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.They remained nevertheless all but impossible.That did not matter, however, since (withthe exception of certain enthusiasts like the Chinese monks who burned themselvesalive or offered themselves to tigers) they were projected far into the future when theBodhisattva had become sufficiently spiritually mature to take them on.In other words, the classical world of the Bodhisattva path and his or her acts wasin fact impossibly difficult.Of course, it was not expressed that way.It was accepted thatthese acts could not be impossibly difficult since they had been done by great Bodhisattvaslike Siddhartha in the past, or Maitreya and the other great Bodhisattvas currently.Butoften they were felt to be impossible for us.The result was to make some consider theBodhisattva aspiration and serious engagement in the path with a view to its actualcompletion in this life unrealistic.In cultural contexts where, for various reasons, theBodhisattva aspiration became more and more of a religious attraction, more and more ofa genuine option, its apalling difficulty became a serious drawback.This drawback was expressedin Buddhist terms through the device of the Final Days.It may have been possiblegenuinely to follow the Bodhisattva path in the old days when the Dharma was new.Butnowadays, during the Final Days, it seems to be (all but) impossible.Yet that cannot be,otherwise the Buddha would not have taught and urged for us the Bodhisattva path to full 9780203428474_4_010.qxd 16/6/08 11:59 AM Page 246246 MahÖyÖna BuddhismBuddhahood.What then can be the proper way to follow the path of the Bodhisattva dur-ing the Final Days? ]akyamuni Buddha has shown that it is through the help of Amitabhaand his Pure Land.Thus where we in the modern secular context might speak of the jataka-type Bodhisattva stories as exhortative idealized myths, some in the Mahayana tradition spokeof different ages of the Dharma.But here the effect, and perhaps the meaning, was the same.It is in this context that one must understand the relative easiness of Pure Land forms ofBuddhism.In general they are only easy when compared with a path which is (arguably)astonishingly, superhumanly, unrealistic.128 It makes the Bodhisattva path and its relativelyquick completion realistic.As Jan Nattier (2003b: 194) has pointed out, it is only in the con-text of such a realistic approach to following the path that notions like the One Vehicle all sentient beings are really on the single Mahayana Bodhisattva path could also begin tomake sense and prove attractive.Notwithstanding the Buddhist teaching of not-Self it ispossible in the Pure Land (at least on some interpretations) that the aspirant will preservesome sort of personal identity with their present life and even meet again their nearestand dearest.Moreover, with rebirth in a Pure Land they can anyway achieve Buddhahoodeffectively and, if they wish, quickly.They can thus really complete the highest Mahayanaaspiration, that of the Bodhisattva, which as time passed they were more and more exhortedto adopt.This makes the Mahayana realistic and relatively easy.And crucially it gives avery real hope in situations that might have appeared hopeless.As Mark L.Blum observes, Pure Land thinkers represented an interpretive wing of the Mahayana that was orthodox,compelling, and pervasive throughout East Asian Buddhism (2002: 49).129The relevant work attributed to Vasubandhu is known, again in Sanskrit reconstructionfrom the Chinese, as the *SukhAvatCvyEhopadeZa (Wuliangshoujing youpotishe yuanshengjie;Wu-liang-shou ching yu-p o-t i-she yüan-sheng-chieh).Once more, this text may be by Vasubandhuor it may not.It is even possible that it was written in China itself, for it is not knownas a work of Vasubandhu in any Indian or Tibetan source.According to the Pure Landmasters, both Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu turned to the Pure Land teachings in old age,although there is no independent evidence for this.Nevertheless, in China, where the*SukhAvatCvyEhopadeZa has been very significant, it served as a basis for Tanluan s develop-ment of Pure Land doctrine.Particularly important is Vasubandhu s clarification of theconcept of faith or trust in terms of the five contemplative gates : Bodily worshippingAmitabha, praising him through reciting his name, vowing constantly to be reborn in thePure Land, visualizing Sukhavatc with Amitabha and his retinue, and transferring the meritthus attained.In this way the merit contributes towards perfecting the state of great com-passion in order to benefit all sentient beings (Kiyota 1978a: 278; cf.Payne 1996).Our author,whoever he was, makes it quite clear that the purpose of rebirth in the Pure Land is toattain full enlightenment, and then out of great compassion to manifest in various ways forthe benefit of others and ultimately for their enlightenment.During the third and fourth centuries in China as far as we can tell there was very littlespecific devotion to Amitabha, although there is an isolated reference to Zhidun (Chih-tun; 314 66) worshipping an icon of Amitabha and seeking rebirth in Sukhavatc where, he 9780203428474_4_010.qxd 16/6/08 11:59 AM Page 247The cults of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas 247assures us, in this country there is no arrangement of royal regulations, ranks and titles.The Buddha is the ruler, and the three Vehicles are the (state) doctrine (Zürcher 1972:128).The first dated image of Amitabha at Longmen in northern China is 519, although weknow of further images in the south from the preceding century.Even then, the study ofimages produced during the sixth century indicates only 9 of Amitabha compared with 50of ]akyamuni and 35 of Maitreya (Weinstein 1987: 69).A dramatic change occurs duringthe seventh century, however.From 650 to 704 only 20 images of ]akyamuni and Maitreyawere erected, compared with 144 of Amitabha and Avalokitezvara.130 These changes occurduring the collective lifetimes of Tanluan, Daochuo (Tao-ch o; 562 645), and Shandao (Shan-tao; 613 81).There were and are many Chinese practitioners of Pure Land forms of Buddhism, some-times as their only practice, sometimes as their main practice, and very commonly as a sub-sidiary practice to others like Chan meditation that they consider more important.Evenamong those for whom Pure Land forms of practice centred on Amitabha and Sukhavatcare more or less their only religious activities it should not be assumed that they all prac-tise in the same way or have the same doctrinal understanding of what they are doing.Nevertheless, in the light of the way that Pure Land Buddhism developed subsequently espe-cially in Shinran s tradition of Jddo Shin She in Japan, Tanluan, Daochuo and Shandao arecommonly linked together as three Chinese patriarchs of the Pure Land tradition.Tanluan s principal work was a commentary to the *SukhAvatCvyEhopadeZa.He appears tohave been particularly sensitive to what he felt were slight chances of real spiritual growthin the age in which he lived.Things were different in the golden ages of the past, whenthere were sages like the Buddha around.Nowadays how could one make any spiritual progress?Tanluan adopted from Nagarjuna the distinction between difficult and easy paths, and usedthis distinction in order to create a religion of what he may have been the first to call OtherPower.Tanluan was convinced that nowadays it is very difficult to advance to enlighten-ment through relying solely on one s Own Power , that is, through the results of one s ownpractices of spiritual discipline and study.But through having recourse to the power of anOther, the supremely powerful Amitabha and his great vows, it is possible to be reborn inSukhavatc and most certainly attain enlightenment
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