In Chapter 3 of the Ketsujō ōjō shū 決定往生集, Chin’gai 珍海 argues, citing some relevant passages from the Larger and Smaller Sukhāvatīvyūha-sūtras, that sentient beings are able to dwell in the stage of nonretrogression after having been reborn in the Pure Land in the West, and they will then certainly reach the state of enlightenment. It should, however, be noted that Chin’gai especially seems to have the conviction that those who once longed to be reborn to the Pure Land can never backslide from the stage of nonretrogression. This notion can be regarded as a theory of nonretrogression in the present life, explicitly described in the Smaller Sukhāvatīvyūha-sūtra.
Considering Chin’gai’s argument in chapter 3 of his treatise, it can be said that, by referring to some passages from the Smaller Sukhāvatīvyūha-sūtra in Kumārajīva’s and Xuanzang’s translations, he tries to assure those who presume that they can enter the stage of nonretrogression only after having been reborn, and cannot attain religious faith in the present world, that they can dwell in the stage of nonretrogression even in the present life. By underlining this assertion, he aims to eventually lead more people to the teachings of Amitābha.
