Buddhism
Pure Land Sutra... Jodo
A Paradise

    Pure Land Sutra (Jodo, Suhavati, Ching-tu),  started in northern India 200 years after Christ, and tries to be a copy of the doctrine of Jesus Christ:
    One enters the Pure Land through faith in Amitabha, or Amida or Buddha,  by repeating the "membutsu", "Namu-Amida-Butsu",  "Have faith in Amida, and you will be saved", they claim, imitating Jesus Christ.

    -Their literature include many parables of the Gospels, like the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son...-

     - In Japan, Jodo-shu declares that man upon the period on earth must put complete faith in the saving grace of Amitabha Buddha, and constantly invoke his name... does it sounds like Christianity?

     - There are several things they can not imitate: Buddha, their Christ, never was prophesied, never made miracles, never proclaimed to be God, and did not resurrected after death.

    - In India is known as Sukhavati, in China as Ching-tu, in Japan as Jodo.

   - All Buddhists want to get red of "Mara", the Evil One, the devil, identified as Concupiscence and as Death, the same one who bothered Gautama in his search to obtain happiness... and for Jodo, Mara is a very special one...   

    So, Pure Land Buddhism focuses on one aspect of the Mahayana cosmos and emphasizes its importance. Since the Buddha-fields are a "place" that is outside of samsara, even though it is not yet nirvana, it provides an opportunity for bodhisattva compassion to be expressed. In Theravada Buddhism, there is little opportunity for or expectation that the laity can get beyond the suffering of samsara and reach nirvana. The best they can hope for is to be born in the next life "as a monk" who can attain nirvana. Pure Land provides the laity with another option:
    The Buddha Amitabha has created with his store of merit a "Pure Land" (a paradise) which is in the "Western" part of the Buddha-fields. Anyone who calls on Amitabha (=Amida) using the formula of the Nembutsu can enter this land upon death. Thus escape from samsara and suffering is available to the laity without extensive years of monkish discipline and meditation. Anyone who enters the Pure Land may stay there forever, or may return to human form in an advantageous birth that will enable them to reach nirvana within a lifetime.

Buddhism