Buddhism · branch
Pure Land Buddhism
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.
What makes it unusual
The axes on which this tradition sits furthest from the middle of the matrix — which is to say, the positions that actually distinguish it.
- D1 Mechanism of the ultimate goodgiven as graceFurther toward "given as grace" than most traditions in the matrix.
- E2 Origin of the cosmosbeginningless or naturalFurther toward "beginningless or natural" than most traditions in the matrix.
- B1 Source of truthleaning revealed and fixedFurther toward "revealed and fixed" than most traditions in the matrix.
- C3 The human conditionleaning fallen and in need of rescueFurther toward "fallen and in need of rescue" than most traditions in the matrix.
All seventeen positions
Each cell carries a centre, a dispersion — how much internal variation the tradition genuinely tolerates — and the source the position rests on. Disagree with one? Say so; corrections are public and recorded.
The same seventeen values as a single shape, read clockwise from A1 at the top. The outline is where the tradition sits; the wider band around it is the variation it genuinely tolerates, so a tight outline is a tight tradition.
- position
- tolerated variation
A · The divine
| Axis | Position | Value | ±σ |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Divine realitynothing beyond the natural → a divine reality certainly exists | a divine reality certainly existsLarger Sukhavativyuha Sutra and Shinran’s Kyogyoshinsho | 0.85 | 0.10 |
| A2 Personhoodimpersonal principle or order → a personal being one can address | leaning a personal being one can addressLarger Sukhavativyuha Sutra and Shinran’s Kyogyoshinsho | 0.80 | 0.12 |
| A3 Pluralitystrictly one → many powers and spirits | between strictly one and many powers and spiritsLarger Sukhavativyuha Sutra and Shinran’s Kyogyoshinsho | 0.45 | 0.15 |
| A4 Locuswholly beyond the world → fully present within it | between wholly beyond the world and fully present within itLarger Sukhavativyuha Sutra and Shinran’s Kyogyoshinsho | 0.55 | 0.15 |
B · Knowledge and authority
| Axis | Position | Value | ±σ |
|---|---|---|---|
| B1 Source of truthrevealed and fixed → reason and direct experience | leaning revealed and fixedLarger Sukhavativyuha Sutra and Shinran’s Kyogyoshinsho | 0.18 | 0.12 |
| B2 Reading of sacred textliteral and binding → metaphorical, or no text at all | leaning literal and bindingLarger Sukhavativyuha Sutra and Shinran’s Kyogyoshinsho | 0.35 | 0.14 |
| B3 Institutional authorityclergy and tradition decide → individual conscience decides | leaning clergy and tradition decideLarger Sukhavativyuha Sutra and Shinran’s Kyogyoshinsho | 0.25 | 0.14 |
C · Self and destiny
| Axis | Position | Value | ±σ |
|---|---|---|---|
| C1 Survival of the selfends at death → continues in some form | leaning continues in some formLarger Sukhavativyuha Sutra and Shinran’s Kyogyoshinsho | 0.75 | 0.15 |
| C2 Shape of timeone life, then judgment → cyclical return | between one life, then judgment and cyclical returnLarger Sukhavativyuha Sutra and Shinran’s Kyogyoshinsho | 0.55 | 0.20 |
| C3 The human conditionfallen and in need of rescue → ignorant but fundamentally sound | leaning fallen and in need of rescueLarger Sukhavativyuha Sutra and Shinran’s Kyogyoshinsho | 0.35 | 0.16 |
D · Practice
| Axis | Position | Value | ±σ |
|---|---|---|---|
| D1 Mechanism of the ultimate goodgiven as grace → achieved by effort or insight | given as graceLarger Sukhavativyuha Sutra and Shinran’s Kyogyoshinsho | 0.03 | 0.04 |
| D2 Centrality of ritualessential and prescribed → optional or absent | between essential and prescribed and optional or absentLarger Sukhavativyuha Sutra and Shinran’s Kyogyoshinsho | 0.40 | 0.16 |
| D3 The bodyto be disciplined → to be celebrated | between to be disciplined and to be celebratedLarger Sukhavativyuha Sutra and Shinran’s Kyogyoshinsho | 0.55 | 0.16 |
E · World and others
| Axis | Position | Value | ±σ |
|---|---|---|---|
| E1 Exclusivityone true path → many valid paths | between one true path and many valid pathsLarger Sukhavativyuha Sutra and Shinran’s Kyogyoshinsho | 0.40 | 0.16 |
| E2 Origin of the cosmosan intentional act → beginningless or natural | beginningless or naturalLarger Sukhavativyuha Sutra and Shinran’s Kyogyoshinsho | 0.88 | 0.08 |
| E3 Locus of belonginga people, inherited → an individual choice | leaning an individual choiceLarger Sukhavativyuha Sutra and Shinran’s Kyogyoshinsho | 0.68 | 0.14 |
| E4 Standing of naturecreation, given for use → animate and itself sacred | between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacredLarger Sukhavativyuha Sutra and Shinran’s Kyogyoshinsho | 0.50 | 0.14 |
Further reading
- Shinran, Tannisho — Other-power stated plainly, including the passage about the good person and the evil one.
- The Larger Sukhavativyuha Sutra, the eighteenth vow — The vow the whole D1 position rests on.
Compared with
The questionnaire places your own answers on these same seventeen axes and reports how close you are to this tradition and to 64 others. Take it — eight to fourteen questions, nothing transmitted.