Dear Everett, Bruce, Lennart and friends,

thanks. As much as I know about Pure Land school, there are some
differences. Anagamis have worked diligently on the path to reach the
stage of non-returners. Beings reborn in pure lands may not have
reached the stage of anagami yet, however pure land is a place where
no new kamma would be created, hence achieving the result of non-
returning.

Furthermore, the heavenly realm anagamis reside in is still within
the samsaric realm, which is a result of the collective karma of all
sentient beings in that realm/world. A pure land, on the other hand,
is a result of a Buddha's past vows. Amitabha's past vows was to
construct such a pure land. Shakyamuni's past vows was to reach out
to the beings in samsara.

Unlike a heavenly realm where beings enjoy the fruits of their good
karma (in Buddhist teachings), a pure land is a more conducive place
than samsara for beings to practice till they reach nibbana.

metta,
Yong Peng

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Everett Thiele wrote:
> 2) Pure Land Buddhism goes further and allows for faith in Amitabha
> to enable one to be reborn in a heavenly realm as a non-returner.
> This sounds, on the surface of it, to be very much based on 'other
> power' like in Christianity, and to be fully salvific even in
> Buddhist terms.
>
> I'm not sure, but perhaps this 'Pure Land' is related to the sorts
of very high heavens which can be attained by advanced meditators in
the Pali tradition. I'd be very interested in hearing if this has
been studied.