日本中世最負盛名的文學作品《平家物語》，對往生淨土頗多著墨。《平家物語》的著墨反映了何種時代精神？而這種精神又蘊涵著何種意義？本文藉由當時之時代背景與社會構造，探討往生淨土思想之形成。並聚焦於作品中之主角平重衡與平維盛，自二人求生淨土的表現，闡釋日本人如何美化佛教中所闡述之淨土思想。期藉此研究，對於中世日本人的死生觀做進一步探討，並期深掘日本文化中所蘊涵之死亡美學。

Heikemonogatari, the most famous work of Middle Age Japan, contains many descriptions about jyodo, “the pure land” or the afterlife. What kind of spirit of times do these descriptions reflect? What significance does this spirit embody? This paper discusses the formation of the idea of jyodo from the perspectives of the background of the time and the social structure of that time. Moreover, the paper explicates, with the focus on the two major characters of the work, Taira Shigehira and Taira Koremori, how Japanese aesthetize the Buddhist jyodo philosophy. It is hoped that this research can present a further study of the philosophy of life and death of Middle Age Japanese, and an advanced exploration of the death aesthetics in Japanese culture.