Mahayana Buddhism vs. Pure Land Buddhism

[Cypress]

Mahayana Buddhism places emphasis on ritual and correct practice on the path to enlightenment.

Japanese True Pure Land Buddhism maintains that reciting the Nembutsu just once with true faith is enough to ensure salvation.

This seemingly parallels the development of Christianity in Europe, concerning the debate between Martin Luther and the Catholic church; aka, faith-versus-works.

Curious, since these religious developments were relatively contemporaneous and occurred on opposite sides of the planet.

 

[Cypress]

Supposedly, in the Vedanta school of Hinduism there is also a debate about faith-versus-works as the correct path to spiritual liberation.

Weird that this same debate was going on in Hinduism, Japanese Buddhism, and western Christianity -- suggesting some kind of common psychological thread running through humanity at large.