Within the Ōbaku tradition, Zen and Pure Land are woven together as complementary modes of practice rather than competing paths. Standard Zen disciplines such as zazen, kōan training, and strict monastic observance stand side by side with Pure Land elements like nembutsu recitation, sutra chanting related to Amitābha, and liturgical, often musical, services. This dual practice reflects a Chan–Pure Land synthesis inherited from late Ming China, where meditation and the recitation of Amitābha’s name were commonly affirmed together. As a result, calling the Buddha’s name is not treated as something alien to Zen, but as a legitimate contemplative method that can stabilize and focus the mind in support of meditative insight.

Doctrinally and philosophically, this integration is framed so that Pure Land devotion is interpreted through a Zen lens. Amitābha Buddha is understood as an expression of Buddha-nature, and the Pure Land itself is viewed as the purified mind realized here and now, rather than only as a distant realm. In this way, practices associated with “other-power,” such as entrusting oneself to Amitābha, are not set in opposition to “self-power” meditation, but are seen as converging on the same enlightened mind. Both the immediate awareness cultivated in Zen and the devotional orientation of Pure Land are regarded as different doors opening into a single reality.

In the concrete life of Ōbaku temples, this synthesis is especially visible. Daily practice often combines seated meditation with the recitation of Amitābha’s name, treating the repetition of the nembutsu as a concentrated meditative act as well as an expression of faith. Chanting, imagery, and ritual centered on Amitābha give the school a more overtly Pure Land–colored atmosphere than is found in other Japanese Zen lineages, yet its institutional identity and core training remain thoroughly Zen. The relationship between Zen and Pure Land here is thus not one of compromise, but of mutual illumination: each mode of practice deepens and clarifies the other within a single, integrated path of awakening.