Welcome to our website
Pure Land Buddhism, also known as Amida Buddhism or Amidism, is a popular branch of Mahayana Buddhism centred on the veneration of Amida Buddha (Sanskrit: Amitābha). The Community of Amida Buddhists is an ecumenical and non-sectarian Pure Land Buddhist community, and our primary practice is chanting / reciting the name of Amida Buddha (also known as Nembutsu or Nianfo).
We are an international community of people who have a karmic affinity with Amida Buddha and the Pure Land Buddhist teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha, found principally in the Three Pure Land Sutras. We draw our faith and practice primarily from the schools of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism, established by Honen, Shinran and Ippen, and from Chinese Pure Land Buddhism where Shandao is the key figure and widely regarded as its founder.
As we are a Lay Community, without formal links to any particular Pure Land School, we prefer to use the generic term of Amida Buddhists or Amida Buddhism to describe ourselves, so as to avoid any confusion with the already established Pure Land schools in China and Japan.
BECOMING A HIJIRI
The Amida Buddhist Community is a small fellowship of people who are dedicated to the practice of the nembutsu and who entrust their lives to the compassionate embrace of Amida Buddha.
We understand ourselves to be bombu, a Japanese word meaning "foolish beings of wayward passion." Rather than striving to become perfect, we begin by acknowledging our ordinary humanity, with all its strengths, weaknesses, joys and struggles. It is through this recognition that we learn to entrust ourselves to Amida Buddha's boundless compassion.
Why Hijiri?
The Japanese word Hijiri is often translated as "holy wanderer." Historically, the Hijiri were common people who lived outside the established Buddhist institutions. At a time when many ordinary people were unable to enter the official clergy, these sincere practitioners responded to the call of Amida Buddha by taking up simple robes, travelling from place to place, reciting the nembutsu, caring for those they encountered, doing practical work that benefitted the community, and sharing the teachings of Amida Buddha. All unauthorised, all unofficial, all illegitimate.
What distinguished the Hijiri was not institutional authority or religious status, but their sincerity, and willingness to spread Amida Buddha’s teachings in everyday life. They lived among ordinary people rather than apart from them, offering companionship, encouragement and spiritual guidance wherever they travelled.
We find this image deeply inspiring, especially since we do not have an actual physical temple in which to live and practice. Although few of us are literal wanderers today, we each journey through the world carrying our joys, sorrows, relationships and responsibilities. To be a Hijiri is to walk this path with humility, trusting in Amida Buddha, practicing the nembutsu, and seeking to bring kindness and compassion into the communities in which we live.
What Ordination Means
Within the Amida Buddhist Community, ordination is not understood as the conferring of authority, status, or spiritual attainment. Nor does it represent entry into a professional ministry or a legal institution. Rather, ordination is a public affirmation of one's entrusting in Amida Buddha and one's intention to live in accordance with the Amida Buddhist Community Vows/Precepts, supported by the Hijiri Fellowship.
For this reason, we do not require a formal training programme or a series of qualifications before someone may ask for ordination. Instead, we ask that those who wish to become a Hijiri recognise themselves as bombu, embrace the practice of the nembutsu, and sincerely aspire to live by the Pure Land precepts. These precepts are not rules imposed upon us, but an expression of the qualities we seek to cultivate in our lives as followers of the Buddha Way.
When someone feels ready to make this commitment, they may ask to be recognised by the community as a Hijiri. This recognition takes place during a simple ceremony in which the community acknowledges and celebrates the person's aspiration and welcomes them into the Hijiri Fellowship.
Anyone who feels called to this path is warmly invited to join our Hijiri fellowship and request ordination which takes place at the end of our annual online Bodhi Retreat.
The Hijiri Fellowship meets once each month. Our gatherings are an opportunity to support one another in practice, to recite the nembutsu together, and to share honestly both the struggles and the joys that arise in our lives. We believe that spiritual friendship is an important part of the Buddhist path, and that by walking together we deepen our trust in Amida Buddha and our capacity to respond compassionately to the world.
The 18th Vow of Amida Buddha
“If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings in the lands of the ten quarters who sincerely and joyfully entrust themselves to me, desire to be born in my land, and call my Name, even ten times, should not be born there, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.”
