I found that to be very confusing. Pure Land Buddhism seems to be based entirely on mystical experiences of Gotama’s followers after he died and gained final parinibanna, before and after the Pali Canon was recorded.

The bodhisattvas are not fully purified, right? They aspire to go to the Pure Land to get further teaching. At the same time, they wish to return to the earth to teach and thus delay their full enlightenment. In other words, they don’t die and attain Parinibanna because if you do that, you do not take any more samsaric existences. 

It also sounded like in the Pure Land there are the Pure Beings that radiate “pureness” and that creates a pure sphere or Pure Land, which is accessible by impure beings.It’s interesting! I’m sure I didn’t grasp it fully. Mahayana Buddhism has lots of Sutras that aren’t attributed to the Pali Canon. It embraces self and existence in a way that Gotama Buddha did not promote.

However, all the various schools of Buddhism accept the Pali Canon as the basis. All these schools are amicable with each other, based on their acknowledgment of Gotama Buddha.