Jingtu Sect in Han Buddhism
The Jingtu sect, also known as the Sukhavativyuha sect or Lotus sect in China, is named for the Pure Land, the aspired destination for a monk in meditation. It was established in China by Shandao during the Tang Dynasty (618-907).
Shandao (613-681), whose secular surname was Zhu, was a native of Linzi (present-day Zibo, Shandong Province). In his study of Buddhist classics, he found that the Dharma Door for Reciting the Buddha’s Name was the most convenient and easily achieved of all Buddhist commandments to be mastered, and thus he became a convert of the Jingtu sect. He once went to Mount Lushan to explore the cultural heritage left by the prominent Eastern Jin monk Huiyuan (334-416). In 641 (15th year of the Zhenguan reign, Tang Dynasty), he settled at the Xuanzhong Temple in Bingzhou (present-day Taiyuan, Shanxi Province) to learn the creeds of the Jingtu sect from Daochuo. In 645 Daochuo died, and Shandao then went to Chang’an to disseminate the Dharma Door for the Reciting of Buddha’s Name. Practising the most stringent type of austerities and meditation, he devoted all his time to chanting the name of the Buddha except when he was out begging for alms. It is said that he copied 100,000 volumes of the Amitabha Sutra (Sutra of Buddha of Boundless Light), and drew 300 or so pictures that tell stories about the Jingtu sect. He was also the author of five works on the dharmaparyaya (dharma door) to the Pure Land, which established him as father of the Jingtu sect.
The Pure Land is the Paradise of the West. According to the Amitabha Sutra, it is a place of sublime beauty and the people living there are happy and don’t know what pain is. Access to the Pure Land is through chanting Amita Buddha’s name as many times as possible. Chanting Amita Buddha’s name calls for the union of the three behaviors, that is to say, one should personally pay homage to the Amita Buddha, always chant his name, and always bear him in one’s mind. Shandao developed a whole collection of methods and set a series of requirements for his followers. The first is to set their minds at ease, which calls for sincerity, profundity, and parinamana (readiness for the transference of one’s merits to somewhere). After one has focused one’s mind on these three aspects and has begun self-cultivation, one is bound to arrive in the Pure Land so long as one persists in chanting the name of the Amita Buddha. There are not many theories to speak of in this sect, which advocates nothing but self-cultivation by chanting the Amita Buddha’s name.
Chanting the name of the Buddha is a way of self-cultivation, and self-cultivation is one of the trisiksa (three studies) that is a must for all sects of Buddhism despite differences in methodology. When chanting, one is required to dispel all worldly thoughts and concentrate on a certain point – the point of the Amita Buddha. To perform well in chanting the Buddha’s name is samadhi (concentrating on Buddha).
In China the Dharma Door for Chanting the Buddha’s Name was initiated by Huiyuan, a disciple of the famed monk Dao’an. Because of his rich knowledge and moral integrity, he was able to recruit many social dignitaries to study under his tutelage. By the time Huiyuan established the White Lotus Society with 18 prominent personages at Mount Lushan, he had recruited 123 local people, who gathered to offer sacrifices to a statue of Amita Buddha, and collectively chanted his name with the hope that after their death they would be reborn in the Pure Land.
By the Southern and Northern Dynasties, another eminent monk emerged in the Jingtu sect. Tanluan (476-542) began his religious life as a Taoist intent on finding a pill of longevity. He once went all the way to the Maoshan Mountain in the South to seek the instructions of Tao Hongjing (456-536, a Taoist scholar and medical expert, once an official of the Southern Qi Dynasty), and returned to the North with ten volumes of the Tao’s book Classics on Immortality. When he came across Bodhiruci (5th-6th century) during a visit to Luoyang, he asked the Indian monk if there was any book on longevity. Bodhiruci told him there was no such thing as immortality because every person in this world dies, but there were ways to prolong one’s life. The monk give him a copy of Amitayur-dhyana Sutra (Discourse Concerning Meditation on Amitayus), telling him that this was the Buddhist book on long life, and asked him to practice self-cultivation according to what the book said. Tanluan, enlightened, destroyed the Classic on Longevity, and concentrated on the study and practices of the Pure Land sect. He eventually rose to fame, and the ruler of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534) adored him as the “Celestial Luan.”
Both Huiyuan and Tanluan silently chanted the name of the Amita Buddha. It was not until Daochuo of the Sui (581-618) and Tang dynasties began chanting the name aloud that Buddhists everywhere did likewise. Daochuo (562-645), a native of Wenshui in Bingzhou Prefecture (present-day Wenshui, Shanxi Province), also began his religious life as a Taoist. During a visit to the Xuanzhong Temple up the Shibi Mountain in 609, he read a stone tablet inscription on how Tanluan chanted the name of the Amita Buddha and practiced the doctrines of the Pure Land sect. He was so moved by Tanluan’s assiduousness that he converted to this sect. After that he made it a point to chant the name of the Amita Buddha 70,000 times a day. He would count the times of his incantation with beans or with a string of golden rain nuts, thus becoming the first Buddhist in China to use a rosary in religious meditation. With his great personality, Daochuo acquired quite a following in and around Wenshui, and his chanting the name of the Amita Buddha aloud became a fashion. His disciple, Shandao, inherited the method and turned this name chanting into a sect of Chinese Buddhism, the Jingtu sect.
The Jingtu sect’s method is simple and feasible to practice. What appeals most is its belief that with the power of the Buddha people can achieve reincarnation in the Pure Land of the Amitatha Buddha with karmas. The literature of the Jingtu sect is generally limited to three sutras and one treatise, and there are three theories on its differential instructions.
The Jingtu sect has been thriving for more than one thousand years since its establishment. In modern times Ven. Yin Guang was the most influential personage in this sect. Even today, the sect remains most influential and has the largest following among all the Buddhist sects in China.
