Shandao, the Chinese master who systematized Pure Land teaching around the nembutsu and the Larger Sutra, dies at Chang'an; his commentary and his parable of the white path shape Pure Land practice across East Asia, and Honen and Shinran later take him as their guide.
Tagged: Buddhist Mahayana Pure Land
The Event
- Date
- 681 (exact)
- Era
- Classical; Standard periodization of Buddhist history
- Location
- Chang'an; today Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
- Traditions
- Buddhism
- Streams
- Pure Land, Mahayana
- Key figures
- Shandao
Primary Sources
- Shandao, Commentary on the Contemplation Sutra
Secondary Sources
- Buswell and Lopez, The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (Princeton, 2014)
- Stone, Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism (Hawaii, 1999)
Provenance: HIST-0415; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-27.
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