Arabic Buddhist wrote:Hello Dharma friends
I have some of Question :
1 - In Japanese pure land . They say we are in the ending Age of Dharma . So no one can Attain Enlightenment in this Age .
Do chinese pure land say so ?
2- In Japanese pure land there Are two school . Jodo Shu And Jodo Shinshu .
How many school in Chinese pure land ?
3 - in 18th vow Of Amitabha he said just by calling his name just ten time you will born in pure land .
So why Chinese pure land practice in Amitabha name more then ten ?
And where buddha said in the sutra we have practice in Amitabha more then ten ?
I'm not sure your post is reflecting an accurate understanding of Japanese Pure Land.
1. The stance from both Chinese & Japanese schools of Pure Land thought agree that the idea of "mappo" does not mean that "no one can Attain Enlightenment in this Age", rather that the number of people who are successful when following the "path of Sages" is a much lower percentage than those who enter the Dharma through the gate of Pure Land, especially when talking about those of lesser capacities.
Honen:
http://www.jsri.jp/English/Honen/TEACHI ... ation.html
"According to Honen's Muryojukyo-shaku, although the Tendai and Shingon sects teach that one can attain enlightenment in this very body, in the present age of the final Dharma, this is impossible for ordinary deluded beings."
"For Honen, Tao-ch'o taught the Pure Land Path over the Holy Path because in the age of the final Dharma these were the only teachings which deluded beings could realize. Honen selected Tao-ch'o's classification, because he felt if a profound teaching could not be realized, it was of no use to ordinary people. This emphasis on the salvation of ordinary people and thus of all beings is the point in Honen's classification which is more specifically emphasized than in the ones of Tao-ch'o, Shan-tao, and Genshin."
*note - "ordinary deluded beings" refers to those of lesser capabilities.
Shinran:
http://www.shinranworks.com/relatedworks/faithalone.htm
*Makes the comment that not 1 in millions will attain the path of sages, but then quotes ShanTao's number of 1 in thousands.
Chinese Buddhism:
http://www.ymba.org/ou-i-chih-hsu
"At thirty-one, Ou-i encountered a famous Zen teacher who showed him how degenerate Zen practice had become in their time. After this Ou-i turned away from Zen forms altogether: though he always acknowledged the genuine realization of the Zen masters, he had decided that Zen methods were too difficult for most people to follow, and that Zen in his time was mostly an intellectual plaything."
2. In China, the barriers between schools were never as strict as in Japan. All major forms of Chinese Buddhism endorse Pure Land practice. Many of the important works on Pure Land practice come from masters of the TianTai and Chan schools.
3. I recommend reading more on what Honen and Shinran each had to say on this issue. it's not as simple as you're making it out to be.
Honen:
http://www.jsri.jp/English/Honen/TEACHI ... html"Honen once said, "It’s important that you should never forget the repetition of the nembutsu. Keep it in mind continually. Even though you do impure things or speak impure words, it is a fine thing to keep your heart pure and to say the nembutsu over and over again without stopping it even for a moment. If you go on repeating it at all times and under all circumstances, it will finally bring you to ojo - no doubt about it. Surely don’t imagine that it would be all right to put off the practice of the nembutsu on the grounds that it can be done at any time. On the contrary, don’t let a single moment pass in which you are not practicing it.”"
Shinran:
http://www.shinranworks.com/relatedwork ... cation.htm
"If, however, because of belief in this, you adhere single-mindedly to the position of birth through once-calling and declare that many-calling is erroneous, then do you intend to overlook the words of the Primal Vow, "Saying the Name perhaps even ten times," and ultimately take the teaching of saying the Name for one to seven days in the Smaller Sutra to be pointless? Do you also regard as erroneous the teaching of Master Shan-tao? Based on these sutra passages, he instructs us to practice without interruption for a long period of time:
Single-heartedly practicing the saying of the Name of Amida alone - whether walking, standing, sitting, or reclining - without regard to the length of time, and without abandoning it from moment to moment: this is called "the act of true settlement," for it is in accord with the Buddha's Vow.
Vow that to the end of this life there will be no retrogressing, and that you will make the Pure Land your single goal.
To break with Shan-tao's teaching and slander it after having once entered the Pure Land gate is to be an even greater enemy than people of other teachings and different understandings. Such people, forever remaining as stragglers in the three courses, have no chance of emerging; it is wretched. Hence it is taught:
The Buddha comes to welcome those who, at the upper limit, spend their entire lives in the nembutsu,
Down to those who say it only ten or three or five times.
Solely through the greatness of the universal Vow,
Foolish beings, when they become mindful of it, are brought to attain birth.
And further, one truly knows now, without so much as a single thought of doubt, that Amida's universal Primal Vow decisively enables all to attain birth, including those who say the Name even ten times, or even but hear it.
Those who say the Name for seven days or one day, down to ten voicings or one voicing - a single utterance - will unfailingly attain birth.
These passages teach beyond all doubt that there should be no controversy over the positions of once-calling and many-calling; the person who has simply entrusted himself to Amida's Vow should continue to say the nembutsu until the end of his life, with birth in the Pure Land as his goal. You must not cling to one or the other extreme. I have been unable to express my innermost thoughts as I would like; still, I hope the reader will be able to grasp my meaning through these notes."