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By Liu Kuei-chieh
National Hsinchu University of Education
Abstract
The two Chinese Buddhist traditions of Huayan and Pure Land apparently are quite different in style and content: whereas Huayan comprises a very abstract system of thought and meditation, the Pure Land tradition teaches the simple practice of
‘Nianfo’ (“Recollection of the Buddha”) with the goal of rebirth in Amitabha
Buddha’s Pure Land. However, during the early Qing dynasty, the two Buddhist scholars Xufa and Peng Shaosheng tried to synthesize these two traditions. In both cases, we witness the unique attempt to combine a highly abstract system of thought which is accessible to only a few well-educated people, with a very simple and concrete method of practice highly popular among the less-educated masses. This paper will explain the sources, reasons, contents, and influences of the
Huayan-Nianfo synthesis, which is very representative for early Qing dynasty
Buddhism.
1 This is a simplified English version of the paper in Chinese. For detailed quotations, references and source materials refer to the Chinese version.
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1. Introduction
Huayan is a school of Chinese Buddhism based on the teachings of the
Avatamsaka-Sutra ( Huayanjing 華嚴經 , “Flower Ornament Sutra”). It considers the
“one true dharmadhatu” (‘dharmadhatu’ meaning the reality of the universe in its totality) as the source of everything in the universe. In this “one true dharmadhatu” all phenomena are mutually interdependent, because all existents in the universe are the result of dependent origination. On the basis of the distinction
“phenomenon/noumenon” ( shi li 事理 ), the Huayan school uses highly abstract concepts like “the four realms of dharmadhatu” ( si fajie 四 法 界 ), “six characteristics” ( liu xiang 六相 ), and “ten mysterious gates” ( shi xuan men 十玄門 ) to analyze the different aspects and possible relationships of noumenon and phenomena in the “one true dharmadhatu”, always aiming at the elucidation of the complete harmony of everything in the universe.
The Pure Land school of Chinese Buddhism is based primarily on the “Sutra of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life” ( Wuliangshoujing 無量壽經 ), the “Sutra of
Visualizing the Buddha of Immeasurable Life” (
Guanwuliangshoufojing 觀無量壽
佛經 ), and the “Amitabhasutra” ( Amituojing 阿彌陀經 ). According to this school, practitioners who belief in the existence of the Buddha Amitabha and his Pure Land, earnestly vow to be born there after this life, and practice the ‘Nianfo’ ( 念佛 ), will eventually attain rebirth in that Pure Land.
‘Nianfo’ is a method of Buddhist practice. It basically means the ‘recollection of the Buddha’, for example the Buddha’s physical form and his virtues.
Traditionally, four forms of Nianfo are distinguished: 1. the recitation of the
Buddha’s name; 2. the mental visualizing of the Buddha and the Pure Land; 3. the meditation on a picture or statue of the Buddha; 4. the meditation on reality as such.
The “Nianfo-Samadhi” is a state of concentration developed through the practice of
Nianfo. The term “Huayan-Nianfo”, which will be used in this paper frequently, designates the combination of the Huayan teachings with the Nianfo practice as taught by the Pure Land school.
During early Qing dynasty, two Buddhist scholars endeavored to synthesize
Huayan thought and Nianfo practice: The monk Xufa 續法 (1641-1728), who was ordained at the age of 19, specialised in the study of the Huayan school, eventually becoming the most important representative of the Huayan school during his age.
Among his numerous writings are three works of significance for the understanding of Huayan-Nianfo: his “Short Commentary on the Amitabhasutra”, a
“Straightforward Commentary on the Sutra of Visualizing the Buddha of
Immeasureable Life”, and a commentary on a Chapter of the Surangamasutra
( Shoulengyanjing 首楞嚴經 ) dealing with Nianfo.
The second important figure was the lay Buddhist Peng Shaosheng 彭紹升
(1740-1796), who in his youth declined a career as government official in order to pursue his private studies. After studying Confucian and Taoist teachings for several
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years, he eventually turned to Buddhism, becoming a devout follower of the Pure
Land tradition. Among his numerous writings, his “Treatise on the
Huayan-Nianfo-Samadhi” is especially important for the study of Huayan-Nianfo thought.
Whereas Xufa interpreted and propagated Nianfo from the perspective of a
Huayan monk scholar, Peng Shaosheng was a Pure Land devotee who made use of the Huayan teachings in order to elucidate and underpin the practice of Nianfo. In both cases, we witness the unique attempt to combine a highly abstract system of thought with a very popular and concrete method of practice. This paper will explain the sources, reasons, contents, and influences of the Huayan-Nianfo synthesis which is very representative for early Qing dynasty Buddhism.
2. The sources of early Qing Huayan-Nianfo thought
The practice of the Pure Land method by followers of the Huayan school has its authoritative basis in the teachings of the Avatamsaka-Sutra itself, and during the
Tang and Song dynasties, several Huayan school monks already laid some of the foundations of the later Huayan-Nianfo synthesis.
Regarding the Avatamsaka-Sutra, we find mention of the Buddha Amitabha and his Pure Land, and of the practice of Nianfo, in all of the three Chinese versions of the sutra (The sutra was translated in 60 scrolls during the fifth century, and in 80 scrolls and 40 scrolls during the Tang dynasty.)
The Huayan Sutra expounds what the Buddha beheld when he entered the state of samadhi after his enlightenment: The “boundless sea of wisdom of the lotus-treasure-world” ( huazang shijie wubian zhihai 華藏世界無邊智海 ), in which everything in the universe is reflected in its mutually interdependent and ultimately identical reality. The Pure Land of Amitabha is one of the innumerable Buddha lands reflected in this “lotus-treasure-world”.
The Chapter on “Entering the inconceivable realm of deliverance through the practice of Samantabhadras vows” (40 scrolls version) teaches that everyone who wants to achieve the state of the Buddha’s magnificent virtues as they are extolled extensively in the Huayan Sutra, has to practice and fulfill the ten vows of the
Bodhisattva Samantabhadra (1. To honore the Buddhas, 2. praise the Buddhas, 3. universally offer gifts to the Buddhas, 4. repent one’s own Karma hindrances, 5. rejoice in the merits of others, 6. urge the Buddhas to teach the Dharma, 7. urge the
Buddhas to remain in the world, 8. constantly learn from the Buddhas, 9. be lenient toward all beings, 10. universally transfer one’s own merits towards all sentient beings). The important point is that in this chapter of the Avatamsaka-Sutra the practice of these ten vows is explicitly connected with the ultimate goal of attaining rebirth in the Pure Land of Amitabha.
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The Huayan Sutra certainly is not a text propagating the Pure Land teachings, but it does not deny the existence of Amitabhas Pure Land, as just mentioned. What it does expound to a considerable extent is the practice of the Nianfo-Samadhi. In the chapter on “Entering the dharmadhatu”, which deals with Sudhanas journey to
53 different teachers, we find several of these teachers explaining their method of
Nianfo as a means of achieving deliverance. The explanations of the method as found in this chapter show a tendency to stress the “mind-only” aspect, i.e. the successful practice of vizualizing the Buddha points to the truth that one’s own mind and the Buddha are identical.
Therefore, the Nianfo practice aiming at rebirth in the Pure Land actually is one of the numerous methods of deliverance taught in the Avatamsaka-Sutra.
The Pure Land practice has also been dealt with in some of the Huayan school patriarch’s writings. For example, the fourth patriarch Chengguan 澄觀 (738-839) studied the 21 methods of Nianfo-Samadhi expounded by one of the teachers in the
“Entering the dharmadhatu” chapter, and he rearranged them into five methods. In his commentary on Samantabhadras vows, the fifth patriarch Zongmi 宗 密
(780-841) noted that the Pure Land of Amitabha is contained in the
“lotus-treasure-world”, and that rebirth in the Pure Land could certainly be attained through the recitation of the Buddha’s name. But the real antecedent of the early
Qing Huayan-Nianfo synthesis was the Song dynasty monk Yihe 義和 (12 th century), who propagated the combination of the Huayan-Nianfo-Samadhi with the
Pure Land practice. According to him, when combined with the Huayan meditation method and the practice of Samantabhadras ten vows, the striving after rebirth in
Amitabha’s Pure Land could actually be a way of realizing the Huayan vision of mutual interdependence and identity of everything in the “one true dharmadhatu”.
3. The early Qing dynasty synthesis of Huayan and Nianfo
During the early Qing period, the Huayan-Nianfo synthesis was advocated by the monk Xufa and the lay Buddhist Peng Shaosheng.
In his writings, Xufa declared that the entire text of the Avatamsaka-Sutra eventually taught only “the one Buddha vehicle” (the only and ultimate teaching leading to the attainment of Buddhahood), and that the Sutra expounded the method of Nianfo leading to rebirth in the Pure Land. According to Xufa, Nianfo was an all-encompassing method: it comprised the teachings of the Hinayana (“Small vehicle”) and Mahayana (“Great vehicle”), it was suitable for all kinds of individuals, and it could lead the practitioner to the attainment of the state of complete harmony of phenomena and noumenon, the state of unimpeded coexistence of essence and form, which is the ultimate goal of Huayan meditation.
According to Xufa, the practice of the Nianfo-Samadhi method taught in the
Avatamsaka-Sutra aimed at seeing all the Buddhas in the universe, and the
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accomplishment of this Samadhi would eventually comprise all other methods taught by the Buddha. In his “Short commentary on the Amitabha-Sutra”, Xufa pointed out that all the Buddhas would comply with the pure vows of men, guiding them to fulfill their vows. Therefore, if a practitioner vowed to be reborn in
Amitabha’s Pure Land and wholeheartedly recited the Buddha’s name, he would see the Buddha and achieve his goal. The state of mind of the practitioner would correspond to the level of attainment in this life and after his rebirth in the Pure Land.
In his commentary, Xufa explicitly stated that the Buddha Amitabha really was the
“Buddha Amitabha of one’s own self-nature”, and the Pure Land merely the “Pure
Land of mind-only”.
In his important commentary on the Nianfo-chapter of the Surangama-Sutra,
Xufa explained that according to the teachings of the Avatamsaka-Sutra, the single-minded concentration upon the Buddha Amitabha would certainly lead to the reflection of Amitabha in the mind of the practitioner. The appearance of Amitabha in the mind depended upon the attitude and achievement of the practitioner: if he sincerely recited the name of the Buddha and entered the state of “undisturbed single-mindedness”, the Buddha would eventually appear in his mind, because this state of mind corresponded to the “one true mind” ( yixin 一心 , zhenxin 真心 ), which is the basis of the enlightenment of all Buddhas and the real subject of Nianfo practice. This agrees with the famous statement in the Avatamsaka-Sutra (60 scrolls version): “The mind creates the Tathagata (i.e. the Buddha)”.
Peng Shaosheng’s synthesis of Huayan and Nianfo originated in his conviction that the Pure Land of Amitabha is contained in the “lotus-treasure-world”, and that
Amitabha actually is identical with Vairocana, the universal Buddha of the
Avatamsaka-Sutra. According to Peng, his own faith in the Pure Land had been awakened through the reading of the Avatamsaka-Sutra. He hold that the innumerable methods taught in the Avatamsaka-Sutra ultimately lead to the goal of rebirth in the Pure Land, especially through the practice of the ten vows of
Samantabhadra.
Furthermore, since according to the highest, perfect teaching of the
Avatamsaka-Sutra noumenon and phenomena are mutually unimpeded, mutually comprising and identical, therefore, he concluded, the “lotus-treasure-world” and the
Pure Land of Amitabha actually were mutually comprising and identical, too. If the practitioner wholeheartedly recited the Buddha’s name, he would be reborn in the
Pure Land, where he would eventually see the Buddha Amitabha and realize that the
Pure Land and the “lotus-treasure-world” are not separated realms, and that
Amitabha and Vairocana are identical. Peng even hold that the Pure Land of
Amitabha inherently comprised all the innumerable material worlds in the universe, because according to the Avatamsaka-Sutra, any grain of dust in the
“lotus-treasure-world” completely contained everything in the universe.
Consequently, perceiving the one Buddha Amitabha eventually meant seeing all the
Buddhas in the universe, because in the Huayan vision of reality the one and the
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many (unit and multitude) ultimately were identical and undifferentiated.
4. The reasons for the early Qing dynasty synthesis of Huayan and Nianfo
The two Buddhist traditions of Huayan and Pure Land apparently are very different in style and content, however, as mentioned above, the Avatamsaka-Sutra already contained some elements of the Pure Land teachings, and during the early
Qing dynasty, Buddhist scholars like Xufa and Peng Shaosheng advocated the combination of the two traditions. But what were their reasons? In their writings, we can find the following six reasons:
(1) Xufa advocated the Huayan-Nianfo in order to reveal the “Amitabha of self-nature” and the “Pure Land of mind-only”. He points out that all of the ten successive stages of practice of the Bodhisattva, which are expounded in the
Avatamsaka-Sutra’s ultimate teaching, actually comprise the Nianfo method.
Therefore, since even the most gifted and advanced of all practitioners do not give up the practice of Nianfo until they attain Buddhahood, how could the less talented and the beginners on the path of the Buddha reject the Nianfo? The importance of the Nianfo for the Bodhisattva’s practice lies in the fundamental unity of “the one mind”, i.e. the “one true dharmadhatu”. In his commentary on the Nianfo-chapter of the Surangama-Sutra, Xufa explained: “The Buddha whose name is recited is an external object, the mind reciting his name is the internal subject, but as soon as the recollection of the Buddha is accomplished, the practitioner will realize: There is no mind external to the Buddha, and there is no Buddha external to the mind, there is only the one true dharmadhatu, in which all the innumerable things are in perfect harmony.”
(2) According to Xufa, the Avatamsaka-Sutra comprises the Samadhis practiced by all the Buddhas, and among all these Samadhis, the Nianfo-Samadhi is the most supreme: through the practice of Nianfo, one benefits from the power of the merciful vows of the Buddha, so that one can swiftly eliminate all defilements and dissolve one’s own ignorance.
(3) Peng Shaosheng holds that the Avatamsaka-Sutra would have lacked a satisfactory ending, if its teachings had not converged in the ten vows of
Samantabhadra, which are guiding the practitioner to rebirth in Amitabha’s Pure
Land. Therefore, the practitioner should also recollect the Buddha Vairocana, who initiated these teachings.
(4) Peng Shaosheng further explains that the Pure Land of Amitabha and the
“lotus-treasure-world” are actually mutually comprising and identical. The practice of Nianfo leading to rebirth in the Pure Land comprises all dharmas, it is the ultimate teaching, because everything accomplished through this method actually was part of one’s self-nature from the very beginning.
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(5) There are many Sutras expounding the teachings of the Pure Land of
Amitabha. Why should we primarily rely upon the Avatamsaka-Sutra as a guideline?
Peng Shaosheng explains: If one really wants to reach the stage of “not-falling-back on the way to enlightenment”, and strives for rebirth in the lotus flowers of the Pure
Land, one has to rely upon the wisdom of Manjusri and the vows of Samantabhadra, the two great Bodhisattvas of the Avatamsaka-Sutra, and one has to transfer all the merits gained through this practice to the goal of rebirth in the Pure Land.
Furthermore, the “Sutra of Visualizing the Buddha of Immeasurable Life” explains that in order to reach a higher level of attainment after rebirth in the Pure Land, one has to recite Mahayana sutras, and among all Mahayana sutras, the
Avatamsaka-Sutra is the most supreme.
(6) The teaching of the dharmadhatu expounded in the Avatamsaka-Sutra is very sublime and difficult to grasp. How could a simple method like Nianfo comprise all the meanings of this Sutra? Peng Shaosheng explains that only the
Nianfo practice will enable the practitioner to enter the boundless dharmadhatu. In the Avatamsaka-Sutra, the boy Sudhana traversed innumerable lands inside a single hair pore of Samantabhadra, thereby symbolizing a state transcending time, space and all distinctions and oppositions. Accordingly, the one method of Nianfo is also able to comprise all the innumerable methods taught in the Avatamsaka-Sutra, because the nature of one single thought is boundless, too. Therefore, the practice of recollecting the Buddha Amitabha actually comprises the whole dharmadhatu.
5. The contents of the Huayan-Nianfo synthesis
In order to successfully propagate their combination of the highly abstract
Huayan thought with the simple and concrete practice of Nianfo, Xufa and Peng had to put forth more specific explanations of the contents of their synthesis.
Xufa met this challenge by systematically allocating different forms and aspects of the Nianfo into the conceptual frames provided by the Huayan school, especially “the five teachings”, “the four realms of dharmadhatu”, “the six characteristics”, “the ten mysterious gates”, and “the meditation on dharmadhatu”.
We will introduce only the first three concepts.
In order to make sense of the divergent teachings contained in the numerous
Buddhist scriptures which had been transmitted and translated unsystematically to
China, the Huayan school developed a schema of dividing the entire teachings of the
Buddha into five successive forms: (1) The “small teaching” expounding the
Hinayana doctrines like the “four noble truths”, (2) the “beginning teaching” representing the shift to the Mahayana, (3) “the ultimate teaching” expounding concepts like “suchness”, “Buddha nature” etc., (4) the “sudden teaching” which did not rely upon words and scriptures, but directly led to enlightenment, and (5) the
“perfect teaching” of the Avatamsaka-Sutra. Regarding the Nianfo, Xufa explained:
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(1) If one believes that there is a Buddha outside one’s own mind, this kind of
Nianfo belongs to the “small teaching”. (2) If one recollects the Buddha inside one’s own mind, the Nianfo will belong to the “beginning teaching”. (3) If one recollects the Buddha as identical with the mind recollecting the Buddha, the Nianfo belongs to the “ultimate teaching”. (4) If one recollects the Buddha without being attached to the notions of mind or Buddha, the Nianfo belongs to the “sudden teaching”. (5) If one realizes the recollection of the Buddha as being part of the “one true dharmadhatu”, the Nianfo belongs to the “perfect teaching”.
The concept of “the four realms of dharmadhatu” is meant to elucidate four aspects and relationships of noumenon and phenomena: (1) the realm of phenomena,
(2) the realm of noumenon, (3) the realm of non-interference between noumenon and phenomena, and (4) the realm of non-interference among phenomena. The levels of Nianfo practice can be arranged according to this four realms: (1) If one recites the name of the Buddha believing that there is a Buddha external to oneself, then the Nianfo belongs to the realm of phenomena. (2) If one recites the name while realizing it as mind-only, then the Nianfo belongs to the realm of noumenon.
(3) If one transcends the notions of “Buddha name” and “mind” when recollecting the Buddha, then the Nianfo belongs to the realm of non-interference between noumenon and phenomena. (4) If one realizes that in the “one true dharmadhatu” the mind and the name of the Buddha actually both are all-encompassing, all-pervading, then the Nianfo belongs to the realm of non-interference between phenomena.
The “six characteristics” of all phenomena are: (1) totality, (2) distinction, (3) sameness, (4) difference, (5) formation, (6) disintegration. This concept is meant as a tool of analyzing the phenomena of the world without getting attached to extreme views. The “six characteristics” of the Nianfo are: (1) Totality: The meanings of the
Nianfo method are inexhaustable. (2) Distinction: The Nianfo has many distinct forms (like the five forms corresponding to the five teachings mentioned above). (3)
Sameness: The different forms or elements of the Nianfo practice (e.g. the sixteen vizualizations taught in the “Sutra of Visualizing the Buddha of Immeasurable Life”) all can lead to the same goal of rebirth in the Pure Land. (4) Difference: According to the practice of each individual, the Nianfo will lead to different kinds or levels of retribution. (5) Formation: The Nianfo method comprises many different meanings and elements which together contribute to the attainment of the goal of Pure Land practice. (6) Disintegration: If the different forms and elements of Nianfo remain isolated, they will not contribute to the accomplishment of Nianfo.
In his “Treatise on the Huayan-Nianfo-Samadhi”, Peng Shaosheng tried to incorporate the Huayan thought into the Pure Land way of practice. His understanding of Nianfo was not limited to the recitation of the Buddha’s name. He put forth different forms of Nianfo based primarily on the Huayan teachings.
Firstly, he distinguished two basic forms of Nianfo: (1) the universal Nianfo, i.e. the recollection of many or of all the Buddhas in the universe, (2) the exclusive
Nianfo, i.e. the recollection of one single Buddha. According to Peng, the
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Avatamsaka-Sutra not only taught both forms, but also expounded the truth of ultimate unity of the one and the many (unit and multitude) in the “one true dharmadhatu”. This feature of the Avatamsaka-Sutra made the Huayan-Nianfo synthesis a feasible form of practice.
Secondly, Peng introduced his arrangement of five different forms of Nianfo: (1)
The recollection of the dharmakaya of the Buddha, pointing to truth as such, which is inherent in the self-nature of all sentient beings. Therefore, the Buddha which is recollected actually is the Buddha of one’s self-nature. There is no external Buddha.
(2) The recollection of the Buddha’s virtues, which leads to the realization of the inexhaustable, boundless realm of appearance of the Buddhas. (3) The recollection of the Buddha’s name, which is the most convenient of all skilful means leading to deliverance. This form of Nianfo eventually will enable the practitioner to perceive all the Buddhas. (4) The recollection of the Buddha Vairocana, leading to immediate entrance into the “one true dharmadhatu”, because the dharmadhatu of Vairocana comprises everything in the universe. This form of Nianfo will also lead to the realization of the ultimate identity of Vairocana and Amitabha. (5) The recollection of the Buddha Amitabha. This form of Nianfo will accomplish the ten vows of
Samantabhadra. Furthermore, since “Amitabha” means “infinite light”, and
“Vairocana” means “universal shining light”, the substance of these two Buddhas really is identical. Therefore, there is no difference between going to the Pure Land of Amitabha and entering the “lotus-treasure-world” of Vairocana. Actually, coming is going, and going is coming, since both are identical. The recollection of Amitabha at the same time is the recollection of Vairocana.
6. The influence of the early Qing dynasty Huayan-Nianfo synthesis on later
Buddhists
The urge to combine Huayan thought and Pure Land practice certainly has its historical background, mainly the prevalence of Pure Land faith and Nianfo practice among late Ming and early Qing Chinese Buddhists. It is characteristic of its age.
However, if we take a look at later Chinese Buddhism, we will find that Xufa’s and
Peng’s sophisticated theoretical synthesis of Huayan-Nianfo actually was considered to be a feasible form of concrete practice. Therefore, the Huayan-Nianfo synthesis has been transmitted to the present, its influence can be seen in the teachings and practices of several prominent Buddhists.
For example, one of the most important figures in the modern revival of
Chinese Buddhism, the lay Buddhist Yang Wenhui 楊文會 (1837-1911), once admitted that “in terms of teaching, I honor the Huayan school, and regarding the practice, I follow the Pure Land.” According to Yang, the Pure Land method comprised all other methods of Buddhism, all other teachings eventually converged in the Pure Land teaching.
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The dharma master Nanting 南亭 (1900-1982), founder of the Huayan Lotus
Society in Taibei, also combined the Pure Land practice and Huayan teachings. For example, he once discussed the position of Pure Land Nianfo within the “five teachings” of the Huayan school. Similarly, during a Huayanfoqi ( 華嚴佛七 ), i.e. a week dedicated to the recitation of the Buddha’s name, Nanting’s disciple Chengyi
成一 (b. 1914) once explained the practice of Nianfo from the perspective of the
Huayan school, emphasizing the ultimate identity of Amitabha and Vairocana in a way very similar to Peng Shaosheng’s above-mentioned argumentation.
The most prominent contemporary advocate of the Huayan-Nianfo is the dharma master Jingkong 淨空 (b. 1927). Just like Xufa and Peng Shaosheng,
Jingkong points to the fact that the Avatamsaka-Sutra ends with the ten vows of
Samantabhadra, which are leading to rebirth in the Pure Land of Amitabha. Jingkong once related that his firm faith in the Pure Land method actually originated in the reading of the Avatamsaka-Sutra, where it is stated that the great Bodhisattvas
Manjusri and Samantabhadra as well as the boy Sudhana all were striving for rebirth in the Pure Land. Many of his arguments for the practice of Huayan-Nianfo are basically identical with Xufa’s and Peng Shaosheng’s argumentation.
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