Wednesday, April 27, 2022

Multiversing to the Pure Land

So I searched the topic of multiverses and Buddhism in Youtube last night and found this (somewhat annoying to listen to) video about Pure Land Buddhism which seemed to argue that there are infinite universes, although I forget if the idea was that each is its own "Pure Land" with its own Buddha.  Guess I'll have to watch it again. [Update:  I watched another Pure Land video which said there are infinite Pure Lands with infinite Buddhas - even though Pure Lands are not meant to be places you stay forever.]

Anyway, there are other videos on the multiverse and Buddha that I haven't watched yet, but at least I get the impression that Pure Land Buddhism is the most conducive form to believing in Many Worlds.  

On Pure Land Buddhism generally speaking, about which I had read little before, despite being aware of its popularity in Japan, I thought these two videos were good.  I particularly recommend the video with Charles Jones.  [Oddly, when posting about Buddha recently, I mentioned being reminded of Warner Brothers cartoons, many of which were made by Chuck Jones.  Everything's connected!  Hehe.]


 

 

I was particularly interested to hear Charles Jones explain that the reason Western people associate Buddhism mainly with the more intellectualised, dry forms such as Zen is because those in the West who went into it in the earlier 20th century were dissatisfied with Christianity and the Catholic Church in particular, and found Pure Land Buddhism to be too much like Christianity for their liking.   Hence the most popular form of Buddhism in China and Japan got seriously downplayed, or ignored.   

I might go looking for Charle's book on the topic...

Update:   here's an article at The Conversation by Charles Jones explaining Pure Land Buddhism succinctly.


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