Song · by 宗曉編
24,270 · about 81 min
The *Compendium of the Pure Land Tradition* was compiled by the monastic Zongxiao in the fourth year of the Jiatai era of the Southern Song Dynasty. This work is an important collection of Pure Land literature, assembling precious surviving writings from numerous eminent monks and masters prior to the Southern Song period, including treatises, letters, verses, and biographies of rebirth concerning the Pure Land faith. Compiled during the Song Dynasty, a time of flourishing Pure Land devotion, its purpose was to prevent the loss of the writings of earlier virtuous masters and to systematically summarize Pure Land teachings. Its contents encompass the methods of practice, theoretical explanations, and accounts of spiritual responses related to the Pure Land Dharma gate, providing core historical source material for the study of the intellectual history of the Chinese Pure Land school. This text is honored as a treasury of Pure Land scriptures and has profoundly influenced the transmission and development of Pure Land faith in later generations. It remains an essential text for understanding Southern Song Buddhism, particularly the Pure Land Dharma gate.