 In addition, for convenience, I will discuss these issues under the headings of metaphysics, anthropology, hermeneutics, and ethics. It should be borne in mind, however, that these Western categories, while helpful in establishing a starting point and pursuing the comparative concerns implied in a “philosophical” approach to Buddhist thought, suggest conceptual contours that must in fact be continually breached in seeking to accommodate the fundamentally pragmatic orientation of the Japanese Pure Land tradition and its roots in Mahayana Buddhist thought. In fact, the four headings are best understood as slightly differing perspectives on essentially the same central problem: the apprehension of what is true and real from within a stance of radical conditionedness. What enables such apprehension? What is its significance for human existence? How does it come about? And what implications does it hold for the conduct of life?