Acknowledgments
Foreword by Kenneth K. Tanaka
Introduction by Alfred Bloom
Conventions
I. Foundational Scriptures
A. In Praise of Sutras
1. The Larger Pure Land Sutra
2. The Shorter Pure Land Sutra
3. The Contemplation Sutra
B. Praise of Sakyamuni in the Pure Land Sutras
1. The Larger Pure Land Sutra
2. The Shorter Pure Land Sutra
a. Praise of Sakyamuni’s Virtue by all the Buddhas
C. Dharmakara Bodhisattva’s Enlightenment as Amida Buddha in The Larger Pure Land Sutra
1. Renunciation: Dharmakara Bodhisattva Renounces His Throne; Takes Refuge under Buddha Lokeshvararaja
2. Dharmakara Bodhisattva Resolves to Become Buddha
3. Dharmakara Bodhisattva’s Forty-Eight Vows
4. Summary of Amida’s Vows (Juseige-Verses on Weighty Vows and Sanseige-Verses on Three Vows) from The Larger Pure Land Sutra
5. Fulfillment Text of Dharmakara Bodhisattva’s Eighteenth Vow
6. Dharmakara Practices the Bodhisattva Path
a. Dharmakara Bodhisattva’s Pure Practice
7. Dharmakara Bodhisattva Attains Buddhahood
8. The Pure Land Established by Dharmakara Bodhisattva/�Amida Buddha
9. Amida Buddha’s Light
10. Amida Buddha’s Lifespan
11. Praise of Amida Buddha: The Larger Pure Land Sutra
12. True Disciple of the Buddha
13. Description of the Pure Land
a. The Larger Pure Land Sutra
b. The Shorter Amida Sutra
c. The Nirvana Sutra
14. Birth in the Pure Land
a. The Larger Pure Land Sutra
b. The Shorter Pure Land Sutra
c. The Contemplation Sutra
d. The Contemplation Sutra—Levels of Birth
i. Birth in the Highest Grade
ii. Birth in the Lowest Grade
D. The Human Condition: The Larger Pure Land Sutra
1. The Human Condition: The Lowest Grade
2. Passions and Their Fruits
3. Worldly Evils
4. Buddha and Society
5. Encountering the Buddha-Dharma
E. Drama of the Human Condition: The Contemplation Sutra
1. Prince Ajatasatru’s Evil
2. Spiritual Emancipation in The Contemplation Sutra
a. Queen Vaidehi: Visualization and Meditation
b. Queen Vaidehi’s Aspiration for the Pure Land
3. The Contemplation Sutra and the Path to the Pure Land
a. Visualizing the Pure Land
b. The Thirteen Contemplations
c. Vision of Amida
d. Response to Buddha’s Teaching
e. Benefits of Response to Buddha’s Teaching
F. Miscellaneous Sutra Sources
1. The Nirvana Sutra
2. The Garland Sutra
3. The Samadhi of All Buddhas’ Presence Sutra
4. The Sun Matrix Sutra
5. The Vows of Medicine Master Buddha Sutra
6. The Bodhisattva Precepts Sutra
II. Teachings of the Pure Land Tradition
A. Pure Land Teaching
1. The Reason for the Pure Land Teaching: Last Age in the Decline of the Dharma
a. General Perspective
b. Stages in the Decline of Dharma
2. The Nature of Pure Land Teaching
3. Correspondence of the Times and Beings
B. Amida Buddha, Bodhisattvas, and Other Buddhas
C. Amida Buddha’s Primal Vows
1. The Thirty-Fifth Vow and Women
2. Eighteenth Vow Exclusion Clause
D. Amida Buddha’s Name
E. The Pure Land
F. Birth in the Pure Land
G. Awakening of True Entrusting
1. Encountering the Buddha-Dharma
2. Bodhi-Mind
3. True Entrusting: The Three Minds
a. Uncalculating Trust
b. Non-Retrogression
c. Trust in Ordinary Life and the Last Moment of Life
d. Turning of the Mind
4. Two Types of Deep Faith
5. Spiritual Status of the Disciple and True Disciple of the Buddha
6. Dedication: Mode of Practice
Selected Glossary
Bibliography
Index of Quoted Sources
Biographical Notes