''Easy Practice'' chapter
Easy Practice" chapter
易行品 ( Jpn Igyo-hon )
The ninth chapter of Nagarjuna's Commentary on the Ten Stages Sutra, later treated as an independent text. "Easy practice" means to meditate on Buddhas, and to call upon their names. With this practice, the chapter says, one can reach the stage of non-regression and finally attain enlightenment.
The chapter emphasizes salvation through the power of Amida Buddha, saying that one can be saved by meditating on the Buddha and calling his name.
Nagarjuna presented this as an easy form of practice. Thus the "Easy Practice" chapter came to be revered by the patriarchs of the Pure Land school as one of their most important texts. They classified the Buddhist teachings into two categories, the Sacred Way teachings and the Pure Land teachings.
Then, based on the ideas contained in this chapter of Nagarjuna's commentary, they defined the Sacred Way teachings as the difficult-to-practice way and the Pure Land teachings as the easy-to-practice way, advocating the latter as the only effective means of attaining salvation.
