 Thus, the Pure Land Buddhist heritage in Japan stands today upon the selective use of a continuous textual tradition stretching back nearly two millennia. Terms from the Chinese of the sutras in their various renditions and evolving commentaries on the Pure Land path became the standard medium of Pure Land Buddhist discourse in Japan, so that a full grasp of the Japanese tradition requires familiarity with these terms, their relationship to the broader Buddhist tradition, and the historical changes in their understandings and emphases in the course of their long development in various cultural spheres and sectarian settings. Japanese Buddhists have been, throughout their history, fully aware of their geographical position at the easternmost reach of the spread of Buddhism in Asia and of their indebtedness to the transmission of Buddhist tradition across the various ethnic locales and political boundaries of the Asian continent.