PACIFIC WORLD - The Institute of Buddhist Studies

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Pacific World
CONCLUSION
One of the conclusions that we can draw from this inquiry is that
the expansion of visionary religion hypothesized by Beyer is probably a
literary accomplishment rather than a literally visionary one. The hyperbolic
descriptions of Sukhāvatī, the complexity of maṇḍala, and the emptiness
of various philosophic concepts suggest a religious culture dependent on
external memory—writing and drawing. Exception may need to be made,
of course, for the existence of (probably very few) religious virtuosi who,
like the bards who recited the Homeric hymns and other lengthy oral
productions, were able through extensive practice and training to develop
the skill to actually create such complex visual images. The two kinds of
nenbutsu practice—verbal recitation and visualization—would seem to
reflect oral culture and literate culture respectively. Hearing the voice of
Amida reciting the nenbutsu formula is a direct appeal not only to the
aural/oral sensory modality, but also to the cognitive functioning of oral
cultures. As suggested by the Contemplation Sutra, and emphasized by Hōnen
and Shinran, nenbutsu recitation is available to all of us as a religiously
effective practice or as an expression of our religious experience.