The doctrine of Amida represents the practical phase of Buddhism, and in the True Sect of Pure Land we see the deep meaning of salvation by faith most thoroughly revealed; and it is in this that the essence of Buddhism as religion, apart from its philosophical and ethical aspects, consists.
Thus, the ultimate aim of the appearance of Sākyamuni on earth was to teach us this doctrine of Amida. Most of the Buddhist priests or savants in all the Eastern Buddhist countries, who studied their religion from scholarly points of view, practically professed their faith in the doctrine of Amida. Among the various forms of this doctrine, we recognise in the True Sect of Pure Land as taught and established by our Shinran Shōnin about seven hundred years ago, the most pure, perfect, and incomparable one. The True Sect is, indeed, the efflorescence of Japanese Buddhism. Everywhere we perceive such signs as to justify our belief that his teaching is being better appreciated not only by his own countrymen but by foreigners, and that the number of those foreigners who express their sincere desire to know more deeply the signification of the True Sect is steadily increasing.
