Guide to Buddhahood: Being a Standard Manual of Chinese Buddhism

The work begins with the translator’s framing of the book as one of the major standard texts of Chinese Buddhism, alongside The Awakening of Faith and the popular devotional literature associated with the Goddess of Mercy. It explains the distinction Richard draws between Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna, then introduces the Chinese source text, its publication history, and its pedagogical purpose as a graded chart of Buddhist progress. The main body is organized into fifteen stages: departure from evil; imperfect religious life; the four states of existence; the human sphere and deva realms; material and immaterial Brahmā realms; doing good and suppressing evil; growth of discipline; growth of contemplation; growth of wisdom; the original Hīnayāna school; the broad or union school; the new Mahāyāna school; the complete school; the Pure Land or cross-passage school; and the highest result of all schools, Buddhahood. The contents include moral faults, commandments, meditative disciplines, the four immeasurables, the six pāramitās, the Four Truths, Maitreya aspiration, Pure Land rebirth, Bodhisattva grades, and the final attainment of Buddhahood, forming a structured doctrinal map of Chinese Buddhist cultivation.