The Western Pure Land
So far we have been discussing Buddhist cosmology largely in terms of the Abhidharmakosa. This we might call for convenience the classical view, a product of a time when Buddhism was organizationally at its most stable. The cosmology that we are about to examine, in contrast, is the product of new doctrinal developments which occurred with the segmentation of Buddhism and the rise of Mahayana thinking. While in Hinayana Buddhism the Buddha appears and disappears in the universe, in Mahayana thought the Buddha is the universe itself, eternal existence. This idea was probably influenced by the notion of Brahma, Brahmanism’s fundamental principle of the universe, and by Hinduism’s concept of the gods Visnu and Siva.
Mahayana Buddhism arose in India around the first century C.E. It can be classified into three periods: early, or dynamic (1st century C.E. to 4th century C.E.), middle, or scholastic (4th-mid-7th century), and late, or esoteric (mid-7th-early 13th century).
In the Abhidharmakosa, despite all that was written about hells and heavens, there is not one word about the key Mahayana idea of Sukhavati (“supreme joy”). To understand this concept, let us first take a brief look at the Mahayana notion of the Saha world. Saha refers to the world in which we live, the stage for Sakyamuni’s appearance and the object of his teaching. Saha, “a place where suffering is endured,” (and its variant Sabha, “confused congregation”) appears to derive from the Sanskrit word sabhaya, meaning “a land of fear.” All these words describe this world as a realm of defilements, Riled with suffering.
There are a number of different opinions concerning the extent of Saha; some say it is Jambudvipa, some say it comprises the four landmasses, and some say that it is a thousand-cubed greatthousand-world. Hsiian-tsang defines Saha as the thousand-cubed great-thousand-world that is the object of the teaching of one buddha. The Perfection of Wisdom Sutra in 25,000 Verses (Fang-kuang pan-jo-ching, ca. 1st century C.E.) says, “In the far limits of the west is a world called Saha, whose buddha is named Sakyamuni.”1 The Smaller Sukhavati-vyuha (Amitabha sutra, ca. 1st century C.E.) says: “Sakyamuni Buddha did those things that are extremely difficult and rare; [that is,] he did attain Perfect Enlightenment in the Saha world, the evil world, permeated by the five corruptions.”2
Let us now turn our attention to the Mahayana expression buddha-realm or buddha-land. Mahayana thought posits not just one buddha, but many buddhas throughout the universe. (Chapter 6 describes the origins and characteristics of these buddhas in more detail.) They possess their own lands, apart from the Saha world, in which they teach. These are called buddha-lands, buddha-realms, or pure lands. Best known are the Realm of Profoundjoy of Aksobhya Buddha, the Pure Lapis-lazuli World of Bhaisajya-guru Buddha, and the Pure Land of Sukhavati of Amida (Amitabha/Amitayus). Resembling buddha-lands, though not strictly identical, is the Tusita heaven, one of the six heavens of die realm of desire and the dwelling place of bodhisattvas prior to their appearance on earth as buddhas. Sakyamuni descended to Jambudvipa from there, and at present Maitreya, the future buddha, lives there. Another place resembling buddha-lands is Mount Potalaka, said to be located in the sea south of India, where Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva dwells. The Saha world might seem to be the buddha-land of Sakyamuni; it is not, however, a “pure land,” but rather a defiled realm, and thus is quite distinct from the buddha-lands. Sakyamuni, moreover, is a historical person and other buddhas are mythological or metaphysical beings.
In the pre-Mahayana Abhidharmakosa, the Buddha is described as gaining liberation from the three realms of desire, form, and formlessness and returning to nothingness. Such a return to complete nothingness (termed nirupadhisesa-nmana, “nirvana without residue”) was the goal of pre-Mahayana Buddhists. They had no concept of a buddha that retains form and is active in a buddha-land. In Mahayana Buddhism, though, the buddhas resolve to train themselves to build their own buddha-lands and work eternally to bring to those lands all the living beings now lost in delusion. We of Saha can be reborn virtually only in Sukhavati, because Amitabha is the only buddha who offers us an effective means for rebirth there (i.e., nembutsu, calling upon Amitabha). Though Sakyamuni and Amitabha have completely different origins, the Pure Land sutras depict Sakyamuni as expounding Amitabha’s teachings.
There are two theories concerning the location of Amitabha Buddha’s pure land of Sukhavati. One places it within the three realms, and the other places it outside them. The reason for this division of opinion lies in the fact that classical cosmology did not speak of buddha-lands. All agree, however, that Sukhavati is “ten myriads of a hundred millions of buddha-lands to the west of Saha,” an expression found in the Chinese translations of the Smaller and Larger Sukhavati-vyuha sutras. Thus another name for Sukhavati is the Western Pure Land. Specific distances and directions are also given for other pure lands. The Realm of Profound Joy is one thousand buddha-lands to the east of Saha, the Pure Lapis-lazuli World lies to the east by ten times the number of buddha-lands equaling the sands of the Ganges, and the Unconquerable World of the Buddha Sakyamuni (perhaps the same Sakyamuni as the buddha of the Saha world) is to the west by forty-two times the number of buddha-lands equaling the sands of the Ganges. Because of discrepancies between the Sanskrit and Chinese versions of certain sutras, we cannot accurately interpret the extent of a buddha-land itself. All we can say with confidence is that the distance between Saha and Sukhavati, “ten myriads of a hundred millions of buddha-lands,” is indeed vast.3
As the Chinese translation of the name Sukhavati suggests, it is a land of supreme joy. The Sanskrit is of similar meaning: “that which possesses ease and comfort.” Sukhavati is not subject to the sufferings that plague this world and, furthermore, it is a land of unsurpassed beauty. It is described as having seven tiers of balustrades, seven rows of nets, and seven rows of trees, all adorned with the four jewels (gold, silver, lapis lazuli, and crystal). There is a lake of the seven jewels (gold, silver, lapis lazuli, crystal, a kind of a big shell [tndacna gigas\, coral, and agate), filled with water having the eight virtues. The bottom of the lake is gold sand. On the four sides of the lake are stairs (galleries) made of the four jewels. Above are towers and palaces also adorned with the seven jewels. In the lake bloom lotus flowers as large as chariot wheels. The blue lotus flowers emit a blue light, and the yellow, red, and white lotus flowers emit light of corresponding colors. They all give forth a sweet fragrance.
The delightful sound of heavenly music can be heard, and in the morning, at noon, and in the evening mandarava flowers fall from the sky and gently pile up on the golden ground. Every morning the inhabitants of the Pure Land gather these flowers with the hems of their robes and make offerings of them to myriads of buddhas in other lands. At mealtime they return to their own land, where they take their meal and stroll around.
There are many kinds of birds—swans, peacocks, parrots, sharikas, kalaviiikas, and jivamjlvakas, which sing with beautiful voices, proclaiming the teachings of the Buddha. When living beings hear this song, they think about the Buddha, Dharma (“law,” or his teachings), and Sangha (“community of believers”). When the gentle breezes blow, the rows of four-jeweled trees and jeweled nets give forth a gentle music, like a beautiful symphony.
In this land dwell Amitabha Buddha and his two attendants, the bodhisattvas Avalokitesvara and Mahasthamaprapta. At their feet are those virtuous beings who have been reborn in that land because of their ardent faith. All, however, are male; women of deep faith are reborn here with male bodies. The female sex, considered inferior and unfortunate, has no place in Sukhavati.
All people, says Sakyamuni, should ardendy wish for rebirth in that land and become the companions of the most virtuous of all beings. People cannot hope for rebirth there just by performing a few good deeds, however. If living beings meditate eagerly upon the name of Amitabha for even one day with an undisturbed mind, Amitabha and his holy retinue will appear before them to receive them at the end of life. They will enter the Pure Land with unperturbed hearts.
It is obvious that the concept of Sukhavati is related to the senses, not to ethics. The court nobility of the Heian period (794—1185 C.E.) in Japan, whose yearning after the beauty of Sukhavati was expressed in such forms as the lotus pond of Byodo-in at Uji, Kyoto, and the Taima Mandala (a depiction of the Pure Land made of lotus threads) at Taima-ji, harbored no dissatisfaction with this type of land. Modern religious seekers, though, probably would feel that this description lacks profundity. Others might feel disappointed that they cannot find female companions. One point in favor of Sukhavati’s sensuous character is the fact that a purely spiritual realm is unhealthy and difficult to bear. In regard to the lack of women, the male priests did not consider womanhood a pleasurable state, and thus could only provide for the happiness of women through conversion to male form.
The idea of Sukhavati certainly grew out of the concept of a material paradise, but early on it became allied with an elevated spiritual and ethical oudook, the teaching of the Buddha as rescuer, in which Amitabha Buddha, lord of Sukhavati, saves those who meditate upon him. Classical Buddhism taught that salvation must occur by one’s own efforts (“self-power”). Those who had lost hope in salvation through their own efforts flocked to the new teaching of salvation through the power of another, i.e., of Amitabha Buddha.
At first, people attracted to this new teaching were probably motivated by a desire to escape from suffering into what was conceived of as a materially satisfying land. But Sukhavati was soon linked with the idea of good and evil, and those who sought to be reborn in Sukhavati did so out of despair at their own evil. A good example of such a thinker is Shinran (1173— 1262 C.E.), the Japanese priest who founded the True Pure Land (Jodo Shin) sect. Modern Pure Land thought resembles Christianity in many ways—the strong monotheistic coloration, salvation through the Buddha (God), the concern with good and evil rather than with suffering and pleasure. In the midtwentieth century, Kamegai Ryoun, a Jodo Shin sect priest, converted to Christianity on the grounds that the Jodo Shin sect was preparing the road leading to Christianity. It certainly seems possible that in its two thousand years, Pure Land thought has been influenced by Christian ideas (by the Christian Nestorian sect of Ch’ang-an in east-central China, for example).
Origins of the Western Pure Land Concept
There are numerous theories regarding the origin of the Western Pure Land concept, Sukhavati. Some scholars look to an Indian derivation, others to an Iranian one, and still others to Judaic antecedents.
The latter has been proposed by Y. Iwamoto, who says that Sukhavati derives from the Garden of Eden. “‘Eden,’” he writes, “is the Aramaic form of a Hebrew word that means ‘pleasure.’ Both Hebrew and Aramaic are western Semitic languages. The Old Testament was first compiled in Aramaic.”4 The Aramaic language and script were used by the Persian Achaemenid dynasty (7th4th century B.C.E.), whose lands met India on the eastern border. The Indian script called Kharosthi developed under the influence of the Aramaic alphabet, and Achaemenid architecture also affected India. There are thus sufficient grounds for believing that the name and concept of Eden could have entered India around this time.
Furthermore, the Judaic Eden and the Buddhist Sukhavati have many points in common. “Both are based on an idea of a particular direction, and both symbolize an oasis in a desert.”5 Eden is said to be in the east and Sukhavati in the west; moreover, Eden is derived from the Assyrian edmnu (“desert, plain”), and Sukhavati is an elaboration of Lake Anavatapta, itself a mythicized oasis. “As the Chinese translation of Anavatapta, ‘no heat or fever,’ indicates, it is clearly a mythicized desert oasis. The banks of the lake are adorned with gold, silver, lapis lazuli, and crystal; there is an abundance of gold sand; and the waves on the lake sparkle clear as a mirror, their waters pure and cold. It is very likely that the Sukhavati in the Larger Sukhdvati-ryuha [[[Sutra of Infinite Life]]] is an extension and enlargement of the legend of Lake Anavatapta and an exaggeration of its depiction.”6
In Buddhist Sukhavati thought, the idea of the west is extremely important. If we look for the origin of Sukhavati in the Garden of Eden, how do we resolve such Biblical expressions as “God planted a garden eastward in Eden,” “God placed at the east of the garden of Eden, Cher’u-bims, and a flaming sword that turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life,” and “the land of Nod, on the east of Eden,” which offer no concept of the west? The Judaic (“eastward in Eden”) and Buddhist paradises are even in opposite directions. Furthermore, the Buddhist concept of Sukhavati is connected with death; like the Egyptian Amnt and the Greek Elysion, it is the place to which the dead proceed. The Garden of Eden, however, is the earthly paradise from which Adam and Eve were expelled, and has no direct connection with death. In Christianity, the good go to Heaven, not to Eden. It seems we must look elsewhere for Sukhavati’s origins.
I prefer to believe that Sukhavati has links with the Greek Elysion and the Egyptian Amnt. The Elysion of Greek mythology was also located in the west. In this mythology, some characteristic descriptions express the west in terms reminiscent of Sukhavati; for example, snow does not fall, there is no torrential rain, gende breezes blow, trees bear golden fruit, and the Hesperides always dance. Homer described Elysion as a happy land ruled by the judge Rhadamanthus: “The immortals will send you to the Elysian Fields at the world’s end, to join auburn-haired Rhadamanthus in the land where living is made easy for mankind, where no snow falls, no strong winds blow and there is never any rain, but day after day the West Wind’s tuneful breeze comes in from the Ocean to refresh its people.”7 Later, Strabo, the Greek geographer and historian (64 B.C.E.-ca. 21 C.E.), commented that the “West Wind’s tuneful breeze com[ing] in from the Ocean” indicates that Elysion is not only in the west, but also that it is a warm place.
Similar to the Elysian fields are the mythical Islands of the Blessed and the Garden of the Hesperides. The Islands of the Blessed are a place of happiness where the spring breezes blow and the trees bear golden flowers. Likewise, the Garden of the Hesperides is in the west, where the sun sets, near the edge of the ocean, and on its trees are golden fruits, guarded by the daughters of Hesperus, the Hesperides, whose pleasure is dancing and singing. According to Shigeichi Kure, as time passed poets such as Pindar (522?-442? B.C.E.) added an ethical element to the qualifications for rebirth in the Islands of the Blessed, describing them as a place where those who were virtuous in life enjoyed ease and happiness.8 ord is with you. In the west, in the west, the land of those who are good. The place that you loved cries in lamentation. Those who are drawing you on have achieved happiness. Your people embrace you. You, who proceed safely among those beloved by the lord, and against whom no wrong is found. Oh, Osiris Khent-amenti, permit a gende breeze to blow upon him, permit him to join those who pay homage in the land of the living, Osiris Harmhabi!”10
Osiris is a god who died and lived again. A person who dies becomes Osiris and lives again in the land of the west, the name of which the Greek historian Plutarch (46?—120? C.E.) transmitted as Amenthes, and which became Amnt in Coptic. This means that the ancient idea of Amnt still existed in the second century. There is also a strong possibility that the Osiris cult influenced the tradition ofjesus Christ’s resurrection. If this is so, the Osiris cult still had considerable effect in the first and second centuries, though the rise of Christianity eventually annihilated it.
Ptolemy I (304—282 B.C.E.), ruler of Egypt, syncretized Greek and Egyptian religion in the invention of Sarapis. This deity was a fusion of the Greek Zeus (later the Roman Jupiter) and the Egyptian Osiris and Apis. He formed a trinity with Isis (an Egyptian goddess) and Harpocrates (Horus the Child). In the second century C.E., Egypt possessed forty-two temples to Sarapis, that in Alexandria being the most important. In 390 the Roman emperor Theodosius the Great, under whom Christianity became the official religion of the empire, destroyed the great image ofJupiter-Serapis in Alexandria.
How did Greek and Egyptian ideas of a western paradise find their way to India? From the second century B.C.E. to the second century C.E., under the Pax Romana, commercial and cultural exchange flourished between India and the Roman world. Iranian nomads (including the Kusana dynasty, discussed below), invaded India and influenced culture there. This was truly an epoch of syncretism, and a time when many new religions became popular in India.
Evidence of this process can be found at Begram, north of Kabul in Afghanistan, the site of the ancient city of Kapisi. Hsiian-tsang visited it in the seventh century C.E. and wrote about it in his travel record. He noted that it had been the summer capital of Indian kings long ago, probably those of the Kusana dynasty, who ruled from the first to the fourth century. It was during the middle of this period that the most famous of its kings, Kaniska, ruled. He is known in Buddhist literature as a patron of Buddhism.
The Kusana dynasty originated in Central Asia. Their civilization was not urban, and they borrowed from more sophisticated neighboring cultures, including the Indian, Iranian, Greco-Roman, and Chinese (Han dynasty). Their coins document this with a variety of kingly titles: rajatiraja (“king of kings”), maharaja (“great king”), and devaputra (“son of heaven”). These are, respectively, Iranian-, Indian-, and Chinese-derived tides. According to the French scholar Andre Maricq, however, devaputra is an Iranian-derived title.11
Kaniska II, a descendant of the first Kaniska, also adopted the tide kaisara, derived from the Roman caesar. There is some doubt as to whether the term basileus (“king” in Greek) also existed. The Bactrian Greek rulers (in what is now northern Afghanistan) and their successors, the Sakas and Parthians, had formerly used it on coins. At the time of the Kusanas, who followed the Sakas and Parthians, the Greek usage may have been abandoned, but it is beyond doubt that the Kusanas, like their predecessors, were strong philhellenes. (It is of interest that the Parthian kings in Iran actually used “philhellene” as a name.)
There is also substantial material evidence for Greek and Egyptian influence in this Central Asian region. At the beginning of this century, French scholars unearthed many items of Greek and Egyptian origin from Begram (ancient Kapisi), the probable site of the Kusana capital. Many of these appeared to have originated in Alexandria and consisted largely of plaster and bronze statues of Greek gods and youths. Among the statues of gods were those of Silenus, satyrs, Eros, Psyche, Dionysus, maenads, Athena, and Hercules. Also found were a statue of the hero Odysseus (Ulysses) and an unusual form of a god, Serapis-Hercules. Indian goods are represented by an eyecatching openwork panel of ivory. Chinese lacquer was also found. The excavated items make it clear that a great deal of Greek culture had been imported from Alexandria.
We should mark in particular the statue of Serapis-Hercules in relation to the origin of the idea of a Western Pure Land of happiness. The American archaeologist B. Rowland, Jr. remarked on the syncretism of the statue, which was associated with the mystery religions: “This esoteric figure is immediately recognizable as a combination of Serapis and Hercules by the crown or modius ornamented with olive leaves as a symbol of the Nile’s abundance and Hercules’ familiar attributes of the club and the golden apples of the Hesperides.”12 Rowland has also identified another small statue excavated at Kapisi as the Egyptian god Harpocrates and the female figure on a glass cup as the goddess Isis. A statue of Harpocrates has also been excavated from Taxila in Pakistan. These discoveries indicate that the Alexandrine Serapis cult extended as far as the borders of India. An examination of the dates of the Buddhist sutras in question seems to support these facts. The Larger Sukhavatl-vyuha (1st century C.E.) was translated into Chinese at least five times between the years 148 and 258, a period corresponding to the middle Kusana period, by translators from Parthia, the Kusana empire, Samarkand (in Uzbekistan), and Kucha (in northwestern China). This supports the theory that Buddhist, Greek, and Egyptian religious ideas all flourished simultaneously in this region, with opportunities for mutual influence.
