A teaching on causation and intention in Pure Land Buddhism

There’s a difference between imagining a Pure Land and entering one.

This is not about creating your own paradise. It’s about aligning your life with the conditions to be reborn in Amitabha Buddhas Pure Land.

According to the teaching we received in class, the pathway to Amitabha Buddha’s Pure Land rests on three inner causes. They’re simple. But not easy.

The 3 C’s:

1. Choice

You have to choose — but not just vaguely wish. You must make a wise choice. This alone starts to change your karma. It tilts your trajectory. But it’s still just the seed. It’s like standing at a crossroads and finally turning toward the right mountain. You’re not climbing it yet. But you’ve chosen the path.

This is the beginning of intention.

2. Creation

The moment you start shaping your life around that choice, it becomes real. Your intention begins to harden into karma. Your speech, your practice, your thoughts — they begin to build the causes. You’re no longer waiting for the right conditions. You’re generating them.

This step is where many fall short. They have the wish but not the creation. They chant but don’t change. They ask for entry without taking a single step toward the gate.

3. Capability

Once karma is shaped, capability appears. It’s not about earning your way to the Pure Land. It’s about becoming the type of being that can go. With the karma in place, your path opens. Not metaphorically — but in real rebirth. When your last breath comes, you’re carried across by the causes you’ve built.

Wish alone won’t get you there.
Karma creates the capability.

We don’t talk enough about creating our causes.

Too many people think Buddhism is about waiting. Waiting to become good enough. Waiting to understand more. Waiting for karma to ripen. But Pure Land Dharma flips that.

It says: Start now. Choose. Create. Build capability.
Because the door opens the moment your karma aligns with it.