Pure Land Ecology

Pure Land Buddhism uses the term jinen rather than shizen to refer to the supernatural power of Amida’s compassion that facilitates rebirth in the Pure Land. Often dismissed as unreal, irrational, or merely superstitious, the supernatural is rarely a topic of philosophical discourse. Recent scholarship foregrounds Pure Land thought as an overlooked resource for progressive political philosophy, as well as activism, precisely because of, not in spite of, the supernatural power of the Pure Land to intervene in earthly conditions. Building on this work, we see that Pure Land Buddhism has a similarly progressive perspective to contribute within the field of Japanese environmental philosophy.