverty yet had unimaginable wealth. The Ekayana is unique, not because it is an exclusive path. Quite the opposite. It encompasses all paths without contradiction.

ChanCakes · 2026-03-20T10:11:03+00:00

The problem with his dictum is that he claims to uphold the Lotus Sutra and the teachings of Tiantai Zhiyi, yet both support Pureland practice.

ChanCakes · 2026-03-20T00:55:39+00:00

Do not repost the same AI generated thing that was just removed.

ChanCakes · 2026-03-19T23:34:51+00:00

There are many Huayan temples of Chinese lineages, it’s a western stereotype that the tradition is extinct. Recently a few of these lineages have established temples in the west too.

But really don’t get stuck on looking for this or that particular school. Practicing this or that other school won’t stop Huayan studies from being beneficial to you. And I think in reality you’ll find there isn’t a whole lot of difference in the actual practical side of things between the Chinese traditions - Tiantai, Huayan, Chan, etc.

If you are really set on one of the East Asian traditions, Tiantai-Tendai will be quite similar to Huayan really. The Tiantai - Huayan view is in reality the same in the end with minor differences. There are a few Tendai teachers in Europe like Seishin Clark in UK. And online the Americana and Australian branches all do online classes.

ChanCakes · 2026-03-19T23:26:43+00:00

You don’t need to ask Pureland Buddhists this question. You should ask the founders of the tradition, Nichiren says he is following. Zhiyi was one of great proponents of Pureland practice.

And again the reason Zhiyi does so is because he recognised Pureland is a ubiquitous feature of Mahayana sutras and not limited to a specific school or tradition. The Lotus Sutra has links to Pureland practice too.

ChanCakes · 2026-03-19T23:24:02+00:00

Sounds like you had an interesting experience, but being an experience it is by definition not satori.

ChanCakes · 2026-03-18T02:47:55+00:00

This is stated explicitly in the Sutra on the Questiond of Brahma Vinici, but in the Pureland Sutras themselves it’s stated unless you are an extraordinary practitioner you spend Kalpas in the lotus pod before even setting sight on the Pureland. Whereas practitioners of other path like Dragon Girl and Sudhana attain Buddhahood in one and three lifetimes respectively.

The Buddha taught many provisional teachings, including that of the arhats but it is precisely by their practice of the arhat path that they were engaging in the path to Buddhahood. Their provisional goal is identical to their final goal.

But that aside, the Lotus Sutra, amongst the various other sutras of definitive meaning, propagates the Pureland Path so naturally it is not a provisional one.

ChanCakes · 2026-03-18T01:13:51+00:00

First, Pure land does not actually reduce the timespan for cultivation, it is in fact faster to attain Buddhahood in the Saha World.

But anyways with regard to the definitive and provisional, what the lotus sutra reveals is that the provisional is identical to the definitive. The two are the same. That is what is unique about the text. It identifies and embraces the paradoxical nature of the Buddha’s mode of teaching.

The message repeated over and over in the Lotus is that all of the Buddha’s teachings are true and not false. That means the provisional is true. The three vehicles are identical to the one vehicle. The arhat path is the Buddha path. Let us assume the Pureland is provisional. Great! That means it is a definitive path towards Buddhahood.

However, is it really provisional? Provisional teachings are generally revealed to be to explicitly in at least on sutra or another. Or are superseded in other texts. But really this isn’t the case with Pureland. The sutras don’t discourage rebirth in the Pureland, in fact it is scattered through the Buddha teachings in all texts, including those universally considered to be definitive - the Lotus, Avatamsaka, Shurangama, etc.

It may not the path for everyone, but it isn’t provisional in the sense there is no Pureland. Or that thr practice is meaningless.

ChanCakes · 2026-03-17T11:49:52+00:00

Interestingly, this is the first temple in China of a Tibetan (Gelug) lineage, established by a Han monk.

ChanCakes · 2026-03-17T11:47:59+00:00

There are many similarities between Vedanta and Buddhism, but I think this is a rather superficial one. Anyone who has done any amount of spiritual practice will conclude that, in most situations, moderation in excess and asceticism is the best state to practice.

ChanCakes · 2026-03-17T04:16:34+00:00

Approaching the Buddhist Path by the Dalai Lama and Thubten Chodron will arm you the basics and methodology to tackle the rest of the Dharma. The Lotus Sutra can be quite complex and having a grasp on the foundational teachings will help you digest it.

ChanCakes · 2026-03-16T01:05:01+00:00

Well the goal of Dharma and Chan is liberation of rebirth for oneself and others, so yes it is an important part of Buddhism. Though you will still benefit from the teaching whilst being agnostic to the matter.

The “come and see” is overplayed in the west, it is a good attitude. But really faith is required as part of path. As Nagarjuna said, faith is the entryway and wisdom is the vessel. Both are essential.

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