In what appears to be a long time ago, in the summer of 1990, a friend drew our attention to a manuscript anthologizing the teachings of two eminent Chinese masters of the sixteenth century. We recall reading through the text with keen interest, hoping that it would soon become widely available. •

The matter then skipped our minds as we busied ourselves, in the intervening years, with editing and publishing the four-volume Pure Land Series of the Sutra Translation Committee. One thing leading to another, in early 1993, we were reminded of the manuscript, still unpublished at the time, and opened discussions in earnest with the translator, Dr. J.C. Cleary. One more year would go by, however, before the matter was finally settled, thanks in large part to the assistance of Master Lok To and Mr. Lee Tsu-ku.

Causes and conditions having finally met, we believe that the reader will find Dr. Cleary's translation a lucid and inspiring text on Pure Land - a Buddhist tradition widely followed in Asia but little known in the West.

The present volume contains Dr. Cleary's original manuscript, except for the section on Master Chu-hung's "Answers to Forty-Eight Questions on the Pure Land," which is being considered for a separate publication. Transcription of names is in the Wade-Giles system to conform to other works in this Pure Land Series.