him to a supposed encounter with Tao Hongjing (456–536),
the eminent Six Dynasties alchemist and master of the Mao-
shan Daoist tradition, who allegedly transmitted to him ten
fascicles of “scriptures of the immortals” (xian cjng). On his
way north again Tanluan stopped in Luoyang, where the In-
dian monk and translator Bodhiruci is said to have intro-
duced him to the Guan wuliangshou jing (Scripture on the
Visualization of the Buddha Amita ̄bha). Bodhiruci remarked
to him at the time that Amita ̄bha (known also by his alter-
nate Sanskrit name, Amita ̄yus, Buddha of Limitless Life) was
the “greatest immortal” (da xian), given his ability to lead be-
ings out of the realm of rebirth altogether. This historically
questionable episode is nonetheless suggestive of the close
link that must have been popularly perceived between the so-
teriological goals of Daoism and some of the Buddhist tradi-
tions, a link that may have contributed to the rapid growth
in popularity of the Amita ̄bha cult in Tanluan’s time. In the
aftermath of this encounter Tanluan devoted himself to the
study of the Pure Land scriptures, eventually gathering
around himself a group of devotees to Amita ̄bha.
Many Daoist and Buddhist works are attributed to Tan-
luan, but only two, both of which are Buddhist, are unques-
tionably authentic. The first, a systematic treatise, is general-
ly known by the abbreviated title Wangsheng lun zhu (Notes
on the Treatise on Birth [in the Pure Land]; T. D. no. 1819).
The second, the Zan Emitofoji (Canticles on Amita ̄bha;
T. D. no. 1978), is an apparently liturgical work. The Lun
zhu is Tanluan’s commentary (zhu) to the so-called
Sukha ̄vat ̄ıvyu ̄hopade ́sa* (Wuliangshou jing yupotishe yuans-
heng ji), a collection of Buddhist-style hymns (Skt., ga ̄tha ̄),
with autocommentary, attributed uncertainly to Vasuband-
hu. Tanluan’s commentary proceeds carefully au pied de la
lettre, with only a few insertions external to the format of
“Vasubandhu’s” text. His general intent is to show how one
may achieve liberation by availing oneself of the pure karman
of Amita ̄bha, which is freely dispensed to all who seek it in
accordance with a series of resolves (pranidhana) taken by
this Buddha while still the bodhisattva Dharma ̄kara.
Drawing on the Larger Sukha ̄vat ̄ıvyu ̄ha Su ̄tra, the Smal-
ler Sukha ̄vat ̄ıvyu ̄ha Su ̄tra, and the Guan wuliangshou jing,
Tanluan shows how the power of Amita ̄bha is effective for
all beings who call upon him in faith, even for laypersons
who cannot meditate or for those sunk in immorality. Faith
in, and worship of, Amita ̄bha is accomplished through what
Tanluan (imparting his own classification to “Vasuband-
hu’s” discussion) termed the “five gates of recollection” (wu
nianmen): bodily worship (i. e., bowing, etc.); vocal praise
(especially, but not exclusively the invocation of his name,
i. e., nianfo practice); wholehearted resolve to be reborn in
the Pure Land; visualization (guan) of the delights of the
Pure Land; and “turning toward” (huixiang), a purposely
ambiguous term that means both turning toward beings
while the practitioner is still in samsara, so as to give them
the religious merit gained through one’s own practice and,
having been born in the Pure Land, turning back toward be-
ings by being reborn in samsara in order to liberate others.
Tanluan’s demonstration of these simple practices is so-
phisticated and profound, being based heavily upon the
Maha ̄prajña ̄pa ̄ramita ̄ S ́a ̄stra (a commentary on the Perfection
of Wisdom Scripture attributed to Na ̄ga ̄rjuna), but it is not
necessary to understand the demonstration in order to use
the practice. The upa ̄ya (skill in means) involved is that of
the passionate longing for heavenly delights. The Pure Land
is depicted as if it were a heaven of sensual delight (i. e., a
devaloka, or realm of a deity), but in fact it is outside of the
phenomenal world of sam:sa ̄ra. It is not a phantasm, however:
“It exists extra-phenomenally,” says Tanluan, and is by its
inner nature pure in every respect, even in respect of discur-
sive thought. Thus, when one dies and, through Amita ̄bha’s
power, is reborn in the Pure Land and sees Amita ̄bha there
as its lord, one is actually “not born.” One’s desires take on
the Pure Land’s nature of desirelessness as the water of rivers
takes on the saltiness of the sea when it runs into it. One’s
passionate longing for delight is extinguished “like ice mixed
with fire: The fire [of the passions] goes out, and the ice [of
the Pure Land’s delights] disappears.” Thus, one has effec-
tively achieved nirva ̄n:a and one functions like a bodhisattva
of the upper levels (i. e., a bodhisattva who has achieved the
state of nonretrogression), ever remaining fixed in the
dharmaka ̄ya (unmanifest Buddha nature) yet constantly
manifesting bodies in all the worlds where Buddhist teachers
are needed, “like the sun that remains in the sky yet is reflect-
ed in hundreds of rivers and pools.”Tanluan was virtually ignored in China, but his influ-
ence in Japan has been considerable since Shinran’s time.
Shinran used the Lun zhu as the major source of his
Kyo ̄gyo ̄shinsho ̄, a collection of proof texts on Pure Land Bud-
dhism, and composed his own San Amidabu-tsuge, which
was closely based on Tanluan’s Zan Emitofo ji. Shinran built
his even simpler practice of gratefully rejoicing in already
having been liberated by the power of Amita ̄bha on the intel-
lectual foundation provided by Tanluan.SEE ALSO Amita ̄bha; Jingtu; Nianfo; Shinran; Tao Hong-
jing.BIBLIOGRAPHY
For an excellent introduction to Tanluan’s thought and its influ-
ence on the Pure Land tradition in China, see Mochizuki
Shinko ̄’s Chu ̄goku jo ̄do kyo ̄rishi (Kyoto, 1964). Fukuhara
Ryo ̄gon’s O ̄jo ̄ ronchu ̄ no kenkyu ̄ (Kyoto, 1978) and Miko-
gami Eryu ̄ ’s O ̄jo ̄ ronchu ̄ kaisetsu (Kyoto, 1969) contain valu-
able analyses of the Wangsheng lun zhu, as does my own
“Tanluan’s Commentary on the Pure Land Discourse: An
Annotated Translation and Soteriological Analysis of the
Wangshenglun Zhu” (Ph. D diss., University of Wisconsin,
1973). For a discussion of the influence of Tanluan’s
thought on Japanese Pure Land Buddhism, see Bando ̄
Sho ̄jun’s “Shinran’s Indebtedness to Tanluan,” The Eastern
Buddhist n. s. 4 (May 1971): 72–87, and, more fully, my
“Shinran’s Proofs of True Buddhism: Hermeneutics and
Doctrinal Development in the Kyo ̄gyo ̄shinsho ̄’s use of Tan-8982 TANLUAN