Sailing west

West is the direction of the Pureland. The Pureland is the land of Amida Buddha, a land to create here, a land to hope for, a land to be reborn in.
Pure Land Buddhism is based upon the Pure Land sutras first brought to China circa 150 by the Parthian monk An Shih Kao and the Kushan monk Lokaksema, which describe Amitabha, one of the Five Wisdom Buddhas, and his heaven-like Pure Land, called Sukhavati.
A whole series of Buddhist Pureland masters developed the concept of a Pureland in the west, where the Buddha of measureless light and life is residing, further.
One can see this as mythos only, but it is more than that. It is central to one of the most esoteric and exoteric, mystical and practical, profound and easy, sophisticated and simple, singular and encompassing branches of Buddhism.
An other central and essential aspect of this kind of Buddhism is the Nembutsu, the calling of Amida Buddha's name, which is to be practiced, silent in yourself or verbal as a kind of mantram at least one time every hour of one's waking life. (In the Jodoshu school).