Nine grades of Buddhists to be born in the Pure Land
 
Nine Stages of Lotus Flowers or Nine Grades, Classes of Lotus Flowers, i.e. upper superior, middle superior, lower superior, upper medium, middle medium, lower medium, upper inferior, middle inferior and lower inferior, which represent ninefold future life into Pure Land. The nine grades, or rewards, of the Pure Land, corresponding to the nine grades of development in the previous life, upon which depends, in the next life, one's distance from Amitabha, the consequent aeons that are required to approach Amitabha, and whether one's lotus will open early or late.
 
1.Those of genuine faith and firm resolution, who are still distracted of mind during reciting, will be born into the lower inferior of the Buddhaland.
 
2.Those who have overcome their distractions more or less will be born into the middle inferior.
 
3.Those who are free from distractions will be born into the upper inferior.
 
The aforementioned three grades of beings, though still subjected to illusions of perceptions, would be born in the Buddhaland where saints and layman live together (the four Buddhalands of Supreme Happiness are all Pure Lands). Once born there, never will they recede. (According to the doctrine of some other Buddhist sects, however, one must wipe out all illusions from perception if he is to attain the coveted Never-Receding Position.)
 
Those who can recite without negligence and distraction at all times and also recite with an unperturbed mind like an Arhat, shall be born into the Temporary Realm and shall be graded in the upper, middle and lower, medium.
 
Those who can realise, by self-experiencing, the ultimate reality under-lying everything, and non-differentiation between mind and Buddha, and who, like the Ignorance-free Bodhisattvas, are detached from any influence, shall be graded in the upper superior, middle superior or lower superior and shall be born in The Realm of Permanent Reward and Freedom and the Realm of Eternal Light and Tranquillity.
 
As it is profound, simple and adaptable to the followers at all levels, the Name-reciting Method is popular, appealing and universal.