Sounds a Lot like Christianity

Questions: I hope you can clarify my question on the Pure Land practice - an eternal realm of bliss and peace after passing on, a godhead like figure full of compassion and wisdom, a practice based on faith, devotion and "other power", I don't know but it sure sounds a lot like the Christian faith to me. Am I wrong? If it's not and different, can I know in what ways is it different besides the naming of the place and the head figure?

Response: Thank you for the opportunity to try to clarify further the difference between Christianity and Pure Land Buddhism.

Buddhas were ordinary beings—just like us—who have awakened and no longer have attachments, wandering thoughts, or discriminations. Since any being can awaken, and innumerable beings have, there are innumerable Buddhas. In Christianity, there is one God who is omniscient and all powerful. Buddhas (for whom the boundaries of past, present, and future no longer exist) know “everything” but have no power to change what we have destined for ourselves through our past karmas (thoughts, speech, and actions). So Buddhas, although they are filled with compassion and wisdom, are not “godhead-like figures” since they do not have the power to save us.

So Buddhas are not gods. Buddhas are teachers.

Our “faith” is not of a religious nature but more of a sense of unwavering belief. Master Ouyi wrote in his commentary on the Amitabha Sutra that we were to have belief in:

Self, believing that our self-nature is the same as the Buddhas
The Buddhas and that their teachings are true and abide by them
Cause and effect and that in mindfulness of Buddha, we will be born in the Western Pure Land and become Buddhas
The existence of the Western Pure Land, that it is true and not a tale
The principle that everything arises from the true mind

 

So our faith is not of a religious nature. Faith for us is unwavering belief.

Since there are innumerable Buddhas, Amitabha is one of those Buddhas. His Pure Land is not a place for the enjoyment of bliss but rather an ideal learning environment—the perfect university with the best teachers (Amitabha Buddha and all the bodhisattvas who are there) with perfect learning conditions (no tuition, no need to prepare meals, no feeling tired, no illness, etc.) for us to learn all we need to in order to fulfill our vows to help all sentient beings.

So we go to the Pure Land not for our own benefit but for the sake of all beings.

Merriam-Webster’s Third Edition Unabridged dictionary defines devotion as “earnestness and zeal in the performance of religious duties and observations: religious fervor.” But since the Buddha himself asserted that he was not a god but an awakened being, Buddhism is not a religion. What the Buddha taught was the Way, which was the principles, methods, and states of awakening.

So there is no “devotion.” There is utmost respect and gratitude.

Yes, there is “other power” but not in a godlike way. Pure Land practice is the coupling of both “other power” and “self power.” Think of the Buddha as a facilitator, not as a savior. His other power is to teach and to have created the Pure Land that is sustained by his virtues and the virtues of all the beings who dwell there. But without our “Self power” he cannot help us to the Pure Land. We have to form the connection with him through our chanting. To form this connection we must have been the “good men and good women” spoken of in the Amitabha Sutra.

So there is not “other power” in the sense of a savior. There is both other power and self power.

We must reach out to Amitabha Buddha before he can reach back to us.