Other power

Other power is an East Asian Mahayana Buddhist concept which is discussed in Pure Land Buddhism and other forms of East Asian Buddhism. It generally refers to the power of a Buddha which can inspire someone, and take them to the Pure Land where they may easily become a Buddha. Other power is often contrasted with "self power" or jiriki, that is, attempting to achieve enlightenment through one's own efforts. According to Mark L. Blum, other power can be described as "something 'received' or 'influenced' from the sacred world beyond the self". Other power is also commonly called "Buddha-power" or "vow power", the latter referring to a Buddha's past bodhisattva vows which have a certain power to influence sentient beings.
While the term "other power" was coined in Chinese sources, Indian Mahayana literature contains numerous similar ideas that relate to the Buddha's power to influence living beings, such as anubhāva and adhiṣṭhāna. These ideas can be understood as the Buddha's "supernatural power," "grace," "empowerment," "divine blessings," and "divine protection".
Pure Land Buddhism considers itself the "easy path" because it relies on other power, while other Buddhist paths are seen as self power paths, also called "the path of sages". While all Mahayana Buddhists agree that the Buddha's power has some effect on Buddhist practitioners, different Mahayana traditions have different accounts of how the other power of the Buddha works and how one's own practice interacts with it. Some Pure Land Buddhists hold that we must abandon all "self power" practices and all self effort, and rely only on Amitabha Buddha's other power. Others hold that one's own "self power" becomes linked with the power of the Buddha through "sympathetic resonance". This view of the cooperation of self power and other power is more common in Chinese Pure Land thought.
Tibetan Buddhism also affirms that there are multiple causes to rebirth in a Pure Land, and that both the Buddha's power and the power of one's own karmic force are contributing causes.

Indian precedents

Early Buddhism

Among the early Buddhist schools, there were different opinions about the powers of the Buddha. All the schools accepted that the Buddha had various magical and psychic powers and that he could perform miracles. Some schools had a much more exalted view of the Buddha, while others still held that his powers were limited by his physical and impure human body. The Mahāsāṃghika schools saw the Buddha's powers as being transcendent and immense. Thus, the Lokānuvartanā sūtra, one of the few surviving Mahāsāṃghika sources, states that "the wisdom, the merits and the power of the Buddha are immeasurable." This sutra also states that the strength of the Buddha is "irresistible", "inexhaustible", "immeasurable" and "incomparable", and is able to shake all Buddhalands with one finger.
Likewise, Vasumitra's Wheel of the Formation of Doctrinal Divisions states that a central tenet of the Mahāsāṃghikas was that "the material body, supernatural power and lifespan of a Buddha is unlimited." The Mahāsāṃghika also held that the Buddha was always in samadhi, and that all the speech of the Buddha was completely perfect since all of it was actually one single divine sound.
Furthermore, the Mahāsāṃghika school seems to have promoted devotional practice and bhakti to a high status and to have anchored this practice in the purity and radiance of the Buddha. The Mahāvastu, one of the few surviving Mahāsāṃghika texts, states:

The purity of the Buddha is so great that the worship of the Exalted One is sufficient for the attainment of Nirvāna, and that one already acquires endless merit by merely walking round a stupa and worshipping it by means of floral offerings...from the Buddha’s smile, there radiate beams which illuminate the entire buddhafields.

Mahāyāna sūtras

There are various Sanskrit concepts found in the Mahāyāna sūtras that are precedents to the East Asian concept of "other power", including:

Buddhānubhāva - This term refers to the "majesty", "authority, or "causal power" of the Buddha which can influence others. In numerous Mahayana Sutras, the Buddha's disciples are often depicted as speaking or teaching "through the Buddha's power".
Buddhādhiṣṭhāna - Refers to the "sustaining power" or "supporting force" of the Buddha, often associated with his ability to inspire or bless beings.
Buddha-bala - This term literally means "the strength of the Buddha," where *bala* refers to the Buddha's strength or power, or more specifically, to special supranormal powers the Buddha has which he uses to perform miracles, such as the famous Twin Miracle. There are various lists of the Buddha's powers, such as the "ten powers", as well as lists which make use of other terms for magical power, such as ṛddhi and abhijñā.
Pariṇāmana - The idea that the Buddha performs a "transference of merit", that he can infuse living beings with his measureless spiritual goodness, or "merit".
Praṇidhāna - The bodhisattva vows made by a Buddha when they were a bodhisattva is considered to have generated vast spiritual power and merit. This power, called "the power of the past vows", can help living beings who call on the Buddha's aid.
Buddhāvabhāsa and Buddhajñāna. The light of the Buddha is sometimes used to signify his illuminating power or his knowledge, which in various Mahayana sources, like the Avatamsaka Sutra, is said to be all pervasive and omnipresent. According to sutras like the Avatamsaka, the Buddha's light and knowledge is said to be always influencing living beings throughout the cosmos.

According to Robert H. Sharf, terms like buddhādhiṣṭhāna and buddhānubhāva "are ubiquitous in Buddhist materials, where they denote the incursion of the divine into the mundane realm". Sharf also writes that these terms:

refer to the power of a tathāgata to come to the assistance of the supplicant, making possible the transposition of the supplicant into the realm of the buddha without the aid of supernormal powers acquired through one's own meditative accomplishment. Depending on context, these terms can be rendered in English as "supernatural power," "grace," "empowerment," "divine blessings," "divine protection," and so on. Such power or grace is not only directly toward sentient beings, but also toward sacred enclosures, religious implements, scriptures.

Douglas Osto meanwhile explains adhiṣṭhāna as "the ability to generate, manipulate and control reality", as well as "the power to induce visions in others and inspire them to speak the Dharma" as well as the power to radiate rays of light in all directions which teach Dharma. It also refers to the ability to enter samadhi, attain liberations, and the Dharma gateways. In Mahayana sutras, the Buddhas are seen the ultimate source of this spiritual power.

The ten powers

There are several expositions of the power of the Buddha in the Early Buddhist Texts. Some sutras contain explanation of miracles and great feats performed by the Buddha. Other sutras outline his various amazing magical and wisdom powers. One common listing is the ten powers, which are discussed in sources like the Mahāsīhanāda-sutta which also has a Chinese parallel in the Foshuo shenmao xishu jing 佛説身毛喜豎經.
These powers are also discussed in Mahayana sutras and in Pali exegetical literature as well. The ten powers as listed in the Dà zhìdù lùn are:

Knowledge of what is possible and what is impossible
Knowledge of the results of all actions in all times
Knowledge of the dhyānas, samadhis, liberations, absorptions, equilibriums, afflictions, purifications, and abidings.
Knowledge of the degree of the moral faculties of beings
Knowledge of the aspirations of beings
Knowledge of worlds and their acquired dispositions or dhātus
Knowledge of the way leading to the various destinies
The knowledge of former abodes
The knowledge of death and rebirth
The power of the destruction of the impurities

Some lists of the ten powers are slightly different. For example, the Pali listing includes a "knowledge of all worlds composed of various and diverse elements", referring to material elements. According to the Theravada Niddesa-aṭṭhakathā, these powers are unique to the Buddhas.

In Prajñāpāramitā literature

The Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra contains various statements on the Buddha's power to influence the speech of his disciples. Indeed, most of the statements made in the sutra by figures other than the Buddha, like Subhuti or Sariputra for example, are said to be caused by the Buddha's power. For example, the initial chapter of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā states:

Whatever, Venerable Sariputra, the Lord’s Disciples teach, all that is to be known as the Tathagata’s work. For in the dharma demonstrated by the Tathagata they train themselves, they realise its true nature, they hold it in mind. Thereafter nothing that they teach contradicts the true nature of dharma. It is just an outpouring of the Tathagata's demonstration of dharma.

The Aṣṭasāhasrikā also states the Buddha's power sustains and supports bodhisattvas as they practice the path:

Sariputra: It is through the Buddha's might , sustaining power and grace that bodhisattvas study this deep perfection of wisdom, and progressively train in Thusness?

The Bhagavan: So it is, Sariputra. They are known to the Tathagata, they are sustained and seen by the Tathagata, and the Tathagata beholds them with his Buddha-eye.

Other Prajñāpāramitā sources go even further, claiming that the Buddha's power can not only inspire beings, but liberate them. The Dà zhìdù lùn states:

The power of the Buddha is immeasurable : it is a trifle for him to save the beings of the three-thousandfold world system.

The Dà zhìdù lùn then asks why are any other Buddhas needed and why all beings have not already been saved by the Buddha's power? To which three main reasons are given:

"Because beings are infinite in number and do not all ripen at the same time."
"causes and conditions vary for each being."
There are a measureless number of world systems, and "universes are infinite and unlimited in number. If they were finite and limited, the number of beings would be exhausted."