A Study On The Pure Land Thought Of Yongjue Yuanxia

Under the background of zen revival in the late Ming Dynasty,the integration of Zen and purity became an important trend of thought in this period.As a zen master of the Cao Dong School,Yongjue Yuanxian also strongly advocated the Pure Land Method.Throughout the course of Yongjue Yuanxian’s study,his pure land thought was respectively influenced by the thought of chanting Buddha without wisdom sutra,the thought of pure kindness by Wengu Guangyin,and the thought of pure land by Boshan Yuanlai.Through Yongjue Yuanxian’s statement and the records of other people’s literature,we can conclude that Jingci Yaoyu should be yongjue Yuanxian’s work.In the Period of the Republic of China,Guan Ben set the book as Wengu Guangyin’s work.The book Jingci Yaoyu is the concentrated embodiment of Yongjue Yuanxian’s pure land thoughts.It was written by Yongjue Yuanxian at the invitation of Wengu Guangyin,with the purpose of propagating "Jing Men" and "Ci Men",namely the pure land dharma and the thought of abnegation and killing.The content of Yongjue Yuanxian’s pure land thought mainly has two aspects,one is his elaboration on the condition of past life,the other is his discussion on the relationship between Zen and purity.In terms of the conditions of life after death,he believed that the first should be based on the premise of reciting the Buddha’s faith,which is mainly manifested in two aspects: one is to believe in his reason,the other is to believe in his things;The second method is to take reason and matter as methods,but these two methods are not completely opposite.The third is to cultivate the masses of good as the cause of help,which will be the first act of kindness,so as to accumulate merit resources;The fourth is to take end-of-life mindfulness as a matter of urgency,so as to enter the pure land of the West.In the discussion of the relationship between Zen and purity,Yongjue Yuanxian demonstrated that the Pure Land method is the real religion,not the expedient way,through tiantai and Huayan’s judgements and the contents of "Mahayana Qi-xin Theory" and "Infinite Life Sutra".In his opinion,there is no superior or inferior difference between zen meditation and recitation of Buddha.Although there are differences in the method of entry,they both need to realize their own mind in essence.Yongjue Yuanxian advocated that Zen purification should not be concurrently practiced mainly for two reasons: one is not to use both of them in one mind,but to steal the heart and die,so as to achieve something;the other is the difference of personal roots,people who learn The Tao must choose their own method.Yongjue Yuanxian required strict observance of precepts and cleanliness of precepts before they could choose to meditate and recite Buddha.He emphasized the practice of reciting Buddha and the dharma,which should be combined with precepts killing and releasing life.Yongjue Yuanxian strongly advocated the pure land Method,so his thoughts had a certain influence on lay believers.Lay people,such as Shen Huaiting,Zhang Dayu,Teng Xiushi,and so on,are devoted to pure karma and practice the Buddha dharma.Wei Lin Dao Pei,a dharma disciple of Yong Jue Yuan Xian,also attaches importance to the Pure land Dharma and regards it as an important means of purifying living beings.