Vasubandhu 世親 (ca. 320–400 CE) as a Putative Pure Land Patriarch in Chinese and Japanese Buddhism

In terms of his reception in East Asia and the legacy of his commentaries and compendia in translation, Vasubandhu 世親 (ca. 320–400 centuries CE) is among the most important figures in the textual history of Indian Buddhism. Although perhaps best known by modern scholars through his works concerning abstruse intellectual ideas presented from the Yogācāra or mind-only and Abhidharma perspectives, his legacy is arguably best represented as an authoritative voice concerning the Pure Land of Amitāyus buddha. Both Nāgārjuna 龍樹 (ca. 150–250 CE) and Vasubandhu are considered to be patriarchs (soshi 祖師) for Jōdo Shin 浄土真宗 Buddhists, following Shinran’s 親鸞 (1173–1263) teachings. In this paper I investigate the textual history of these two Indian masters who are considered to be patriarchs by Pure Land and Shin Buddhists in Japan. No one believes these individuals transmitted some sort of true mind or essential teaching from one to another as in the Chan or Zen 禪宗 tradition; they are recognized because of fundamental texts with key ideas that are ascribed to them. These key texts were never singled out in any Chinese or Indian set of special texts, nor were they highlighted in various catalogs to the Buddhist “canon.” This research demonstrates how the sacred teachings ascribed to Vasubandhu, and to a certain extent Nāgārjuna as well, by Pure Land and Shin Buddhists reveal how and why Pure Land practices were expected to be seen as mainstream Mahāyāna Buddhism and nothing at all like a reformation for a later age.