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:
“The whole fauna of human fantasies, their marine vegetation, drifts and luxuriates in the dimly lit zones of human activity, as though plaiting thick tresses of darkness. Here, too, appear the lighthouses of the mind, with their outward resemblance to less pure symbols. The gateway to mystery swings open at the touch of human weakness and we have entered the realms of darkness. One false step, one slurred syllable together reveal a man’s thoughts.”
—Louis Aragon (1897–1982)
“This land is your land, this land is my land,
From California to the New York Island.
From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.”
—Woody Guthrie (1912–1967)