-7 upvotes, 2 direct replies (showing 2)
Mahayana is also called the large vehicles. Dhrama is the path or nature of reality. To traverse through the path, sentient beings may need vehicles, some kind of guidance or tools (that show us the big picture aka wisdom), as opposed to detailed "instructions". Diamond Sutra and Vimalakirti Sutra both attempt to clarify what is and what is not reality and how we should understand reality and some common misconceptions and misunderstanding about reality. The tone of Amitayurdhyana Sutra doesn't sound like either of the two sutras. Instead, as you have mentioned, it sounds like it is giving "instructions" of how to envision the "pure land" as if these are the only ways for any sentient beings to understand reality. Yet it does not attempt to explain what reality really is and how it deviates from our perceptions, And it attempts to describe what the "pure land" is like based on some human vocabularies and conceptions. Isn't it a violation of the basic priciniple of not involving human perceptions and vikalpa when attempting to understand reality? And why should sentient beings contemplate individual objects instead of viewing everything as a non-separable whole such that emptiness is ultimately the same as oneness and is the true nature of reality?
What do you think about all the different "contemplations"? Are they metaphors? Why are they even remotely related to ending suffering of sentient beings? Amitayurdhyana Sutra sounds like a descriptive novel with a lot of descriptions that are based on human perceptions, like Harry Potter that has nothing to do with wisdom
Comment by redkhatun at 03/02/2025 at 23:16 UTC
10 upvotes, 0 direct replies
The Pure Land sutras teach a method of practice for realizing the true nature of reality, either in the present life or in the next (in Sukhavati).
I hope this doesn't sound dismissive but I don't have the time or energy to talk a lot about this (I'm in the middle of a move), so I'll just give you a bit of advice, in general a good attitude to have when studying Buddhism is that if something doesn't make sense or seems wrong, it's because WE have made a wrong conclusion and misunderstood something, or we just haven't come across the answer yet.
Close to two millennia of awakened masters in the Mahayana schools have accepted and transmitted the Pure Land sutras. If at first we're doubtful, we should trust in the Noble Sangha to have transmitted the Dharma before we draw our own hasty conclusions.
Comment by hrdass at 04/02/2025 at 01:27 UTC
5 upvotes, 1 direct replies
They are rafts. Many (most? Nearly all??) Mahayana schools utilize specific objects of meditation.