Both Buddhism — where they part company
Pure Land Buddhism and Secular Buddhism
Close relatives, which is exactly why the 10 axes they diverge on are the interesting part. Mean distance across all seventeen axes: 0.44 (0 would be identical).
In an age when self-power fails, Amida’s vow carries you — entrust yourself and that is all. Its D1 value of 0.03 is the purest statement of grace in the matrix, and it arrives from Buddhism rather than from Christianity.
The practice and the psychology kept, the cosmology set aside: no literal rebirth, no supernatural claims, no authority beyond what you can test in your own experience. A naturalist reading of the canon rather than a rejection of it.
Where they agree
E2 Origin of the cosmos
Both sit at beginningless or natural — a gap of 0.04.
E4 Standing of nature
Both sit at between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred — a gap of 0.08.
Where they part company
D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good
Pure Land Buddhism: given as grace. Secular Buddhism: achieved by effort or insight. A gap of 0.92 on an axis running from “given as grace” to “achieved by effort or insight”.
B1 Source of truth
Pure Land Buddhism: leaning revealed and fixed. Secular Buddhism: reason and direct experience. A gap of 0.77 on an axis running from “revealed and fixed” to “reason and direct experience”.
A2 Personhood
Pure Land Buddhism: leaning a personal being one can address. Secular Buddhism: impersonal principle or order. A gap of 0.75 on an axis running from “impersonal principle or order” to “a personal being one can address”.
A1 Divine reality
Pure Land Buddhism: a divine reality certainly exists. Secular Buddhism: nothing beyond the natural. A gap of 0.73 on an axis running from “nothing beyond the natural” to “a divine reality certainly exists”.
C1 Survival of the self
Pure Land Buddhism: leaning continues in some form. Secular Buddhism: ends at death. A gap of 0.65 on an axis running from “ends at death” to “continues in some form”.
B3 Institutional authority
Pure Land Buddhism: leaning clergy and tradition decide. Secular Buddhism: individual conscience decides. A gap of 0.60 on an axis running from “clergy and tradition decide” to “individual conscience decides”.
B2 Reading of sacred text
Pure Land Buddhism: leaning literal and binding. Secular Buddhism: metaphorical, or no text at all. A gap of 0.50 on an axis running from “literal and binding” to “metaphorical, or no text at all”.
C3 The human condition
Pure Land Buddhism: leaning fallen and in need of rescue. Secular Buddhism: ignorant but fundamentally sound. A gap of 0.50 on an axis running from “fallen and in need of rescue” to “ignorant but fundamentally sound”.
E1 Exclusivity
Pure Land Buddhism: between one true path and many valid paths. Secular Buddhism: many valid paths. A gap of 0.48 on an axis running from “one true path” to “many valid paths”.
A3 Plurality
Pure Land Buddhism: between strictly one and many powers and spirits. Secular Buddhism: strictly one. A gap of 0.40 on an axis running from “strictly one” to “many powers and spirits”.
All seventeen axes
| Axis | Pure Land Buddhism | Secular Buddhism | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Divine reality | a divine reality certainly exists | nothing beyond the natural | 0.73 |
| A2 Personhood | leaning a personal being one can address | impersonal principle or order | 0.75 |
| A3 Plurality | between strictly one and many powers and spirits | strictly one | 0.40 |
| A4 Locus | between wholly beyond the world and fully present within it | leaning fully present within it | 0.15 |
| B1 Source of truth | leaning revealed and fixed | reason and direct experience | 0.77 |
| B2 Reading of sacred text | leaning literal and binding | metaphorical, or no text at all | 0.50 |
| B3 Institutional authority | leaning clergy and tradition decide | individual conscience decides | 0.60 |
| C1 Survival of the self | leaning continues in some form | ends at death | 0.65 |
| C2 Shape of time | between one life, then judgment and cyclical return | leaning one life, then judgment | 0.30 |
| C3 The human condition | leaning fallen and in need of rescue | ignorant but fundamentally sound | 0.50 |
| D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good | given as grace | achieved by effort or insight | 0.92 |
| D2 Centrality of ritual | between essential and prescribed and optional or absent | leaning optional or absent | 0.30 |
| D3 The body | between to be disciplined and to be celebrated | between to be disciplined and to be celebrated | 0.17 |
| E1 Exclusivity | between one true path and many valid paths | many valid paths | 0.48 |
| E2 Origin of the cosmos | beginningless or natural | beginningless or natural | 0.04 |
| E3 Locus of belonging | leaning an individual choice | an individual choice | 0.22 |
| E4 Standing of nature | between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred | between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred | 0.08 |
Positions for Pure Land Buddhism rest principally on Larger Sukhavativyuha Sutra and Shinran’s Kyogyoshinsho; for Secular Buddhism, on Batchelor, Buddhism Without Beliefs (1997) and After Buddhism (2015). Per-cell sources are listed on each tradition’s own page.
The questionnaire places your answers on these same axes and ranks all 65 traditions by how closely they match. Take it.