Learning about Pure Land Buddhism made me contemplate some interesting connections between unrelated religions
I've been mostly ignorant about Pure Land Buddhism until recently, despite having played with the Jhanas and studied Buddhism for years; mostly Theravada and Yoga meditation techniques. I understand there are a variety of different pure land beliefs, but I came across a few posts stating things along the lines of how there are different pure land realms, created by different beings/Buddhas, where the tradition focuses on requesting the assistance of that Being to help reach the pure land, and from there to fully realize the dharma, or at least be immune from rebirth in a lower realm.
This principal seems quite interesting to me, that a highly enlightened/attained being can created another realm, and then use it's individual power to assist other souls to get there. Someone drew the parallels to Christianity and this made me think even more. While Jesus never really talks about explicitly trying to become enlightened or anything, many do view him as an enlightened being of some kind. Jesus says that by believing in him, followers are able to reach heaven, through him. This is strikingly similar to the pure land ideas of being assisted by a higher beings to get to the various pure lands.
While this may be reaching, it sparked a curious thought in my mind - could this theoretically enable all religions to be true? The idea that any spiritually elevated being can just create a blissful non-earthly realm for its followers, and then help them get their by its assistance, and thus be liberated from rebirth.
This post doesn't have much of a purpose other than me speculating, but I thought this concept was quite interesting. If anyone wants to comment on other interesting Pure Land tidbits as it relates to this, I'd love to hear them.
[link] [comments]
from Buddhism https://ift.tt/2PN81Lm
Post a Comment