Biography of Master Tanluan

Author: Fang Litian
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-08-01
Features: This book is one of the "Biographies of Buddhist Masters" series. Tanluan was a high monk of the Eastern Wei Dynasty and the founder of Chinese Pure Land Buddhism, as well as the founder of international Pure Land Buddhism. As the most religious yet most straightforward sect in Buddhism, it spread widely. After the late Tang Dynasty, the Buddhist world was largely dominated by Pure Land and Chan Buddhism. Since the Southern Song Dynasty, it was often said that "Buddhism is Pure Land, and Pure Land is Buddhism." As a result, Pure Land Buddhism became even more popular among the common people, leading to the era's situation of "every household reciting Amitabha, and every family chanting Guanyin." After Pure Land Buddhism was introduced to Japan, it gave rise to sects such as Japanese Pure Land Buddhism and Jodo Shinshu. Both Japanese Pure Land Buddhism and Jodo Shinshu reverently recognize Tanluan as the first ancestor of Chinese Pure Land Buddhism. However, in the widely accepted lineage of the thirteen ancestors of Chinese Pure Land Buddhism, Tanluan is conspicuously absent—a fact that is both unfair and historically inaccurate. To restore historical truth, this book cannot help but narrate the relevant history of Pure Land Buddhism, hoping thereby to offer a fair evaluation of Tanluan.