The aim of Ōbaku Zen practice is the realization of Buddhahood through awakening to one’s original Buddha-nature and liberation from suffering. In this tradition, enlightenment is not viewed as something added from outside, but as a sudden recognition of what has always been present at the deepest level of mind. This awakening is often described as satori, a direct insight into the nature of reality and into one’s own true nature. The school thus shares the classic Zen orientation toward immediate, experiential realization rather than mere intellectual understanding.

At the same time, Ōbaku Zen gives a central place to Pure Land devotion, particularly faith in Amida Buddha and the recitation of Amida’s name (nembutsu). Through this devotional dimension, practitioners entrust themselves to Amida’s salvific power and may aspire to rebirth in the Pure Land, understood as a realm especially conducive to the full realization of enlightenment. This reliance on “other-power” is not seen as a departure from Zen, but as a complementary support for those whose capacities or circumstances make a purely self-powered path more difficult.

The distinctive character of Ōbaku Zen lies in its integration of these two currents: rigorous Zen meditation and insight practices on the one hand, and heartfelt Pure Land faith and recitation on the other. Meditation, koan-like contemplation, and nembutsu are all employed as means to the same end—liberation from suffering through the realization of Buddhahood. Some expressions of this path emphasize that enlightenment may be realized here and now, while others highlight the aspiration for rebirth in Amida’s Pure Land as a step toward that same ultimate awakening. In this way, Ōbaku Zen presents a path in which sudden enlightenment and gradual cultivation, self-power and other-power, are held together as converging approaches to a single liberating goal.