Yuan's
Xīfāng hélùn (
Comprehensive Treatise on the West) presents a comprehensive Pure Land Buddhist philosophy in ten fascicles (juan). The work answers numerous questions and critiques of Pure Land Buddhism with rational arguments and scriptural citations. According to Yuan, these Chan teachings on non-grasping and the provisional nature of Buddhist practice is like water, which can put out a fire. When used too much, it can cause a flood. As such, Yuan wanted to bring some balance back to Buddhism by emphasizing the conventional truths of classic Buddhist practices. In this, Yuan was influenced by earlier figures like
Zhiyi,
Li Tongxuan, and
Yongming Yanshou, as well as by the
Da Zhi Du Lun. Yuan criticizes those who claimed that Pure Land was dualistic and that Buddhism was all about transcending dualities (and thus reject Pure Land). For Yuan, it is the critics of Pure Land who lack true understanding, since if they truly understood non-duality and emptiness, they would see that the provisional truth of the pure land is not negated by these teachings on ultimate truth. Likewise, the Huayan doctrine of the interpenetration of all phenomena does not negate the individuality of specific realms or relative phenomena. According to Yuan, Pure Land Buddhism is not just in accord with the highest principles of Mahayana philosophy, but it fulfills them in ways that Chan cannot rival. This is because Pure Land relies on the unity of the ultimate and conventional reality as seen by ordinary people (and is thus skillful for all types of people not just the wise). Furthermore, as Jones explains, if it were true that one needed to fully purify one's mind and have knowledge of the ultimate truth before attaining the pure land, then this would lead to the absurd conclusion that "one would have to be able to adopt the fully enlightened viewpoint before being enlightened - a vicious circle." As such, the Chan critique of Pure Land practitioners is a trivial critique which just points out the obvious, that unenlightened people are not enlightened to the ultimate truth. However, according to Yuan, the Buddha knows how to make use of the very dualistic viewpoints of ordinary beings in order to guide them to awakening through
skillful means. Once born in the pure land, ordinary beings will become awakened to the ultimate truth. To the detractors of Pure land who saw themselves as beyond beyond Pure Land practice, Yuan writes: You say, "Only purify your own mind, and then what need is there to discriminate?" If you enter a latrine, could you remain there for long? Go into a
charnel-house where air is filthy with black smoke. Could you refrain from holding your nose? Could you share your dishes and bed with someone who has scabrous sores oozing pus and blood? If not, then this is a sign that you detest the five
defilements. If you still need a clean room and sanitary companions, then this is a sign that you would delight in the Pure Land. Yuan also saw his Pure Land treatise as a work which shows how Pure Land is deeply connected with other traditions like
Chan,
Consciousness-Only and
Huayan. In a later work he even writes that "I made use of Pure Land in order to expound Chan"
. Various scholars have also noted how Yuan makes extensive use of Huayan thought in his treatise, especially the philosophy of
Li Tongxuan. The ''Xīfāng hélùn's
ten-fascicle structure itself might be based on the Huayan teaching of the ten gates. As such, Yuan was not seeking to refute Chan or present an exclusive view of Pure Land. Instead, he sought to use Pure Land to broaden and expand the understanding of Buddhist practice in his contemporaries.'' Throughout the
Xīfāng hélùn, Yuan explains the nature of the various pure lands, answers numerous questions and objections about Pure Land Buddhism and provides a scriptural schema (
panjiao) and an analysis of Pure Land scriptures
. In fascicle five of the
Xīfāng hélùn, Yuan discusses the relationship between the practitioner and
Amitabha, as well as self-power and Buddha's
other-power. According to Yuan (who cites Zhiyi), the Buddha's power is inconceivable and mysterious. As Jones writes, this means that "one cannot pin it down by saying that the practice is effective because of the Buddha's power, the devotee's power, both together, or neither...all dharmas are inconceivable, and one can never fully understand how causes produce effects." Thus, even if one is an unenlightened being or has different understandings of how other-power works, one can practice chanting the Buddha's name and one will still achieve the result of birth in the pure land. Drawing on the philosophy of
Huayan (as well as
Tiantai to a lesser extent), Yuan also shows how Pure Land Buddhism is actually in complete agreement with its most refined and deep metaphysical theories, arguing that Pure Land is thus the supreme truth of Buddhism when properly understood. For Yuan,
Amitabha Buddha and Huayan's Cosmic Buddha
Vairocana are not separate Buddhas and thus Amitabha pervades all realms. He also argues that the simple recitation of the nianfo, when done with a mind of compassion,
bodhicitta, and coupled with a moral life, fulfills all Buddhist principles. Yuan also strongly defends the traditional Buddhist course of practice, including generating faith, taking vows, keeping precepts, living with good companions etc. Yuan's
Xīfāng hélùn soon became popular in Chinese Buddhist circles. It was included in the Jiaxing
Buddhist Canon and the patriarch
Ouyi Zhixu (1599-1655) included it in his
Ten Essential [Texts] of Pure Land (Jingtu shi yao 淨土十要). It remains popular to this day, as shown by the space given to it in Guo Peng's 1982 study of Ming and Qing Buddhism. == Poetry and literature ==