Guest Editor’s Introduction

Pure Land Buddhism is widely recognized as the most prevalent and popular form of Buddhist practice in East Asia. This form of Buddhism is conventionally understood as veneration of the Buddha Amitābha (Amit’abul 阿彌陀佛) and the aspiration of being reborn in Sukhāvatī or “Extreme Bliss” (Kŭngnak 極樂), the Buddhaland (Skt. buddhakṣetra; Kor. pulguk 佛國; kukt’o 國土) or “Pure Land” (chŏngt’o 淨土) formed by means of the forty-eight vows Amitābha made when he was a bodhisattva. Although the Pure Land sūtras going back to the fifth century CE list many kinds of practices describing how an aspirant may achieve this goal, the devotional practice of verbally chanting the name of the Buddha Amitābha (yŏmbul 念佛) has increasingly become the most common way of invoking the saving power of this Buddha.

In medieval China, the chanting of Amitābha’s name became so pervasive among the common people and ordinary monks and nuns during the Tang period (618–907), due to such proponents as Daochuo 道綽 (562–645), Shandao 善導 (613–681), and Fazhao 法照 (fl. 762–804), that to the present day it is arguably one of the most basic pillars of Chinese Buddhist practice. Furthermore, the study of Pure Land doctrines and practices found a home in the inclusive Tiantai school 天台宗 and, from at least the tenth century, were assimilated to Chan Buddhist practices by Yongming Yanshou 永明延壽 (904–975). In Japan, where the belief that the Buddhist teaching or dharma was in decline (Kor. malbŏp, J. mappō 末法) was prevalent, monks associated with the Tendai school 天台, namely Hōnen 法然 (1133–1212) and Shinran 親鸞 (1173–1262), increasingly drew inspiration from medieval Chinese promoters of chanting Amitābha’s name, and during the Kamakura period (1185–1333) formed sectarian traditions focused on the single-practice of chanting Amitābha’s name (J. nenbutsu 念佛). These Japanese spiritual leaders emphasized the concepts of drawing on the “other-power” (J. tariki, Kor. taryŏk 他力) of Amitābha’s vows rather than depending on “self-power” (J. jiriki, Kor. charyŏk 自力), the virtue of following bodhisattva practices. In time the Japanese Pure Land sects became the most popular forms of Buddhism in Japan, with nearly 50 percent of all Japanese Buddhists claiming membership in or affiliation with either the Jōdo-shū 浄土宗 or Jōdo Shinshū 浄土真宗 at the end of the twentieth century.

Although many dissertations, books, and articles have been written in Western languages on the Pure Land traditions in China and Japan, comparatively little has been published in English on Pure Land Buddhism or the cult of Amitābha in Korea. Most studies have either been overviews of the Silla period from the standpoint of doctrine (Minamoto 1991), cultic practice (McBride 2001, 427–505), or the doctrinal positions held by the famed Silla scholarmonk Wŏnhyo 元曉 (617–686) (Jang 1994; 2003; Tanaka 2004) and his rough contemporary Kyŏnghŭng 憬興 (Jung 1994), who served as the “state elder” (kungno 國老) during the late seventh century, because both authored extant commentaries on the Larger Sukhāvatīvyūha-sūtra (Wuliangshou jing 無量 壽經). Aside from that, there is a translation of Chinul’s 知訥 (1158–1210) Essentials of Pure Land Practice (Yŏmbul yomun 念佛要門), which provides an interpretation of the pivotal practice of chanting Amitābha’s name from the standpoint of a devoted practitioner of Sŏn meditation during the Koryŏ period (Chinul 1983). Only one essay has attempted a comprehensive introduction to Pure Land from the Three Kingdoms to the modern period (Kwŏn 1994).

The six articles in this special issue explore aspects of the history of Pure Land Buddhism in Korea. Two essays deal with the Three Kingdoms and Silla periods, two papers treat topics in the Koryŏ period, and the final two articles break new ground in the Chosŏn period. Several articles reveal a close relationship between Pure Land practices and the Hwaŏm tradition, which was the dominant doctrinal school during the middle and late periods of Silla (ca. 668–935) and was the most influential intellectual tradition at court in the Koryŏ period (918–1392). The inclusive nature of the Hwaŏm doctrine of the...