Daochuo

Daochuo (Chinese: 道綽; pinyin: Dàochuò; Wade–Giles: Tao-ch'o; 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 Jōdo Shinshū, he is considered the Fourth Patriarch.