Shan-tao's Kannenbomon

The Method of Contemplation on Amida by Hisao Inagaki.
The great Chinese patriarch, Shan-tao. systematized the theory and practice of Pure Land Buddhism and opened widely the Way of Nembutsu for all who seek enlightenment in the ages far removed from the Buddha. Based on the Contemplation Sutra, Shan-tao advocated the single-minded practice of Nembutsu recitation as well as contemplation of Amida, the Pure Land, and the attendant bodhisattvas. He himself practiced the recitative Nembutsu thousands of times a day but he had already dedicated himself to the meditative Nembutsu in his early days. The sutra he employed side by side with the Contemplation Sutra was the Pratrutpanna-samadhi Sutra--the sutra which had extensively been used in India as a method of visualizing Amida and other transcendent Buddhas. In this sense, Shan-tao faithfully followed the Mahayana tradition of concentrating on the principle of transcendent reality and its manifestations as Budhas and Buddha-lands. In India, this practice was emphatically recommended by Nagarjuna and presumably followed by Vasubandhu and other masters. We must note, however, that Shan-two's great contribution to the development of the Other-power element of Pure Land Buddhism in later generations consisted in the clarification of Amida's transcendent power -- the 'Vow-Power' -- which extinguishes one's karmic evils, enables one to realize the Buddha-visualization Samadhi, and brings one to birth in the Pure Land. We should bear in mind, therefore. that this Work has two objectives: firstly. it gives us a comprehensive picture of the method for attaining the samadhi of visualizing Amida and. secondly, it emphasizes the five kinds of dominant power that Amida exercises to save us. Ben though the first objective may be beyond our reach. we can readily avail ourselves of Amida's supernal, transcendent power for our salvation during this mappo period.
Paperback book, 2005, 137 pages.