Within Pure Land Buddhism, devotion to Amitabha Buddha is universally grounded in faith, yet the precise relationship between faith, practice, and moral conduct is understood in different ways across the traditions. All major streams agree that trust in Amitabha’s vows is the decisive foundation for rebirth in the Pure Land, and that this trust is not merely intellectual assent but a deep entrusting of oneself to Amitabha’s compassionate power. At the same time, many teachers describe this faith as naturally giving rise to aspiration for rebirth and to concrete forms of practice, especially the recitation of Amitabha’s name. In this sense, faith is not isolated from the rest of the path but is seen as the living root from which other qualities grow.

In a number of East Asian Pure Land lineages, faith is often spoken of together with aspiration and practice as a threefold structure. Faith in Amitabha and confidence in his vows is joined with a heartfelt wish to be reborn in the Pure Land, and with the sustained practice of calling his name. Moral conduct, observance of precepts, and the accumulation of merit through good deeds are encouraged as expressions of this orientation, supporting the mind’s alignment with Amitabha’s vow. Here, faith remains primary, yet it is expected to manifest in a life that increasingly reflects the Dharma in thought, word, and deed.

Japanese developments offer a particularly sharp articulation of the faith-centered approach. In some schools, especially those that emphasize “Other Power,” reliance on Amitabha through the nembutsu is elevated above all other practices, which are regarded as secondary or unreliable in a degenerate age. In Jōdo Shinshū, this tendency is taken further: true entrusting (shinjin) is regarded as sufficient for assured rebirth, and the recitation of the Name is understood as the spontaneous expression of that entrusting rather than a technique that earns salvation. Ethical conduct in this view is not a condition that must be met in order to be saved, but a natural outflow of gratitude and transformation once faith has taken root.

Across these perspectives, a common thread can be discerned: faith in Amitabha’s vow is the heart of the path, while practice and morality are its natural extensions. Some traditions speak as if faith alone, rightly understood, is enough, because genuine faith already contains within it the impulse toward practice and virtue. Others articulate more explicitly that faith should be consciously joined with name-recitation, observance of precepts, and the cultivation of merit. Rather than a simple opposition between “faith alone” and “faith plus works,” Pure Land thought tends to portray a living relationship in which faith is both the beginning and the animating power of a life oriented toward Amitabha and the Pure Land.