Yes, Pure Land Buddhism teaches that Buddhahood is attainable through this practice, not merely arhatship.
Pure Land Buddhism fundamentally differs from other Buddhist schools in its understanding of the path to enlightenment. Rather than viewing arhatship (the liberation of individual practitioners) as the ultimate goal, Pure Land teaching emphasizes attaining Buddhahood—becoming a Buddha who can liberate countless sentient beings.
The core texts of Pure Land Buddhism, particularly the Larger Sukhavativyuha Sutra (the longer Pure Land sutra), establish this explicitly. The sutra describes Amitabha Buddha's forty-eight vows, with the eighteenth vow being central: those who aspire to be born in Amitabha's Pure Land and call upon him with sincere faith will be reborn there. Once in that realm, practitioners encounter optimal conditions for advancing toward Buddhahood rather than merely reaching arhatship.
Pure Land practice views rebirth in Amitabha's Western Paradise (Sukhavati) as a means to an end, not the final destination. After rebirth in this pure realm, practitioners encounter the Buddha directly, receive teachings suited to their capacity, and progress along the bodhisattva path—the route specifically aimed at attaining Buddhahood.
This is a crucial distinction. While arhatship represents complete liberation from suffering and the cycle of rebirth, it is considered in Pure Land thought to be a narrower goal focused on personal nirvana. The bodhisattva path, by contrast, involves the aspiration to become a Buddha capable of benefiting all sentient beings infinitely. Pure Land practice explicitly commits practitioners to this wider vision through the recitation of Amitabha's name (nembutsu) and the generation of bodhicitta—the mind of enlightenment directed toward universal liberation.
Pure Land Buddhism operates within the Mahayana tradition, which prioritizes the bodhisattva ideal over the arhat ideal. In this framework, the highest achievement is Buddhahood—the complete enlightenment and Buddha-nature of one who can teach the dharma to infinite beings across infinite worlds.
The path explicitly rejects settling for arhatship. The Dhammapada commentary and later Pure Land texts make clear that those reborn in the Pure Land are committed to the bodhisattva vow: they will not enter final nirvana until all sentient beings achieve liberation. This commitment fundamentally transforms the goal from personal peace (arhatship) to universal salvation (Buddhahood).
Theravada Buddhism, which emphasizes the arhat path, does not recognize Pure Land practice as a legitimate method. Its texts predate the Mahayana sutras and focus on individual effort and monastic discipline as the primary path to nirvana.
Mahayana schools—particularly Jodo Shinshu (Pure Land Buddhism), Chinese Pure Land, Vietnamese Pure Land, and Japanese Amidism—explicitly teach Buddhahood as attainable through faith in Amitabha combined with nembutsu practice. Shinran, the founder of Jodo Shinshu, emphasized that even a single sincere recitation of Amitabha's name (Namu Amida Butsu) with absolute faith ensures rebirth in the Pure Land and ultimately Buddhahood, accessible to all people regardless of their capacity for study or meditation.
The claim that Pure Land practice leads to Buddhahood rests on the Larger Sukhavativyuha Sutra, composed in Sanskrit around the 1st to 2nd century CE, and the Smaller Sukhavativyuha Sutra. These Mahayana texts describe in detail the conditions of the Pure Land, the bodhisattvas already there, and the path forward for those reborn there.
Tradition holds that seven days after rebirth in the Pure Land, one encounters Amitabha Buddha and receives dharma teachings that propel one along the bodhisattva path. The various Pure Land sutras and their commentaries by Vasubandhu, Tanluan, and later teachers consistently frame this as the route to Buddhahood, not arhatship. This represents a deliberate theological and practical divergence from non-Mahayana approaches.