Jiacai was an Amitabha believer living in Chang-an in the sixth century. He introduced two terms,“karmic seed desire” (zhongziyu 種子欲) and“appearance desire” (shangxinyu 上心欲) in his work Jingtulun 浄土論 (The Discourse on the Pure Land). It is his idea that in the Pure Land, practitioners are not falling away from awakening because they only have “zhongziyu”, but not “shangxinyu”. However, he did not explain the meaning of these two desires at all. This thesis examines the meaning of these two desires.
I investigated the Scriptures translated by Paramartha. As a result, “zhongziyu” has the sense of “bija” and “anusaya,” and “shangxinyu” has the sense of “abhisamskara.” Namely, “zhongziyu” is latent defilement, while “shangxinyu” is its active state. Moreover, it is reasonable say that the bija theory and anusaya theory, of Vasubandhu's Mahayanasamgraha-bhasya translated by Paramartha, had a big influence on Jiacai's thought. “Zhongziyu” in the Pure Land does not necessarily have a negative sense, but conceals the possibility of assisting Buddhist cultivation.
