Daochuo (; J. Dōshaku, c. 562–645) was an eminent Chinese Buddhist master of Pure Land Buddhism. He was also known as Chan Master Xihe (Meditation Master of the West River).Buswell, Robert E; Lopez, Donald S. The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, p. 213. Princeton University Press, 24 November 2013.
Daochuo was the first Pure Land teacher to discuss the framework of the two gates of Mahayana practice: the easy path of birth in the pure land of Amitabha, and the difficult path of sages. He taught that only the Pure Land path was truly effective. This was because the Pure Land path relied on the power of the Buddha's vows, while the path of sages relied on one's own effort over the course of thousands of eons of transmigration. Furthermore, Daochuo held that the world had entered into the Age of Dharma Decline, a time in which the path of self-effort was even less efficacious.
In Chinese Buddhist tradition, Daochuo is considered the second patriarch of Pure Land Buddhism, while In , he is considered the Fourth Patriarch.
Life Daochuo was born and raised in Bingzhou, Shanxi and entered the monkhood at an early age. He became a learned monk and a lecturer on the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra (Da banniepan jing 大般泥洹經). For some time, he studied under Huican (慧瓚, 536–607), a meditation master based at a monastery in Bingzhou.Sylvie Hureau. Daochuo (562-645). Dictionnaire biographique du haut Moyen Âge chinois. Culture, politique et religion de la fin des Han à la veille des Tang (IIIe-VIe siècles), 2020, pp.110-111.
In 609, Daochuo traveled to the monastery in Fenzhou, also in Shanxi, where the influential Pure Land master Tanluan had once lived. After reading Tanluan's epitaph, Daochuo experienced a profound change in his spiritual outlook and embraced the Pure Land path. Daochuo was so impressed by this inscription that he took up the pursuit of Pure Land Buddhism over all his previous studies, focusing on nianfo and daily recitation of the Infinite Life Sutra (). He also dedicated himself to spreading the practice of reciting Amitābha's name, reportedly chanting it seventy thousand times daily. He encouraged others to engage in this practice and advised counting the recitations. Since prayer beads were difficult to obtain at the time, he recommended using beans or sesame seeds, moving one for each utterance of the Buddha's name.
Daochuo also studied the Buddhist Canon and the Pure Land Sutras extensively, and wrote a treatise on Pure Land practice based on his studies, the Ānlè jí, which is his only extant writing.McBride, Richard D. Aspiring to Enlightenment: Pure Land Buddhism in Silla Korea, pp. 23-25. University of Hawai’i Press, 2020.
According to traditional biographical accounts, in either 628 or 629, on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month—the day commemorating the Buddha's birth—a large assembly of devoted followers gathered at Daochuo's monastery for the occasion. Suddenly, patriarch Tanluan (476–554) appeared in the sky, seated in a jeweled chariot, and proclaimed that Daochuo had secured his place in the Pure Land. However, before attaining rebirth there, he would still experience further karmic rewards in this lifetime. Immediately after this declaration, a vision of the Pure Land manifested before the assembly, allowing them to behold the Buddha and the bodhisattvas dwelling there.
Teaching
Daochuo's main work is the Ānlè jí (Chinese: 安樂集, Anthology of the Land of Bliss, T.1958, in two scrolls). This work consists of twelve sections primarily comprising scriptural citations and exhortations encouraging rebirth in Amitābha's Pure Land of Sukhavati (here called Anleguo).Buswell, Robert E; Lopez, Donald S. The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, p. 49. Princeton University Press, 24 November 2013.Jones (2019), pp. 18-19.
Dharma Decline Daochuo was interested in Buddhist history. He relied on a chronology that divided our world's history into five 500-year periods after Śākyamuni Buddha's passing into nirvana. He mainly derived this schema from the Candragarbha-sūtra (Dàjí yuèzàng jīng 大集月藏經).
Based on various Mahayana sutras, Daochuo asserted that each of the five successive periods after the Buddha's passing was characterized by different modes of practice. The first era emphasized the cultivation of wisdom, followed by an age focused on meditation, then an era centered on the study and recitation of scriptures, followed by a period where merit-making through penitence and good deeds became the primary practice.
Finally, in the last stage, nearly all Dharma teachings would fade, leaving behind only monastic disputes. Believing that his own time corresponded to the era of the decline of the Dharma (mòfǎ 末法), Daochuo advocated recitation of Amitābha's name as the most effective practice, asserting that it could eliminate karmic transgressions accumulated across countless lifetimes and ensure rebirth in the Pure Land. According to Daochuo, the only truly effective path to liberation in this era of degeneration was the Pure Land path, which relied on Amitābha's compassionate Other Power to lead us to the pure land after death.McBride, Richard D. Aspiring to Enlightenment: Pure Land Buddhism in Silla Korea, pp. 23-25. University of Hawai’i Press, 2020.
Two Paths The Ānlè jí introduces a dual classification of the Buddha's teachings into two main “gates” or paths:Conway, Michael. Practice and Other Power in Daochuo’s Pure Land Buddhism. Journal of East Asian Cultures 2023/2: 1–29 https://doi.org/10.38144/TKT.2023.2.2
The Path of Sages (shèngdào, 聖道): Focused on teachings that guide practitioners toward achieving nirvāṇa through personal effort, i.e. “self-power” (zìlì 自力). He also called this as the “path of difficult practice” (nánxíng dào 難行道), while effective during the time of the Right Dharma (zhèngfǎ 正法), was now ineffective in our current era of Dharma decline. The Way of Rebirth in the Pure Land (wǎngshēng jìngtǔ, 往生淨土) the chanting of Amitābha Buddha's name (nianfo), as a means to attain rebirth in the Pure Land. This path is the “path of easy practice” (yìxíng dào 易行道) which relies on the Buddha's “other-power” (tālì 他力). Daochuo then argues that only the Pure Land path is truly effective:Blum, Mark L. The Origins and Development of Pure Land Buddhism: A Study and Translation of Gyonen's Jodo Homon Genrusho, p. 79. Oxford University Press, 21 March 2002The Path of Sages, one of the two approaches, is difficult to yield enlightenment in this age. Firstly, because we are far removed from the era of the Great Sage. Secondly, due to the profoundness of the Dharma-principle and the limitations of our comprehension. Hence, the Moon Store Sutra of the Great Compilation says: "In the Age of Dharma Decline, billions and billions of sentient beings will engage in the practice of the Way, yet not one will attain it." During the present Age of Dharma Decline, and in this unwholesome world of the Five Turbidities, only the path of the Pure Land provides a clear route to the gateway of enlightenment....Given these teachings of the scriptures, why not forsake the difficult and embrace the Easy Path? Householder Foqing (tr.); Householder Jingtu (ed.). Collection on the Land of Peace and Joy, pp. 9, 13. 2024, Pure Land Buddhism Publishing Co.This classification of Mahayana into two paths became a cornerstone for defending the practice of nianfo within Chinese Buddhism, especially within Pure Land Buddhism. Later Pure Land authors like Shandao widely adopted this idea, and it became a standard trope in Pure Land literature.Stone, Jackie (1985). Seeking Enlightenment in the Last Age: "Mappō" Thought in Kamakura Buddhism: PART I, The Eastern Buddhist New Series, 18, (1), 28-56
The superiority of the Pure Land path As Michael Conway notes, while Daochuo uses the age of Dharma Decline as one reason for selecting the Pure Land path, he also argues that the path of sages is always more difficult than the Pure Land path, not matter the age. Indeed, Daochuo holds that the path of sages is fundamentally flawed and the Pure Land path is always inherently faster. This is mainly because the path of sages relies on one's own power and not on Amitabha's vow power. As such, Daochuo's argument about the superiority of the Pure Land path is not strictly limited to the age of Dharma Decline.
For Daochuo, what defines the Pure Land path is mainly one's intention to attain birth in the pure land by entrusting oneself to Amitabha Buddha's aid, while what defines the path of sages is the idea that one can attain Buddhahood through one's own effort in samsara. This also means that Daochuo's view of Pure Land practice is more inclusive than Tanluan's or Shandao's, since he makes room for a more varied group of practices (including giving rise to bodhicitta, ethical precepts and various other practices). As Conway writes, for Daochuo "it is not the content of the practice that is the deciding factor leading to birth in the pure land, but the working of the Buddha’s vows."