SHANDAO (613–681), eminent Buddhist scholar and major figure in the Chinese Pure Land (Jingtu) movement. Shandao was born in the village of Linzu (Shandong province) and was ordained while still a youth. Eventually, his study of Buddhist scripture led him to the Guan wuliangshou jing (Meditation on the Buddha of immeasurable life sūtra), a text that teaches devotion to the Buddha Amitābha as a means of universal salvation. Profoundly impressed by the message of this text, Shandao retired to Mount Zhongnan to pursue his religious career. Later, he became a disciple of the Pure Land scholar Daochuo (562–645) at the latter's monastic home at the Xuanzhong Si. Through him, Shandao became convinced that the deliverance of ordinary sentient beings was possible through the power of the Buddha Amitābha, and thus he gave himself up to the practice and propagation of Pure Land Buddhism. His lifelong practice of...