Tao-cho

Daochuo (; J. Dōshaku, c. 562–645) was an eminent Chinese Buddhist master of Pure Land Buddhism. He was also known as Chan Master Xihe (Meditation Master of the West River).

Daochuo was the first Pure Land teacher to discuss the framework of the two gates of Mahayana practice: the easy path of birth in the pure land of Amitabha, and the difficult path of sages. He taught that only the Pure Land path was truly effective. This was because the Pure Land path relied on the power of the Buddha's vows, while the path of sages relied on one's own effort over the course of thousands of eons of transmigration. Furthermore, Daochuo held that the world had entered into the Age of Dharma Decline, a time in which the path of self-effort was even less efficacious.

In Chinese Buddhist tradition, Daochuo is considered the second patriarch of Pure Land Buddhism, while In , he is considered the Fourth Patriarch.

Life Daochuo was born and raised in Bingzhou, Shanxi and entered the monkhood at an early age. He became a learned monk and a lecturer on the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra (Da banniepan jing 大般泥洹經).

In 609, Daochuo traveled to the monastery in Fenzhou, also in Shanxi, where the influential Pure Land master Tanluan had once lived. After reading Tanluan's epitaph, Daochuo experienced a profound change in his spiritual outlook and embraced the Pure Land path. He also dedicated himself to spreading the practice of reciting Amitābha's name, reportedly chanting it seventy thousand times daily.

According to traditional biographical accounts, in either 628 or 629, on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month—the day commemorating the Buddha's birth—a large assembly of devoted followers gathered at Daochuo's monastery for the occasion. Suddenly, patriarch Tanluan (476–554) appeared in the sky, seated in a jeweled chariot, and proclaimed that Daochuo had secured his place in the Pure Land. However, before attaining rebirth there, he would still experience further karmic rewards in this lifetime. Immediately after this declaration, a vision of the Pure Land manifested before the assembly, allowing them to behold the Buddha and the bodhisattvas dwelling there.

Dharma Decline Daochuo was interested in Buddhist history. He relied on a chronology that divided our world's history into five 500-year periods after Śākyamuni Buddha's passing into nirvana. He mainly derived this schema from the Candragarbha-sūtra (Dàjí yuèzàng jīng 大集月藏經).

Two Paths The Ānlè jí introduces a dual classification of the Buddha's teachings into two main “gates” or paths:

The Path of Sages (shèngdào, 聖道): Focused on teachings that guide practitioners toward achieving nirvāṇa through personal effort, i.e. “self-power” (zìlì 自力). He also called this as the “path of difficult practice” (nánxíng dào 難行道), while effective during the time of the Right Dharma (zhèngfǎ 正法), was now ineffective in our current era of Dharma decline. The Way of Rebirth in the Pure Land (wǎngshēng jìngtǔ, 往生淨土) the chanting of Amitābha Buddha's name (nianfo), as a means to attain rebirth in the Pure Land. This path is the “path of easy practice” (yìxíng dào 易行道) which relies on the Buddha's “other-power” (tālì 他力). Daochuo then argues that only the Pure Land path is truly effective: The Path of Sages, one of the two approaches, is difficult to yield enlightenment in this age. Firstly, because we are far removed from the era of the Great Sage. Secondly, due to the profoundness of the Dharma-principle and the limitations of our comprehension. Hence, the Moon Store Sutra of the Great Compilation says: "In the Age of Dharma Decline, billions and billions of sentient beings will engage in the practice of the Way, yet not one will attain it." During the present Age of Dharma Decline, and in this unwholesome world of the Five Turbidities, only the path of the Pure Land provides a clear route to the gateway of enlightenment....Given these teachings of the scriptures, why not forsake the difficult and embrace the Easy Path? This classification of Mahayana into two paths became a cornerstone for defending the practice of nianfo within Chinese Buddhism, especially within Pure Land Buddhism.

The superiority of the Pure Land path As Michael Conway notes, while Daochuo uses the age of Dharma Decline as one reason for selecting the Pure Land path, he also argues that the path of sages is always more difficult than the Pure Land path, not matter the age. Indeed, Daochuo holds that the path of sages is fundamentally flawed and the Pure Land path is always inherently faster. This is mainly because the path of sages relies on one's own power and not on Amitabha's vow power. As such, Daochuo's argument about the superiority of the Pure Land path is not strictly limited to the age of Dharma Decline. In the Ānlè jí, Daochuo writes: "Amitābha in the present is a saṃbhogakāya and the paradise land adorned with jewels is a Reward Land." Before Daochuo, Chinese Buddhist authors generally considered Amitabha Buddha to be a nirmāṇakāya, a transformation body like Shakyamuni Buddha. Daochuo's position was influential and was later adopted by Chinese Pure Land figures like Shandao.

Daochuo also argues that Sukhavati has a similar nature. Some sentient beings may experience it as a land that changes, but ultimately it is eternal and unceasing: "Just as the Buddha's body is eternal, yet sentient beings perceive it as entering nirvana, so too is the Pure Land. Its essence is neither created nor destroyed, but sentient beings perceive it as such based on their own capacities."