I have always wondered how can one say that the “Pure Land is here and now” or in “the mind” if he cannot actually manifest, here and now, the qualities of the Pure Land? Indeed, how can one be in the Pure Land, but continue to be impure in one’s mind and still unenlightened? This is clear evidence that such views do not belong to the Dharma Gate of the Pure Land, or to the simple faith oriented teaching of the Jodo Shinshu school.

In the Larger Sutrait is said:

“They are of noble and majestic countenance, unequaled in all the worlds, and their appearance is superb, unmatched by any being, heavenly or human. They are all endowed with bodies of Naturalness, Emptiness, and Infinity.”[1]

So, are those deluded scholars who claim that the Pure Land is “here and now” endowed with “bodies of Naturalness, Emptiness, and Infinity”? Shinran himself made reference to the same passage from the Larger Sutra, in his work Passages on the Pure Land Way [REALIZATION] :

“Their countenances are dignified and wonderful, surpassing things of this world. Their features, subtle and delicate, are not those of human beings or devas; all receive the body of naturalness or of emptiness, the body of boundlessness.”[2]

Do they have the color of pure gold, as promised to those born in the Pure Land in the 3rd Vow?

“If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my land[3]should not all be the color of pure gold, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.” (the 3rd Vow)

Do they have the same appearance, as promised in the 4th Vow?

“If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my land should not all be of one appearance, and should there be any difference in beauty, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.” (the 4th Vow)

Unenlightened beings in samsara have various forms and shapes, color and beauty. They differ greatly from one another and this is due to the different types of karma they inherit from past lives. But once they are born in the Pure Land and become Buddhas they are liberated from the shackles of karma and go beyond form, color and any differences. This is what is meant by “all be of one appearance”. To be of the color of pure gold also means to have transcendent bodies of the qualities of Enlightenment. So, again, are those deluded scholars in this situation?

More than this, in the 21stVow it is promised that beings in the Pure Land are “endowed with the thirty-two physical characteristics of a Great Man”. Shakyamuni Buddha too, said the same in the Larger Sutra about those born in the Pure Land of Amida:

“Ananda, the sentient beings born there all fully possess the thirty-two physical characteristics of a Great Man as well as perfect wisdom, with which they penetrate deeply into the nature of all dharmas (phenomena) and reach their subtle essence. Their supernatural powers know no obstruction and their physical senses are sharp and clear”.

Clearly if we check their samsaric bodies no one claiming that the Pure Land is “here and now” has the “thirty two physical characteristics of a Great Man”. But perhaps they have “perfect wisdom, with which they penetrate deeply into the nature of all dharmas (phenomena) and reach their subtle essence” or some kind of “supernatural powers”which they keep secret from us, ordinary guys with a simple faith?

Maybe they all have unlimited life-spans[4] (according to the 15th Vow of Amida Buddha), remember “all their previous lives” and know “the events which occurred during the previous hundred thousand kotis of nayutas of kalpas” (the 5th Vow) or they “possess the divine eye of seeing even a hundred thousand kotis of nayutas of Buddha-lands” ( 6th Vow), and “the faculty of knowing the thoughts of others” (the 8th Vow). They are probably“endowed with the body of the Vajra-god Narayana”[5] (26th Vow) or are able to go “anywhere in one instant, even beyond a hundred thousand kotis of nayutas of Buddha-lands”(9th Vow), have the “divine ear of hearing the teachings of at least a hundred thousand kotis of nayutas of Buddhas” and “remember all of them” (7th Vow), worship directly all Buddhas in all the ten directions (24th Vow) and make offerings to them (23rd Vow), “hear spontaneously whatever teachings they may wish” (the 46th Vow), etc.

Perhaps they never “give rise to thoughts of self-attachment” (10th Vow) and they are “free of mental hindrances, pure in mind and without indolence.” Perhaps, as Shakyamuni said, “their samsaric bodies and evil passions have been extinguished together with their remaining karmic tendencies”[6]. Maybe “their wisdom is like the ocean, and their Samadhi, like the king of mountains”[7]…..

The enlightened qualities of those born in the Pure Land are described in length in the Larger Sutra and promised by Amida Buddha himself in some of His vows), so I invite anyone having the illusion that he or she is now in the Pure Land to carefully read the above quotations. In the last chapter of my book The True Teaching on Amida Buddha and His Pure Land (click here to download it)I have a big collection of passages which prove even more that birth in the Pure Land takes place after death and it means the attainment of perfect Enlightenment. So, if you are not a Buddha yet and you call yourself a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist, don’t pretend that the Pure Land is “here and now”.