[Buddha-l] Pure Land Buddhism

[Randall Jones]

Dear Piya,

"Sukhavati is here and now"  reminds me somehow of Aj. Buddhadasa.  I 
must admit I know next to nothing about Pure Land Buddhism.  Can you 
recommend some Pure Land reading to a westerner whose outlook was 
greatly influenced by Aj. Buddhadasa?  Thanks.

Randall Jones
rjones at cm.ksc.co.th


>Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:34:38 +0800
>From: Piya Tan <dharmafarer at gmail.com>
>Subject: Re: [Buddha-l] A great transition and deja vu ?
>To: Buddhist discussion forum <buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com>
>Message-ID:
>         <f59077cc0903152034s591e5cfbpcd8a6026d6695d13 at mail.gmail.com>
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>
>Thanks. Joannna, for David Ulansey's paper. I enjoyed his Religions course
>in UC Berkeley in the early 1990s when his book, "The Origins of the
>Mithraic Mysteries" (1991) had just appeared, and he spoke on Mithraism.
>
>The joy and beauty of listening of great teachings, whether acadademic or
>spiritual, at once evokes in my mind the imagery of Amitabha's perpetual
>Dharma words in the centre of the Sukhavati cosmos.
>
>Sukhavati to me is a Buddhist dream of a utopia where the joy of learning,
>knowing and meditation are all bundle into one, where there is no more
>pursuit of worldly needs. Certainly there are no foolish Republican
>presidents or any power figure there.
>
>Amitabha is an imagery of compassion and wisdom of what our senses can only
>imagine what nirvana is like.
>
>Sukhavata is here and now when all this is possible.
>
>With metta,
>
>Piya Tan