Pure Mind, Pure Land A Brief Study of Modern Chinese Pure Land Thought and Movements Wei, Tao Master of Arts Faculty ofReligious Studies McGill University Montreal, Quebec, Canada July 26, 2007 In Partial Fulfillment ofthe Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in the Faculty ofReligious Studies of Mc Gill University ©Tao Wei Copyright 2007 All rights reserved. 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The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriété du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. ln compliance with the Canadian Conformément à la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privée, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont été enlevés de cette thèse. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. ••• Canada DEDICATION I vow that when my !ife approaches its end, Al! obstructions will be swept away; I will see Amittibha Buddha, And be born in his Land of Ultimate Bliss. When reborn in the Western Land, I will perfect and complete/y fulfill Without exceptions these Great Vows, To delight and benefit ali being. ---The Vows of Samantabhadra AvatalJlsaka Sütra ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Although 1 cannot list ali of the people whose support and encouragement made this work possible, 1 would like to express my heartfelt thanks to my supervisor, Dr. Victor Sogen Hori, for his enlightening and compassionate guidance. Since 1 came to McGill, he has been supporting me through my academie studies and my spiritual practice. 1 would also like to extend my appreciation to Chris Byrne for his help in editing this work, and to Lara Braitstein, Marcel Braitstein and An Jing for translating the Abstract into French. Without them, this work would not have been possible. Also, 1 wish to thank my colieagues Joseph Markowski, Rowshan Nemazee, Leikuan Lai, and ali those who helped and encouraged me through my study at McGill and contributed to the completion of this work. Besides those at McGill, 1 also wish to gratefuliy acknowledge the support of Xu Wanhua and those in my Pure Land practice group, the Amitabha Association of Montreal, whose devotion and compassion is the inspiration of this work. 1 owe ali my achievements to the encouragement and help from my school colleagues and Lotus friends. Lastly, 1 would like to give credit to my family, my parents and my husband, the strongest support through this whole study and my life. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................................................ .iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................. vi LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................... vi ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS ......................................................................................... vii ABSTRACTS ..................................................................................................................................... viii INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 1 Scholarship on Modem Chinese Buddhism ............................................................................. 3 Conceptual Framework of the Study ....................................................................................... 4 Content ofthe Study ............................................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER 1 A GENERAL SURVEY OF CHINESE PURE LAND BUDDHISM ............................... 8 1.1 The Sacred Texts .............................................................................................................. 8 The Larger Sütra .......................................................................................................................... 8 The Smaller Sütra ....................................................................................................................... 11 The Contemplation Sütra ............................................................................................................ 13 Other Important Texts ................................................................................................................. 14 1.2 Patriarchs and Lineage ..................................................................................................... 15 Meditative niarifo ........................................................................................................................ 17 Calling on the name .................................................................................................................... 19 Syncretism of Chan and Pure Land ............................................................................................ 22 1.3 Reflections ...................................................................................................................... 26 CHAPTER 2 SUDDEN AWAKENlNG: CHINESE BUDDHISM ENCOUNTERS MODERNITY ... 28 2.1 Extemal Impact on Chinese Buddhism ............................................................................. 28 W arfare and its Aftermath .......................................................................................................... 28 Impact of Western Culture .......................................................................................................... 29 2.2 Internai Decline ............................................................................................................... 30 2.3 Response ofChinese Buddhism ...................................................................................... 32 Buddhist Seminaries ................................................................................................................... 32 Social Action .............................................................................................................................. 32 2.4 The Father of the Revival ................................................................................................ 34 2.5 Reformer Taixu .............................................................................................................. 36 CHAPTER 3 THE LIFE AND THOUGHTS OF YINGUANG .......................................................... .40 3.1 Yinguang's Life .............................................................................................................. .40 Ear1y Years ................................................................................................................................. 40 Itinerant Period ........................................................................................................................... 41 Last Ten Years ........................................................................................................................... 43 3.2 Yinguang's Pure Land Thought and Teaching ................................................................. .44 Syncretism with Confucianism ................................................................................................... 44 Law of Cause and Effect ............................................................................................................ 48 Yinguang's Traditionalism ......................................................................................................... 49 The Practice of Nianfo ................................................................................................................ 50 3.3 Yinguang's Response to the West .................................................................................... 52 iv CHAPTER 4 YINSHUN'S PURE LAND THOUGHT AND ITS CHALLENGE ..............................