A Pure Land, in Mahayana Buddhism, is the celestial realm or pure abode of a Buddha or Bodhisattva. The term "pure land" is particular to the Chinese (Ch. 净土, jìngtǔ) and related East Asian traditions; in Sanskrit the equivalent concept is called the "Buddha field" (Skt. buddha-kṣetra). The various traditions that focus on Pure Lands have been given the nomenclature Pure Land Buddhism. Pure lands are also evident in the literature and traditions of Taoism and Bön.
The notion of 'pure lands' was inherited from other Dharmic Traditions already evident in the Dharma. The notion of a pure land may have evolved from the Uttarakuru, a divine continent in ancient Dharmic cosmology. The pure realms are all accessible through experiential meditation and trance sadhana.
Read more about Pure Land: Discussion, Five Pure Abodes, The Source, Śuddhāvāsa Worlds, Sukhavati, Other Well-known Pure Lands, Field of Merit, Mandala
Famous quotes containing the words pure and/or land:
“But all its chief delight was still
On Roses thus its self to fill:
And its pure virgin Limbs to fold
In whitest sheets of Lillies cold.
Had it liv’d long it would have been
Lillies without, Roses within.”
—Andrew Marvell (1621–1678)
“The land of faery
Where nobody gets old and godly and grave,
Where nobody gets old and crafty and wise,
Where nobody gets old and bitter of tongue.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)