The Stages of Practice and Practical Spirit in Master Yinguang's Pure Land Instructions Centering on Reply to Layman Ye Fubei, Letter One

Abstract

Master Yinguang expounded the Pure Land teaching in plain, earnest, and practical language, bringing profound doctrinal principles into everyday conduct, interpersonal relations, and communal monastic life. Centering on a passage from Reply to Layman Ye Fubei, Letter One in Yinguang Fashi Wenchao Sanbian (The Third Collection of Master Yinguang's Collected Writings), this paper examines the sequence of practice and practical spirit embedded in Master Yinguang's Pure Land instruction by placing it in dialogue with Pure Land scriptures, the Six Harmonies, the six perfections, the Ten Great Vows of Samantabhadra, and the three provisions of faith, vows, and practice. The paper argues that the passage is not merely an exhortation to recite the Buddha's name. Rather, it establishes a complete structure of cultivation: reverence and harmony serve as its ethical foundation; patience, giving, rejoicing in others' virtue, and repentance function as supportive conditions for pure karma; uninterrupted recollection of the Buddha's name in walking, standing, sitting, lying down, dressing, and eating is the main practice; humility, repentance, and firm assurance of rebirth in the Pure Land constitute its devotional culmination. This structure moves from communal harmony and the taming of body and mind toward Pure Land orientation. It has significant implications for the education of Buddhist college students, Pure Land curriculum design, and daily norms of Buddhist practice.