14 upvotes, 0 direct replies (showing 0)
In the Mahāyāna, the idea of a so-called "pureland" has different definitions based on different contexts. Overall, the term “Pure land” is a gloss of “kṣetra” it is the field of activity of a specific Buddha or bodhisattva, a *buddhakṣetra.* There can be both pure and impure kṣetras, and for that reason, rather than “pureland,” it is actually more accurate to translate kṣetra as “buddhafield.”
The premise is that the perception of pure and impure buddhafields actually reflects whether we as practitioners have cognitive obscurations or not. Buddha’s and awakened āryas see pure buddhafields because they do not have these obscurations. We sentient beings perceive this sahalōka as an impure realm because of our obscurations. This is Buddha Śākyamuni’s buddhafield, we just perceive it as samsāra.
The *Vimalakīrtinirdeśa* says:
> *The purity of his [a bodhisattva's] buddhafield reflects the purity of living beings; the purity of the living beings reflects the purity of his gnosis (jñāna); the purity of his gnosis reflects the purity of his doctrine; the purity of his doctrine reflects the purity of his transcendental practice; and the purity of his transcendental practice reflects the purity of his own mind.*
All buddhafields are innately pure. If a buddhafield is perceived as impure it is because one’s mind is burdened by impurities, specifically ignorance (avidyā) as a knowledge obscuration which prevents you from seeing the innate purity of all phenomena.
The *Dharmarāja Sūtra* states:
> *The Bhagavan said to the bodhisattva Many Desires, “Many Desires, before, that was was tainted. Now it is clean, pure, very pure. The mind is one thing, nondual, without any other properties. Since that mind is pure, all phenomena become pure.*
> *Son of a good family, for example, a tree is cut down at the root, not at the branches and leaves. Likewise, if the mind is realized, it is equivalent with cutting all phenomena at the root. Since the mind is pure, all phenomena will be pure.”*
What then is the factor that distinguishes pure from impure perception? It is emptiness, śūnyatā. If you realize emptiness and rest in awakened equipoise, then you realize that phenomena have been pure, luminous, unafflicted and unconditioned from the very beginning. That means you are seeing the pure dharmatā of phenomena, you are directly knowing the pure buddhafield. You see this impure sahalōkadhātu really is the pure buddhafield, akaniṣṭha ghanavyūha.
Again, from the *Vimalakīrtinirdeśa:*
> *Thereupon, magically influenced by the Buddha, the venerable Śāriputra had this thought: “If the buddhafield is pure only to the extent that the mind of the bodhisattva is pure, then, when Śākyamuni Buddha was engaged in the career of the bodhisattva, his mind must have been impure. Otherwise, how could this buddhafield appear to be so impure?”*
> *The Buddha, aware of venerable Śāriputra’s thoughts, said to him, “What do you think, Śāriputra? Is it because the sun and moon are impure that those blind from birth do not see them?”*
> *Śāriputra replied, “No, Lord. It is not so. The fault lies with those blind from birth, and not with the sun and moon.”*
> *The Buddha declared, “In the same way, Śāriputra, the fact that some living beings do not behold the splendid display of virtues of the buddhafield of the Tathāgata is due to their own ignorance. It is not the fault of the Tathāgata. Śāriputra, the buddhafield of the Tathāgata is pure, but you do not see it.”*
In the "Pure Land" tradition, when practitioners make aspirations to be reborn in a “pureland,” that type of pureland is called a *natural nirmāṇakāya buddhafield* or a *natural saṃbhogakāya buddhafield.*
There's nothing here!