THE ABC OF AMITABHA
shakyamuni says:
“ALL beings can
become buddhas”
when shakyamuni
attained
complete and
perefct
enlightenment
some
2,500 years ago, he
perceived
the world with the buddha-eye (the eye of the most profound wisdom) for the
first time in his life. he acquired the spiritual power of “knowing and seeing
things as they really are”.
to his great joy and delight, he saw that
the buddha-nature (the essence and potential of buddhahood) is present in every
sentient being. in other words, all human beings can become buddhas. and he has
said so.
the
present liftetime presents everyone with the golden opportunity
to seek spiritual emancipation and enlightenment. his message is to do it now! we can do all do it. the buddha has
repeatedly said so.
how?
of the 84,000 expedients and methods of training taught by shakyamuni, the
simple and mindful practice of chanting or reciting the name of amitabha, the
buddha of infinite light and infinte life, has proved to be the most popular
and successful among the mahayanists.
amitabha buddha has made the great vow to
save. liberate and enlighten all sentient beings who have faith in him.
shakyamuni
has assured us that all beings can become buddhas because of their intrinsic
buddha-nature and potential for full enlightenment.
moreover,
he has also taught us that we can attain buddhahood by diligently and
faithfully chanting or reciting the name of amitabha buddha. and, anybody can
do it. just chant or recite amitabha with heartfelt faith and constant
mindfulness. with sincerity and zeal.
namo amitabha
Main Text: 4 pages (1,617 words) Notes: 5 pages (2,262 words)
THE ABC OF AMITABHA
` A
Amita Immeasurable, infinite, boundless
As the Name of the Buddha of
the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, Amita is interpreted as an
abbreviation of Amitabha (Infinite
Light) and Amitayus (Infinite Life).
Amituo (Chinese)
Amida
(Japanese)
Amitabha
Amitabha is the most commonly used name for the Buddha of Infinite Light and
Life. Amitabha presides over the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, where
anyone (everyone) can be reborn through
the utterly sincere recitation of His Name, particularly at the time of death.
At the highest level of
noumenon (consciousness, reality, thusness), Amitabha Buddha represents the
True Mind, the Self Nature (Buddha Nature) common to the Buddhas and sentient
beings – all-encompassing and all-inclusive. – PURE LAND ZEN/ZEN PURE LAND, p.
235
As embodied in, and personified
by the Buddha Amitabha, Buddha Nature is the spiritual common denominator of
all sentient beings. Because of their intrinsic Buddha Nature (the spiritual
DNA), all sentient beings are spiritually destined to (eventually and
ultimately) become Buddhas.
“Because of his majestic and
celestial radiant light, the Buddha of Measureless Life is the first among the
Most Honoured Ones. The radiant light of all the (other) Buddhas cannot surpass
the light of this Buddha,” the Buddha Shakyamuni said to Ananda. Only
Amitabha’s Infinite Light reaches all the other Buddha-lands in the ten regions
of the universe. – THE LAND
OF BLISS
“Amitabha not only possesses
infinite light, but, more importantly, he is himself Light in the highest sense
of the term,” Dr Hisao Inagaki, Pure
Land
“To describe Amitabha’s
light simply as spiritual light is not enough. It is the wisdom that illumines
everything and reveals its ultimate reality. It is also boundless Compassion,
for it embraces all living beings and awakens them to Enlightenment…” – THE
THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, p. 22
“What is important, says
Shinran (1173-1262), is to see both ourselves and all others as having been
endowed with this immeasurable light and life of wisdom and compassion. When we
come to see this, we are enabled to see all others as buddhas. We are enriched
by a new perspective of ourselves as neither superior (n)or inferior. It is at
this point we come to a new view of our past, our future, our present and
ourselves,” Shoji Matsumoto and Ruth Tabrah, two contemporary Shin Buddhists in
Honolulu, Hawaii, have written on the Jodoshin (True Pure Land) faith and
practice of its great founder Shinran, the 13th century Pure Land
master in Japan.
“Shinran’s profound
insight is that only now, in the present life of this moment, can life be
satisfying and complete, and can we become what we are – our true selves…
“If we are to understand
Amida as our “true” Buddha we must see him as our reality, one with us and at
the same time one with all beings…” – THE NATURAL WAY OF SHIN BUDDHISM, pp. 45,
48, 56
In his deeply
insightful commentary on the Amitabha
Sutra (one of the three principal Pure Land scriptures), Master Ou-I wrote
in 1648 at the age of 49: “…This Pure Land teaching is all a matter of
comprehending that Amitabha Buddha is precisely our Buddha Nature, our Mind…” –
MIND-SEAL OF THE BUDDHAS, p. 10
In his 1993 spiritual
classic THE TIBETAN BOOK OF LIVING AND DYING (p. 236), Sogyal Rinpoche has
written that Amitabha Buddha “is the primordial Buddha of the Lotus or Padma
family to which human beings belong; he represents our pure nature and
symbolizes the transmutation of desire, the predominant emotion of the human
realm. More intrinsically, Amitabha is the limitless, luminous nature of our
mind…”
The Venerable Tripitaka
Master Huan Hua (1908-1995) taught his American disciples on the Friday
afternoon of 22 August 1975 :
“Amitabha Buddha has the closest affinity with us… We living beings may be
likened to iron filings and Amitabha Buddha is like a magnet which draws us in
to the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss (Amitabha’s Pure Land where every being
is assured of attaining the complete spiritual liberation and the consummate
enlightenment)…” – BUDDHA ROOT FARM, pp. 41-42 12.12.2008 15th day of 11th
lunar month 0651 0700
Amitabha Samadhi
While
in Samadhi (profound pure concentration), the Buddha Shakyamuni taught and
transmitted the Pure
Land
According to a
Chinese translation in the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.), it was while dwelling
in the Samadhi of Great Tranquility that the Buddha Shakyamuni delivered the
premier Pure Land
In the
Avatamsaka Sutra (translated by Thomas Cleary, 1993, p. 1013), the Bodhisattva
Samantabhadra has thus spoken in verse:
“Buddhas have a concentration
called ultimate;
They preach after entering
this concentration,
Speaking to enlighten all
beings,
Boundless though they be…”
Amitabha
Sutra
(Amitou-jing) Also referred to as the Shorter
Sukhavativyuha Sutra, this concise but highly significant Pure Land Pure Land
An
abstract or executive summary of the Larger or Longer Sukhavativyuha Sutra on
the Buddha of Infinite Life, the Amitabha Sutra also importantly invokes the
Protection of All Buddhas.
In one of the
celebrated commentaries on the Amitabha Sutra, Yun-chi Chu-hung (1535-1615),
the eighth Pure Land Patriarch, has given ten reasons why the Buddha Shakyamuni
delivered this important sutra which teaches that holding fast to the Name of
the Buddha Amitabha is the simplest and easiest practice, containing the
essentials of the Pure Land Path to spiritual emancipation and enlightenment.
Another
classic commentary by the Ninth Pure Land Patriarch Ou-i (1599-1655) points out
that the ancients took the Amitabha Sutra as their daily study guide. He has
written that of all the expedient methods to attain spiritual liberation and
enlightenment, “the best is to develop faith (in the Buddha Amitabha) and vows
(to attain one’s rebirth in the Pure
Land
With
considerable insight, Master Ou-i has commented: “The intent of the (Amitabha)
sutra is that people should develop deep faith in the inconceivable powers of
this great name (Amitabha) and its myriad virtues, and singlemindedly recite
the Buddha-name…”
On the Amitabha Sutra, Dr Luis O. Gomez,
Professor of Buddhist Studies in the University
of Michigan China Taiwan Korea Vietnam Japan South America .” And also in Malaysia Singapore Southeast Asia .
According to
the Most Venerable High Master Hsuan Hua, the Amitabha Sutra will be the last sutra to disappear with the
imminent extinction of the Buddhadharma. And in one of his lectures to his
American disciples delivered in the autumn of 1969, he said: “When the Amitabha
Sutra has been forgotten, only the great phrase (of faith and devotion) “Namo
Amitabha Buddha” will remain among mankind and save limitless beings.
“Next, the word “Namo” which is
Sanskrit and means “homage to” will be lost, and only “Amitabha Buddha” will remain for one hundred years, rescuing
living beings.
“After that,
the Buddhadharma will completely disappear from the world. Because this sutra
will be the last to disappear (in the present Dharma-Ending Age, a period of
spiritual decline for some 10,000 years, and starting from about 1,000 years
ago), it is extremely important…” -- THE
BUDDHA SPEAKS OF AMITABHA SUTRA: A General Explanation with commentary by the
Venerable Master Hsuan Hua, 2003, p. 3
Amitayus
(amita-ayus) Infinite Life
Another name of
the Buddha of the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, the Buddha of Infinite Life.
“The life of
Amitayus is so long that it is impossible for anyone (even all the sentient
beings in the universe, even if all of them empowered with the wisdom of
solitary self-taught buddhas) to calculate
(even after millions of kalpas),” the Buddha Shakyamuni said to Ananda.
– THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, p. 256
As
translated by Prof Dr Luis Gomez (THE LAND OF BLISS, p. 83), ‘Amitayus’ neans
‘Measureless’ and ‘unlimited’ lifespan, exceeding “hundreds of thousands of
millions of billions of cosmic ages.”
German Buddhist scholar monk Lama Govinda
(1898-1985) has written that the Buddha Amitayus “symbolizes the infinity of
life, and is the active reflex of Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Light, whose
human manifestation is said to be Sakyamuni, the Enlightened One of our epoch.”
– BUDDHIST REFLECTIONS, p. 177
Ananda
Meaning ‘Happiness, joy.’ The name of a cousin of the Buddha Shakyamuni,
and one of His ten great disciples, and the closest to the Master, both born on
the same day. At the age of 55, Ananda was chosen and appointed by the Buddha
as His personal attendant, a post he held for 25 years until the Buddha’s
parinirvana.
Ananda committed all the Buddha’s sermons to memory, hence revered
as the Guardian of the Dharma, renowned as the first and foremost in hearing
and remembering those teachings. After the Buddha’s death, Ananda recited those
sermons, which were later compiled into a collection of sutras. Ananda attained
final Nirvana at the age of 120.
Of great learning,
bearer of the Dhamma,
The guardian of the Great
Seer’s treasure,
He is the eye of the
entire world,
Deserving worship, of
great learning. (Theragatha verse
1031
Anuttarasamyaksambodhi Supreme,
Perfect Enlightenment.
The ultimate goal
of Pure Land
In the very first public sermon which
the Buddha Shakyamuni (Siddharta Gautama) delivered to set in motion the Wheel
of Dharma, two full lunar months after attaining the supreme, perfect and
complete enlightenment at the age of 35 in the year 528 B.C., the Blessed One
declared universally that “I had understood, attained and realized rightly by
myself the incomparable , the most excellent perfect enlightenment (anuttaram sammasambodhi in Pali), in
other words, the perfectly enlightened supreme Buddhahood…”
(Quoted in DHAMMACAKKAPPAVATTANA SUTTA, p.
268)
In the Amitabha Sutra, the brief but
quintessential teaching on having faith in Amitabha Buddha, holding and
reciting the Buddha’s Name, and making the vow for rebirth in the Pure Land of
Ultimate Bliss, the Buddha Shakyamuni assured His leading disciple Shariputra
that all who do so “will irreversibly attain to anuttara-samyaksambodhi…” – THE BUDDHA SPEAKS OF AMITABHA SUTRA: A
General Explanation with commentary by the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua
(1908-1995), p. 164
12-13.12.2008 0151 0219
Arhat Buddhist
sage or saint who has completely destroyed his evil passions and attained
spiritual liberation from the samsaric cycle of birth and death. The term is
also used as an epithet for a Buddha.
Arhatship The
state of an arhat, the highest of the four stages of spiritual attainment
(sainthood) in the Theravada tradition.
While arhatship is
the goal of Theravada practice, Bodhisattvahood is to be attained in the
Mahayana.
Avalokitesvara ‘Regarder-of-the-Cries-of-the-World’
or Kwan-si-yin (Chinese)
Bodhisattva of
Compassion
Also known as
Kuan Yin (Chinese) or Kwannon (Japanese), and most popularly known and
worshipped as the Goddess of Mercy.
‘Lord of beholding,’
and one of the two principal bodhisattvas attending and assisting the Buddha
Amitabha in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, Avalok represents the infinite
great compassion of the Buddha of Infinite Light and Life.
The earliest
reference to Avalokitesvara is in the Lotus Sutra (Saddharma Pundarika Sutra in
Sanskrit, Miao-fa Lien Hua Ching in Chinese) where in Chapter XXV the
Bodhisattva of Compassion appears as the main protagonist.
In
W.E. Soothill’s translation of THE LOTUS OF THE WONDERFUL LAW (published by
Curzon Press, 1994, p. 250):
Wisdom’s sun, destroying darkness,
Subduer of woes, of storms, of fire,
Illuminator of the world!
Law of pity, thunder quivering,
Compassion wondrous as a great cloud,
Pouring spiritual rain like nectar,
Quenching all the flames of distress!
In the SURANGAMA
SUTRA (another major Mahayana scripture which emphasizes the power of Samadhi
(pure concentration) in attaining enlightenment), we learn that Avalokitesvara,
“The seer of sound, of sound the purifier” attained enlightenment through the
faculty of hearing.
In Upasaka
Lu K’uan Yu’s translation, the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara has spoken of his
method of profound meditation through hearing and sublimating hearing to attain
the Diamond Samadhi, to destroy the darkness of ignorance, obtain liberation
from suffering, and attain spiritual perfection.
14.12.2008 0703 0714
Avatamsaka
(Flower
Ornament) Sutra
The
basic text of the Avatamsaka (Hua-yen/Garland) School, founded by Tu-shun
(557-640). One of the longest sutras in the Buddhist Canon, it records the
highest teaching of the Buddha Shakyamuni which the Blessed One gave
immediately after Enlightenment. It is traditionally believed that this
monumental teaching was delivered before Bodhisattvas and other highly advanced
spiritual beings while the Buddha was in profound samadhi.
The last and best-known
chapter on “The Practices and Vows of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra” (a model
for the other spiritual aspirants seeking enlightenment to benefit all sentient
beings) represents the essence of the Bodhisattva ethic and practice.
“The Great Vows of
Samantabhadra are the right causes of
Buddhahood and the pure conditions for
rebirth in the Pure
Land
The following vow of Samantabhadra strikes a
strong and resonant chord with the millions of Pure Land
I vow that when my life approaches its end,
All obstructions will be swept away;
I will see Amitabha Buddha,
And be born in his Land
of Ultimate Bliss
Asvaghosha
Regarded by the Zen Buddhists as the 12th Patriarch,
Asvaghosha
(1st/2nd century AD)
has recommended the mindful practice of reciting the Buddha’s Name for the lay
public, ordinary men and women, to establish their faith.
In a major
commentary TREATISE ON THE AWAKENING OF THE FAITH (translated by S. Yoshito
Hakeda, 1967, p. 102), the Patriarch Asvaghosha advises a man seeking to
protect and strengthen his faith to do so “through the strength of wholehearted
meditation-recitation on the Buddha”:
“It is as the
sutra says: ‘If a man meditates wholly on Amitabha Buddha in the world of the
Western Paradise (the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss) and wishes to be born in
that world, directing all the goodness he has cultivated toward that goal, then
he will be born there.’ Because he will see the Buddha at all times, he will
never fall back (but continue to progress in his spiritual development until he
eventually attains the ultimate Buddhahood)...” 15-16.12.2008 0111
B
Bhadra-kalpa
Auspicious
kalpa (eon), the present period of which is the 9th medium kalpa (80
medium kalpas in one great kalpa). The Buddha Shakyamuni was preceded by
Kasyapa, Kanakakumi, , and Krachucchana. The next Buddha (the fifth of this
kalpa), Maitreya, will appear in the 10th medium kalpa. The rest of
the 1000 Buddhas of the Bhadrakalpa, i.e. the other 995 Buddhas, will appear
after the 11th medium kalpa. –THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, p. 387
Birth and death
The state of transmigration in the various realms of Samsara where
the countless beings repeat the interminable cycle of birth and death according
to the causal law of karma.
“Of all things from the beginning of time onward, this (ending of
birth and death) is the most extraordinary event, yet one only needs to begin
(cultivating spiritually to attain Bodhi (enlightenment) and spiritual
liberation),” Great Master Sying An (1686-1734) has written in his essay “An
Exhortation to Resolve Upon Bodhi.”
Blessed
One
(Bhagavant) This title is applicable only to the
Buddhas, in recognition of the blessed and venerable state of the most highly
perfected and enlightened beings.
The Chinese
equivalent is “World Honoured One.”
Bodhi The highest and transcendent wisdom, enlightenment.
The great 18th
century Chan and Pure Land Master Shixian aka Sying An (1686-1734) has composed
a highly inspiring and moving essay entitled “An Exhortation to Resolve Upon
Bodhi.”
Venerable
Master Hsuan Hua (1908-1995) has commented: “By resolving on Bodhi, we will have
what it takes to become a Buddha. People don’t create the opportunity to become
Buddhas unless they resolve on Bodhi (the full enlightenment). This is the
crux, the important message…” – AN EXHORTATION TO RESOLVER UPON BODHI, 2003, p.
6
Great Master
Sying An has exhorted (p. 71): “Make a deep resolve that will last for hundreds
of thousands of kalpas; in thought after thought, resolve to be a Buddha…”
Bodhi Mind
(Bodhichitta) The spirit of enlightenment, the aspiration
to achieve it, the mind set on enlightenment. It involves the twin goals of
attaining Buddhahood and saving all sentient beings.
Defining
bodhichitta as “the altruistic intention to attain buddhahood for the benefit
of all beings,” the Dalai Lama said in his teaching on the Heart Sutra in 2001:
“Bodhichitta, the method aspect of the path, is a critical factor necessary to
attain the omniscient mind (all-knowing) of full enlightenment – the mind of a
fully awakened buddha. Furthermore, it can be said that bodhichitta is the
defining characteristic of a bodhisattva, or what the Heart Sutra calls “a
noble son or noble daughter” (in the family of Buddha)…” -- ESSENCE OF THE HEART SUTRA, 2005, pp.
139-140
Khetsun Sangpo Rimbochay, a contemporary Nying-ma lama and renowned
yogi/scholar, has described the Bodhisattva motivation as “an aspiration
induced by love and compassion for highest enlightenment for the sake of all
sentient beings. It is called a mind of enlightenment, and it can transmute
whatever you do into limitless meritorious power.” – TANTRIC PRACTICE IN NYING-MA,
1996, p. 25
Elaborating on this mind of enlightenment, he has written (p. 125):
“It means that you have decided to strive for Buddhahood because you understand
that only as a Buddha will you be able to care for and help all other sentient
beings to escape the sufferings of cyclic existence and become Buddhas
themselves…”
Practice must
then follow (p. 139): “After generating an aspirational mind of enlightenment,
the next step is to develop a practical one. This entails practicing the six
perfections (of a bodhisattva): giving, ethics, patience, effort, concentration
and wisdom…”
The great
Tibetan master Je Tsong Khapa (1357-1419) has described Bodhichitta as “the
ultimate essential point of all the Mahayana paths” in a personal letter to a
disciple. – THE LIFE & TEACHINGS OF JE TSONG KHAPA, p. 74
And in Prayer for Rebirth in Sukhavati, composed in 1395, he has
written: “I easily attain the exaltation of Buddhahood for the sake of the
infinite beings!”
Bodhisattva A
being of enlightenment. One who aspires, vows, and practices to attain
enlightenment and to save all beings.
A bodhisattva
can be a highly realized being like Avalokitesvara, or anyone who has developed
the Bodhi Mind, Bodhichitta, the aspiration and resolve to enlighten and save
oneself and others. The Dalai has called for a deep sense of commitment and
personal responsibility “to free all other beings from suffering…”
And one who
has fully accomplished the ten stages of bodhisattvahood becomes a perfectly
enlightened being, a Buddha. 16.12.2008 1515
Bodhisattva
Vows A bodhisattva is committed and dedicated to the four great vows: to
save all sentient beings, to end all their afflictions and sufferings, to study
all the 84,000 Dharma-doors to spiritual emancipation and enlightenment, and to
realize the ultimate goal of Buddhahood.
Buddha
‘Enlightened one.’
One who has fully awakened and who has attained the highest wisdom and thus
realized the ultimate reality.
According to the Mahayana, a Buddha has three bodies:
(1)
Dharmakaya, the body of ultimate truth
and reality
(2)
Sambhogakaya, the glorious body of bliss
as the reward for His supreme merits and virtues, fulfillment of vows and
meritorious/virtuous practices, and
(3)
Nirmanakaya, the body of manifestation
in the human and other forms.
‘The
Buddha’, mentioned without further specification in Buddhist scriptures, refers
to Gautama, the historical Buddha, commonly known as Shakyamuni.
While Shakyamuni is considered to be a Nirmanakaya Buddha, the
innumerable Buddhas in the Mahayana are generally Sambhogakaya Buddhas.
The
Buddha Amitabha has all three bodies. And while His distinctive characteristics
are those of a Sambhogakaya Buddha, as clearly defined by the the 7th
century Pure Land Patriarch Shan-tao (613-681) and others, at the highest
spiritual level the Buddha of Infinite Light and Life represents the True Mind,
the Self-Nature, or the Buddha Nature of all sentient beings.
Buddhahood The crowning achievement of a Buddha, including
(Buddhabhava) omniscience, universal great compassion, and
total freedom from karmically conditioned existence in ignorance-bound and
craving-driven Samsara.
“All of us – any of us – can develop (spiritually) infinitely; and any
of us can attain buddhahood,” Tenzin Gyatso, Dalai Lama XIV (born 1935) has
taught.
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
“The
mind we possess right now, though it may presently be full of ignorance and
suffering, can eventually become the mind of an enlightened being, of a buddha. Where our material possessions
are concerned, finding contentment makes sense. But since there is no limit to
our spiritual potential and there is a limit to the span of our life, we must
make every effort to utilize what little time we have as well as we possibly
can with this precious human lifetime…” – ESSENCE OF THE HEART SUTRA, pp. 3-4
In a letter to two brothers in Yungchia, Master Yin Kuang (1861-1940)
wrote that those reborn in the Pure Land (and thereby spiritually liberated)
“will be close to Amitabha Buddha and achieve the boundless Self-Nature of
light and life…” – PURE LAND ZEN/ZEN PURE LAND, pp. 92 & 96
The Buddha of Infinite Light and
Life, Amitabha is our enlightened Self-Nature, intrinsically bright, boundless,
and everlasting.
“To bring the
mind into a radiant state of infiniteness is the object of the discipline of
the Buddhas,” Anagarika Dharmapala (1864-1933) has written on the Dhyana Yoga
in Buddhist practice. – THE ARYA DHARMA OF SAKYAMUNI GAUTAMA THE BUDDHA, p. 79
Buddha-lands Transcendent realms of the innumerable Buddhas in the Mahayana
tradition.
Buddha,
Dharma, Sangha The Three Jewels or Three Treasures in Buddhism – “the three objects
of reverence that define Buddhism and serve as guiding models in the spiritual
life of a Buddhist,” Gomez explains in his book THE LAND OF BLISS (p. 289).
“These
are the Buddha, or buddhas
generally, who singly or collectively constitute the Buddhist community’s
ideal, goal, and object of reverence; the Dharma,
as the set of practices and principle, taught by buddhas and held as ideals by
Buddhists; and the community of the followers of the Buddha, or Sangha.”
Buddha
Nature Also referred to as : Self Nature, True Nature, Original Nature,
Dharma Nature, True Mark, True Mind, True Emptiness, True Thusness, Dharma Body
(Dharmakaya), Original Face, Emptiness, Nirvana, Prajna, etc.
In the Mahayana, Buddha Nature is
the “true, immutable, and eternal nature of all beings. Since all beings
possess buddha-nature, it is possible for them to attain enlightenment and
become a buddha, regardless of what level of existence they occupy…Mahayana
sees the attainment of buddhahood as the highest goal; it can be attained
through appropriate spiritual practice.” – THE SHAMBHALA DICTIONARY OF BUDDHISM
AND ZEN
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
“When our
adventitious defilements are abandoned, we understand that a Buddha has been
there primordially (within ourselves),” Khetsun Sangpo Rinbochay clarifies. –
TANTRIC PRACTICE IN NYING-MA, pp. 159-160
And in
the purity and clarity of mind, we come “to meet the Buddha within face to
face” (to quote His Eminence Drubwang Konchok Norbu Rinpoche, teaching in
Singapore on Christmas Day 2004, THE SIGNIFICANCE AND BENEFITS OF SIX-SYLLABLE
MANTRA RECITATION, Feb 2007, p. 7)
Buddha
Recitation General term for a number of practices, particularly:
(1)
oral recitation of the Name of
the Buddha Amitabha, and
(2)
contemplation/visualization of
His auspicious marks and those of the Pure Land
“Reciting the Buddha-name proceeds from the mind,” Master Chu-hung
(1535-1615) has taught. The mind remembers (buddha) and does not forget. That’s
why it is called buddha-remembrance, or reciting the buddha-name mindfully...”
-- PURE LAND
PURE MIND, translated by J.C. Cleary, 1994, p. 92
In a
letter to the layman Liu Lo-yang of Su-chou (p. 63), Master Chu-hung wrote: “If
you see through where this mindfulness arises, this is the Amitabha of our
inherent nature…
“Even if you do not awaken
(fully), if you take advantage of the power of this mindfulness (of buddha),
you will be reborn in the Land
of Ultimate
One of the three “dragon-elephants” or most illustrious
scholar-monks of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) in China
“This buddha-remembrance is discipline (moral),
concentration (mental), and wisdom…” And his advice to all of us (p. 34) is to
“make the work of Pure
Land
In BUDDHISM OF WISDOM & FAITH (first published 1991, p, 228),
Dharma Master Thich Thien Tam has taught: “The main point to remember about
Buddha Recitation is that whether reciting slowly or fast, we should do so
distinctly and deliberately, the mind closely paralleling the utterances, mind
and utterances in unison…” Moreover, we
must practice with perseverance and singlemindedness (p. 231).
Quoting the ancients who have averred that “The sacred name of Amitabha
Buddha is the supreme method,” Master Thich Thien Tam has stated its essence in
nine words (p. 236) that “to recite the Buddha’s name is to become Buddha…”
Buddha
Recitation Samadhi
“You recite when you’re asleep, you recite when you are awake, to
the point that this phrase of the six magical syllables Namo Amitabha becomes indestructible,” Master Hsuan Hua (1908-1995)
taught his American disciples at the Gold Mountain Monastery in San Francisco 31 December 1979 .
“Its strength is more solid than that of diamonds. There is no way you
can destroy this Namo Amitabha. That
is what’s called the Buddha Recitation Samadhi…”
In BUDDHISM OF WISDOM & FAITH, Dharma
Master Thich Thien Tam has taught (p. 78): “The aim of the Pure Land Ever-Silent
Illuminating Pure
Land Pure
Land Land of Bliss Pure Land Pure Land
The principal and essential goal, Master Thich Thien Tam has taught (p.
189), is to achieve rebirth in the Pure
Land
According to him, it takes many eons of continuous practice to attain
the Buddha Recitation Samadhi. He has explained (p. 188): “Buddha Recitation
Samadhi encompasses not only wisdom but merit and virtue as well. This is
because the Pure Land
In a deeply insightful commentary on the
Amitabha Sutra which Master Ou-I wrote in the late autumn of 1647 at the age of
49, the distinguished scholar-monk has written on the power of reciting the
Name of Amitabha Buddha (MIND-SEAL OF THE BUDDHAS, p. 120): “Thus each
recitation of the Buddha-name is a method of achieving the mind of Supreme,
Perfect Enlightenment practiced by our fundamental teacher Sakyamuni Buddha in
the midst of this evil world of the five corruptions. In this sutra, Sakyamuni
Buddha is taking the whole essence of this Enlightenment and bestowing on
sentient beings of this evil and corrupt world…”
Recalling his own experience in the Afterword, he has disclosed (p. 124)
that only after having studied the various Pure Land writings, “I finally came
to realize that the Buddha-Recitation Samadhi is truly the supreme jewel. Only
then did I become utterly focused on reciting (p. 125) the Buddha-name – wild
horses couldn’t drag me away from it…” 16-17.12.2008 0747 0812
C
Chanting
the
Buddha’s
Name
The Chinese chant: Namu
A-mi-tuo-fo
The Japanese chant: A-mi-da
Butsu
The Vietnamese chant: Namo
A-di-da Phat
In Sanskrit: Namo Amitabha
Buddha
In English: Homage to Amitabha Buddha
The Vietnamese Zen Master Ven Dr Thich Thien-An teaches that “the
important thing is to chant with one mind (singlemindedness), concentrating
upon the chanting and excluding all other thoughts from the mind…
“We practice it until our mind becomes
perfectly calm and quiet and Amita Buddha is always with us. We practice it
further until we and the Buddha become one, until there is no name to be
chanted and no one to chant it (until the realization of emptiness). When this
happens, this land (the Earth) and the Pure Land
“To experience this
reality, one only needs to chant Namo
Amita Buddha in complete sincerity, mindfulness and faith…”
-- ZEN PHILOSOPHY, ZEN PRACTICE,
pp. 133-134
Chia-ts’ai A Pure Land
(cc. 620-680) Pure Land Patriarch Shan-tao (613-681) of
Su-chou. Well-known author of the highly influential PURE LAND TREATISE, in
which he fully expounds the essentials of the Pure Land teaching, and being
himself a devotee and exponent of the mien-fo
(Buddha Recitation, the mindful practice of chanting/reciting the Buddha’s
Name) recommends it to all the others.
According to Chia-ts’ai, constant recitation
of the Buddha’s Name yields three benefits: (1) evil thoughts do not arise and
karmic hindrances are removed, (2) the roots of good grow and the power of
visualizing the Buddha Amitabha increases, and (3) at the time of death one can
maintain right mindfulness of the Buddha (in the calm and pure concentration of
which one will see the welcome party of the Holy Sages from the Pure Land). -- THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, pp. 102, 106 18.12.2008 1348
Chih
I The founder and first patriarch of the T’ien T’ai or Lotus Sutra
School
(538-597)
and one of the greatest Buddhist
thinkers in China
In
his best known treatise on Pure
Land
Why do we concentrate on Amitabha Buddha
and why seek rebirth in the Pure
Land
Patriarch Chih I:
“During his entire preaching career, Buddha Sakyamuni constantly enjoined
sentient beings to focus on Amitabha Buddha and seek rebirth in the Land of Ultimate
“Moreover,
Amitabha Buddha possesses the power of His forty-eight compassionate vows to
rescue sentient beings…”
-- PURE LAND BUDDHISM: DIALOGUES WITH
ANCIENT MASTERS, pp. 16-17
Chin
Kung Officially ordained at the age of 33, Professor Chin Kung has
dedicated
(born 1927) his whole life to lecturing on the
Buddha Dharma. He has pioneered advocacy of Buddhism as education taught by the
Buddha. He has been propagating globally the Mahayana, particularly the Pure Land
“Be sure that with
every thought (and recitation) of Amituofo,
we have the same thought and vow of the Buddha,” Master Chin Kung has taught. –
COLLECTED WORKS, p. 441
Chu-hung Also known as
Yun-ch’i or Li’en-ch’i (Lotus Pond), and regarded as
(1535-1615)
the eighth patriarch of the Pure Land
School
“dragon-elephants” or most illustrious
scholar-monks of the late Ming period (1368-1644), together with his very good
friend Han-shan Te-ch’ing and Tzu-po Chen-k’o.
Trained as a monk in
both the Chan (Zen) and Pure Land traditions, Master Chu-hung has emphasized
strict observance of monastic discipline, active participation of laymen in
Buddhist life, and the dual practice of Chan meditation and Pure Land nien-fo (reciting the Buddha’s Name).
According to
Chu-hung, there are three requisites for attaining birth in the Pure Land
(1)
Faith that one can attain birth in the Pure Land
(2)
Aspiration to be born in the Pure Land
(3)
Practice in holding fast to the Name of
the Buddha Amitabha with a concentrated and undistracted mind as taught in the
Amitabha Sutra – thinking only of the Name, without being distracted by other
thoughts, one can control one’s mind and keep evil passions from arising. -- THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, p. 136
“If you recite
the Buddha-name for a long time until your mind is unified and undistracted,
then you are sure to awaken (to the Way of realizing Buddhahood),” Master
Chu-hung wrote in a reply letter regarding fear of death to Yuan Kuang-shou,
layman Hsin-yuan of Su-chou.
“Even if you
do not awaken (fully), the power of a lifetime of reciting the buddha-name will
give you the knowledge when you face death that you are sure to be reborn in
the Pure Land Pure Land
--PURE LAND PURE
MIND, pp. 56-57
Compassion
“Buddhist compassion is defined technically as the earnest wish to
relieve the suffering of all living beings. It is both a feeling and a state of
mind that can be cultivated in meditation,” Prof Dr Luis Gomez has written in
his book THE WORLD OF BLISS (p. 291). “In Mahayana Buddhism compassion is seen
as the motivation behind the vows. The compassion that Buddhas and advanced
Bodhisattvas possess encompasses all living beings, until the end of time, and
seeks to free them from all forms of suffering; it is therefore known as ‘Great
Compassion’ (Maha Karuna in Sanskrit)…”
To quote Tenzin Gyatso, Dalai Lama XIV: “According to Buddhism,
compassion is an aspiration, a state of mind, wanting others to be free from
suffering. It’s not passive -- it’s not empathy alone – but rather an emphatic
altruism that actively strives to free
others from suffering. Genuine compassion must have both wisdom and
lovingkindness. That is to say, one must understand the nature of the suffering
from which we wish to free others (this is wisdom), and one must experience
deep intimacy and empathy with other sentient beings (this is lovingkindness)…”
– ESSENCE OF THE HEART SUTRA, p. 49
Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, a contemporary
Kadampa meditation master and author, has written in TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE: A
BLISSFUL JOURNEY (published 2001): “Our compassion is our Buddha seed or Buddha
nature, our potential to become a Buddha. It is because all living beings
possess this seed that they will all eventually become Buddhas… (p. 73)
“Compassion is the very essence of a spiritual life, and the main
practice of those who have devoted their lives to attaining enlightenment. It
is the root of the Three Jewels – Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha…” (p. 174)
continued next page
18.12.2008 1720 1809
World-renowned British Buddhist scholar John Snelling has written in
his book BUDDHISM (1996, p. 21) that “the paramount Mahayana virtue is
compassion (karuna): a warm even loving concern for others infused with a deep
desire to alleviate their suffering. This is elevated alongside wisdom (prajna)
as the supreme virtues.
Added Snelling: “Compassion means ‘to suffer
with’ – actually to share and feel the sufferings of others as thouh they are
one’s own. Obviously, a breaking down of those psychological boundaries that
divided ‘I’ from others has taken place here. In Mahayana teaching, compassion
is thought to lead to a deep resolve to fulfil the goals of the spiritual life
in order to help others to become free (spiritually) – particularly free from
suffering. This is technically called ‘bodhicitta’ (‘Enlightened mind’) and its
presence elevates a person to the status of a bodhisattva (Enlightened being)…”
Dr
Albert Einstein (1879-1955), acclaimed by TIME newsmagazine (31 Dec 1999 ) as the 20th
century’s greatest scientific genius and Person of the Century, and who was
probably a bodhisattva as well, has written:
…Our task must be to free
ourselves from this prison (of personal desires
and affection for a few persons
nearest to us) by widening our circles of
compassion to embrace all living creatures
and the whole of nature
in its beauty… (As quoted by Sogyal Rinpoche
in GLIMPSE AFTER GLIMPSE
entry for February 6
In
his 1997 publication THE WAY TO FREEDOM, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama has cited
hatred as the greatest stumbling block to the cultivation of compassion and the
aspiration to enlightenment.
As Geshe Kelsang has put it in EIGHT STEPS
TO HAPPINESS (2000, p. 89), self-centredness and self-cherishing is the
universal stumbling block: “Self-cherishing is the main obstacle to cherishing
others, failing to cherish others is the main obstacle to developing great
compassion, and failing to develop great compassion is the main obstacle to
developing bodhichitta and entering the Mahayana path (to Buddhahood)… Since
bodhichitta is the main cause of great enlightenment, we can see that
self-cherishing is also the main obstacle to the attainment of Buddhahood…”
On the practice of compassion, the Dalai Lama has written in THE WAY
TO FREEDOM (p. 83): “At the beginning of the path (to final enlightenment) the
Buddha (Shakyamuni) developed strong compassion toward all sentient beings and
over the course of the path has brought that compassion to its ultimate level.
Compassion, being a virtuous state of mind and based on the clear nature of the
mind (in its pristine state), has the potential to increase infinitely…”
continued next page
The Dala Lama has also taught (p. 135): “It is by one practice alone
that Buddhahood will be in the palm of your hand. That one practice is great
compassion, meaning the desire to become enlightened in order to liberate
(spiritually) other sentient beings.
“In order to generate this aspiration to
enlightenment it is not enough to have great compassion and love, wishing
sentient beings to be free from suffering. In addition, what is required is the
sense of personal responsibility to shoulder the task of freeing them from
sufferings and providing them with happiness…”
From
great compassion arises bodhichitta, a mind of enlightenment, an altruistic mind
seeking enlightenment to benefit all living beings.
“Our
compassion is our Buddha seed or Buddha nature, our potential to become a
Buddha. It is because all living beings possess this seed that they will all
eventually become Buddhas,” Geshe Kelsang Rinpoche has explained in EIGHT STEPS
TO HAPPINESS, pp. 109-110.
“Therefore, the way to become a Buddha is to awaken our compassionate
Buddha nature and complete the training in universal compassion (embracing,
cherishing, and benefiting all living beings)…
“Compassion
is the very essence of Buddhadharma, and the main practice of a Mahayana
Buddhist…”
In
the last and most celebrated chapter of the voluminous and vastly profound
AVATAMSAKA SUTRA, Samantabhadra (Universal Worthy), the model bodhisattva, has
said in immortal words:
“If
a Bodhisattva accords with living beings, then he accords with and makes offerings
to all Buddhas.
“If
he can honour and serve living beings, then he honours and serves the Thus Come
Ones (the Tathagatas, the Buddhas).
“If
he makes living beings happy, he is making all Thus Come Ones happy.
“Why is this? It is because all Buddhas, Thus Come Ones, take the Mind
of Great Compassion as their substance.
“Because
of living beings, they develop Great Compassion.
“From Great Compassion the Bodhi Mind (the
Mind of Enlightenment, Bodhichitta) is born; and because of the Bodhi Mind,
they accomplish Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment.” 19.12.2008 0459 0500
Concentration
“The key to all methods of practice is deep concentration,” Pure
Land Master Chin Kung has taught. It is the essence of Pure Land
Right concentration (samma-samadhi) is one
of the main elements of the Noble Eightfold Path to full spiritual liberation
and enlightenment.
“Concentration is the practice of
developing one-pointedness of the mind on a single object (singlemindedness),
either physical or mental. The mind is totally absorbed in the object without
distractions, wavering (doubt), anxiety or drowsiness,” K. Sri Dhammananda, a
distinguished Theravada scholar-monk has taught and written in WHAT BUDDHISTS
BELIEVE (p. 84).
“Through practice under an experienced teacher, Right Concentration
brings two benefits: Firstly, it leads to mental and physical well-being,
comfort, joy, calm, tranquility. Secondly, it turns the mind into an instrument
capable of seeing things as they truly are, and prepares the mind to attain
wisdom.”
One-pointed concentration (samadhi) can develop the higher levels of
knowledge (up to arhatship, consummate sagehood) and access the very high
levels of consciousness.
Right concentration will lead to the
one-pointedness of calm and clear mind, equanimity, pure awareness and deep
insight into reality.
In the Concentration Sutra, the Buddha
Shakyamuni taught and urged: “Bhikkhus, develop concentration. Having developed
concentration, a bhikku (monk) understands dharmas (the Four Noble Truths) as
they really are…”
In
his commentary on the practices and vows of Samantabhadra in the last chapter
of the Avatamsaka Sutra, the Fifth Patriarch of the Garland School Kuei-feng
Tsung-mi (780-841) wrote his theory on the four kinds of nien-fo (mindfulness of the Buddha), including exclusively reciting
the Buddha’s Name, meditating on the Buddha’s image (a statue or painting),
contemplating/visualizing the Buddha, and concentration on the Ultimate
Reality: concentration on the inmost essence
of one’s nature and that of all other existences, i.e. universal
buddha-nature, associated and identified with the Buddha Amitabha. – THE THREE
PURE LAND SUTRAS, pp. 127-128
In a letter to Teng Po-ch’eng, a layman,
Master Yin Kuang (1861-1940), the 13th Pure Land Patriarch, wrote
that “the key to rebirth in the Pure Land is singlemindedness…” – PURE LAND
ZEN/ZEN PURE LAND, p. 37 19.12.2008 2343
Consciousness The term “consciousness” refers to the
perception or discernment which occurs when our sense organs make contact with
their respective objects. There are eight kinds of consciousness. They are: (1)
sight (visual) consciousness, (2) hearing (audio) consciousness, (3) scent (smell/olfactory)
consciousness, (4) taste (gustatory) consciousness, (5) touch (tactile) consciousness,
(6) mind consciousness (Mano consciousness or ordinary mind, (7) klistamanas
consciousness (defiled mind), and (8) Alaya consciousness.
The first five
consciousnesses correspond to the five senses. The sixth consciousness
“integrates the perceptions of the five senses into coherent images and makes
judgments about the external world…” to quote from A DICTIONARY OF BUDDHIST
TERMS AND CONCEPTS
On the consciousness of the
deluded or false mind, Sung-peng Hsu has observed: “The seventh consciousness
is the active center of reasoning, calculation, and construction or fabrication
of individual objects. It is the source of clinging and craving, and thus the
origin of the sense of self or ego and the cause of all illusion that arises
from assuming the apparent to be real…” The seventh consciousness has been
thoroughly ‘conditioned’ from beginningless time.
The Alaya
consciousness is also known as “store consciousness” or “karma repository.” To
quote again from A DICTIONARY OF BUDDHIST ERMS AND CONCEPTS: “All karma created
in the present and previous lifetimes is stored here. The alaya consciousness is
regarded as that which undergoes the cycle of birth and death… All the actions
and experiences of life that take place through the first seven consciousnesses
are accumulated as karma in this alaya consciousness, which at the same time
exerts an influence on the workings of the seven consciousnesses…”
According to the profound teaching on
Dependent Origination (Paticca Samuppada) -- the causal chain of suffering and
rebirth with its twelve interdependent causes and effects which the Buddha
Shakyamuni had discovered shortly before attaining the Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment, one could
end one’s suffering by breaking this irrevocable chain of karma through the
total eradication of one’s ignorance/nescience (the beginningless germ cell of
karma) and the extinctions of all forms of craving (the karmic DNA).
In the Heart Sutra, the shortest
Perfection of Wisdom teaching (only 260 characters in Chinese), we are taught:
“The Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara illumined the five skandas (the five
aggregates or constituents of being) and saw that they were empty. Thus, the
Bodhisattva Avalokisteshvara overcame all ills and suffering…”
Master Yin
Kuang (1861-1940) commented in a letter to a layman in Ningpo: “The five
skandas encompass body and mind as well as the external environment. If we
totally realize that they are empty, we are already free of them – even while
remaining part of them…” This is the enlightened consciousness, the perception
of the One Mind. -- PURE LAND ZEN/ZEN
PURE LAND, p. 100, 160 20.12.2008
0221 o227
Contemplation In
Buddhist cultivation and practice, mindfulness and concentration are two of the
seven factors of enlightenment; they are also two of the five controlling
faculties and powers that control the mind along the path to Nirvana.
Mindfulness protects
the mind as well as the object of contemplation/meditation.
Writing on
the path of easy practice based on faith in COMMENTARY ON
After
mentioning many Buddhas, Nagarjuna cites (in his own words) Amitabha’s original
vow as follows:
“If a man
contemplates me, recites my name, and takes refuge in me, he will instantly
enter the Stage of Assurance and subsequently attain the highest perfect Bodhi
(the Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment.”
Described as the
greatest Buddhist after the Buddha Shakyamuni, Nagarjuna expresses his
single-hearted devotion to Amitabha in a hymn, starting as follows:
“The
Buddha of Infinite Light of Wisdom, whose body is like a mountain of pure gold,
I
worship him with my body, speech and heart by joining my hands and bowing down
toward
him…” -- THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, p.
63
In Pure Land
In Book
26 of the AVATAMSAKA SUTRA (as translated by Dr Thomas Cleary, 1993, p. 729),
the Bodhisattva Diamond Matrix speaks on the fourth stage (of non-regression) in
the ten stages of bodhisattvahood, in which the bodhisattvas have to gird and
qualify themselves for their mission of universal salvation. And they have to
do so “by means of ten things that develop and mature knowledge (enlightened
knowledge).”
Starting
with non-regressing will and ultimate unbreakable faith in the three treasures
(the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha), the list of 10 things to do includes eight
contemplations of: the origination and extinction of conditioned things, the
non-origination of inherent nature, the formation and disintegration of worlds,
coming into existence due to actions (karma), the mundane world (of Samsara)
and nirvana, actions of beings and lands, past and future, nonbeing and
nonannihilation.
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
Those contemplations are
for the highly advanced cultivators.
For a layman, however,
the most appropriate as well as the most efficacious practice is reciting the
Buddha’s Name with complete faith, mindfulness, and wholehearted devotion. It’s
known to be the most successful short-cut to spiritual liberation – through
rebirth in the Pure
Land
“Amidst sensory entanglements, the method
of contemplation is hard to perfect. It would be better when you have time off
from your studies and from family business to silently recite the buddha-name
(Amitabha). What’s important is that every syllable be clear and distinct, that
every repetition be intimately taken to heart. Then mind will rein itself in,”
Master Chu-hung (1535-1615) advised in a letter to a layman Huo-ju.
“If you do this for a long time without giving
up, stable concentration will be achieved: this is contemplation.” -- PURE LAND PURE MIND, p. 55
Contemplation One of the three
principal Pure Land
(Meditation)
Sutra The imprisonment of King Bimbisara and Queen Vaidehi by their son
Ajatasatru in Magadha
According to the version as translated by
Hisao Inagaki and Harold Stewart in THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS (p. 371),
thirteen contemplations and the recitation of the Buddha’s Name are presented
as the causes of birth in the Pure
Land
The
methods of one-pointed concentration, contemplation and visualization include
contemplations of the image and the glory of the Buddha (the eighth and ninth
contemplations), and of His two personal attendants and special assistants the
Bodhisattvas Avalokitesvara and Mahasthamaprapta.
The Buddha
Shakyamuni concludes this Pure Land teaching on mindfulness of the Buddha of
Infinite Light and Life by reminding his closest disciple Ananda “to hold fast
to the Name” of the Buddha.
Craving In the ABHIDHAMMA (the Buddha’s teachings on Buddhist psychology,
(grasping/ metaphysics, consciousness and thought
processes, life, death, and rebirth),
greed) ignorance is shown as the past cause that
conditions the present, and
ignorance-spawned
craving/clinging/grasping/greed as the present cause that conditions the
future. In the Four Noble Truths, the first is suffering, the second is its
cause – craving, the third is the end of suffering through eradication of
craving, and the fourth Noble Truth is the Noble Eightfold Path to the end of
suffering, spiritual liberation, and enlightenment. Craving leads to rebirth. At dawn on the day
of His enlightenment, the Buddha Shakyamuni joyously and triumphantly declared
the “end of craving.”
21.12.2008 0318
Cultivation In Pure Land
Spiritual
liberation comes with rebirth in the Pure
Land
An expedient realm of the Buddha Amitabha, the Pure Land of Ultimate
Bliss is beyond Birth and Death, beyond the karmic gravity of Samsara.
In Padmasambhava’s
treatise THE INTRODUCTION TO AWARENESS: NATURAL LIBERATION THROUGH NAKED
PERCEPTION (of Buddha Nature and the ultimate nature of mind), this 8th
century great accomplished master stresses the need for spiritual cultivation:
“…Similarly, even though all beings actually possess the seed of
buddhahood,
Sentient beings will not attain buddhahood without experiential
cultivation.
Nonetheless, even a cowherd will attain liberation if he or she engages
in
experiential cultivation.
For, even though one may not know how to
elucidate (this state of enlightenment)
intellectually,
One will (through experiential
cultivation) become manifestly established in it…”
THE TIBETAN BOOK
OF THE DEAD, composed by Padmasambhava,
translated by Gyurme Dorje, published by
Penguin, London
In THE TIBETAN BOOK OF LIVING
AND DYING, Sogyal Rinpoche has written (p. 366): “Spiritual training, after
all, is the highest and in some ways the most demanding form of education, and
it must be followed with the same dedicated and systematic application as any
other kind of serious training…”
Master Hsuan Hua (1908-1995) has
taught: “In cultivating, one must return the light and illumine within. Do not
seek outside; everything is to be found within your own self-nature (your own buddha-nature)…”
LISTEN TO
YOURSELF; THINK EVERYTHING OVER, Volume Two, p. 36
CONTINUED NEXT
PAGE
Master Hua has also narrated (p. 42) how the great 20th
century Chan Master Hsu Yun (1840-1959)
attained enlightenment following the accidental breaking of a tea cup during a
meditation session at the Kao Min Monastery:
“One evening, during the
session, it came time for tea. Because Hsu Yun was wrapped up in investigating
his hua t’ou (meditation topic), his
eyes were closed. As he held out his cup – maybe the tea server was sleepy –
the tea server accidentally poured hot tea all over Hsu Yuns’s hand and scalded
it, causing him to release the cup and let it drop to the floor. The cup fell
to the floor with a crash and the sound prompted in him an instantaneous
enlightenment. It was a far-reaching and profound awakening. At that moment,
Hsu Yun wrote this verse:
The cup crashed to the
floor
With a sound crisp and
clear.
Empty space broke apart,
And the mad mind
immediately came to a halt.
“When the cup smashed to the floor, his ignorance was smashed to
bits, and he found his original face (self-nature/buddha-nature)). He
understood everything and immediately became enlightened; by becoming
enlightened, he immediately understood everything…” 22.12.2008 0412
D
Death
Death occurs
immediately after the cuti (the final
thought-moment) consciousness, the Buddha teaches in the ABHIDHAMMA, the
ultimate teaching on mind and matter, life, death and rebirth,
thought-processes and mental states, consciousness and spiritual liberation.
Though, with death,
the physical body disintegrates and the flow of consciousness (the continuum of
mind) temporarily ceases, yet the spiritual lifestream remains intact and not annihilated as the karmic force that
propels it continues to exert itself. Death is only a prelude to birth
(rebirth)… Please refer Narada Maha Thera, A MANUAL OF ABHIDHAMMA, p. 171
At the moment of death occurs a
thought-process that conditions the future existence.
“At the moment of
death, there are two things that count: whatever we have done in our lives, and
what state of mind we are in at that moment,” Sogyal Rinpoche has written in
his 1993 spiritual classic THE TIBETAN BOOK OF LIVING AND DYING (p. 227).
“Even if we have
accumulated a lot of negative karma, if we are able really to make a change of
heart at the moment of death, it can decisively influence our future and
transform our karma, for the moment of death is an exceptionally powerful
opportunity for purifying karma…”
In HOME WITH GOD IN
A LIFE THAT NEVER ENDS, the final installment of the CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD
series, the author Neale Donald Walsch comes to the conclusion that rather than
being the end, death is the ultimate moment of creation.
That existential
“ultimate” was definitely experienced by the Buddha Shakyamuni when He attained
the Parinibbana two and a half millennia ago. So did His leading disciplines
like Shariputra and Moggallana who had
gone before their Master, and so many of the other main disciples after the
Bleesed One such as the first two patriarchs Mahakassapa and Ananda after
attaining their arahatship and spiritual liberation from suffering and rebirth.
So have had many
other highly advanced cultivators, who had evolved spiritually, transformed
themselves, and defeated Mara even at the very moment of physical death. To
quote Sogyal Rinpoche again (GLIMPSE AFTER GLIMPSE, entry for November 4): “For
someone who has prepared and practiced, death comes not as a defeat but as a triumph; the
crowning and most glorious moment of life.”
In the ABHIDHAMMA (p.
267), death is described as “the consummation of the present life…”
In THE TIBETAN BOOK OF
LIVING AND DYING, Sogyal Einpoche has written (p. 11): “Life is a mirror in
which the entire meaning of life is reflected…”
The Tibetan master has
added (p. 184): “The Buddhist masters speak of the need to die consciously with
as lucid, unblurred, and serene a mental mastery as possible…”
In BUDDHISM OF WISDOM & FAITH,
Dharma Master Thich Thien Tam has written (p. 282): “”We must remember that
when death is impending, the practitioner should let go of everything around
him, including his own body and mind, and concentrate on the Buddha’s name,
earnestly seeking rebirth in the Pure Land. By so doing, if his life span has
come to an end, he will surely achieve rebirth there…”
For the Pure Land Land of Ultimate Bliss
Death-bed The Pure Land
experiences devotees and
great masters, has many accounts of spiritual and
transcendent
experiences in various Asian countries, where Pure Land
faith and practice has
spread.
According to THE SUTRA ON THE BUDDHA OF INFINITE LIFE, the Buddha
Amitabha and His holy sages will appear before a devotee at the time of death
to welcome him/her to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.
THE AMITABHA SUTRA
mentions the arrival of the Buddha of Infinite Light and Life with a large
retinue of sages and saints before a dying person who has single-heartedly
recited the Buddha’s Name from one to seven days. When he dies, his mind will
not fall into confusion, and so he will be reborn in the Pure Land
In Prayer for
Rebirth in Sukhavati (Land of Ultimate Bliss), composed in 1395, the great
Tibetan Master Tsong Khapa (Precious Master) wrote: “…as I approach the time of
death, may I behold directly the Leader Amitabha surrounded by his retinue such
as the two powerful sons (Avalokiteshvara and Mahasthamaprapta), and may I feel
intense faith to the Victor with his retinue!” – THE LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF
TSONG KHAPA (1357-1419). p. 208
And, composing in verse, he added:
“When the creative energy of life
is released,
May I behold clearly before my
eyes,
Amitabha surrounded by his
oceanic hosts,
And may my being be filled
with faith and compassion!”
Death-bed In THE
THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, Dr Hisao Inagaki has written \
rites (p.44)
that one must prepare for the death-bed experience during one’s
lifetime by “reciting the Sacred Name (Amitabha) continually and
cultivating merits with diligence.”
Inagaki has emphasized:
“What counts most for attaining this (wonderful) experience is not so much the
verbal practice of calling the Name as sincere devotion accompanied by
mindfulness. This mental attitude is also emphasized in the Three (Pure Land
In China Japan Pure Land
In the METHOD OF
CONTEMPLATION OF AMITABHA (KUAN-NIEN FA-MEN) Pure Land Patriarch Shan-tao
(613-681) gives his advice to the dying person and his family: “Turn you face
to the west and be mindful of Amitabha with singleness of heart. Making your
mind agreeable with your voice, repeat the Name (Amitabha) uninterruptedly, and
resolutely think of attaining birth in the Pure Land and be mindful of Amitabha
and the sages coming to receive you…” – THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, p. 44
Death
scene “The
climax of a typical Pure
Land
in Pure Land Pure Land
literature teachings
are confirmed,” Dr. J. C. Cleary comments in PURE LAND
PURE MIND, pp.
9-10.
“The believer dies
peacefully, even joyously (and beautifully), with mind and body composed, in
full confidence of rebirth in paradise (Amitabha’s Pure Land
Defilements In the
ABHIDHAMMA (pp. 324, 327), four main defilements are
(Asavas) identified: attachment to
sense-desires and sensual pleasures, attachment to existence, false or
erroneous views (of 62 kinds), and ignorance (avijjasava) with regard to the
Four Noble Truths, past life, future life, both past and future lives, and the
Law of Dependent Arising (Origination).
The Mahayana cites the three fundamental defilements of the triad of
evil passions: greed, anger (hatred, ill will), and stupidity (ignorance).
“Those who have
destroyed delusion and broken through the dense darkness (of ignorance), will
wander no more (in Samsara): causality exists no more for them,” the Buddha has
taught in the ITIVUTTAKA.
Master Chu-hung
(1535-1615) wrote to a layman Ch’in Ming-chung: “Of the essential (Dharma)
gates for illuminating mind, none equals reciting the Buddha-name (Amitabha)…”
– PURE LAND PURE MIND, p. 70 22-23.12.2008 0315 0322 0349
Definitely A stage
of spiritual evolution where a bodhisattva is assured of
Assured
State reaching
Nirvana and attaining the complete spiritual liberation and
the Supreme,
Perfect Enlightenment.
Delusion/ To
quote SHAMBHALA DICTIONARY OF BUDDHISM AND ZEN:
Ignorance “Delusion
refers to belief in something that contradicts reality. In
Buddhism, delusion
is a lack of awareness of the true nature or Buddha nature of things, or of the
true meaning of existence.
“According to the
Buddhist outlook, we are deluded by our senses… among which intellect
(discriminating, discursive thought) is included as a sixth sense.
Consciousness, attached to the senses, leads us into error by causing us to
take the world of appearance for the world of reality, whereas in fact it is
only a limited and fleeting aspect of reality.”
In BUDDHISM OF
WISDOM & FAITH, Dharma Master Thich Thien Tam has written (p. 161):
“Delusion (ignorance) is the source of all afflictions. Greed and anger stem
from delusion, as do pride, doubts and wrong views…
“The karma of delusion takes numerous forms.
The Pure Land
“Delusion can easily lead the practitioner
astray when he is challenged by other teachings and ideologies. This is a
particularly important point, as the Pure
Land
Towards the end of His teaching of the
Pure Land Dharma in THE SUTRA ON THE BUDDHA OF INFINITE LIFE (as translated by
Inagaki and Harold Stewart, pp. 312-313), the Buddha Shakyamuni said plainly to
Maitreya that “most difficult of all difficulties is to hear this sutra, have
faith in it with joy and hold fast to it. Nothing is more difficult than this.”
The Buddha then concluded (p.
313): “Thus have I formed my Dharma, thus have I expounded my Dharma, thus have
I taught my Dharma. You must receive it and practice it by the method
prescribed.”
On the great benefit from the unsurpassed
virtue in hearing the Buddha’s Name and the Sutra on the Buddha of Infinite
Life, hearing which sentient beings “will attain the Stage of Non-retrogression
for realizing the highest Enlightenment” (p. 312), the Buddha Shakyamuni said
to Maitreya: “This is why you should single-heartedly accept in faith, uphold
and chant this sutra, and practice in accordance with its teachings.”
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
Reminding all of us to follow the
teachings of the Sages such as the Buddha Shakyamuni and the great Bodhisattvas
like Manjusri and Samantabhadra who have taught us to seek rebirth in the Pure
Land of Ultimate Bliss, Dharma Master Thich Thien Tam has asked rhetorically
(BUDDHISM OF WISDOM & FAITH, p. 163): “If Buddhists are not guided by the
words of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, whom then should they believe?”
In a letter to a layman
Hsi-tsung of Chia-hsing, Master Chu-hung (1535-1615) taught him to recite the
Buddha’s Name to break through delusion (PURE LAND PURE MIND, p. 67): “When
delusion breaks up, that which develops from it is obliterated the same way
(spontaneously)…”
Detachment “You will
have to depart (from this life) leaving everything behind, so
from
self.
do not be attached to anything,” Atisha (AD 982-1054), the famous
Indian
scholar-monk and meditation master, has said in his farewell address after two
years of teaching in Tibet
In THE THREE PRINCIPAL ASPECTS OF THE
PATH (LAMRIN), also reproduced and published in EIGHT STEPS TO HAPPINESS (p.
264), the great Kadampa Master Je Tsongkhapa (1357-1419) has composed:
“…Whoever negates the
conceived object of self-grasping
Yet sees the infallibility
of cause and effect
Of all phenomena of
samsara and nirvana,
Has entered the path that
pleases the Buddhas…”
Although the empty ego, the delusory self and
the illusory “I” is non-existent to Buddhists, the ego (dak dzin in the Tibetan language, meaning “grasping to a self,” for
ever grasping but in vain) is the fundamental source of human suffering in this
world of appearance.
“Lifetimes of
ignorance have brought us to identify the whole of our being with ego. Its
greatest triumph is to inveigh us into believing its best interests are our
best interests, and even into identifying our very survival with its own. This
is a savage irony, considering that ego and its grasping are at the root of all
our suffering,” Sogyal Rinpoche has put it so felicitously in his spiritual
bestseller THE TIBETAN BOOK OF LIVING AND DYING (p. 121).
To leave the
ego behind, and to go egoless, we have to take the spiritual path -- in order
to end “the bizarre tyranny of ego” and to reach the wisdom of egolessness.
CONTINUED
NEXT PAGE
And to further
quote Sogyal Rinpoche (p. 125): “When your amnesia over your identity begins to
be cured (through spiritual training and mental/physical discipline to loosen
the self-driven hold of aggression, clinging/grasping and
negativity/stupidity), you will realize finally that dak dzin, grasping at
self, is the root cause of all your suffering. You will understand at last how
much harm it has done both to yourself and to others, and you will realize that
both the noblest and the wisest thing to do is to cherish others instead of cherishing
yourself. This will bring healing to your heart, healing to your mind, and
healing to your spirit.
“It is important
to remember always that the principle of egolessness does not mean that there
was an ego in the first place, and the Buddhists did away with it. On the
contrary, it means there was never any ego at all to begin with. To realize
that is called (the wisdom of) “egolessness”…”
In
the 1994 publication entitled NO AJAHN CHAH, a neat book of quotations culled from
various books by Venerable Ajahn Chah (1918-1993), the great Thai Theravada
monk spoke quite simply from the heart and mind (p. 89):
“We practice
to learn letting go, not to increase our holding on. Enlightenment appears when
you stop wanting anything…”
He said (p.
107): “Once you understand non-self, then the burden of life is gone. You’ll be
at peace with the world. When we see beyond self, we no longer cling to
happiness and we can truly be happy.
“Learn to let go without struggle, simply let
go, to be just as you are – no holding on, no attachment, free…”
On the need for self-detachment, Chan Buddhism
teaches that “if we let go of our self-centeredness (if we let go of our
attachment to the self), we will instantly see our “original face,” so we can
all attain Buddhahood,” Master Sheng Yen (born 1930) has written in CH’AN PRACTICE
AND FAITH (published 2005, p. 8).
“Our original face is the Buddha in our own
nature. The Buddha-nature is inherent in us, not acquired after cultivation…”
If one’s ego is completely negated and
emptied, one becomes a Buddha, as Pure Land scholar Inagaki has explained in
THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS (p. 35): “If one’s ego is completely pervaded by
Amitabha (through the infinite spiritual power of the Buddha’s Name and Light),
one realizes emptiness (the spiritual
liberation attained by an arhat, liberation
from self-attachment, the emptying and extinguishing of karmic defilements and
attachments which bind us to Samsaric existence),” Inagaki has written.
On the
Buddha’s Power and the Power of His Vow to save all sentient beings with faith,
Inagaki has written (p. 37): “Birth in the Pure Land and subsequent attainment
of Enlightenment is, therefore, the natural result of the working of this
Power…”
23.12.2008 2022 2223
Devotion Faith and
devotion are commonly spoken in the same one breath.
While faith is the
breath of the spiritual life, devotion is its blood, and
the Dharma its luminous
body and form as well as its eternal moving spirit.
Faith and devotion are
the two indivisible parts of the heart – the heart of
true spiritual practice.
“Real devotion is an
unbroken receptivity to the truth. Real devotion is rooted in an awed and
reverent gratitude, but one that is lucid, grounded, and intelligent,” Sogyal
Rinpoche has written in THE TIBETAN BOOK OF LIVING AND DYING (p. 140).
The Buddha has said, “It
is only through devotion, and devotion alone, that you will realize the
absolute truth…”
To quote Sogyal Rinpoche
again (ibid., pp. 139-140): “The absolute truth cannot be realized within the
domain of the ordinary mind. And the path beyond the ordinary mind, all the
great wisdom traditions have told us, is through the heart. This path of the
heart is devotion…”
The great Dzogchen teacher Dilgo Khyentse
Rinpoche (1910-1991) has written: “…When the all-pervading rays of the Buddha’s
compassion are focused through the magnifying glass of your faith and devotion,
the flame of blessings blazes up in your being…”
In the BHAGAVAD GITA (translated by Juan
Mascaro, Penguin, 1962, Chapter 9 verse 27, p. 82), the Lord God Krishna tells
Prince Arjuna: “I am the same to all beings, and my love is ever the same; but
those who worship me with devotion, they are in me and I am in them…”
In THE TEACHING OF THE
BUDDHA (published by Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai, Tokyo, and quoted in Notes, BUDDHISM
OF WISDOM & FAITH, p. 317):
“Amida Buddha is not far
from anyone. His Land
of Purity
“To those who have
faith, He offers the opportunity to become one with Him. As this Buddha is the
all-inclusive body of equality (the Dharmakaya, the Buddha Nature present in
every sentient being), whoever thinks of Buddha, Buddha thinks of him and
enters his mind freely.
“This means that when a
person thinks of Buddha, he has Buddha’s mind in all its pure and happy and
peaceful perfection. In other words, his mind is a Buddha-mind...”
CONTINUED
NEXT PAGE
Sung Bae Park Pure Land
In THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION (as
quoted in BUDDHISM OF WISDOM & FAITH, p. 3), Mircea Eliade, editor, has
described Pure Land as “the object of the most dominant form of Buddhist
devotion in East Asia...”
Dharma (a) The teachings of the Buddhas (generally
capitalized)
(b)
things, events, phenomena,
everything (often used in the plural)
(c)
duty, law, doctrine
(d)
name of a Buddha in the nadir
of the universe
Dharma Truth Body (Dharmakaya)
Body
“The Truth Body
is the body of emptiness that is beyond all elaborations of thought, the
ultimate truth fully realized,” Khetsun Sangpo Rinbochay, a renowned Tibetan
Nying-ma lama and yogi/scholar, has written in TANTRIC PRACTICE IN NYING-MA
(translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Snow Lion, New York, pp. 13-14). “How is this? The Truth Body, which is the
nature of Peace, has passed beyond all conceptions of object and subject; it is
a state of having extinguished all elaborations of thought, and from its essence
the Body of Complete Enjoyment (Sambhogakaya) arises.
“The
Truth Body is like a clear glass, and the light coming from it is the Complete
Enjoyment Body, a pure, eternal manifestation in form of the highest truth.
Emanations from the Complete Enjoyment Body manifest in any form necessary to
tame and help sentient beings. Each is an instance of an Emanation Body
(Nirmanakaya)…”
Please also refer to Buddha.
Dharma
Door School,
method, technique, tradition of spiritual cultivation and practice.
Dharma- A
10,000-year period of spiritual decline which started about one thousand
Ending
Age years
ago, and which will lead to the eventual extinction of the Dharma.
The first five centuries of Buddhism was a golden era of the Dharma,
although the Buddha Shakyamuni had talked of or referred to the coming of the Degenerate
Age in a number of discourses. “When my Dharma disappears,” the Buddha
said, “it will be like an oil lamp which
flares brightly for an instant before it goes out…” The Dharma shone and
illumined brightly for five centuries. 25.12.2008 Christmas Day 1425 1506
Dharma The
intrinsic nature of all things. Used interchangeably with
Nature “emptiness” (please refer Emptiness), “reality.”
Dharma The
term has several meaning in the sutras:
Realm (1) the infinite universe, consisting of worlds upon worlds
Dharmadhatu ad infinitum
(according to the latest report, scientists say
the
universe is still expanding),
(2) the nature or essence of all things,
(3) the Mind.
Dharma
Seals To quote the New York-based Van Hien Study Group:
“Sakyamuni
taught three “Dharma seals,” or criteria, to determine the genuineness of
Buddhist teachings, namely, impermanence, suffering, no-self. A fourth
criterion, emptiness, is also mentioned in the sutras. Thus, the Truth of
Impermanence is basic to Buddhism…”
They are the
four universal characteristics of the Dharma.
Dharmakara
(Dharma-store) The Bodhisattva who after innumerable
eons of cultivation became the Buddha of Infinite Light and Life, known in
Sanskrit as Amitabha (Infinite Light) and Amitayus (Infinite Life). Dharmakara
is eternally known for his 48 great vows which he fulfilled to become the
Buddha of Infinite Light and Life, the fulfillment of which has established the
Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss as the ideal spiritual environment for the
cultivation of all sentient beings with faith to attain their Buddhahood in one
lifetime.
While the
18th Vow promises rebirth in the Pure Land to all those who sincerely
and joyfully entrust themselves to the Buddha, who seek their rebirth in His
Pure Land, and who call His Name to show their faith and mindfulness, the 11th
Vow promises the humans and dewas (gods and other celestials) in the Pure Land
of dwelling in the Definitely Assured State of Bodhisattvahood and unfailingly
attaining their ultimate goal of Nirvana. That is, the Supreme, Perfect
Enlightenment of the Buddhas.
Diligence In his final
address to 500 disciples gathered at Kushinagara (modern Kasia) in the year 543
BC, the Buddha Shakyamuni concluded with an exhortation: “Strive on (to attain
perfection) with diligence…”
Khetsun Sangpo Rinbochay, a renowned Tibetan
lama and yogi/scholar, has written in TANTRIC PRACTICE IN NYMING-MA (p. 35):
“Through diligence you can become the highest (in practice and attainment), a
Buddha…”
Patriarch Chi I (538-597), one of China’s
greatest Buddhist thinkers and founder of the T’ien T’ai or Lotus Sutra School,
said that “from time immemorial, Pure Land practitioners have all diligently
recited Amitabha Buddha’s name…” – PURE LAND BUDDHISM: DIALOGUES WITH ANCIENT
MASTERS, p. 17 26.12.2008 0203 0225
Dipankara The
first of a long line of 54 Buddhas in the very distant past, the last
(‘Making of which (the 54th)
was Lokesvararaja, under Whom the king
Light’) Dharmakara pursued his
spiritual training after giving up his throne
and his kingdom
to become a monk, made 48 vows for universal salvation and accomplished the ten
stages of bodhisattvahood after innumerable kalpas of cultivation to become the
Buddha Amitabha.
Doubt In
the AHIDHAMMA (Narada’s publication, p. 32) doubts are listed
as the fifth
of six hindrances, the sixth of seven latent dispositions, the seventh of ten
fetters, and the sixth of ten mental impurities.
According to
the AHIDHAMMA (p. 68), a Sotapanna (Stream-Winner) who has entered for the
first time into the spiritual mainstream leading irreversibly to Nirvana,
removes the fetters of self-delusion and doubts. He gains implicit confidence
in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, and observes the five precepts of moral
discipline. Although he will be reborn seven times at the most to eradicate all
the remaining fetters that bind him to samsaric existence, he has already
embarked on his spiritual journey on the four-stage path of sainthood, and he is
destined to reach the ultimate destination after traversing the upper reaches
of Samsara to land on the Other Shore of Nirvana in the full blaze and bliss of
the Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment
In THE ARYA
DHARMA OF SAKYAMUNI GAUTAMA THE BUDDHA (p. 138), Anagarika Dharmapala (1864-1933),
founder of the Maha Bodhi Society in Calcutta India
Describing
doubt as “a fundamental activity of the unenlightened mind,” Sogyal Rinpoche
has expressed his view in his spiritual bestseller THE TIBETAN BOOK OF LIVING
AND DYING (p. 127): “I sometimes think that doubt is an even greater block to
human evolution than desire and attachment…”
Doubt is the
antithesis of faith – the first of the five seats of spiritual power as well as
the first of the five psychical powers in cultivation. In Pure Land faith and
practice, those who cultivate and gather merits and wish to be reborn in the
Pure Land, but who lack faith and wisdom, and who seriously and stubbornly
doubt about the Buddha’s wisdom, will be reborn in palaces on the border of the
Pure Land. There they will enjoy the pleasures like those of the Heaven of the
Thirty-three Gods. But they will be confined there like prisoners and
“spiritually quarantined” for 500 years (equivalent to many eons of earthly
time) – without being able to see the Buddha Amitabha, hear Him teach the
Dharma, etc. This will be distressing to them, and they will not enjoy living
there, as the Buddha Shakyamuni said to Maitreya in the Infinite Life Sutra.
The moral of all
this? “Maitreya, you should know that the bodhisattvas who allow doubt to arise
lose great (spiritual) benefits,” the Buddha said. “For this reason you should
have resolute faith in the supreme wisdom of the Buddha.” – THE THREE PURE LAND
SUTRAS, p.p. 309-310 26-27.12.2008 0221 0227
E
Easy
Path The Easy Path in Pure
Land
Of
Practice on the boundless power of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, in
particular
Buddha Amitable
(“other Power”) in addition to the diligence and vigour of one’s own
cultivation (“self power”). In contrast with the primary dependence on
self-power (the Difficult Path of Practice), as taught in the other Buddhist
schools and traditions.
To quote the New
York-based Van Hien Study Group:
“Equal reliance on
self-power and other-power distinguishes the Pure Land School
-- PURE LAND
ZEN/ZEN PURE LAND, p. 243
“There are
innumerable ways of entering the Buddha Dharma. Just as there are in the world
difficult and easy paths – traveling on foot by land is full of hardship and
traveling in a boat by water is pleasant – so it is with the paths of the
bodhisattvas. Some diligently exert themselves while others quickly enter
Non-retrogression by the easy practice based on faith,” Bodhisattva and
Patriarch Nagarjuna (c. 150-250) has written in the 9th chapter on
the Path of Easy Practice in COMMENTARY ON THE TEN-STAGE SUTRA.
“If a bodhisattva
wishes in his present body to enter the Stage of Non-retrogression and realize the
highest perfect Bodhi (the Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment), he should think on
those Buddhas of the ten directions (of the universe) and recite their names,”
Nagarjuna has also advised.
After mentioning
many Buddhas (the Names of 108 Buddhas), Nagarjuna paraphrases Amitabha’s 11th
Vow promising the Definitely Assured State
(“the Stage of Assurance”) and Nirvana (“the highest perfect Bodhi”) to
one/anyone contemplating the Buddha Amitabha, reciting His Name, and taking
refuge in Him.
Nagarjuna expressed
his devotion to Amitabha and took refuge in the Buddha of Infinite Light and
Life. – THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, pp. 62-63
“Being born in the Pure Land by reciting the Buddha-name is easy,” Master
Tsung-pen wrote in an illuminating commentary DIRECT POINTING BACK TO THE
SOURCE while serving as abbot in the Pure Land Zen Monastery in mid-sixteenth
century. “If they seek birth in the Pure
Land by reciting the buddha-name, not
one in ten thousand fails…”
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
Of the 84,000
methods, Master Tsung-pen has said that “none of them is as good as the one
phrase “Amitabha Buddha” (invoked, intoned, chanted, or recited in Pure Land
practice)…”
An adept of Zen as well as a Pure Land
“In the teaching of Amitabha Buddha, there is
both sudden and gradual, both inner truth and apparent manifestation. People of
superior faculties and wisdom take it up directly, see reality-nature and
become buddhas. The middle and lower sort are incapable of sudden
transcendence: they rely on the power of Amitabha Buddha and attain birth in
the Pure Land
“If you want to rise above the
cycle of birth and death forever, and attain the bliss of nirvana, you need the
Dharma-Gate of birth in the Pure
Land Pure
Land
Effortless The
ultimate state of Enlightenment in which everything occurs in
Spontaneity in accord with
truth and reality without effort; the nirvanic
state to be
attained in the Pure
Land
SUTRAS, p. 396
Eight Referring to the perception or discernment when the sense organs
Consciousnesses make contact with
their respective objects: (1) sight, (2) hearing, (3) scent/smell, (4) taste,
(5) touch, (6) mind, (7) Mano (defiled mind), and (8) Alaya consciousness
(karmic repository).
Based on the
theory of Consciousness-Only as formulated by Vasubandhu (c. 320-400), an
Abhidharma master and co-founder (with his brother Asanga) of the Yogacara
School, Inagaki has given a clear explanation on the eight consciousnesses in
his book THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS (p. 69):
“The frist 5 are
the 5 perceptive faculties and their objects. The 6th is the mental
faculty of reasoning and discriminating their objects. The 7th is
the ego-consciousness which clings to the 8th consciousness and thus
creates the illusion of self. The 8th is the basic consciousness
which stores all the physical and mental energies…”
In ordinary
and unenlightened beings, the 8th Alaya consciousness is defiled by
evil passions. On attaining Enlightenment, however, one’s Alaya is transformed
into the “Great Mirror Wisdom” of knowing all things as they are, along with
the conversion of the other consciousnesses: the first 5 into wisdom of
manifesting various physical forms, the 6th mental consciousness
into wisdom of clear discernment, and the 7th ego-consciousness into
the wisdom of realizing universal equality.
29.12.2008 0327
Emptiness As
defined in AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIONS (Vergilius
(Sunyata, Void) Ferm, ed.), the term connotes “first,
Void in the sense of antithesis of being; second, the state of being ‘devoid’
of specific character; third, Void in the highest sense, or Transcendental
Void, i.e. all oppositions synthesized…, and fourth, the Absolute Void or the
Unconditioned.”
In THE SUTRA
ON THE BUDDHA OF INFINITE LIFE, bodhisattvas attain the samadhis (transcendent
states of consciousness through singleminded concentration) of emptiness,
non-form and non-desire as well as the samadhis of non-arising and non-ceasing.
Inagaki comments: “It should be emphasized that in Mahayana the experience of
‘Emptiness’ is not a nihilistic one, but is the deep insight into all
phenomena, which next awakens boundless compassion towards living beings and
gives rise to practical knowledge of salvation (upaya)…” – THE THREE PURE LAND
SUTRAS, p. 34
To quote the Fourth
Dalai Lama: “The scriptures state that the
wisdom that realizes emptiness is the one true door (of spiritual
liberation), the only way we can become completely free from the grasp of
ignorance and the suffering it causes…”
(As quoted by the Fourteenth Dalai Lama in ESSENCE OF THE HEART SUTRA,
p. 123)
“Once we realize
emptiness directly (we become Buddhas) we have complete freedom (from all
afflictions and delusions). We can even control our death and choose our
rebirth,” Geshe Kelsang Gyatso has written in EIGHT STEPS TO HAPPINESS (p. 218).
Once we realize emptiness, ultimate truth, and become Buddhas, we can free
countless living beings from suffering.
Enlightenment The supreme
wisdom of knowing the ultimate reality, of
(Bodhi) realizing the
absolute and ultimate truth; the highest goal of
Buddhist
practice.
In His
inaugural teaching at the Deer Park Benares exactly two lunar
months after attaining the Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment in the year 528 BC,
the Buddha Gautama Shakyamuni said to the gathering of five monks: “… When, O
Bhikkhus, the absolute true intuitive knowledge regarding these Four Noble
Truths (suffering, its cause, its cessation, and the path to its cessation)
under their three aspects and twelve modes, became perfectly clear to me, then
only did I acknowledge in this world inclusive of gods, Maras, Brahmas, among
the hosts of ascetics and priests, gods and men, that I had gained the
Incomparable Supreme Enlightenment…”
-- As quoted by Narada in THE BUDDHA AND
HIS TEACHINGS, p. 94.
In THE SUTRA ON THE BUDDHA OF INFINITE
LIFE, the 11th Vow assures that all those dwelling in the Stage of
Non-retrogression in the Pure
Land
Equanimity A
detached state of mind, a sustained state of mental calm, a
(Upaksa) mental disposition or habit that allows the
person to experience
Equality opposites (contradictions) without
feeling partiality. Corresponding to notions of composure, non-discrimination
and even-mindedness, and the knowledge of the sameness of all dharmas
(dharmasamata).
“We ordinary people, not having
attained the mind of true equanimity, and still making the distinction between
ourselves and others, count life’s successes and failures, rights and wrongs,
praise and blame, in the tens of millions; no one can escape this condition,” Dharma
Master Thich Thien Tam has written in his commentary/manual on Pure Land
Principles and Practice BUDDHISM OF WISDOM & FAITH (p. 151).
To avoid being
judgmental, the Vietnamese Master has advised us to follow three principles:
(1) We should examine and correct our own mistakes, not watch or discuss the
transgressions of others, (2) When we are the object of slander or blame, we
should remain calm and forbearing and not seek ways to justify ourselves, and
(3) The practitioner should be steadfast in his determination, believe firmly
in the law of cause and effect (karma), and not be moved by words of praise and
blame from outside.
“No amount of
praise or ridicule from outside can make us good or bad, free from suffering or
mired in suffering; everything depends on ourselves,” he has commented (p.
153). “If we create good karma, even though we are despised as evil and full of
transgressions, we will still be reborn in the higher realms…”
He has also
taught us to cultivate equanimity and respect. “The Buddhas view sentient
beings as Buddhas and therefore attempt, with equanimity and great compassion,
to rescue them.” Master Thich Thien Tam has written (p. 36).
“As disciples
of the Buddhas, we should follow their teachings and develop a mind of
equanimity and respect towards sentient beings; they are the Buddhas of the future and are all endowed with the
same Buddha Nature. When we cultivate with a mind of equanimity and respect, we
rid ourselves of the afflictions of discrimination and scorn, and engender
virtues…”
All beings, since they have the same Buddha
Nature, are to be regarded and treated with due respect as being completely
equal. In Buddhist practice, equality and equanimity are to be realized
together in the full complement of the wisdom of equality – one of the five
wisdoms of the Buddhas.
Evil
paths The three evil realms, the three evil paths of the beings of hells,
the hungry ghosts, and the animals – the karmic embodiments of the three main
defilements and evil passions of greed, anger/hatred, and stupidity/ignorance.
The three evil realms are non-existent in the
Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, in fulfillment of the Buddha’s 1st Vow.
And, according to the 16th Vow, no being “should even hear of any
wrongdoing” in the Pure
Land
Expedients/ Also
referred to as skillful means, skill-in-means, referring
Expedient to
strategies, methods, devices, targeted to the capacities,
Means circumstances, dispositions, likes and dislikes of each sentient
being,
(Upaya) so
as to communicate the Dharma to him/her/it and lead one to the
ultimate goal of the complete and perfect
Enlightenment.
Buddhism
speaks of the 84,000 Dharma-doors or expedients to rescue all living beings
from the bondage of karma and illusion, craving and ignorance.
Manjushri,
Bodhisattva of Wisdom, said to Fa-chao:”…All the phenomena of enlightenment,
from the perfection of wisdom, to meditative concentration, to Buddhahood, are
all born from reciting the Buddha-name. Thus we know that reciting the
Buddha-name is the king of all the dharmas. You must constantly be mindful of
(Buddha Amitabha), the Supreme Dharma King…” PURE LAND PURE MIND, p. 184
In an exhaustive letter to the
laywoman Hsu Fu-hsien, Master Yin Kuang (1861-1940) emphasized that the Pure Land
The
Noble Also known as the Midle Path to Nirvana, the Golden Way
Eightfold
Path Enlightenment
consists of eight factors: Right Understanding, Right
Thoughts, Right
Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and
Right Concentration.
The Fourth
Noble Truth of the path to the cessation of suffering, the Noble Eightfold Path
to the supreme bliss of Nirvana is paved by the eight factors of cultivation:
of which the first two (Right Understanding and Right Thoughts/Intentions) are
classified as Wisdom (panna), the following three factors (Right Speech, Right
Action, and Right Livelihood) as Morality/Moral Discipline (sila), and the last
three factors of cultivation (Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right
Concentration) as Meditative-Concentration (Samadhi).
“According to
the order of development Morality, Concentration, and Wisdom are the three
stages on the Grand Highway
In His inaugural DHAMMACAKKA SUTTA,
the Buddha said: “The Middle Path leads to tranquility, realization,
enlightenment and nibbana…”
In the
DHAMMAPADA (as translated by Venerable Acharya Buddharakkhita), the Buddha
taught in the beautiful verse (183):
To avoid all evil,
to cultivate good,
and to cleanse (purify)
the mind – this is the teaching of the
Buddhas.
In teaching
that the Pure Land
“Discipline
means preventing wrongdoing. If you can wholeheartedly practice
buddha-remembrance (reciting the Buddha’s Name with complete mindfulness), evil
will not dare to enter – this is discipline.
“Concentration means eliminating the scattering (characteristic of
ordinary mind). If you wholeheartedly practice buddha-remembrance, mind does
not have any other object – this is concentration.
“Wisdom
means clear perception. If you contemplate the sound of the buddha-name
(Amitabha) with each syllable distinct, and also contemplate that the one who
is mindful and the one who is the object of this mindfulness are both
unattainable (intrinsically empty) – this is wisdom…”
In a talk to householders, Master Ch-hung
said (pp. 34-35):
“Buddha-remembrance (reciting the Buddha’s Name) is the most important
thing in life… Just be concerned with purifying your mindfulness of Buddha
(Amitabha)…”
With the
eventual (and by then spontaneous) appearance of the correct mindfulness in a
lifetime of wholehearted practice of reciting the Buddha’s Name, Master
Chu-hung assured them that they “will go to be reborn in Amitabha Buddha’s Pure
Land of Ultimate Bliss, reborn transformed in the Lotus Treasury World, forever
removed from all suffering.”
41 pages (15,000 words)
31.12.2008 0412
F
Fa-chao A
Pure Land Patriarch, renowned for his practice of reciting the
( -820) Buddha’s
Name in five movements (five tempos), and believed to be
an incarnation of
Pure Land Patriarch Shan-tao (613-681).
As recorded by the
illustrious 16th century Zen and Pure Land Master Tsung-pen, Fa-chao
received instructions from the two great bodhisattvas Manjushri and
Samantabhadra (both attendants of the Buddha Shakyamuni) at the Bamboo Forest
Temple Mount Wu-t’ai
Fao-chao said to
them, “I do not know what method to practice, what method is the most
essential. I hope you great sages will cut my net of doubts.”
Manjushri replied:
“You recite the buddha-name. None of the practices of the time surpasses
reciting the buddha-name, supporting the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, and
cultivating merit and wisdom. This is the most direct most essential method.
“What is the
reason? I attained omniscience because in ages past I contemplated buddha,
recited the buddha-name, and supported the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. All the
phenomena of enlightenment, from the perfection of wisdom, to meditative
concentration, to Buddhahood, are all born from reciting the buddha-name
(Amitabha). Thus we know that reciting the buddha-name is the king of all the
dharmas. You must constantly be mindful of (Buddha Amitabha), the Supreme
Dharma King, and never stop.”
Fa-chao also
asked, “How should we be mindful of Buddha?”
Manjushri said:
“To the west of this world is Amitabha Buddha. The power of his vows is
inconceivable. You should constantly recite his name without a break. Then at
the end of your life, you are sure to be born in his land (Ultimate Bliss) and
never fall back (in your spiritual progress until Buddhahood).”
When the two great
sages bade him farewell, they said: “…If good men and good women wish to become
buddhas quickly, nothing is better than reciting the buddha-name. Then they
will be able to experience supreme enlightenment quickly.”
--
PURE LAND PURE MIND, pp. 183-184
Faith Faith is the first of the five seats of spiritual power (indriyas),
and the power of faith is the first of the five psychical powers (balas) leading
to wisdom supreme and the power of supreme wisdom. – THE ARIYA DHARMA OF
SAKYAMUNI GAUTAMA THE BUDDHA (first published 1917, pp. 134-135), by Anagarika
Dharmapala (1864-1933), a contemporary of the 13th Pure Land
Patriarch Yin Kuang (1861-1940). CONTINUED
NEXT PAGE
“Pure Land
“Of the essential gates for entering
the Path (to Buddhahood), belief (faith) is number one,” Master Chu-hung
(1535-1615) taught his disciples and students.
Master
Ch-hung urged his disciples and students to “get busy” and diligently practice
the mindful method of reciting the Buddha’s Name, in order to attain their
rebirth in the Pure
Land
In the Pure
Land Dharma, the message of Non-retrogression for realizing the Supreme,
Perfect Enlightenment conveyed in the brief Amitabha Sutra is the same as that
of the 11th Vow in the
Infinite Life Sutra of the humans and gods in the Pure Land
The Pure Land Pure
Land
How do we
go to the Pure Land
The
practice of reciting the Buddha’s Name appears to be quite simple and direct,
particularly so if it originates in the heart and mind, and if practiced until
it becomes natural and spontaneous. Simple in practice, its benefit is
inexhaustible.
What’s its secret? The inconceivable and
ineffable spiritual power lies in the Name and the Vows (their fulfillment) of
the Buddha of Infinite Light and Life.
So simple,
yet so efficacious, spiritually fulfilling and sublime; so simple and yet so
powerful, this is why the Pure Land Dharma is hard to believe and to accept
with complete faith and joy.
Towards
the end of the brief Amitabha Sutra, the Buddha Shakyamuni said to Sariputra,
His leading disciple, that “having attained the highest, perfect Enlightenment,
I have, for the sake of all the world, delivered this teaching, which is so
hard for them (sentient beings) to accept in faith. This is indeed an extremely
difficult task.” (The THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, translated by Hisao Inagaki and
Harold Stewart, pp. 359-360)
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
Similarly, the Buddha
concluded his teaching in the full-length Infinite Life Sutra by telling the
Bodhisattva Maitreya that “most difficult of all difficulties is to hear this
sutra, have faith in it with joy and hold fast to it. Nothing is more difficult
than this.” (THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, pp. 312-313)
Most
affirmatively, however, did the World-Honoured One conclude, in saying to
Maitreya (the future Buddha): “Thus have I formed my Dharma, thus have I
expounded my Dharma, thus have I taught my Dharma. You must receive it and
practice it by the (Pure
Land
The
message of the Contemplation Sutra in the Pure Land Pure Land
The
Buddha ended his teaching by reminding Ananda, His own cousin and closest
disciple, “to hold fast to the name of the Buddha Amitayus (Amitabha).”
Faith is the master key to the Dharma
Door of the Pure Land
(2) the intrinsic purity and perfection of
Buddha Nature present in all sentient beings and their indestructible potential
for attaining the Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment, and
(3) the Buddha Shakyamuni’s impeccable
teaching that all human beings can become Buddhas, particularly through their
rebirth and transformation in Amitabha’s Pure Land
“Faith
is the life force of spiritual practice,” Geshe Kelsang Gyatso teaches in EIGHT
STEPS TO HAPPINESS (p. 143).
“We
need to have unshakeable faith in Buddha’s teachings, or we shall never find
the energy to put these teachings into practice…”
Comments Khetsun Sangpo Rinbochay, another contemporary Tibetan scholar
and teacher: “The best of all wealth is faith – a sense of clear delight in the
path (of liberation and omniscience) and its fruits (Nirvana and Buddhahood)…
Unless you are motivated by this delight, you cannot succeed in cultivating the
path…”
(TANTRIC PRACTICE IN NYING-MA, p. 51)
A Pure Land Harvard
University
“According to Pure Land Pure Land Pure Land
In a letter addressed to all the Pure Land
“The Pure Land
“Not to believe in and practice this sublime, special Dharma is truly
regrettable, a great pity indeed!”
Describing faith as being fundamental in Pure Land Pure Land Pure Land Pure Land
According
to Master Thich, to recognize these three factors fully is to have deep Faith –
a profound realization, the Pure Mind without a trace of doubt.
This Vietnamese specialist in both the Pure Land
“The
Pure Land Pure Land
In THE DAWN OF THE DHAMMA
(p. 148), the young English Theravada monk Venerable Sucitto has written with
spiritual maturity and insight, both on faith in general and specifically on
faith in the Buddha Amitabha:
“…Faith is made sincere by effort, mindfulness, concentration and
discernment (the five faculties and powers in Buddhist cultivation) – then it
certainly will get you to a pure state of mind.
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
“The fact that Amitabha is the Buddha portrayed in the posture of
meditation seems to indicate that purity is not attained by paying lip service
to the teaching alone.
“Actually, if used insightfully, Amitabha is a fine transcending teacher.
His purpose is to cut, with a mind of faith and insight, the root of perception
that one is not enlightened and that one has to do something to become
enlightened.
“As
we have seen, this self-view, this identification with the habit-bound mind,
can never be transcended by any actions proceeding from the sense of self. So
in the Pure Land
In the FLOWER ORNAMENT (AVATAMSAKA) SUTRA, Book Twelve (p. 332), the
Bodhisattva Chief in Goodness has rendered a remarkable discourse on faith and
aspiration for enlightenment. And, in one of the more memorable verses, he has
said:
“Faith is most powerful, very
difficult to have;
It’s like in all worlds having
the wondrous wish-fulfilling
pearl…”
Addressing Vasettha and Bharadvaja, two
young Brahmins who were samaneras (novices) on the eve of their full ordination
in the Eastern Vihara at Savatthi, the Buddha
Shakyamuni said to Vasettha:
“Know ye that he who hath unshakeable faith in the Tathagata (Buddha),
deeply rooted… is called Son of the Blessed One, born of His Word, and the well
beloved son, born of Truth, created by Truth, inheritor of Truth.
“The Tathagata out of His own mind created the Dhamma. The Body of the
Tathagata is created Truth, and it is called the Body of Truth and is the
Supreme Body (the Dharmakaya of the Blessed One, the Buddha).”
THE ARYA DHARMA OF SAKYAMUNI GAUTAMA THE BUDDHA, p. 27
“On the highest level of reality, Amitabha
is the Dharmakaya and his Pure
Land True Pure
Land Pure Land
46 pages (17,000
words) 1.1.2009 0851
Fearlessness Refers to the
four forms of fearlessness (catvari
vaisaradyani) in preaching the Dharma. Those
attributed to a Buddha are: (1) fearlessness in asserting that He has attained
the Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment, (2) fearlessness in asserting that He has
destroyed all defilements, (3) fearlessness in pointing out the evil passions
of sentient beings, and (4) fearlessness in expounding the method of
emancipation. -- THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, p. 399
Generally,
fearlessness also arises from sustained spiritual cultivation, from compassion,
moral rectitude and strength, positive thinking, mental equipoise and vigour,
selflessness, and from the altruistic heart and mind cherishing and serving
others.
Fields
of merit The
Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Arhats, and all sentient beings, whether friends or
foes, are fields of merits for the cultivators because they provide the
spiritual aspirants and practitioners opportunities to cultivate merits and
virtues. For example, poor people provide the opportunity for the cultivators
to practice charity.
“I will be a good doctor for the sick and
suffering. I will lead those who have lost their way to the right road. I will
be a bright light for those in the dark night, and cause the poor and destitute
to uncover hidden treasures. The Bodhisattva benefits all living beings in this
manner,” the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra said in his most famous lecture on the
ten great practices and vows to achieve the merits and virtues of the Buddhas (in
the final crowning chapter of the vastly profound AVATAMSAKA SUTRA, as
excerpted in PURE LAND ZEN/ZEN PURE LAND, pp. 222-223).
“… It is because
all Buddhas, Thus Come Ones, take the Mind of Great Compassion as their
substance. Because of living beings, they develop Great Compassion. From Great
Compassion the Bodhi Mind is born; and because of the Bodhi Mind, they
accomplish Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment.
“It is like a
great regal tree growing in the rocks and sand of barren wilderness. When the
roots get water, the branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits will all flourish.
The regal bodhi-tree growing in the wilderness of Birth and Death (Samsara) is
the same. All living beings are its roots; all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are its
flowers and fruits. By benefiting all beings with the water of Great
Compassion, one can realize the flowers and fruits of the Buddhas’ and
Bodhisattvas’ wisdom.
“Why is this? It
is because by benefiting living beings with the water of Great Compassion, the
Bodhisattvas can attain Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment. Therefore, Bodhi (the
supreme wisdom and enlightenment) belongs to living beings. Without living
beings, no Bodhisattva could achieve Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment…”
Five
grave Those which cause rebirth in the Uninterrupted Hell: killing one’s
offences/ father, one’s
mother, or an arhat, causing dissension in the Sangha,
deadly
sins causing a Buddha to bleed.
Five
powers Obtainable from practice of the roots
of goodness. They are: (1) firm
(Panca balani) faith in the Buddha and Dharma, (2)
great effort (vigour), (3)
mindfulness, (4) deep concentration, and (5) profound wisdom.
Five
precepts For the laymen and laywomen: (1) not killing, (2) not stealing,
(Panca
silani) (3) not
committing illicit sex such as adultery, (4) not telling lies, and (5) not
consuming intoxicants including liquor,
drugs, and tobacco.
Five realms of Also known as the five evil realms, the five states of
existence in Samsara: the
Samsara hells and the realms of the hungry ghosts, anaimals, humans and gods
(devas).
Five roots of goodness The five good roots: (1) Faith in the Buddha, Dharma,
and Sangha, (2) efforts to
(Panca indriyani)
practice good, (3)
mindfulness of the Buddha and Dharma, (4) concentration
(samadhi), and (5) insight into the true
nature of existences.
Five Skandas They represent the body (rupa) and mind (nama). The
five skandas or aggregates/
(aggregates/components) components/constituents include form (the
physical body), feeling, conception,,
impulse, and consciousness (the faculty of awareness).
By
realizing that the five skandas are intrinsically empty, the Bodhisattva
Avalokitesvara has escaped all suffering, as taught in the HEART SUTRA.
In the SATI PUTTNANA SUTTA, the Buddha
teaches us to look deeply into our own minds and to practice mindfulness (sati)
to reach a stage in which we can see these five aggregates not as an entity but as a series of physical
and mental processes always in a state of flux.
In an essay on LIFE IS UNCERTAIN, DEATH IS
CERTAIN, the Venerable Dr. Dhammananda has written: “In brief, the combination
of the five aggregates is called birth. Existence of these aggregates as a
bundle is called Life. Dissolution of these things is called death. And
recombination of these aggregates is called rebirth…” -- GEMS OF BUDDHIST WISDOM, pp. 251-252
Fourfold Assembly The assembly of monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen.
Four Noble Truths One of the basic teachings of the Buddha Shakyamuni
who discovered the Four
Noble Truths
(“unheard of before”), penetrated the ontological quartet and examined them
thoroughly, and only after having fully understood, realized and mastered them
in profound meditation did He conclude that He had finally made the ultimate
spiritual breakthrough and did He then acknowledge His attainment of the
Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment. And in His first teaching at the Deer Park
The
Four Noble Truths are: (1) suffering, (2) the cause of suffering, (3) the
cessation of suffering, and (4) the path to the cessation of suffering,
attainment of complete spiritual liberation and Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment
– the Noble Eightfold Path to Nirvana.
.
Forty-eight Before
attaining His Buddhahood, Amitabha (then known as the
Great
Vows Bodhisattva Dharmakara) had made an unprecedented number of
48 Great
Vows to save, liberate and enlighten all living beings with faith. For five
kalpas, the Bodhisattva had contemplated his vows.
Explaining Amitabha’s inexhaustible pure karmic power, Pure Land
“When
he was a bodhisattva, he made 48 Vows, which set the direction of his karma. At
that point, their enormous Power was already in action. By performing all kinds
of meritorious practices for an immeasurably long period (the Buddha Shakyamuni
said to Ananda in the Infinite Life Sutra: “During inconceivable and
innumerable kalpas, he cultivated the immeasurable meritorious practices of the
Bodhisattva Path…”), he accumulated supreme good karma. When that was
perfected, he became a Buddha (ten kalpas ago)…”
It was
in the middle of August 1975 that Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua (1908-1995) taught
his American disciples at the Buddha Root Farm on the South River near
Reedsport, Oregon, teaching them the practice of reciting the Buddha’s Name and
explaining to them the significance of Amitabha’s 48 Great Vows to teach and
transform living beings, and to take them across the ocean of Samsara to the
shore of Nirvana.
On the Saturday evening of 23 August, the
eminent Dharma Master taught them the essence of Pure Land
“Amitabha Buddha is number one. This is
because of the power of his vows. This power is so great that when you recite
“Na Mwo E Mi Two Fwo” (Homage to Amitabha Buddha), you can very quickly realize
Buddhahood.
“To become a Buddha, all you need to do is to
recite the Buddha’s name (AMITABHA)…”
-- BUDDHA ROOT FARM, p. 56
The
assurance of eventual attainment of Buddhahood is enshrined in the 11th
Vow, guaranteeing and vouchsafing the humans and gods in the Pure Land
2.1.2009 0727 0808
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
G
Genshin
An
eminent scholar-monk, a prolific author (some 170 works including
(942-1017) more than 20 related to Pure Land
Buddhism), and a distinguished artist
as well, having
produced many Pure
Land
In his most famous
work composed in 984-985 and considered as the most comprehensive Pure Land China Japan
At the age of 72,
Genshin offered before the statue of the Buddha a record of his life’s work,
including reciting the Buddha’s Name 200 million times. To make the practice of
reciting the Buddha’s Name particularly effective, he has recommended: (1)
reciting with the Bodhi-mind (the altruistic intention to attain Enlightenment
for the benefit of all sentient beings), (2) mental and bodily control, (3)
deep faith, (4) sincere devotion, (5) constant recitation, (6) mindfulness of
the Buddha, and (7) aspiration (vow) for birth in the Pure Land. (Together with
Faith and Practice, the Vow forms the spiritual Trident of the Pure Land
At the age of 76,
Genshin passed away as if falling asleep, while concentrating on Amitabha and
reciting the Buddha’s Name. – THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, pp. 158-161
Grace “In
Pure Land Buddhism, faith is the sole cause of salvation, but only because it
is a gift of Amitabha’s grace and universal compassion,” Korean Son monk Sung
Bae Park has written in his seminal text BUDDHIST FAITH AND SUDDEN
ENLIGHTENMENT (p. 143).
To Shinran Shonin
(1173-1262), founder of the Jodo Shinshu (True Pure Land School Japan
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
And
to quote American scholar Professor Dr Luis Gomez in THE LAND OF BLISS (p. 49):
“It is not so much a matter of the individual believer following the
bodhisattva’s course of conduct in this life or aspiring to full awakening
through gradual self-perfection. The message of the Longer Sutra (THE SUTRA ON
THE BUDDHA OF INFINITE LIFE) is unambiguously one of hope for the afterlife:
the Buddha of Infinite Life will meet us at the hour of our death to lead us to another world. The message is also
one of grace over self-effort: we will
be guided by him at the hour of our death, and in this life we will know
him by the light that he radiates down on our world…”
Nevertheless, one’s faith (whether bestowed by
the Buddha or self-generated) provides the fundamental bonding factor for both
of them. And the practice of reciting the Buddha’s Name is essentially to
express one’s faith in the saving, purifying and enlightening power of Amitabha
as well as to constantly renew one’s mindfulness of the Buddha by choice.
In their 1994 book THE NATURAL WAY OF SHIN
BUDDHISM, Shoji Matsumoto and Ruth Tabrah have written (pp. 37-38):
“For Shinran, the vow of joyful entrusting (the 18th Vow,
dubbed as the “Primal Vow”) assured him his buddhahood had already been
accomplished in Dharmakara’s timeless past (Dharmakara was the bhiksu/bodhisattva
who had made 48 great vows and cultivated for countless kalpas to fulfill all
of them before he became a Buddha known as Amitayus and Amitabha, or Amida in
Japanese).
“It (the Primal Vow) assured him of his
oneness with the compassion and wisdom, the infinite life and light that is the
manifestation of Amida as enlightenment itself. For him, the Nembutsu (the
Practice of reciting the Buddha’s Name) actualized Amida’s Vow and Name, was
the ultimate connection between his own finite being and the infinity of
enlightenment for which Name and Vow were actualizations…
“For Shinran, ‘saying the Name’, as specified
in the (18th) vow of joyful entrusting, means voicing the Name of
Amida Buddha, Namu Amida Butsu, as a joyous response to the assurance of
universal enlightenment given in the Primal Vow…”
In his 1994 book PURE LAND PURE MIND, Dr.
J.C. Cleary has written (p. 16): “According to the Pure Land Pure Land
“The
key element is faith in Amitabha, and the Pure Land
3.1.2009 0311
Hsu
Yun Elder Master Hsu Yun (Empty Cloud) was the highly respected abbot of
(1840-1959)
the Nan Hua Monastery in Canton
In the spiritual
autobiography of John Blofeld (1913-87), THE WHEEL
OF LIFE, the world-renowned British
Buddhist scholar and author describes his first meeting in the early 1950s with
the centenarian Venerable Hsu Yun, renowned all over China
Citing Farmer Wong working on
adjacent land belonging to the monastery, the spiritual icon speaks with
natural ease and in “a surprisingly vigorous voice” (p. 89): “…Morning and
evening, he repeats the sacred name, concentrating on it until he grows
oblivious of all else. Even in the fields, as he stoops to tend the rice, he
repeats the name. In time, after a month, a year, a decade, a lifetime or
several lifetimes, he achieves such a state of perfect concentration that
duality is transcended and he, too, comes face to face with Reality. He calls
the power by which he hopes to achieve this Amida; you call it Zen; I may call
it Original Mind. What is the difference? The power he thought was outside
himself was inside all the time.”
Two decades later,
in a 1975 review of Master Hsuan Hua’s commentary on the brief Amitabha Sutra,
Blofeld has shown a more knowledgeable appreciation of the Pure Land practice
when he wrote: “All through the history of Chinese Buddhism, Ch’an (Zen)
Masters have spoken highly of the Pure Land doctrines, and have recommended
recitation of the name of Amitabha Buddha as being the surest and simplest path
to enlightenment…”
Hsuan
Hua Venerable
Master Hsuan Hua was one of the most eminent and
(1908-1995)
influential monks of the Ch’an
School in the 20th century. Though he had only a very few years of
education and was largely self-taught, he
became a highly insightful and authoritative commentator and exegete on some of the most
highly significant and profound Buddhist scriptures as well as a prolific
author and a distinguished Dharma Master. In 1948 he succeeded Elder Master Hsu
Yun to become the Ninth Patriarch of the Wei Yang Sect, and the 45th
in the mainstream Zen tradition starting from the First Patriarch Mahakashyapa.
In 1962 Master Hua brought the Proper Dharma to America and the West;
“Limitless life,
limitless life. Not only are his blessings, virtues, and wisdom limitless but
so are his spiritual powers, his eloquence, and his teachings,” Tripitaka
Master Hsuan Hua has commented on the immeasurable and inexhaustible spiritual
endowments of the Buddha Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Light and Life.
“There is no way to count them because they are infinite, nowhere present and
nowhere absent…” A GENERAL EXPLANATION
OF THE BUDDHA SPEAKS OF AMITABHA SUTRA, 1974, p. 10 CONTINUED
NEXT PAGE
“Amitabha
Buddha has a great affinity with us and will certainly guide us to Buddhahood,”
Master Hsuan Hua taught his American disciples in San Francisco
Hsuan-tsang Described
as the greatest leader of Chinese Buddhism in the T’ang
(602-664)
Dynasty (618-905) and a legend
to this day, the eminent scholar-monk was a devotee of the Pure Land School
texts on Buddhism, and went in about 633 in
his legendary journey to the West and to find his way to the famous Buddhist
University of Nalanda in northern India to collect scriptures and become the
first Chinese scholar to study and make his mark abroad.
One of the four
greatest translators of Buddhist texts in Chinese, he had translated within 19
years a total of 75 works in 1,315 fascicles, including the brief Amitabha
Sutra in 650. Regarded as the founder and leader of the Fa-hsiang
(Consciousness-Only) School, he was also one of the great exponents and
promoters to popularize the practice of reciting the Buddha’s Name.
Hui-yuan Generally
regarded as the founder of the Pure
Land School
In 402 he formed a group of
123 devotees on Mt.
Lu Pure Land Mt. Lu Lu-shan
School
Towards the
end of the Contemplation Sutra, the Buddha Shakyamuni said to Ananda that “all
those who are mindful of that Buddha (Amitayus/Amitabha) are like white-lotus
flowers among humankind… They will sit in the place of Enlightenment and be
born into the family of the Buddhas.” The Buddha concluded this teaching by
reminding Ananda to hold fast to the Buddha’s Name.
Master Chu-hung
(1535-1615) has written: “Dharma Master Hui-yuan of Lu-shan, awakened to the
profound meaning of great transcendent wisdom, and was called the bodhisattva
who protects the Dharma in the East. He recited the buddha-name and viewed the
buddha-image and went to be born in the Pure Land
Master Tsung-pen (ibid.,
p. 168) quotes Patriarch Hui-yuan as having said: “Amitabha Buddha is the
highest most profound Zen…” While Zen is full awakening, Amitabha Buddha is
Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment. 5.1.2009 0425
I
Inconceivable Beyond
concepts, beyond human understanding and computation
Insight
into the The
higher spiritual awakening in which one recognizes that nothing
non-arising
of really
arises or perishes.
all
dharmas The insight into
emptiness, the non-origination of all phenomena, realized by the advanced
bodhisattvas in the eighth stage (non-retrogression) of the ten stages of
Bodhisattvahood preceding the final breakthrough in Buddhahood.
Invoking
the “To
invoke the Buddha-name is to invoke the qualities of
Buddha’s
Name Buddhahood,”
Master Ou-I (1599-1655) has explained in his highly insightful commentary on
the brief Amitabha Sutra, MIND-SEAL OF THE BUDDAS (p. 42). Since the qualities
of Buddhahood are inconceivable, the Buddha-name (AMITABHA) itself is also
inconceivable…”
In a comprehensive and illuminating essay on Pure Land
“…The immediate
goal of Pure Land Pure Land
“The essence of Pure Land Pure Land
“The present life
takes on value chiefly as an opportunity to concentrate one’s awareness on
Amitabha, and purify one’s mind accordingly.
“The hallmark of
Pure Land Buddhism is reciting the buddha-name, invoking Amitabha Buddha by
chanting his name. Through reciting the buddha-name, people focus their
attention on Amitabha Buddha. This promotes mindfulness of buddha, otherwise
known as buddha-remembrance (buddha
recitation).
“In what sense
is buddha “remembered”? “Buddha” is the name for the one reality that underlies
all forms of being, as well as an epithet for those who witness and express
this reality. According to the Buddhist Teaching, all people possess an
inherently enlightened true nature that is their real identity. By becoming
mindful of buddha, therefore, people are just regaining their own real
identity. They are remembering their own Buddha-nature.
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
“Buddha as such is a concept that transcends any particular
embodiment, such as Shakyamuni Buddha the historical buddha born in India, or
Maitreya Buddha (the future buddha), or Vairocana Buddha (the cosmic buddha) or
Amitabha Buddha (the buddha of the western paradise, known as the Pure Land of
Ultimate Bliss). Buddha exists in many forms, but all share the same “body of
reality,” the same Dharmakaya, which
is formless, omnipresent, all-pervading, indescribable, infinite – the
everywhere-equal essence of all things, the one reality within-and-beyond all
appearances.
“Dharmakaya
Buddha is utterly abstract and in fact inconceivable, so buddha takes on
particular forms to communicate with living beings by coming within their range
of perception. For most people, this is the only way that buddha can become
comprehensible and of practical use. The particular embodiments of buddha,
known as Nirmanakaya, are supreme
examples of compassionate skill-in-means.
“Pure
Land Pure
Land
In COMPLETE ENLIGHTENMENT (first published 1997,
p. 305), Ch’an Master Sheng-yen has written: “…Through Buddha Amitabha’s Vow,
any person who sincerely invokes his name and expresses the wish to be born in
the Pure Land will be reborn there…”
6.1.2009 0203
J
Jivamjivaka A mythical
melodious-singing bird with two heads.
(life-giving)
Jodo The
Jodo (Pure Land
(Pure Land) Kyoto
To Honen, the nembutsu is the supreme practice. “…And as to this act of repeating
the nembutsu, believe that ten
repetitions , yea even one, will never be in vain, and so continually practice
without ceasing,” he has written in a letter to all his followers. “If by
repeating the nembutsu once a man may
thus reach Ojo (birth in the Pure Land
Pure Land Master
Tao-ch’o (562-645), who recited the Buddha’s Name 70,00 times a day, has
explained the Buddha’s teaching in the Sutra on the Samadhi of Contemplation of
the Buddha by saying “that even if sentient beings are full of evil passions,
spiritual hindrances and countless karmic evils, a single nien-fo (reciting the Buddha’s Name) that grows in their minds can
destroy all impurities. (THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, pp. 91-92)
The 8th
century master Fei-hsi has taught the people to concentrate on the Buddha
Amitabha “for one can attain birth in the Pure Land
Koya (903-972), the first Japanese to be named
“Amida hijiri” (Amitabha sage), went to Kyoto
He who says the nembutsu even once
Never fails to
attain the lotus-seat (of enlightenment)…
To Vasubandhu
(320-400), the eminent Indian Abhidharma, Pure Land Yogacara master, himself a
devotee of the Buddha Amitabha, those who contemplate Amitabha or hear His Name
encounter the power of His Vow (in particular the 18th Vow of
universal salvation), and so are endowed with the supreme merits and karmic
energy to attaim rebirth in the Pure Land of Infinite Light and Life. (ibid.,
p. 76)
According to
Vasubandhu, the heavenly and human beings born in the Pure Land
Interpreting and
commenting on Vasubandhu’s five mindful practices (worshipping Amitabha,
praising the Buddha, aspiring to be born in the Pure Land, contemplating the
Pure Land, Amitabha and the Bodhisattvas, and transferring the merit of
practice to other beings), Honen’s leading disciple Shinran (1173-1262) has
stressed that the Name contains the supreme merits manifested as the Pure Land
and Amitabha’s physical glory. To quote Inagaki again (ibid., p. 198): “When we
receive and call it even once, all those merits are bestowed on us…”
In the AVATAMSAKA
SUTRA, Book 24, the Bodhisattva Banner of Truth has spoken in verse, saying (p.
529):
…If you engender a single
thought of faith
You’ll soon ascend to the
highest path (of enlightenment)…
Jodoshinsu Founded
(posthumously) by Shinran (1173-1262), the most illustrious (True Pure disciple of Honen, founder of the Jodo
School. To Shinran, faith is
Land School ) everything, the alpha and omega of spiritual
transformation; it’s
shinjin: Amida’s faith in us. True faith is endowed by Amitabha.
“In the practice of Shin Buddhism, Namu
Amida Butsu (Homage to Amitabha Buddha) becomes our karmic connection with the
immeasurable light and life of Amida, which is our future,” Shoji Matsumoto and
Ruth Tabrah have written beautifully in THE NATURAL WAY OF SHIN BUDDHISM (p.
48).
“Shinran’s confidence is that we who live in
the present share the past of the vows and the future of immeasurable light and
life…
“As to the future, Amida’s light enables us
to see that our future is unconditional enlightenment, a future already assured
for us by the power of the fulfilled vows…” (p. 50)
Venerable Philipp Karl Eidmann, an American
ordained in the Jodo Shinshu Sangha of the Buddhist Churches of America
--BUDDHIST DIGEST, 23
July 1989 , Penang , p. 29
Joyful
faith Inagaki has
written that “hearing the Name” (encountering the Buddha Amitabha through the
Name) awakens the joyful faith (THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, p. 40). According
to the 18th Vow (the Vow of Universal Salvation), all those “who
sincerely and joyfully entrust themselves” to the Buddha, desire to be born in
the Pure Land, call the Buddha’s Name “even ten times” (ibid., p. 243) will be
born in Ultimate Bliss. Those who rejoice in faith are those who wholeheartedly
accept and respond with full faith to the Buddha’s promise to save, liberate
and enlighten them. They can recite the Buddha’s Name with “unrelenting joyous
effort” (to borrow the words of the great Je Tsong Khapa (1357-1419), a devotee
of Amitabha/Amitayus). 60 p (22,000
words) 6.1.2009 0621 0639
K
Kalpa A
great or extended eon, an inordinately long period of time; also a period
of cosmic change. The
period of time, measured in billions of earthly years, between the creation,
destruction and re-creation of a world-system or universe.
Kalavinka A mythical
bird with a woman’s head.
Karma Action
with intent which leads to retribution or reward in the current or
future lifetimes. The
law of karma is one of the basic teachings of the Buddha Shakyamuni, one of the
foundation stones of Buddhism.
“In simple terms, what
does karma mean? It means that whatever we do, with our body, speech or mind,
will have a corresponding result. Each action, even the smallest, is pregnant
with its consequences. It is said by the masters that even a little poison can
cause death and even a tiny seed can become a huge tree,” Soygal Rinpoche has
written in THE TIBETAN BOOK OF LIVING AND DYING (pp. 96, 97).
“As Buddha said, “What
you are is what you have been, what you will be is what you do now”…”
There are many kinds
of karma, individual as well as collective: global karma, international karma,
national karma, the karma of a city, and personal karma. And to quote Sogyal
Rinpoche again: “All are intricately interrelated, and only understood in their
full complexity by an enlightened being…”
On August 1999 His
Holiness the Dalai Lama taught in a series of talks in New York City
“When we weigh a
particular act, to determine whether it is moral or spiritual, our criterion
should be the quality of our motivation…”
In THE ARYA DHARMA OF
SAKYAMUNI GAUTAMA THE BUDDHA (pp. 64-65), Anagarika Dharmapala (1864-1933) has
written:
“Karma and Vipaki
(its fruit) follow each other as night follows day. The wise man comprehending this
great law (of causality) avoids evil, does good and makes the effort to purify
the heart (and mind) and live in peace with all, sending forth love to both god
and devil, man and animal, and shows that he is grateful even to the shady tree
that gave him shade…”
Karuna Compassion,
the heart of enlightenment. In Buddhism compassion is
(Compassion) defined
as the desire and the wish to free all beings from suffering.
CONTINUED
NEXT PAGE
“Compassion is the
wish-fulfilling gem whose light of healing spreads in all directions,” Sogyal
Rinpoche has written in THE TIBETAN BOOK OF LIVING AND DYING (p. 202)
He has also written (p. 191): “To feel the
full force of your mortality, and to open your heart entirely to it, is to allow
to grow in you that all-encompassing, fearless compassion that fuels the lives
of all those who wish truly to be of help to others…”
In AN OPEN HEART (based
on a series of talks in New York City1999 on the Buddhist path to
enlightenment), the Dalai Lama taught:
“The compassion that
we must ultimately possess is derived from our insight into emptiness, the
ultimate nature of reality… (p. 101)
“We continually
strive to develop and perfect our virtue and wisdom. With such compassion , we
shall eventually possess all the necessary conditions for attaining
enlightenment. We must therefore cultivate compassion from the very start of
our spiritual practice…” (p. 106)
Kumarajiva Credited
with having a photographic memory and very highly regarded
(344-413)
in China
translator of Buddhist texts, he had
translated 35 sutras and discourses including the Prajnaparamita Sutra, the
Lotus Sutra, and the brief Amitabha Sutra.
He came from
Kuccha to China Mt.
Lu
L
Land
of Peace Another name for the Pure
Land
and
Provision known as the Western Pure Land of Ultimate
Bliss, or Sukhavati in Sanskrit. Also known as Peace and Bliss.
Liberation Spiritual
liberation is emancipation from suffering in the interminable cycle of birth
and death within the vast domain of Samsara. Liberation which is the complete
cessation of suffering (the Third Noble Truth) is achieved with the complete
eradication of craving and the total destruction of its root in ignorance. It
is achievable after many lifetimes of earnest spiritual cultivation.
In BUDDHISM OF
WISDOM & FAITH, Dharma Master Thich Thien Tam has written (p. 14) that “the
real intention of the Buddhas is for sentient beings to practice Pure Land
Spiritual liberation is attained with rebirth in the Pure Land Pure Land
Lokesvararaja ‘World-sovereign-king’
is the Name of the Buddha under Whom Dharmakara made his 48 great vows and
began his epic spiritual career as a bodhisattva over a span of innumerable
kalpas until he fulfilled all his vows, established his own Pure Land, and
became a Buddha known and revered universally as Amitayus and Amitabha.
M
Mahakasyapa The foremost
of the Buddha Shakyamuni’s disciples and noted for his frugal living, he is
revered as the Father of the Sangha, and the First Patriarch in the Zen
tradition.
In GREAT DISCIPLES OF THE BUDDHA,
Hellmuth Hecker has narrated (p. 119) that he was ordained by the Master under
a banyan tree by the Bahuputtaka Shrine on the road between Rajagaha and
Nalanda. And seven days later, he became an arahant. Subsequently, the Buddha declared
him the foremost among the Bhikkhus who observed the austere practices.
Mahamaudgalyayana One of the ten
great disciples of the Buddha Shakyamuni, renowned for his supernatural powers.
Calling him the Master of Psychic Powers,
Hecker has also narrated (p. 83) how he attained arahantship in one week by
quick penetration of the Four Noble Truths, having been assisted and guided,
directed and inspired by the Master.
Mahasthamaprapta ‘Possessed of great power’; this major Bodhisattva is also known as
Boundless Light, representing the Buddha-wisdom of the Buddha Amitabha.
One
of the Three Sages in Pure Land Buddhism, Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva is
recognizable by the water jar (jeweled pitcher) adorning Her crown. Usually
represented and depicted in female form in East Asian iconography.
Amitabha Buddha is usually depicted standing
between His two main attendants, the Bodhisattvas Avalokitesvara and
Mahathamaprapta (on His right).
The one who
had initiated the spiritual practice of mindfulness of the Buddha, singleminded
concentration on the Buddha, and repeating the Buddha’s Name to realize Samadhi
(and samadhic oneness with the Buddha), Mahasthama has been reciting the
Buddha’s Name (AMITABHA) for countless kalpas.
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
Bodhisattva Mahasthamaprapta’s exemplary practice is recounted in the
SURANGAMA SUTRA, the key Mahayana teaching on the power of Samadhi to realize
Enlightenment (as narrated in Upasaka Lu K’uan Yu’s translation, pp. 134-135):
“Mahasthama, a son of the Dharma king, who was the head of a group of
fifty-two Bodhisattvas, rose from his seat, prostrated himself with his head on
the feet of the Buddha (Shakyamuni) and declared: ‘I still remember that in the
remotest of aeons countless as the sands in the Ganges, there was a Buddha
called Amitabha who was succeeded by eleven other Tathagatas in that kalpa. The
last one was called the “Buddha Whose Light Surpasses that of the Sun and
Moon”; he taught me how to realize the state of Samadhi (profound and pure
concentration) by thinking exclusively of Buddha (Amitabha)…
“From my
fundamental cause-ground and with all my thoughts concentrated on the Buddha, I
achieved the patient endurance of the uncreate (realization of the Absolute).
(This is why) I help all living beings in this world to control their thoughts
by repeating the Buddha’s name (AMITABHA) so that they can reach the Pure Land
The
Buddhist Text Translation Society in Burlingame ,
California
“…On
the causal ground, I used mindfulness of the Buddha to be patient when there is
no production of dharmas. Now in this world I gather in all those who are
mindful of the Buddha, and I bring them back to the Pure Land
What is traditionally known as the Nien-fo
(Buddha Recitation) Samadhi is the Pure
Land
“Mindfulness of the Buddha is the quickest short-cut, the most
convenient of all expedients,” the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua taught in a
lecture series on the Shurangama Sutra in Taiwan
“It’s the most complete and immediate, the
simplest and easiest method. You need not search for other expedient methods.
Mindfulness of the Buddha is the most expedient, the best method of all. “Their
minds will awaken” means you will suddenly understand; your mind will suddenly
become enlightened, and you will attain the Buddha-recitation Samadhi.”
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
Master Chu-hung (1535-1615)
has taught that the Nien-fo (Buddha Recitation) Samadhi is in accord with True
Suchness: Thinking (exclusively) on the ultimate Buddha above all relative
concepts and verbal expressions.
On the need to hold
fast to the Buddha’s Name with “a concentrated and undistracted mind,” Chu-hung
has distinguished its two aspects (as Inagaki has worded them in THE THREE PURE
LAND SUTRAS, p. 136):
“(1) The
empirical or manifested aspect in which one continually holds fast to the Name,
thinking only of the Name, without being distracted by other thoughts; in this
way, one can control one’s mind and keep evil passions from arising, although
one cannot yet destroy them.
(2)
The aspect of insight into
reality in which one’s insight penetrates to the deepest
reality of
existence and so becomes in accord with one’s true nature; in this way, one can
transcend the dichotomy (duality) of subject and object. Such a state of mind
is called Nien-fo Samadhi and is also the Ch’an spirit as taught by Bodhidharma
(in China in the early sixth century)…”
Mahasthama is also known as Vajrapani, the embodiment of the
spiritual power and skilful means of all the Buddhas. Vajrapani is also known
as “the glorious Lord of Secrets.”
In THE
NECTAR OF MANJUSHRI’S SPEECH (Shechen Publications, New Delhi
“…According to the general explanation, it is said that all the Buddhas
of the three times – from the moment they first generate bodhichitta until they
achieve perfect enlightenment, turn the wheel of the Dharma, and pass into
their parinirvana – are watched over and guarded by the glorious Vajrapani, who
wields a blazing vajra (thunderbolt) and crushes the heads of all those who try
to attack them, whether in thought, word, or deed…
“According to the particular explanation of the Secret Mantra, he is the
spontaneous embodiment of the vajra-mind of all the Buddhas and has been
empowered as the sovereign of the inconceivable secret of the enlightened body,
speech, and mind. This is what “vajra in his hand” (his right upraised hand) or
“Vajrapani” signifies…”
Mahayana The Great Vehicle in Buddhism, symbolizing
universalism or salvation and enlightenment for all beings, for all are Buddhas
in their natural essence of being and will eventually attain the Supreme,
Perfect Enlightenment. “Mahayana aims at bringing all sentient beings to
Buddhahood, “ Inagaki has written (THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, p. 407) 64 pages (24,000 words) 7.1.2009 1301 1338 1409
Maitreya A
bodhisattva of the highest stage (the 10th) now dwelling and
(‘The Friendly’) teaching in the Tushita (‘Contentment’)
Heaven, the fourth of the six heavens in the world of desire. Maitreya will
appear (re-appear) in this world to become the next Buddha. Also known as Ajita
(‘Invincible’)
Manjushri The
symbol of wisdom, the Bodhisattva Manjushri represents the (‘Beauty and
glory’) wisdom and enlightenment of all
Buddhas. He is usually portrayed sitting on a lion, attending on the Buddha
Shakyamuni’s left hand side with the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra on the Buddha’s
right. Please also refer Fa-chao.
Mantra “That
which protects the mind.”
“That which
protects the mind from negativity or that which protects you from your own
mind, is called mantra,” Sogyal Rinpoche explains in THE TIBETAN BOOK OF LIVING
AND DYING (p. 71).
“Mantra is
the essence of sound, and the embodiment of the truth in the form of sound.
Each syllable is impregnated with spiritual power, condenses a spiritual truth,
and vibrates with the blessing of the speech of the Buddhas…”
According
to Pure Land Patriarch Yin Kuang (1861-1948), mantra recitation produces
inconceivable merits, although it is ancillary in Pure Land
OM AMI DEWA HRIH is the mantra of the
Buddha Amitabha.
On HRIH,
the “seed-syllable” of Avalokiteshvara: “The essence of the compassion of all
the Buddhas, HRIH, is the catalyst that activates the compassion of the Buddhas
to transform our negative emotions into their wisdom nature,” Sogyal Rinpoche
explains (ibid., p. 398).
To the Japanese Shingon-Pure Land
Master Kakuban (1095-1143), generally credited with the inception of the
Esoteric Nembutsu, the Buddha’s Name is a mantra. To quote Inagaki on the
3-syllable mantra in the sacred Name of AMITA/AMIDA:
“”Since the
merits of the Name are inestimably great, Kakuban states, “One who pronounces
the three syllables, A, MI, and DA, will have his great karmic offenses from the beginningless past
extinguished; one who is mindful of Amitabha will perfect endless merits and
wisdom. Just as a single gem in Indra’s net at once reflects images of
innumerable gems, the single Buddha, Amitabha, instantly endows one with
boundless intrinsic merits”.” (THE THREE
PURE LAND SUTRAS, p. 172) CONTINUED
NEXT PAGE
In BUDDHISM: THE
WISDOM OF COMPASSION AND AWAKENING (Feb 2003), Venerable Master Chin Kung has
taught (p. 141):
“The name of Buddha Amitabha contains
infinite meanings. It is the name of the universe, so it includes everything…
“This name alone
contains all of Buddhism as well as all laws throughout the universe.
Therefore, to chant this name is to chant all sutras…”
Mara An adversary, a demon.
There are four
kinds of demons in Buddhism:
(1) evil passions and the afflictions,
(2) the five
constituent elements of one’s impermanent existence,
(3)
death, and
(4)
the king of maras,
Paranirmitavashavartin gods, dwelling in the Sixth Heaven in the realm of
desire.
To quote Gomez
(THE WORLD OF BLISS, p. 310): The name Mara sometimes designates the personification
of the abstract concepts of death, temptation, and sensual urge. But Mara is
often conceived as the anthropomorphic Buddhist tempter and spirit of evil…”
Meditation/ The
third of the three core sutras in the Pure Land
Contemplation the element
of concentration in meditative concentration,
Sutra contemplation, and meditation.
The main message
of this teaching is mindfulness of the Buddha by means of holding fast to the
Name of the Buddha of Infinite Light and Life – the passport to the Pure Land
of Ultimate Bliss.
The sutra also
conveys the Buddha’s assurance of salvation for any extreme offender who is
capable of changing his/her heart in the last-minute repentance and awakening
of faith: “…he (or she) needs only recite the Buddha’s name one to ten times
with all his (or her) heart, and Buddha Amitabha will descend to welcome him
(or her) back to the Pure Land…”
Merit The fruit of moral discipline and proper conduct (physical/bodily,
(punya) oral, and mental), which
can be accumulated, redeemed for its just reward, dedicated to a future goal or
a spiritual cause, and transferred to benefit other sentient beings or to adorn
the Pure Land.
Mind Key concept in all Buddhist teachings. And this concept is dual in
character: (1) the original Buddha Mind in its pristine purity which is present
in every sentient being, and (2) the defiled and deluded ordinary mind of all
unenlightened beings.
The human mind can be compared to an empty
vase, which is the ordinary mind, holding its true spiritual essence within.
“The space inside is exactly the same outside. Only the fragile walls of the
vase separate one from the other. Our buddha mind is enclosed within the walls
of our ordinary mind,” Sogyal Rinpoche explains on the Nature of Mind in his
masterpiece THE TIBETAN BOOK OF LIVING AND DYING (p. 49). “But when we become
enlightened, it is as if that vase shatters into pieces. The space “inside”
merges into the space “outside.” They become one. There and then we realize
that they were never separate or different; they were always the same (one).”
Two paragraphs earlier, Sogyal
Rinpoche has recalled the Buddha’s message from His experience of enlightenment
in Bodhgaya two and a half millennia ago: that
enlightenment is within the reach of all.
And, thanks to our Buddha
Mind, our Buddha Nature, Buddhahood is our natural birthright. The Buddha
Amitabha has made and fulfilled His 48 Great Vows to help us attain our
Buddhahood in one lifetime in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.
“If you do not know your own mind,
you will keep falling back into cyclic existence (Samsara), for this knowledge
is the dividing line between cyclic existence and nirvana,” Khetsun Sangpo
comments in TANTRIC PRACTICE IN NYING-MA (p. 29).
In the DHAMMAPADA, the
Buddha has taught in verse 37:
Dwelling in the cave (of the
heart),
the mind, without form,
wanders far and alone.
Those who subdue this mind
are liberated from the bonds
of Mara.
Comments the
Venerable Sri Acharya Buddharakkhita, the distinguished contemporary Indian
scholar-monk and translator (p. 269): “Heart is the seat of consciousness.
Hence the analogy of the mind resting in the cave of the heart. Every moment of
consciousness arises, continues and passes by itself, not together with other
moments, hence “alone”.”
In verse 38, the
Buddha has taught:
Wisdom never becomes
perfect
in one whose mind is not
steadfast,
who knows not the Good
Teaching
and whose faith wavers.
CONTINUED
NEXT PAGE
In THE BUDDHA AND HIS TEACHINGS, Mahathera Narada has written (p.
360): “Mind or consciousness, the essence of the so-called being, plays the
most important part in the complex machinery of man. It is mind that either
defiles or purifies one. Mind in fact is both the bitterest enemy and the
greatest friend of oneself…”
After stating
that “all men own the sovereignty of mind”, the Buddha goes on to teach the
need for self-control and truthfulness, to know the essential from the
inessential, to forsake lust, hatred and delusion, to seek true wisdom and the
emancipated mind clinging to nothing. Also to guard and control the mind, to
subdue and to tame the mind to bring happiness, to avoid doing evil things and
to abandon the realm of Mara, but to do good and go to the realms of bliss.
In the
DHAMMAPADA, the Buddha has taught in verse 23:
The wise ones, ever meditative
and steadfastly
persevering,
alone experience Nibbana,
the incomparable freedom from bondage.
The Buddha
Shakyamuni has also emphasized mindfulness, describing it as a wise one’s “best
treasure” to keep (verse 26).
Mindfulness Mindfulness
of the Buddha is cultivated through the constant
of
the Buddha practice of reciting the Buddha’s Name
as practiced countless kalpas ago and taught in the SURANGAMA SUTRA by the
Bodhisattva Mahasthamaprapta (Great Strength) to calm and purify the mind and
to attain samadhi and wisdom.
“If you see
through where this mindfulness arises, this is the Amitabha of our inherent
nature,” Master Chu-hung (1535-1615) wrote in a letter to layman Liu Lo-yang of
Su-chou (PURE LAND PURE MIND, p. 63).
“Even if you
do not awaken (fully), if you take advantage of the power of this mindfulness
(of Buddha), you will be reborn in the Land of Ultimate
Master Hsuan Hua (1908-1995) has described
Great Strength Bodhisattva’s method of reciting the Buddha’s Name as “the most complete
and immediate, the simplest and easiest method” to attain enlightened insight.
“Mindfulness of the Buddha is the quickest short-cut (to spiritual awakening),
the most convenient of all expedients,” Master Hua taught in Taiwan
Moral
discipline “Moral discipline is like a precious vessel in which we keep the
nectar of spiritual realizations; without moral discipline it is impossible to
hold any spiritual experiences in our mind,” Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, a
contemporary Tibetan meditation master and Buddhist teacher and author has
written in EIGHT STEPS TO HAPPINESS (first published 2000, p. 226).
“Maintaining pure moral discipline ensures that all our bodily, verbal,
and mental actions are pure and positive…
“If we
transform our present ordinary mind into love and compassion we shall naturally
act in a positive way that will be a good example to others and inspire them to
enter the spiritual path…” (p. 227)
Morality “Morality is only the preliminary stage on the Path of Purity, and
is a means to an end, but not an end in itself. Conduct, though essential, is
itself insufficient to gain one’s emancipation. It should be coupled with
wisdom or knowledge (panna),” Narada Mahathera has written in BUDDHISM IN A
NUTSHELL (first published 1933 and reprinted Sept 2005 for free distribution by
The Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation, Taiwan
“The
base of Buddhism is morality, and wisdom is its apex…”
\\
8-9.1.2009 0450
0520
N
Nagarjuna
One of the most important Buddhist
philosophers and the founder of (c. 150-250) the Madhyamika (Middle Way
“Nagarjuna (c.
150-250) is indisputably the greatest exponent of Buddhism after Sakyamuni
himself,” Inagaki has written in THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS (p. 59). “To
Nagarjuna all the major schools and sects which developed in India China Tibet Japan
Nagarjuna has
also been described as undoubtedly the most important, influential, and widely
studied Mahayana Buddhist philosopher.
According to
Inagaki, Nagarjuna was a devotee of the Buddha Amitabha, and he has recommended
the invocation of the Buddha’s Name as being in accord with the practice of the
bodhisattvas. An exponent of Pure Land Buddhism, Nagarjuna may well be regarded
as the founder of the Madhyamika-Pure
Land Northern India ) to found the Chinese Pure
Land
Nagarjuna
has composed in a hymn:
“…If anyone, aspiring to become a Buddha, contemplates Amitabha in his
heart,
Amitabha will instantly manifest himself before the aspirant,
hence, I take refuge in him…
He has also
expressed his wish to be born in the Pure
Land
Name “The name of a buddha or a
bodhisattva is presumed to embody his
virtues and powers,” Gomez clarifies (THE WORLD OF BLISS, p. 313). “Hence,
invocation of the name of a buddha or bodhisattva activates, so to speak, those
virtues and powers…”
The name of a
fully or highly realized being is, to borrow the words of the Buddha Shakyamuni
in verse 100 of the DHAMMAPADA, “one useful word, hearing which one attains
peace.”
Name
of the According to the fulfillment of the 17th Vow in the
Infinite Life
Buddha
Amitabha Sutra all the
Buddhas in the ten regions of the universe “praise and
glorify” the
Name of the Buddha Amitabha. And in the Contemplation Sutra, the Buddha
Shakyamuni stressed the great spiritual significance of mindfulness of the
Buddha and concluded by reminding Ananda to hold fast to the Name of the
Buddha.
In his classic commentary on the brief
Amitabha Sutra, the 9th Pure Land Patriarch Ou-i (1599-1655)
stresses that “Amitabha is the
inherently enlightened True Nature of sentient beings…” Also referred to as
Self Nature, Buddha Nature, Buddha Mind, the Dharmakaya, the One Mind of
reality.
“We must realize that there is no
name of Amitabha apart from the mind of infinite light and infinite life that
is before us now at this moment, and there is no way for us to penetrate the
mind of infinite light and infinite life that is before us now at this moment
apart from the name of Amitabha,” Master Ou-i has written in his in-depth
commentary which he completed in nine days in the late autumn of 1647 (MIND-SEAL
OF THE BUDDHAS, p. 77)
“Amitabha Buddha’s vast name, endowed with myriad
virtues, is like a huge furnace. The many karmic offences that we human beings
commit are like snow flakes falling through the air. When ordinary beings laden
with karma recite the Buddha’s name, their karma melts away, just like snow
flakes entering a furnace. In that way the karma disappears entirely,” Great
Master Yin Kuang (1861-1940) taught in 1930. “What is more, since the (bad)
karma is melted away, living beings’ good roots naturally increase and become
supreme…” (THREE ESSENTIALS FOR THOSE CLOSE
TO DEATH, 1930, bilingual publication with English translation by Buddhist Text
Translation Society, Dharma Realm Buddhist University, USA, reprinted in
Malaysia for free distribution August 1989)
Roger Corless has written that the Name of
Amitabha is the true name of self-actualization: it “not only means ‘Immeasurable Light’; it is the
expression of the essence of
immeasurable light, and that light itself is the outer manifestation of an even
more interior essence of immeasurable wisdom…” (BUDDHIST SPIRITUALITY, p. 263)
Namo Namo Amitabhaya Buddhaya (Sanskrit)
Namo
Amituo-fo (Chinese)
Nanmo
O-mi-to-fo (Chinese)
Namu
Amida Butsu (Japanese)
Homage to
Amitabha Buddha
I take
refuge in Amitabha Buddha
“One should think of the Buddha while
repeatedly pronouncing His name,” Dr Edward Conze advises (BUDDHISM, p. 158).
“Since the name contains the power of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, its
invocation is an act of the highest virtue…”
70 pages (26,000 words) 9-10.1.2009 0123
Nirvana/ The
final and ultimate goal of Buddhist aspiration and practice,
Nibbana extinguishing
all evil passions, destroying all forms of craving and
ignorance, and
attaining the highest wisdom.
In his
comprehensive introductory essay on Pure Land Buddhism, Dr Hisao Inagaki of Ryukoku University Kyoto Pure
Land Land of Utmost Bliss Pure Land Pure Land
Noumenon Principle,
essence of things, always one and indivisible (the all-in-one and one-in-all
vision of universal interrelationship and oneness/wholeness of the Avatamsaka).
As to what it really means in practice, Dharma Master Thich Thien
Tam has explained in BUDDHISM OF WISDOM & FAITH (p. 179):
“”Noumenon” (principle)
is truth, reason, the realm of understanding and Awakening and belongs to the
sphere of “essence.” “Phenomena” are expedients, practices, deeds, “form,” and
fall under the heading of “marks.” However, at the ultimate level, phenomena
are noumenon, essence is mark, and both belong to the same truth-like state,
all-illuminating, all-pervading.
“In
cultivation, noumenon and phenomena are the two sides of a coin, interacting
with one another and helping one another. With noumenon we have a basis, a
direction, a goal to develop into action. With phenomena, we are able to
actualize what we think, demonstrate our understanding, reach our goal and,
ultimately, achieve results…”
O
One-pointedness Singlemindedness
or single-minded concentration. This is a
of
mind sine quo non for rebirth in the Pure
Land
In a letter
to Teng Po-ch’eng, Master Yin Kuang (1861-1940) has written that “the key to
rebirth in the Pure
Land
On
the Bodhisattva Mahasthama’s method of perfect
penetration by reciting the Buddha’s Name and maintaining “continuous pure”
mindfulness of the Buddha, Master Hsuan Hua (1908-1995) has explained in GREAT
STRENGTH BODHISATTVA’S PERFECT PENETRATION (pp. 48-49):
“With single-minded recitation of the
Buddha’s name, you can control the six sense faculties until they are
well-behaved and dare not rebel. The eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind
will not be affected by states involving form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and
dharmas. Due to your mindfulness of the Buddha, you can turn states around; you
won’t be diverted by any state.
“Simply by reciting “Namo Amitabha Buddha,” you
can gather in your six sense faculties; the six faculties will listen to your
instructions and not get attached to defiled states anymore. “Gathering in the
six faculties” is a means of uniting and upholding – it contains all dharmas
and upholds limitless meanings…
“When you are mindful of the Buddha in one
thought, then you are mindful of the Buddha in every thought; mindfulness in
every thought is equivalent to a single thought of mindfulness. If your one
thought is not interrupted, then with that one thought, you will surely be born
in the Land of Ultimate Bliss
“So in
“continuous pure mindfulness,” the continuity is very important. You cannot
recite for a while and then stop. It has to be that you recite without
reciting; without reciting, you are still reciting. You should recite to the
point that it becomes so natural that even if you wanted to stop, you wouldn’t
be able to. The recitation will carry on by itself, and you won’t be able to
halt it. You’ll be as if drunk on reciting the Buddha’s name. That’s the only
thing on your mind.
“You recite the Buddha’s name continuously
without a break, day after day, month after month, year after year, life after
life; you never stop reciting. If you can resolve to do that, then you’ll be
able to achieve “continuous pure mindfulness” (to obtain samadhi and
penetrative insight leading to wisdom and enlightenment)…”
Other
Power The
immeasurable spiritual power of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas,
in particular the
infinite saving, liberating, and enlightening power of the Buddha Amitabha.
“T’an-luan
(476-542) was the first to use the term ‘Other Power,’ which became the central
theme of the Pure
Land China Japan
“By the ‘Other
Power’ T’an-luan means the Power of Amitabha as a Buddha or the Power of his
Original Vow (to save all beings with faith in the Buddha). The Vow produced
the Power, which in turn fulfils the Vow. These two work together to realize
the Buddha’s act of compassion.
“Of the
48 Vows of Dharmakara (who had devoted himself for innumerable kalpas to their
fulfillment before he became the Buddha Amitayus/Amitabha ten kalpas ago),
T’an-luan paid special attention to the 11th, 18th and 22nd
Vows:
(1)
As promised in the 18th
Vow, the Power of the Vow enables the devotee to be born quickly in the Pure Land
(2) Next, the Power of the Vow
works through the 11th Vow to enable the devotee to
dwell in the Definitely Assured State and, consequently, attain Nirvana.
(3) Lastly, as promised in the 22nd
Vow, the Power of the Vow enables the devotee to
transcend the course of the
ordinary bodhisattva stages and actually cultivate the
virtues of Samantabhadra (the great bodhisattva who represents the
ultimate
principle, meditation and practice of all Buddhas).
“Because of the Other Power which works
through these three vows, one who entrusts oneself to Amitabha can quickly
realize Enlightenment.”
“Who are we
to keep weighing the pros and cons of our own strength, while failing to
seek the Buddha’s help?” Master Yin Kuang (1861-1940) wrote in a letter to all
his Pure Land
“The difference between other-power and
self-power is as great as the heavens and the abyss. I hope fellow-cultivators
will carefully examine and forgive my straightforward words…”
The Van Hien Study Group in New York
“The Buddhas’ assistance to a true seeker
of the Way requires utmost faith and sincerity, i.e., purity of mind, on the
part of the practitioner. Only in this way will he (or she) and the Buddhas be
on the same wave-length, with no barrier between them.”
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
On Pure Land
Ryonin (1072-1134),
a Tendai Buddhist as well as an Amitabha devotee, used to recite the nembutsu (reciting the Buddha’s Name)
60,000 times daily.
In 1117, at the age
of 46, while in the nembutsu samadhi,
he received an inspirational verse from Amitabha, which reads:
One person, all persons; all persons, one person;
One practice, all practices; all practices, one practice.
According to Inagaki,
the standard interpretation of this verse was established by Yukan (1649-1716):
This is called (the path to) birth by the Other Power.
Throughout the ten realms one nembutsu
becomes
The
Nembutsu of fusing and penetration;
So it is thousands of millions of nembutsu,
And its merits are all-complete and all-pervasive.
Comments Inagaki
(THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, p. 164):
“It is revealed in
the verse that one person’s practice is the practice of all. So, if one person
says the nembutsu all say the nembutsu. Further, the practice of all
people penetrates one person’s practice. One person’s nembutsu can be increased if others join in it. This is interpreted
to mean that the interpenetration and multiplication of the nembutsu is made possible by Amitabha’s
Power…”
The individual
recitations of the Buddha’s Name are like drops in the boundless ocean of the
Buddha Amitabha’s infinite pure power. The world-renowned Zen scholar and
author D.T. Suzuki taught in New York
Other Shore A metaphor for Spiritual Liberation, Enlightenment,
and Buddhahood. The other
shore of the ocean of Samsara
the state of spiritual emancipation in the
realm of Nirvana. well beyond Samsara.
Ou-i The Ninth Pure Patriarch and author of 75 works completed in the
last (1599-1655) 15 years of his life.
In his celebrated commentary on the brief Amitabha Sutra, composed in 1647, he
wrote that “by invoking the name of one Buddha, Amitabha, we are protected and
kept in mind by all the Buddhas…” 76 pages (28,00 words) 11.1.2009 0735 0755
P
Padmasambhava The Great Master
of Uddiyana (a country to the northwest of ancient
(‘Originated from India
a lotus’) Sanskrit Padmakara
(‘Lotus-born’), and revered in Tibet
“It is
universally renowned that the Precious Master took birth from a lotus flower in
a way that is called instantaneous,” Masrer Tsele Natsok Rangdrol (born 1608)
of the Kagyu and Nyingma schools has written. (In an essay of clarification
excerpted in THE LOTUS-BORN by Yeshe Tsogyal, translated by Erik Pema Kunsang,
published by Shambhala , India
Stressing
this was superior to ordinary instantaneous birth, the 17th century
Tibetan master clarified that “the lotus flower from which he was born in the
centre of Lake Danakosha, had been fused with the combined light rays of
compassion of Buddha Amitabha and all the buddhas of the ten directions (of the
universe)…”
It may be
relevant to recall that at the beginning of the second part of the Infinite
Life Sutra, the Buddha Shakyamuni said to Ananda that the higher grade of Pure Land Pure Land
The Buddha Shakyamuni has predicted in many
sutras and tantras the appearance of Padmakara in Lake Kosha
At the invitation of King Trisong Deutsen, the
great Tantric master came to Tibet
Paramita This Sanskrit word
means “the perfection of” or “reaching the other shore” (having crossed the ocean of Samsara
CONTINUED
NEXT PAGE
The paramitas, perfections or
transcendent virtues are usually six in Mahayana practice including generosity,
moral discipline, forbearance/patience, energy/vigour, mindfulness/concentration,
and penetrative insight/wisdom. When expanded to ten, the other four perfections
include expedients, vows, power and knowledge. Mahayana emphasizes the paramita
of expedients, or skill-in-means.
Patience To
quote Gomez (THE LAND OF BLISS, p. 317): “A broad concept with at least two meanings: (1) one of the
perfect virtues of the bodhisattvas (serenely accepting what usually causes
pain to human beings, or what offends, scandalizes, or upsets them), and (2)
acceptance or receptivity, that is, an openness of mind that allows the person
to accept, assent to, and understand the most difficult aspects of the Buddha’s
Dharma.”
Peace
and Bliss Another name for the Buddha Amitabha’s Pure Land Land of Ultimate Bliss
Practice True
practice is defined as the perfection of practice to the point where it becomes
second nature, when it comes naturally and spontaneously (“without reciting,
you are still reciting” to quote Master Hsuan Hua).
In Pure
Land
It
is to recite the Buddha’s Name diligently, earnestly, sincerely, and
singlemindedly; it is to recite with a strong faith and a steadfast vow for
rebirth in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss: Namo Amitabha.
Practice generally
means reciting the Buddha’s Name to the point where one’s Mind and the One
Mind, the Buddha Mind of Amitabha fuse and merge together in unison. From the
singlemindedness in samadhi, the One naturally empties into the realization of
“no practitioner, no Buddha, no practice…” This is the perfection of practice:
“when your mind opens and you see inherent Buddhahood” (to quote Master Ou-i,
MIND-SEAL OF THE BUDDHAS, p.90)
In his famous
commentary on the brief Amitabha Sutra, Elder Master Ou-i (1599-1655) has written:
“Achieving rebirth in the Pure
Land
In BUDDHISM OF WISDOM & FAITH, a comprehensive
and in-depth commentary on Pure Land principles and practice, Dharma Master
Thich Thien Tam has written (p. 111): “With the Pure Land method, since the
cultivator has put his (her) faith in “other-power” in addition to his (her)
“self-power,” every single cultivator will be reborn in the Land of Ultimate
Bliss, escape the cycle of Birth and Death and achieve non-retrogression (with
the Buddha’s assurance of attaining the spiritual ultimate of Nirvana and the
Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment)…” 11-12.1.2009
0723 0735
Amitabha’s Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, the
Pure Land of Infinite Light and Life. ”It is not a realm of enjoyment, but
rather an ideal place of cultivation,
beyond the Triple Realm (the three worlds of desire, form, and formlessness
within the vast domain of Samsara) and Samsara, where those who are reborn (as
high-level bodhisattvas) are no longer
subject to retrogression,” to quote the New York-based Van Hien Study Group
(PURE LAND PURE MIND, p. 228).
The Pure Land
“In the Pure Land
“Those born in the Pure Land
“They receive immortal, transformed bodies,
and are beyond the danger of falling back into lesser incarnations. They are in
the direct presence of Amitabha Buddha and the great bodhisattvas Kuan-yin
(Avalokitesvara) and Shih-chih (Mahasthamaprapta), who aid in their ultimate
enlightenment.
“Those who go to the Pure Land
“The Pure Land
“Flowers fall from the sky day and night,
and the whole sky is covered with a net made of gold and silver and pearls. The
Pure Land
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
“Most precious
of all, in the Pure
Land
As interpreted
by Dr Hisao Inagaki (THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, pp. 27-30), the Pure Land
In the
Infinite Life Sutra, Ultimate Bliss has been described as being “vast in
extent, unsurpassed and supremely wonderful” and inhabited by innumerable
bodhisattvas and sages, and open to the bodhisattvas from all the other
Buddha-lands.
“All the Pure Land masters emphasize the two
aspects of the land of Amitabha: (1) transcending all possible states of
existence in Samsara and (2) manifesting glorious forms through the power of his
Original Vow,” Inagaki has written.
“The Pure Land Pure Land
After attaining
the samadhi of visualizing Amitabha and Ultimate Bliss, the great seventh
century Pure Land Land
of Utmost Bliss
Inagaki has described Amitabha’s Pure Land
“In the ultimate
state of existence, Amitabha as a person and the Pure Land Pure Land
“Amitabha’s light of
transcendent wisdom cannot be separated from the samadhi in which he dwells.
From it he radiates boundless light, and manifests in it his land and body. Those
born in the Pure Land
When a young Tsung-pen,
the distinguished 16th century Dharma and Zen master, asked Zen
Master Ssu-hsin to comment on the mindful practice of reciting the Buddha’s
Name, the latter said: “This mindfulness of buddha is the best way to escape
birth and death. This mindfulness of buddha is the direct route out of the
Triple World. This mindfulness of buddha is the Amitabha of inherent nature and
the Pure Land
Explaining the significance of the brief Amitabha Sutra to his
American disciples in the fall of 1969, Master Hsuan Hua said: “The Land of Ultimate Bliss Land
of Ultimate Bliss
“The Land of Ultimate Bliss Land of Ultimate Bliss
“Amitabha Buddha and
living beings – do not discriminate between this and that, for the Land of Ultimate Bliss Land of Ultimate
REBIRTH In THE WORLD
OF BLISS, Dr Gomez has written (p. 322): “…For those
IN
THE who
have complete faith in the Buddha Amitabha, rebirth is completely
PURE
LAND miraculous…”
In THE THREE PURE LAND
SUTRAS, Dr Inagaki has written on the basis of Shin-tao’s explanation of the
power of the Buddha’s Name (p. 108): “…All that is required of the aspirant for
birth (in the Pure Land) is simply to receive and make use of Amitabha’s
(immeasurable and inexhaustible) merits; this he can do by repeating the Name
(AMITABHA) with singleness of mind…”
In a famous essay
entitled EXHORTATION TO RESOLVE UPON BODHI, Great Master Sying An (1686-1734)
has written (p. 63): “,,,Because cultivating is easy (in the Pure Land), we can
be successful (in becoming a Buddha) in a single lifetime (of limitless
duration)…
“They say that none of the many acts
deserving of blessings equals maintaining mindfulness of Amitabha Buddha’s
name. Therefore, reciting the Sage’s name even briefly is superior to
practicing giving for a hundred years. And by simply making the great resolve
(on attaining Bodhi) we transcend kalpa after kalpa of cultivation.
“Therefore, plant a Bodhi seed. Till with the
plow of mindfulness of the Buddha, and the fruits of the Path (of Pure Land Pure
Land Land
of Ultimate Bliss
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
Master Hsuan Hua has commented (p. 64): “… The Pure Land
Just recite the
Buddha’s Name : NAMO AMITABHA
In a public
lecture at the National Centre in Taipei on October 1978, Master Hsing Yun
(born 1926), Abbot of Fo Kuang Shan (Buddha’s Light Mountain), said: “We need the Western Pure Land Ultimate
Bliss. We need the Pure
Land
“Why? Because we want to
seek after Light, Solace, Peace, Security, Wealth, Eternity, Liberation (from
all human afflictions) and salvation, therefore we need the Pure Land
In private
communication, Rev. Charles O’Hara of Susquehanna, Pen., said: “To me, Amitabha
Buddha is real, his vows are real, and the Pure Land
“Pure Land Pure Land
(PURE LAND PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE by
Master Thich Thien Tam, p. 319)
School in PURE
LAND PURE MIND, pp. 228-229): ‘When Mahayana Buddhism spread to China Pure Land Japanese Pure Land True Pure Land
Sutras (1)
The Sutra on the Buddha of Infinite Life (WULIANGSHOU-JING), as translated by
Tripitaka Master Samghavarman from India Pure Land Pure
Land
(2)
The Amitabha Sutra
(AMITO-JING), as translated by Tripitaka Master
Kumarajiva from Kuccha, teaching us to hold
fast to the Name of the Buddha and seek birth in the Pure Land
(3) The Contemplation/Meditation Sutra (WULIANGSHOU-JING), as translated
by Tripitaka Master Kalayasas from Central Asia, teaching us to be mindful of
the Buddha in order to be born into the family of the Buddhas, and to hold fast
as well to the Buddha’s Name.
81 pages (30,500 words) 15-16.1.2009 0200
0241 0320 0338
Q
Queen
Vaidehi Both
Queen Vaidehi and King Bimbisara of the kingdom of Magadha were imprisoned by
their son Prince Ajatasatru who had wanted to starve his old father to death
and even attempted to kill his own mother with his sharp sword but was
restrained and prevented from doing so by two good and wise ministers. Brought
to the extreme of grief and despair, Vaidehi pleaded with the Buddha Shakyamuni
who showed her the resplendent lands of all the Buddhas in the ten directions of
the universe.
Queen Vaidehi
expressed her wish to be born in the Pure Land of Utmost Bliss, and she then
appealed to the Buddha to teach her how to visualize this Pure Land
Its message is this:
you (and anyone) can be reborn in the Pure Land
R
Rajagriha The
royal capital of the kingdom
of Magadha
Shakyamuni; the
present Rajgir in the capital district of Patna in Bihar , NE India Vulture Peak
Reciting
the “The
method of reciting the Buddha-name is the one that is
Buddha’s
Name all-inclusive,
embracing people of all mentalities and the one that is easiest to practice.
This is why the compassionate one, Sakyamuni Buddha, explained it to Shariputra
(His leading disciple) without being asked,” Master Ou-i (1599-1655) has
written in his insightful commentary on the brief Amitabha Sutra (MIND-SEAL OF
THE BUDDHAS, p. 42).
“Reciting the
Buddha-name can be called the number one expedient among all the expedient
methods, the supreme complete truth among all the complete truths, the most
perfect of all the perfect teachings …”
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
“A single
recitation of the Buddha’s name encompasses all the teachings of the Tripitaka.
It includes all methods in full without omitting s single method,” Master Yin
Kuang (1861-1940) wrote in a letter to a layman in Yungchia. (PURE LAND ZEN/ZEN
PURE LAND, p. 169)
“For those of high capacities it is a sublime
method; for those of limited capacities it turns into a simple method,” Dharma
Master Thich Thien Tam has commented in his comprehensive text on Pure Land
Master Thich has also advised (p. 21): “Those
who recite the Buddha’s name should seek rebirth in the Western Pure
Land
Teaching his American disciples in San
Francisco on 17 December 1972, Master Hsuan Hua (1908-1995) said: “Recitation
is the easiest Dharma to cultivate, for you need only singlemindedly recite
Amitabha Buddha’s name and at the end of your life you will be reborn in a
lotus flower, hear Amitabha Buddha speak the Dharma every day and in the future
you will ascend to the position of Buddhahood…” (LISTEN TO YOURSELF; THINK
EVERYTHING OVER, Volume Two, 1983, p. 133)
Master
Kuang-chin (1892-1986) taught in Taiwan
Ou-Yang Chi’ng-wu
(1871-1944) was a great teacher of Buddhism and one of the most influential
Buddhist scholars. When he was dying, he said to his disciples: “All I have
learned in my life is of no use in this moment. I advise you to stay on the
main path, sincerely reciting Buddha’s name.”
On the evening of 23 August 1975 , Master Hsuan Hua taught
his American disciples at the Buddha Root Farm near Reedsport , Oregon
(BUDDHA ROOT FARM: PURE LAND DHARMA TALKS,
Feb 1976, p.56)
Reverence “The true
benefit of the Buddha Dharma is found in a reverent mind,” Master Yin Kuang
(1861-1940) wrote in a letter to two brothers in Yungchia. “Such a state of
mind can even lead to swift Supreme Enlightenment – not to mention the lower
levels of sagehood…” (PURE LAND ZEN/ZEN
PURE LAND, p. 90)
CONTINUED
NEXT PAGE
The Van Hien
Study Group notes (p. 85): “In Pure Land Buddhism, the usual terminology is a
mind of utmost reverence and sincerity, leading to one-pointedness of mind.
This is because when the cultivator focuses singlemindly on Amitabha Buddha, he
cannot harbor thoughts of greed, anger or delusion – his mind is pure. A pure
mind is Enlightenment, is the Pure
Land
In his letter to the two brothers
in Yungchia, Master Yin Kuang also emphasized (pp. 90-91) the teaching of the
Pure Land Patriarch Shan Tao (613-681) on the Exclusive Practice of “the body
bowing exclusively to Amitabha Buddha, the mouth exclusively repeating the
Buddha’s name, and the mind focusing exclusively on the Buddha’s name.” Master
Ying Kuan wrote: “Out of ten thousand cultivators who practice in such a
manner, ten thousand are assured of rebirth in the Pure Land
He was particularly
concerned that the two brothers as well as their parents should seek their
rebirth in the Pure
Land
That is, they
will realize their Self-Nature, Buddha Nature. As noted by the Van Hien Study
Group (p. 96): “Amitabha Buddha is the Buddha of Infinite Light and Life. Our
enlightened Self-Nature, intrinsically bright and everlasting, is, therefore ,
Amitabha Buddha…”
In the glossary, the editors
further note (p. 235) that at the highest level of noumenon, Amitabha Buddha
“represents the True Mind, the Self-Nature common to the Buddhas and sentient
beings – all-encompassing and all-inclusive…”
“Moreover, given
the truth of infinite light, when sentient beings are born in Amitabha’s Land
of Ultimate Bliss, they are also born in all the lands of the Ten Directions
(of the universe), and when they see Amitabha Buddha, they are also seeing all
the Buddhas of the Ten Directions. Thus they are saved themselves and they can
bring benefits to all,” Master Ou-i (1599-1655) wrote in his commentary on the
brief Amitabha Sutra, explaining the
Buddha’s Name of “Infinite Light” and “Infinite Life” (MIND-SEAL OF THE
BUDDHAS, p. 77).
“Given the truth
of infinite life (in the fulfillment of the 15th Vow), the people in
the Land of Ultimate Bliss
“We must realize that there is no name of
Amitabha apart from the mind of infinite light and infinite life that is before
us now at this moment, and there is no way for us to penetrate the mind of
infinite light and infinite life that is before us now at this moment apart
from the name of Amitabha…”
84 pages (32,000 words) 16-17.1.2009 0203
S
Saha ‘World of Endurance’, this world of ours, filled with all sorts of
{‘Forbearing’) suffering and the entire catalogue of human
afflictions.
Sakra Generally known as Indra, the lord of the Heaven of Thirty-three
Gods (Triyatrimsha); originally a Hindu god but later considered as a protector
of Buddhism and its followers. The innumerable gods (devas) and other celestial
beings used to attend the teachings of the Buddha Shakyamuni. Sakra, lord of
the gods, was mentioned among those present at the delivery of the brief
Amitabha Sutra in the Jeta Grove of Anathapindada’s Garden at Sravasti.
Sakyamuni/ ‘The
Sage of the Sakya clan.’ The historical Buddha Siddharta
Shakyamuni Gautama
(563-483 BC), who attained the Supreme, Perfect
Enlightenment
in 528 BC at the age of 35, the first human to do so in recorded history, after
six years of extreme and highly intensive spiritual striving.
In the
Buddha’s “Song of Victory,” His first utterance after the supreme spiritual
triumph over the karmic bounds of the illusory and finite self, He said:
Through many a birth in samsara
have I wandered in vain,
seeking the builder of this house (of life).
Repeated birth is indeed suffering!
O house-builder (ignorance-bound craving), you are seen!
You will not build this house (the physical body) again.
For your rafters (defilements/passions) are broken
and your ridgepole (ignorance) (is) shattered.
My mind has reached the Unconditioned (Nirvana);
I have attained the destruction of craving.
The above verses 153-154 from the DHAMMAPADA
have been translated by the distinguished Theravada scholar-monk Venerable
Acharya Buddharakkhita.
In Narada
Maha Thera’s translation of the DHAMMAPADE, the distinguished Theravada
scholar-monk has commented (pp. 141-142):
“Here the Buddha
admits his past wanderings in (samsaric) existence which entails suffering, a
fact which evidently proves the belief in rebirth. He was compelled to wander,
and consequently to suffer, as long as he could not discover the architect who
built this house, the body. CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
“In His final birth He discovered by His own instinctive wisdom the
elusive architect dwelling not outside but within the recesses of His own
heart. The architect was Craving or Attachment (tanha) a self-created force, a mental element latent in all. The
discovery of the (internal/personal) architect is the eradication of craving by
attaining Arahantship (the fourth and highest stage of sainthood) which, in
this (triumphant) utterance, is alluded to as the end of craving.
“The
rafters of this self-created house are the defilements (kilesa). The ridge-pole that supports the rafters is ignorance (avijja), the root cause of all
defilements. The shattering of the ridge-pole of ignorance by wisdom results in
the complete demolition of the house (of the five skandhas or existential
aggregates/constituents). The ridge-pole and the rafters are the material with
which the architect builds this undesired house. With their destruction the
architect is deprived of the wherewithal to rebuild the house which is not
wanted. With the demolition of the house the mind attains The unconditioned which is Nibbana.”
Samadhi One-pointedness of mind leading to deep and serene mental
concentration. A mental state of single-minded concentration and focusing of
thought on one object; also a transcendent state of mind attained by practice
of mindfulness and
meditative concentration. Meditative
absorption, denoting the particular final stage of pure concentration.
The
highest form of penetrative insight-meditation. “Meditative concentration is
the king wielding power over the mind,” Je Tsong Khapa (1357-1419), the great
Tibetan Dharma Master (who studied and practiced with 45 spiritual masters) has
written (LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF TSONG KHAPA, edited by Robert Thurman, published
by Library of Tibetan Works & Archives, Dharamsala, India, 1993, p. 63).
“If you
fix it (on one point), it remains there immoveable like a mighty Mount Meru
The Pure Land
Samantabhadra A
major bodhisattva, Samantabhara is also known (and as translated from the
Sanskrit name) as Universal Worthy, Universally Good, Universally Gracious,
personifying the transcendental practices and vows of the Buddhas; the role
model for the senior bodhisattvas, representing the virtues and spiritual
conduct of the high-level bodhisattvas (those on the eighth stage or above).
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
In the Infinite Life Sutra, the
bodhisattvas who come from the other Buddha-lands to Ultimate Bliss will ultimately
attain the highest level or they can opt to continue with their spiritual
mission to teach, guide and enlighten sentient beings everywhere and to
cultivate the virtues of Samantabhadra according to the 22nd Vow.
The ten vast and great practices and vows of
the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, which he has spelt out so eloquently and
memorably in the final chapter of the AVATAMSAKA SUTRA, convey the essence of
ultimate bodhisattva cultivation. The supreme goal is universal emancipation
and enlightenment – the platinum hallmark of the Mahayana mission.
On his 10th Vow to transfer all
merits and virtues universally, the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra has said: “…I vow
to shut the door to evil destinies and open the right paths of humans, gods and
that of Nirvana. I will stand in for beings and receive all the extremely
severe fruits of suffering which they bring about with their evil karma. I will
liberate all these beings and ultimately bring them to accomplished unsurpassed
Bodhi (Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment). The Bodhisattva cultivates transference
(of merits and virtues) in this way…”
(Extracted in PURE LAND ZEN/ZEN PURE LAND, p. 224)
Samantabhadra has
also vowed to see the Buddha Amitabha and to be born in the Pure Land of
Ultimate Bliss:
I vow that when my life
approaches its end,
All obstructions will be
swept away;
I will see Amitabha Buddha,
And be born in his Land of Ultimate Bliss
And to quote his
final verse:
The supreme and endless
blessings from Samantabhadra’s conduct
I now universally
transfer.
May every living being,
drowning and adrift (in the Ocean
of Samsara
Soon return to the Land of Limitless Light
Samghavarman A Tripitaka
Master and scholar-monk from India who came to Lo-yang in 254 AD and translated
sutras at the White Horse Temple, including the Chinese version of the Infinite
Life Sutra (Wuliangshou-jing).
Samsara The
interminable cycle of rebirths, of birth and death ad infinitum, to which
living beings are bound as the result of their karma; the state of
transmigration. Buddhism’s goal is to free and deliver all beings from this
state of existential incarceration and lead them all to the ultimate bliss of
Nirvana.
Sangha The Buddhist order and fourfold community, including the four groups
of the monks, nuns, novices, and lay Buddhists.
87 pages (33,000 words) 18.1.2009 0542 0615 0700
Shariputra A
leading disciple of the Buddha Shakyamuni, and the foremost in wisdom among the
Arhats.
Self-Power
Path Difficult
Path of Practice with the stress on self-power and self-reliance, e.g.
Theravada. Vinaya, Zen, etc., in contrast to the Easy Path of Practice, i.e.
the Pure Land faith and practice, relying on both self-power (self-effort and
diligence) and other-power (through induction of personal faith and devotion)
and the assistance (through grace, compassion and blessings) of the Buddhas and
Bodhisattvas, particularly the Buddha Amitabha, with the closest and strongest
affinity with human beings.
Seven
practices They are the seven factors for attaining Enlightenment:
leading
to (1) distinguishing
the true teaching from the false, (2) will and
Enlightenment vigour in
cultivating the Dharma, (3) rejoicing in the Dharma, (4) removing indolence and
maintaining ease, comfort and relaxation, (5) mindfulness, (6) concentration,
and (7) mental detachment, equanimity and serenity of mind.
Speaking to
Shariputra in the brief Amitabha Sutra, the Buddha Shakyamuni said that many
kinds of rare and beautiful birds such as the white geese, peacocks, and
kalavinkas sing with melodious and delicate sounds to convey the various
teachings of the Buddha including the seven practices leading to Enlightenment
and the Noble Eightfold Path to Nirvana. These wonderful creatures are
manifestations of the Buddha Amitabha in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.
Seven
Treasures Gold, silver, lapis lazuli, crystal, agate, red pearl, and carnelian. The seven jewels represent the
seven powers of faith, perseverance, sense of shame, avoidance of wrongdoing,
mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom.
In the Pure Land
of Ultimate Bliss, there’s an incalculable abundance of the seven-jewelled
trees, seven-jewelled ponds, etc. The Buddha preaches in the seven-jewelled
lecture hall.
Shan-tao A 7th
century Pure Land
(613-681)
teaching was widely practiced
in China Japan
late
12th century and spread by the great Honen (1133-1212) who founded
the Jodo (Pure Land) school in Kyoto although Japanese Pure Land Buddhism had
probably originated from the early faith and devotion of Prince Shotoko
(574-622), a scholar and devout follower of the Mahayana.
Shan-tao has taught that the mindful practice
of reciting the Buddha’s Name (nienfo)
is the sufficient cause for birth in the Pure Land
Shantideva A
great Madhyamika philosopher, meditation master, and Indian
(687-763)
Buddhist scholar and poet from
the monastic university of
Nalanda, author of the classic
BODHICARYAVATARA /A GUIDE TO THE BODHISATTVA’S WAY OF LIFE (translated by
Stephen Batchelor, published by Library of Tibetan Works & Archives,
Dharamsala, India, 1979, 1981, 1985).
As a result of
virtue I shall dwell in the spacious, fragrant
and cool heart
of a lotus flower,
My radiance will be
nourished by the food of the
Conqueror’s
sweet speech,*
My glorious form will
spring from a lotus
unfolded by
the Mighty One’s light,*
And as a Bodhisattva I
shall abide in the presence
of the Conqueror. VII-44 (p. 86)
* Referring to
Buddha Amitabha, the ‘Vajra Speech Buddha’, the manifestation
of the speech of all the Buddhas (Geshe
Kelsang Gyatso, EIGHT STEPS TO
HAPPINESS, 2000, p. 27)
Amitabha is the Buddha of
Infinite Light and Life.
A high-level bodhisattva is born
by transformation in a lotus flower in
the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss
where he can always see the Buddha and hear
Him teach the Dharma in the
seven-jeweled lecture hall.
May all embodied
creatures,
Who throughout the
universe
Experience hellish
realms,
Come to enjoy the
bliss of Sukhavati (Ultimate Bliss). X-4 (p. 165)
Shinran The
Japanese Pure Land historian and scholar Dr Hisao Inagaki of
(1173-1262)
Ryukoku University Pure Land
Shinran, pure faith is like the Holy Grail,
but it’s a gift from the Buddha Amitabha.
“True faith is
endowed by Amitabha,” Inagaki has written on Shinran (THE THREE PURE LAND
SUTRAS, p. 196)
“As shown in the 18th
Vow, it has three aspects: sincere mind, joyfully entrusting heart, and desire
for birth (in the Pure
Land Pure Land
“The 11th
Vow ensures attainment of Nirvana…”
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
In SHINRAN’S SONGS
TO AMIDA (extracted in THE TEACHINGS OF THE COMPASSIONATE BUDDHA, p. 219):
...
However far His light illumines, love penetrates,
The joy of faith is
attained,
So we are told.
Take refuge in the Great One
who gives comfort…
To quote Shoji Matsumoto and Ruth Tabrah, the two co-authors of THE
NATURAL WAY OF SHIN BUDDHISM (1994, p. 92): “Shinran’s realization was that
Amida is willing to give his life – that is, his enlightenment – to each one of
us. This is the primary reason why, for Shinran, Amida is the ‘true’ Buddha…”
Matsumoto and
Tabrah write on:
“If we are to
understand Amida as our ‘true’ Buddha we must see him as our reality, one with
us and at the same time one with all beings. (p. 56)
“Shinran selects passage after
passage from the Nirvana sutra to emphasize we are one with this Amida
Tathagata… (p. 63)
“Through the
fulfillment of vows made in the timeless past, each one of us, though we are finite
beings, are one with this infinite Amida, one with his timeless reality… (p.
73)
“Shinran uses the phrase ‘munjo butsu’ to describe Amida Buddha.
“‘Munjo-butsu’ means there is no higher
buddhahood than this. The word ‘butsu’
refers not to one specific buddha, but to the ‘buddha-ness’ which is where
Amida comes from. The Amida we can become is not one independent buddha. It is mujobutsu,
the ultimate buddhahood…” (pp. 85-86)
Sila/Morality/ Based on
loving-kindness (metta) and
compassion (karuna), moral
Moral conduct
provides the indispensable foundation for all higher spiritual
discipline
attainments.
No spiritual development is possible without this firm moral basis and strong
underpinning.
In the Pure Land
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
In the Contemplation Sutra, the Buddha Shakyamuni taught Queen
Vaidehi the three acts of the pure karma practiced by all the Buddhas of the
past, present and future as the right cause of Enlightenment.
The three acts of
merit for birth in the Pure Land are: (1)
caring for one’s parents, attending to one’s teachers and elders,
compassionately refraining from killing, and doing the ten good deeds
(including the five precepts for the laity of abstaining from killing,
stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, and taking intoxicants), (2) taking the
three refuges in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, keeping the various precepts
and refraining from breaking the rules of conduct, and (3) awakening the
aspiration for Bodhi (Enlightenment), believing deeply in the law of karma/the
law of causality, chanting the Mahayana sutras and encouraging people to follow
their Dharma teachings. (THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, p. 322)
Moral discipline is
generally embodied in the principles of right speech, right action, and right
livelihood (the moral trio, the triplets of sila).
For lay Buddhists, morality is prescribed in the five precepts or the quintet
of don’ts.
“Moral precepts are
the foundation for Enlightenment,” the Buddha Shakyamuni said in the FLOWER
ADORNMENT SUTRA (chapter 10).
“Moral discipline is
like a precious vessel in which we keep the nectar of spiritual realizations,”
Geshe Kelsang Gyatso has written in EIGHT STEPS TO HAPPINESS (published 2000,
p. 226).
Single
Path The
single path leading to Buddhahood – “only one path trodden by all the buddhas
and their children (the bodhisattvas)” to quote Jamyang Gawai Lodro (1429-1503)
(as quoted by Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama in ESSENCE OF THE
HEART SUTRA, published by Wisdom, Boston, 2005, p. 151).
Sixth
Heaven Paranirmita-vasa-vartin
(Heaven of Free Enjoyment of Manifestations by Others), the highest heaven in
the world of desire. Mara, the king of maras, dwells in the Sixth Heaven.
Spiritual The
five spiritual faculties/powers are necessary for the successful
faculties/ practice
of Buddhism: faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and
powers discernment/insight/wisdom.
Sravasti A
kingdom in central India Pure Land
91 pages (34,500 words)
19.1.2009 0426 0505
Stage
of a The stage of anagamin, the
third of four stages of sainthood in
Non-returner Theravada,
attained by destroying subtle passions; one who has attained the third stage is
no longer subject to rebirth in the world of desire.
Stage
of Eka-jati-pratibuddha. The highest stage (the 10th) of a bodhisattva. The
Becoming bodhisattvas
who come to the Pure Lanf are assured, according to the
a
Buddha 22nd Vow, of eventually reaching the highest level of
bodhisattvahood.
after
One And according to the 11th Vow, all the bodhisattvas are
destined to
More
Life progress from their high level of non-retrogression to their
eventual
attainment of
the Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment.
Stage
of Joy Pramudita-bhumi. The first of the ten stages of cultivation of a bodhisattva; one
enters this initial stage by awakening undefiled wisdom; hence, full of joy.
Stage
of Non- Avinivartaniya. The eighth stage where a bodhisattva realizes
retrogression undefiled
wisdom and is assured of attaining the supreme enlightenment without falling
back to a lower stage – “not subject to fall but certain and destined for Enlightenment”
to quote the Buddha Shakyamuni in His final address (Narada, THE BUDDHA AND HIS
TEACHINGS, p. 267).
Suchness Tathata. Suchness; the
ultimate reality of all that exists.
Suchness
of Things
as they really are; in the eye of the Buddha all existing things
all
dharmas are themselves ultimate reality. Thus Buddha sees all human beings,
and all sentient beings as Buddhas.
Sukhavati Blissful; full of
happiness. The Sanskrit name for the Pure
Land
… Supreme realm highly,
excellently praised
Numerous times by the Lord
of Sages.
-- Je Tsong Khapa, Prayer for Rebirth in
Sukhavati,
written in 1395 at Dzing-ji Temple
(THE LIFE AND
TEACHINGS OF TSONG KHAPA, p. 207)
Sumeru The
mountain that forms the axis and the highest point in a world system.
Supernatural Sad-abhijinah. The six
transcendental powers attributed to a Buddha,
powers bodhisattva
or arhat: (1) the ability to go anywhere at will and to transform oneself or
any object at will, (2) the ability to see anything at any distance, (3) the
ability to hear any sound at any distance, (4) the ability to know the thoughts
of others, (5) the ability to know the previous lives of oneself and others, and
(6) the ability to destroy all evil passions.
Sutra/sutta A discourse,
in the form of a dialogue or a sermon, delivered by a Buddha or one of His
immediate disciples.
Surangama Also known as
the Heroic Gate Sutra. The “Sutra of
the Heroic One” has
Sutra had
a great influence on development of Mahayana in China Japan Korea
Suzuki,
D.T. A
world-renowned Zen scholar, prolific writer, multilingual translator,
(1870-1966)
and probably the most famous
interpreter of Buddhism in the West.
At the age of 88
in 1958, the Zen authority explained the Pure Land
practice of reciting the Buddha’s Name to a
highly sophisticated and discerning audience at the American Buddhist
Academy New York City
Suzuki explains
(BUDDHA OF INFINITE LIFE, pp. 52, 53):
“The Name comes alive in our active life when
there is no Name besides Amida. Amida becomes the Name itself, and the Name is
none other than Amida. That is the joining (in reciting the Name) of ho (Other-power/Buddha-power) and ki (self-power), Amida and each being.
Suzuki then elaborates: “In this kind of
absolute oneness, absolute identity, the Name is Amida, Amida is the Name.
There is no separation between the two, ki
and ho are identical (one and the
same).
“This absolute faith is reality (the
Dharmakaya). This is the moment, as pointed out by Shinran, that if you say
NAMU-AMIDA-BUTSU once, it is enough to save you. That the “one” is “absolute
one” is a mystery.”
Salvation comes from
the Buddha; rebirth in the Pure
Land
CONTINUED
NEXT PAGE
“One single, sincere
invocation (of the Buddha’s Name) would be enough (to save a believer), and any
additional recitation of the holy name should be merely an expression of
gratitude,” Stephen Turnbull, a leading authority on Japanese history, has
written on Shinran’s absolute and supreme faith in Amida, in Stephen’s 50th
published book THE SAMURAI AND THE SACRED (published by Osprey, NY, 2006, pp.
74-75).
Sying
An The Great Chan and Pure Land Master achieved enlightenment after
(1686-1734) four months of concentration without
cease. He said: “I have awakened
from a dream!”
He studied the
Tripitaka (Buddhist Canon) by day and he recited the Buddha’s Name by night.
Like the archetypal bodhisattva by the name of Dharmakara before becoming the
Buddha Amitabha after countless kalpas of cultivation, Sying An also made 48
vows.
On the 14th
day of the fourth lunar month in the year 1734, he faced West and quietly
passed away. His last words: “… Everyone should purify his mind and recite the
Buddha’s Name to end birth and death.”
A pure mind is fully
freed and delivered from all the karmic taints, defilements, and afflictions. A
pure mind is Enlightenment.
T
T’an-luan A
scholar-monk of the Madhyamika (Middle Path) School, T’an-luan
(476-542)
turned to Pure Land
serendipitous meeting with the great Indian
Tripitaka master Bodhiruci in Lo-yang, then the capital of China Chinese Pure Land Chinese
Pure Land
On T’an-luan’s
role, Inagaki has written (THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, p. 198): “He clarified
that the Pure Land Way contains the essential doctrines of Mahayana, and
particularly emphasized that ordinary beings full of evil passions should avail
themselves of the Other Power to attain salvation.”
T’an-luan was
the original proponent of the Other Power. To quote Inagaki (p. 89-90):
“T’an-luan was the first to use the term ‘Other power,’ which became the
central theme of the Pure
Land China Japan
“By ‘the Other
Power’ T’an-luan means the Power of Amitabha as a Buddha or the Power of his Original
Vow (in particular, the power of the 18th Vow (birth in the Pure
Land by repeating the Buddha’s Name ten times) working through the 11th
Vow pledging the unfailing progress from non-retrogression to eventual
attainment of Nirvana, as well as working through the 22nd Vow
giving the high-level bodhisattvas in the Pure Land the option to cultivate the
virtues of Samantabhadra)…
“Because of the
Other Power which works through these three vows, one who entrusts oneself to
Amitabha can quickly realize Enlightenment (through transformational birth in
the Pure Land
To quote
Inagaki again (p. 85): “T’an-luan teaches that the Path of Easy Practice (as
taught by Nagarjuna in the early third century) lies in entrusting oneself to
Amitabha and attaining birth in the Pure Land through the Power of his Vows.
Upon birth in the Pure
Land
About seven centuries later in Kyoto , Japan
95 pages (36,000 words) 22.1.2009
0822
Tao-ch’o Tao-ch’o
converted to Pure
Land
(562-645) admonition on the futility of
self-power (for all except the most exceptionally determined, gifted and
talented human beings); the great predecessor’s practical advice was inscribed
on a stone at the Hsuan-chung
Temple
Tao-ch-o says that the
ordinary human beings can attain their salvation by reciting the Buddha’s Name
with the mind of repentance.
He says they must have faith in the Buddha Amitabha, and adds that (based
on the authority of the Sutra on the Samadhi of Contemplation of the Buddha) “even
if sentient beings are full of evil passions, spiritual hindrances, and
countless karmic evils, a single nien-fo that
grows in their minds can destroy all impurities” (THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS,
pp. 91-92).
Tathagata ‘Thus-come’
(tatha-agata) or ‘Thus-gone’ (tatha-gata); popularly interpreted as ‘One who has come from
Thusness (the ultimate reality).’ One of the ten epithets and names of a
Buddha, referring to His full realization of truth, and emphasizing His
superior and complete knowledge and realization or His supreme transcendence.
Ten
directions Those located at the four cardinal points of the east, south, west,
and north, the four intermediate points, the zenith, and the nadir of the
universe.
Ten
evil acts The three physical deeds of killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct
including adultery, the four oral or verbal acts of telling lies, using coarse
or harsh language, making slander or divisive speech, and indulging in empty
and idle talk, and the three mental sins of greed, anger/hatred, and
ignorance/stupidity/delusion.
Ten
stages/ In the Mahayana, there are 52 levels of cultivation and attainment
grounds
of leading to Buddhahood. The 41st to the 50th
levels constitute the Ten
Bodhisattvahood
Grounds or Stages of Bodhisattvahood. And above are the levels of
Equal Enlightenment, Wonderful Enlightenment and Buddhahood.
Ten
supernal The
ten powers or abilities attributed to a Buddha:
powers (1)
distinguishing right from wrong, (2) knowing the karma of all sentient beings
of the past, present and future, and their outcome, (3) knowing all forms of
meditation, (4) knowing the superior and inferior capacities of sentient
beings, (5) knowing what they desire and what they think, (6) knowing their
different levels of existence, (7) knowing the results of the various methods
of practice, (8) knowing the transmigratory status of all sentient beings and the
causes of their karma, (9) knowing the past lives of all sentient beings and
the nirvanic state of non-defilement, and (10) knowing how to destroy all evil
passions. –THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, p. 418
Ten
thousand All the countless activities and cultivation practices of a
bodhisattva.
conducts
Three
defilements The
three evil passions of greed, anger/hatred, and ignorance/
stupidity/delusion.
Three
evil realms The three lowest states of existence (in descending order): the
realm of animals, that of hungry ghosts, and the world of the various hells.
Three
insights The three insights into the nature of dharmas: (1) insight into
reality through hearing the sacred sounds, (2) insight into reality by coming
into accord with it, and (3) insight into the non-arising (and non-ceasing) of
all dharmas.
Three
periods The past, the present, and the future.
Three
transcendent The three kinds of transcendent knowledge gained by a Buddha,
knowledges
bodhisattva or arhat: (1) knowledge of the former lives of oneself
(tisro
vidyah) and others, (2)
ability to know the future destiny of oneself and others, and (3) ability to
know the miseries of the present life and to remove their root-causes, i.e. the
evil passions.
Three
treasures The Buddha, the Dharma (Doctrine), and the Sangha (spiritual
(hree
jewels/ community).
triple
jewel) “Going for refuge to the Three Jewels – Buddha, his Doctrine and the
Spiritual Community – is the foundation of all Buddhist paths. The door of
refuge is opened by faith,” Khetsun Sangpo, a contemporary Tibetan lama/scholar
comments in his book TANTRIC PRACTICE IN NYING-MA (p. 113)
“It is said in
sutra that there is more benefit in taking refuge in the Three Jewels than in
offering a whole world system of precious substance to a Buddha. Refuge opens
the door to the practice of Buddhism and acts as the foundation of all
advancement on the path of practice.” (p. 124)
Three
worlds The three levels of the state of existence within the six realms of Samsara:
(1) the world of desire, comprising the various hells, the realms of hungry
ghosts, animals, fighting spirits, and humans, and some of the heavens from the
Heaven of the Four Kings to the sixth level Heaven of Free Enjoyment of
Manifestations, (2) the world of form, comprising some higher heavens (the four
Dhyana heavens), and (3) the world of non-form or formlessness, consisting of
supernal heavens. – THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, pp. 382-383
Amitabha’s
Pure Land
Thusness When
defiled, it is known as the Tathagatagarbha (embryo of the
(Tathata) Tathagata);
when undefiled and pristinely pure, is the
Dharmakaya (the
intrinsically pure consciousness).
Transference Transferring
and sharing one’s merits and virtues with others.
of
merit
(Parinama) “When
bodhisattvas awaken to the aspiration for Enlightenment, they vow to ‘transfer’
their merits to others in order to save them. How such transference of merits
(parinama) can be effectively brought about concerns the problem of salvation,”
Inagaki explains in THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS (p. 36).
“Bodhisattvas do various meritorious acts, collectively the Six
Paramitas (Perfections or Virtues), in order to benefit sentient beings. The
stock of merits accumulated by a bodhisattva can be shared by anyone who trusts
in him and calls his name with sincere mind.
When the bodhisattva becomes a Buddha, his infinite merits are freely
shared by all sentient beings for their spiritual advancement…” (pp. 87-88)
The Van
Hien Study Group in New York
“Central
to the Pure Land Pure Land
Trust/ To have faith, to accept, in the sense of placing one’s confidence
Trustfulness or
trust in the power and wisdom of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas.
On
the practice of reciting the Buddha’s Name with complete sincerity and
trustfulness, the great Zen scholar D.T. Suzuki has explained: “When sincerity
and insincerity are transcended, then Amida comes into our inner self and
identifies himself with this inner self. Or, we can say, this self finds itself
in Amida. And when we find this self in Anida, we are in the Pure Land
Suzuki
has come to this conclusion “Amida is our inmost self, and when that inmost
self is found, we are born in the Pure
Land
BUDDHA OF INFINITE
LIFE, pp. 4l-42
Tusita
Heaven The fourth of the six heavens in the world of desire.
Tusita means contentment. In this heaven the
future and next Buddha Maitreya is expounding the Dharma.
99 pages (37,000 words) 27-28.1.2009 0245
0329
0858
U
Udumbara A rare kind of tree of the genus Ficus Glomerata, which is believed to flower and bloom fully once
in 3,000 years. A symbol of a rare occurrence, a rarity.
Unconditioned Nirvana free from
all conditions; the absolute and ultimate reality.
Nirvana
“Nibbana of the Buddhists is neither a mere nothingness nor a state
of annihilation, but what it is no words can adequately express. Nibbana is a
Dhamma which is “unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, and unformed.” Hence it is
eternal (dhuva), desirable (subha), and happy (sukha),” Narada Thera has written in his 1933 brief BUDDHISM IN A NUTSHELL (reprinted 1996 by
Sukhu Hotu, Penang , for free distribution, pp.
55-56).
“In Nibbana, nothing is “eternalized”, nor is anything
“annihilated”, besides suffering…”
Universal Samantanugata. Of the samadhi in which one can see the innumerable
equality
Buddhas,
supremely and equally enlightened with omniscience and boundless great
compassion.
Universe
of a Trisahasra-mahasahasrah
lokadhatavah. Literally
thousand translated
from Sanskrit, ‘triple thousand great one-thousand world’.
million
worlds The
universe of a thousand million worlds comes within the spiritual ambit and care
of one Buddha. With the countless Buddhas, the number of universes is also
beyond human reckoning.
Unsurpassed
Way The
Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment.
V
Vairocana The Cosmic
Buddha. The main Buddha in the AVATAMSAKA SUTRA, He represents the Dharma Body
(the Dharmakaya of Absolute Reality) of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni and
All Buddhas. His Pure
Land
In the AVATAMSAKA SUTRA
(translated by Dr Thomas Cleary, published by Shambhala, Boston, 1993, Book
Two, p. 167), the Bodhisattva Lion Stretch Wisdom Light, empowered by the
Buddha Shakyamuni, said:
Vairocana Buddha
Can turn the wheel of truth
In all the lands of the
cosmos,
Filling it like clouds.
In all the great ocean of
worlds
In all the ten directions
Buddha’s power of mind and
will
Turns the wheel of truth.
In the vast assemblies of
beings
In all lands
His names are not the same;
He expounds the truth
according to need.
Buddha’s majestic powers
Were made by the vows of
universal goodness and wisdom;
In all lands
That wondrous sound reaches
everywhere.
What he practiced in the past
Over countless billions of
eons
In all lands, many as atoms,
That wondrous sound can fully tell…
Vajrapani Holder of
the diamond, the king of precious stones, symbolizing the adamantine essence
and indestructibility of Buddhahood – imperishable and indivisible. Vajrapani
represents the spiritual power and the skilful means of the Buddhas. Also known
as Mahasthamaprapta (please refer)
in Pure Land Buddhism, the attendant on the right hand side of the Buddha
Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Light and Life.
Vajra
god A
dewa endowed with an adamantine body and phenomenal physical power. The prime
example is Narayana (‘The son of the original man’).
Vasubandhu The second of
three spiritually eminent brothers, born in Purusapura,
(c. 320-400) the capital of Gandhara, in Northern India . Vasubandhu was a distinguished
scholar-monk, an Abhidharma master, and a co-founder with his elder brother
Asanga of the Yogacara (Consciousness-Only) School, while his younger brother
Vilincivatsa was an arhat of the Sarvastivada School.
Probably best
known as a Yogacara-Pure Land master, Vasubandhu applied Yogacara meditation
and concentration to the contemplation and visualization of the Pure Land
Capable of highly
advanced meditation and concentration, he visualized the Buddha Amitabha and
His Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. He perceived Amitabha as the Buddha of
transcendent and universal Light shining everwhere without hindrance. The
Buddha’s wonderful voice is also heard throughout the ten directions of the
universe. His sovereign power is unsurpassed, and all the heavenly and human
beings in the Pure
Land
This great Yogacara-Pure Land
(2) praising the Buddha and
glorifying/reciting the Buddha’s Name,
(3) samatha meditation of calming,
collecting, and stilling the mind, with the aspiration for birth in the Pure Land
(4) vipasyana or insight meditation with
the contemplation and visualization of the Pure Land
(5) transferring the merit of practice to
benefit and save all other beings.
“The Pure Land Pure Land
“By the fifth
mindful practice he returns to Samsara to save other beings. When all the five
mindful practices are accomplished, he becomes a Buddha…”
In the 24th and last stanza of
Vasubandhu’s immortal HYMN OF ASPIRATION
FOR BIRTH (IN THE PURE LAND):
I have written this
discourse and hymn
With the wish to see
Amitabha Buddha
And, together with sentient
beings,
Be born in the Land of Peace
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
On the Five
Mindful Practices and their adoption by the great 13th century
Japanese master Shinran (1173-1262), Inagaki has written (p. 198): “Shinran
took them as the Bodhisattva practices that Dharmakara (who after countless
eons of cultivation became the Buddha Amitabha ten kalpas ago) performed for
the sake of sentient beings. The supreme merits manifested in the Pure Land
Inagaki has
described (p. 70) Vasubandhu’s contribution to the development of Pure Land
Vigour Virtue
of courage, energy, and fortitude, sustaining a bodhisattva
(Viriya) on
the interminable spiritual path of the ultimate enlightenment.
“Closely allied
with Panna (wisdom) is Viriya (Energy or Perseverance). Here Viriya does not mean physical strength
though this is an asset, but mental vigour or strength of character, which is
far superior. It is defined as the persistent effort to work for the welfare of
others both in thought and deed,” Narada has written on the paramita or
perfection of vigour/viriya in THE BUDDHA AND HIS TEACHINGS, p. 597). “Firmly establishing
himself in this virtue, the Bodhisatta develops self-reliance and makes it one
of his prominent characteristics…”
Like wisdom,
vigour/viriya is one of the seven factors of enlightenment and one of the four
accomplishments, as well as being one of the five powers and one of the five
controlling faculties. To quote Narada (p. 599): “It is effort coupled with
wisdom that serves as a powerful hand to achieve all ends.” Like the indestructible diamond-wielding right
hand of the Bodhisattva Vajrapani.
Mi-la-re-ba
(1040-1123), the great Kagyu master, said to his supreme disciple Gam-bo-ba
(1079-1153): “…This is the essence of my teaching. Whether you become a Buddha
or not depends on effort. With it there can be no question about your
(spiritual) liberation. Like a son, do what your father says.”
Comments
Khetsun Sangpo Rinbochay, a contemporary lama/scholar, in his 1996 text on the
path of Great Perfection TANTRIC PRACTICE IN NYING-MA (p. 188): “Mindfulness
and introspection, impelled by the power of effort, are the basis of the path.
Mindfulness keeps one from forgetting what is to be adoped or discarded, and
introspection causes one to recognize deviations from the path… Mindfulness and
introspection must be maintained tightly and continuously; otherwise, whether
one studies or practices, one is not on the path…”
Virtues Virtues transcend Birth and Death and lead to Buddhahood.
In Pure Land
Buddhism, four virtues are mentioned: eternity, happiness, True Self, and
purity.
And in both
Mahayana and Theravada, there are the transcendental virtues or paramitas
(perfections) that the bodhisattvas practice to attain Buddhahood. In addition
to the six virtues of generosity, moral discipline, patience, energy/vigour,
mindfulness/concentration, and wisdom, the extended Mahayana code of conduct
includes four more virtues: expedients, vows, power, and knowledge.
Mahayana
stresses expedients or skill-in-means. And in Pure Land
Vow
for rebirth In the brief Amitabha Sutra, the Buddha Shakyamuni has taught the
in
the Pure Land Pure Land Pure Land Pure Land
Master Ou-i
(1599-1655) has commented: “…Without faith, we cannot make vows. Without vows
and faith, rebirth cannot occur…”
In an open
letter to all spiritual aspirants seeking liberation from Birth and Death,
Master Yin Kuang (1861-1940) has written: “Sakyamuni taught the method of
reciting Amitabha Buddha’s Name, seeking rebirth in the Western Pure Land, in
order to help sentient beings resolve the problem of Birth and Death in this
very lifetime…” -- PURE LAND ZEN/ZEN
PURE LAND (p. 115)
The Master’s
advice (p. 114) is to make vows for rebirth in the Pure Land which is free from
suffering, beyond Birth and Death, beyond the karma-bound prison of Samsara:
“You should aspire to transcend this world and achieve rebirth in that blissful
Land as soon as possible…”
Vow
of Universal “The 18th Vow of Nien-fo-Faith
(faith in the power of reciting the
Salvation
Buddha’s Name) is the most concrete expression of Amitabha’s wish to
save all beings in delusion and suffering,” Inagaki has written on the Power of
the Vow (THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, p. 76).
“The Vow of
universal salvation, as the 18th Vow may be called, having been
fulfilled, the most effective way of salvation has become available to us. This
is the easy and quick way of emancipation through the Name. Those who
contemplate Amitabha and his Pure
Land
104pages
(39,000 words) 30.1.2009 1712 1730
W
Way/Path The
spiritual path to the Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment and
Buddhahood.
It’s the way of the
sages. While discoursing on the mind of Buddha in Book 37 of the AVATAMSAKA
SUTRA (as translated by Thomas Cleary, p. 1003), the Bodhisattva Universally
Good quotes the Buddha Shakyamuni as saying: “How strange – how is it that
these sentient beings have the knowledge of Buddha but in their folly and
confusion do not know it or perceive it? I should teach them the way of sages
and cause them forever to shed deluded notions and attachments, so they can see
in their own bodies the vast knowledge of buddhas, no different from the
buddhas.”
After quoting the
Buddha, Universal Good continues: “Then Buddha teaches them to practice the way
of sages, so they get rid of deluded notions, after which they realize the
infinite knowledge of Buddha and aid and comfort all living beings…”
The following is another rendering of the Buddha’s deep concern over
the existential plight of sentient beings co-existing with their infinite
spiritual potential (as quoted in BUDDHISM: A BRIEF INTRODUCTION, by Master
Hsuan Hua):
“… Amazing! Truly amazing! How it is that all
of these living beings (throughout the universe) are replete with the Thus Come
One’s (Buddha’s) wisdom. Yet they are ignorant and confused, and do not know or
see it. I should teach them the Holy Path, to cause them to forever separate
from false thinking and attachments, so that they will see the Thus Come One’s
vast wisdom within themselves, which is no different from the Buddha…”
To quote the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin
Gyatso (ESSENCE OF THE HEART SUTRA, pp. 51-52): “If we are to cultivate the
deepest wisdom, we must understand suffering at its deepest, most pervasive
level (caused by our fundamental ignorance of the nature of reality). In turn,
freedom from that level of suffering is true nirvana, true liberation, the true
state of cessation.”
His Holiness the Dalai Lama has
called it “the true Dharma, which protects us from all suffering and
negativity.” And, His Holiness added: “And the path leading to that Dharma is
called the Buddha’s way…”
Nagarjuna (150-250), the greatest exponent
of Emptiness and the founder of the Madyamika
School Buddhist Way
Well-Gone Blessed
One; an epithet for a Buddha.
(Sugata)
Wheel
of The Buddha Dharma is compared to a wheel because (1) like the
the
Dharma wheel (cakra) of
a universal wheel-turning monarch, it crushes all
(Dharma-cakra) evils of
sentient beings, and (2) like a wheel in motion, it rolls on and on and spreads
endlessly from one person to another.
In the penultimate and longest chapter (39)
of the AVATAMSAKA SUTRA: Entry into the Realm of Reality, Sudhana (Good
Wealth), the main protagonist, seeking Enlightenment, visited and studied with
53 spiritual advisors and became the equal of the Buddhas in his lifetime. The
Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, his first as well as his last teacher in the Dharma
marathon, taught him the Pure Land Path.
Having heard from the Bodhisattva Manjushri of
such magnificence of the qualities of Buddha, Sudhana uttered these verses (pp.
1176, 1177):
Put me on the vehicle of
enlightenment,
driven by faith, studded
with jewels of virtue,
A globe with wheels of prayer
and vows,
steeled by forbearance,
resting on the axle of compassion.
Its scope is universal
knowledge, it arrays
the sky of the
reality realm;
Bring me to that vehicle of
truth,
which fulfills the
aspiration of all beings...
Wheel-turning The ideal king as conceived in ancient India
monarch special
kind of wheel that flies through the air and destroys the
(Cakravartin) enemy.
Wisdom “The
base of Buddhism is morality, and wisdom is its apex. As the
(prajna/panna) pair of
wings of a bird are these two complementary virtues,” Narada Mahathera has
written in THE BUDDHA AND HIS TEACHINGS (p. 291).
“Wisdom is
like unto man’s eyes; morality is like unto his feet. One of the appellatives
of the Buddha is Vijjacaranasampanna – endowed with (supreme) wisdom and (the
highest moral and noble) conduct…”
The first factor
in the Noble Eightfold Path to Enlightenment and Nirvana, wisdom is one of the
seven factors of enlightenment, one of the four means of accomplishment, one of
the five powers as well as one of the five controlling faculties. “It is wisdom
that leads to purification and to final Deliverance,” Narada has written.
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
On the basis
of ordinary wisdom, the cultivation of “a mind with ultimate transcendent
wisdom” and the eventual development of “the supreme unshakable mind of
omniscience”.
From the
diligent practice of compassion and wisdom to the attainment of the Supreme,
Perfect Enlightenment.
“Their wisdom is
like the ocean,” the Buddha Shakyamuni said to Ananda on the bodhisattvas in
the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss (THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, p. 279). “The
light of their wisdom, being brilliant and pure, outshines the sun and the
moon…”
Wisdom
life The spiritual life of a Buddha or Bodhisattva, which is sustained by
wisdom, just as the physical life of an ordinary human being is sustained by
daily food.
Wonhyo A distinguished scholar-monk and the preeminent figure in Korean
(617-686) Buddhism, Wonhyo was a
contemporary of the Chinese Pure Land Patriarch Shan-tao (613-681).
Wonhyo taught
ordinary people to recite the Name of the Buddha Amitabha. “When Wonhyo
practiced Pure Land Buddhism, he called himself a total outcast, far beneath
the lowest of people. This realization of his low status was considered to be
one of the great awakenings in Wonhyo’s life,” Sung Bae Park
“Thereafter, he diligently applied himself to Pure Land
X
Xu
Yun Please also refer to Hsu Yun.
(1840-1959) The Eighth Patriarch of the Wei
Yang sect of the Chan
School China
A short while before the Venerable Master
departed from this world, he urged his disciples to preserve the faith. “How to
preserve it? The answer is in the word sila.”
After saying this he brought his palms together and advised his assistants to
take good care of themselves. They left the room and then returned an hour
later to find that Xu Yun had quietly passed away. (GRACEFUL EXITS: HOW GREAT
BEINGS DIE, compiled and edited by Sushila Blackman, 1997, pp.99-101)1.2.2009 0229 0245
Y
Yen-shou This
eminent Chan monk Yung-ming Yen-shou is believed to be an
(904-976)
incarnation of the Bodhisattva
Maitreya. The third patriarch in the Chan
line
of Fa-yen (885-958), Yen-shou has also been regarded as a patriarch of the Lotus School Pure Land
Yen-shou has recommended reciting
the Buddha’s Name in a loud voice, and described the nien-fo as particularly powerful and efficacious at the time of
death. (The great 9th century adept and Tantric master Padmasambhava
has taught that at the time of one’s death, one should always call on the
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas for help and rescue. With one’s mind at its most
critical state, one should maintain one’s unshakable faith in the Buddha and
remain mindful of the Blessed One until the end, and imbue one’s last thought
with the infinite purifying power and the supreme merits of the Buddha’s Name –
by invoking it with singleminded concentration.)
Advocating the
joint practice of meditation and recitation of the Buddha’s Name, Yen-shou
asserted its power and value in a declaratory verse:
Those who practice both Ch’an
and the Pure Land
are
strongest like tigers with horns;
They become teachers in this life, and will
become Buddhas in the next…
-- THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, pp.
129-132 1,2,2009 2043
Yin
Kuang Master Yin Kuang was principally responsible for revitalizing the
(1861-1940)
the practice of reciting the
Buddha’s Name and reviving the Pure
Land
School in China Chinese Pure Land
“If you experience
difficulty in reaching one-pointedness of mind, you should focus your mind and
recite with care,” Master Yin Kuang wrote in a letter to the layman Kao
Shao-lin.
“The main criteria
of such concentration are utter sincerity and earnestness. It is very difficult
to achieve one-pointedness of mind without utter sincerity. However, sincerity
is not enough. You should next listen attentively to the recitation.
“Whether or not
recitation is performed aloud, it should originate from the mind. It then
proceeds from the mouth and enters the ears (even if you recite silently, the
marks of oral recitation still exist in the mind). With mind and mouth reciting
clearly, the ears hearing clearly and the mind thus concentrated, deluded
thoughts will cease by themselves…” PURE LAND ZEN/ZEN PURE LAND (p. 52)
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
Master Yin Kuang has taught that although Buddha Recitation (as
originally taught by the Bodhisattva Mahasthamaprapta in the timeless past) is
simple, it is profound and all-encompassing, describing it (in a letter to the
laywoman Hsu Fu-hsien) as “precisely the wonderful door to the Way, the most
expedient path to Buddhahood…” PURE LAND
ZEN/ZEN PURE LANd (p. 73)
Z
Zendo Japanese name of Shan-tao (613-681).
Zunshi An eminent monk of the early Song (960-1279), an imperial
(964-1032) dynasty noted for its art,
literature, and philosophy. Zunshi played an influential role in reviving the
T’ien-tai School; he was also an ardent Pure Land
“The key is
to restrain the mind and not allow it to become distracted,” Zunshi instructed
on how to recite the Buddha’s Name with continual concentration and a
singleminded focus.
“From one
moment to the next, concentrate your attention continually on the Buddha’s
Name, as you vocally call out “A-mi-tuo-fuo” over and over. Focus your mind on
the process (of recitation), keeping each syllable perfectly distinct so that
mind and mouth operate in perfect coordination…”
-- From Daniel Stevenson’s article on Pure Land China
NAMO
AMITABHA BUDDHA
25 Selasar Rokam
40
31350 Ipoh Perak , Malaysia
Tel: 05-3134941
Ma’s 7th
Anniversary 3.2.2009
REFERENCES
AND SOURCES
Asvaghosha, The Awakening of the Faith, S. Yoshito Hakeda, tr. New Yotk: Columbia University
Birnbaum, Raoul, The Healing Buddha, Boston
Blackman, Sushila, ed., GRACEFUL EXITS: How Great Beings Die, New York
Blofeld, John, THE WHEEL OF LIFE: The Autobiography of a Western Buddhist, Boston
Buddhadasa Bhikku (Ven), HANDBOOK FOR MANKIND, Malaysia
Buddharakkshita (Ven Sri Acharya), tr., Dhammapada ,
Malaysia
Burtt, E.A., ed., THE TEACHINGS OF THE COMPASSIONATE BUDDHA, New York Mentor
Chin Kung (Ven Master), The Collected Works, Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia Malaysia
Cleary, J.C., tr., PURE LAND PURE MIND, Taipei ,
Taiwan United States Canada New York
Cleary, Thomas, tr., THE FLOWER ORNAMENT SCRIPTURE: A Translation of The Avatamsaka Sutra,
Boston
Conze, Edward, Buddhism: Its Essence and Development, New Delhi New York
Dhammananda, K.Sri, What Buddhists Believe, Kuala
Lumpur , Malaysia
Dhammananda, K Sri (Ven Dr), WHERE IS THE BUDDHA?, Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia 31
August 2006 for free distribution in memory of the beloved Teacher
and scholar-monk
Dharmapala (Anagarika), THE ARYA DHARMA OF SAKYAMUNI GAUTAMA THE
BUDDHA, Taipei , Taiwan
A
Dictionary of Buddhis Terma and Concepts, Tokyo Nichiren
Shoshu International
Center
Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava (as according
to Karma Lingpa), THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE
DEAD: The Great Liberation through Hearing in the Bardo, translated with
commentary by Francesca Fremantle and Chogyam Trungpa, Boston: Shambhala, 1987
GEMS
OF BUDDHIST WISDOM, Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia
Geshe Kelsang Gyatso (Ven), Eight Steps to Happiness, London
Geshe Kelsang Gyatso (Ven), Transform Your Life: A Blissful Journey,
London
Goldstein, Joseph, The Experience of Insight (extracted in Settling into the moment, published by Sukhi Hotu , Malaysia Singapore
Gomez, Luis O., THE LAND OF BLISS, Honolulu University of Hawaii Press Kyoto
Govinda (Lama Anagarika), Buddhist Reflections, Maurice Walshe,
tr., York Beach , Maine
Govinda (Lama Anagarika), Insights of a Himalayan Pilgrim,
Berkeley, Ca: Dharma Publishing, 1991
Han-Shan (Master), PURE LAND
OF THE PATRIARCHS Pure
Land Selangor ,
Malaysia United States Canada New York
Hsing Yun (Ven Master), Lectures on Three Buddhist Sutras, Taiwan
Hsuan Hua (Tripitaka Master), A General Explanation of The Buddha Speaks
of Amitabha Sutra, San Francisco: Sino-American Buddhist Association, Sep
1974
Hsuan Hua (Ven Tripitaka Master), Buddha Root Farm, San Francisco:
Sino-American Buddhist Association, Buddhist Text Translation Society, Feb 1976
Hsuan Hua (Master), Listen to Yourself; Think Everything Over Volume Two, Talmage , CA Dharma
Realm Buddhist
University
Hsuan Hua (Ven Master), BUDDHISM: A Brief Introduction, Burlingame , CA Malaysia
Hsuan Hua (Ven Master), The Shurangama Sutra, Great Strength
Bodhisattva’s Perfect Penetration through Mindfulness of the Buddha, San
Francisco: Buddhist Text Translation Society, 1997
Inagaki, Hisao, with Harold Stewart, tr., THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, Kyoto
Je Tsong Khapa, THE LIFE & TEACHINGS OF TSONG KHAPA, Robert A. F. Thurman, ed.,
Dharamsala, India: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1993
Khetsun Sangpo Rinbochay, TANTRIC PRACTICE IN NYING-MA, Jefftey
Hopkins, tr/ed., Ithaca , New York
Kunzang Palden, THE NECTAR OF MANJUSHRI’S SPEECH, New Delhi
Lopez, Jr., Donald S., ed., BUDDHISM IN PRACTICE, New Jersey Princetown University
Mahasi Sayadaw (Ven), Dhammacakkappavatta Sutta, The Great Discourse on the Wheel of Dhamma,
Petaling Jaya , Malaysia Burma
Mascaro, Juan, tr., THE BHAVAGAD GITA, Penguin, 1962
Mascaro, Juan, tr., BUDDHA’S TEACHINGS, Penguin, 1995
Matsumoto, Shoji, and Ruth Tabrah, The Natural Way Honolulu , Hawaii Buddhist Study Center
Narada Thera, BUDDHISM IN A NUTSHELL, Taipei ,
Taiwan
Narada Maha Thera, ed/tr., A Manual of Abhidhamma, Taiwan Kuala Lumpur
Narada Maha Thera, THE DHAMMAPADA, Taiwan
Narada Maha Thera, THE BUDDHA AND HIS TEACHINGS, Taiwan Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia
Ou-i (Master), Mind-Seal of THE BUDDHAS: Patriarch Ou-i’s Commentary on the AMITABHA
SUTRA, J.C. Cleary, tr., Taman Billion, Jalan Cheras, Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia United States Canada New York
Padmasambhava, THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD, Gyur Dorje, tr., London
Radhakrishnan, S., tr., THE BHAVAGADGITA, New Delhi
The
Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen, Boston
Shen Yen (Master), COMPLETE ENLIGHTENMENT, New
York
Shen Yen (Master), Ch’an Practice and Faith, Taiwan Dharma Drum
Mountain
Simpkins, Annellen, and Alex ander Simpkins, ZEN AROUND THE WORLD, Boston
Snelling, John, BUDDHISM, Dorset ,
Great Britain
Sogyal Rinpoche, THE TIBETAN BOOK OF LIVING AND DYING, New York
Sogyal Rinpoche, GLIMPSE AFTER GLIMPSE: Daily Reflections on Living and Dying, London
Soothill, W.E. tr., THE
LOTUS OF THE WONDERFUL LAW, Richmond Surrey , UK
Sucitto Bhikkhu (Ven), THE DAWN OF THE DHAMMA, Bangkok
Suzuki, D.T., BUDDHA OF INFINITE LIFE, Boston
Sying An (Master), An Exhortation to Resolve Upon Bodhi, commentary by Master Hsuan
Hua, Burlingame, CA: Buddhist Text Tanslation Society, 2003
Tenzin Gyatso, the XIV Dalai Lama (His
Holiness), THE WAY TO FREEDOM, London
Tenzin Gyatso, the XIV Dalai Lama (His
Holiness), AN OPEN HEART, Nicholas
Vreeland, ed., London Stoughton
Tenzin Gyatso, the XIV Dalai Lama (His
Holiness), ESSENCE OF THE HEART SUTRA, Boston , MA
Thich Nhat Han, et al., For A Future To Be Possible: Commentary on
the Five Wonderful Precepts, Berkeley
Thich Nhat Hanh, PEACE IS EVERY STEP: The Path of Mindfulness in Every Day Life
Thich Thien-An (Ven Dr Berkeley
Thich Thien Tam (Dharma Master), BUDDHISM OF WISDOM & FAITH, Taiwan United
States Canada New York
Thich Thien Tam (Dharma Master), tr., PURE LAND BUDDHISM: Dialogues with Ancient
Masters, Taiwan United States Canada New York
Thich Thien Tam (Dharma Master), PURE LAND PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE, Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia Malaysia
Turnbull, Stephen, THE SAMURAI AND THE SACRED, Oxford ,
UK
Yin Kuang (Master), PURE-LAND ZEN, ZEN PURE-LAND: Letters from Patriarch Yin Kuang,
Master Thich Thien Tam et al, tr., Singapore Singapore United
States Canada New York
Walsch, Donald, Home With God In A Life That Never Ends, London
Wei Tsuei (Dr), Roots of Chinese Culture & Medicine, Petaling Jaya, Selangor , Malaysia
Yoshimori, Takenchi, ed., BUDDHIST SPIRITUALITY, Delhi , India
7.2.2009 1751 2039
Index
Amida 1, 14, 31, 49, 53, 54, Avatamsaka Sutra 7, 18, 21, 45,
46, 87,
59, 65, 71, 75, 90, 93, 94, 98 91, 99, 103, 104
Amita 1, 14, 65 Awakening 72, 91, 92, 94
Amitabha 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 10,
11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 19, 21, 23, Bhadra-kalpa 8
26, 27, 30, 32, 34, 35, 36, 40,
41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 48, 49, 50, Birth and death 8, 23, 36,
46, 102
51, 52, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59,
62, 63, 65, 67, 70, 71, 74, 75, Birth in the Pure Land 30,
36, 58, 91, 93,
76, 77, 78, 80, 88, 89, 90, 91, 98, 100
92, 95, 96, , 98, 100, 103, 105,
106
Blessed One (Bhagavat) 8, 45
Amitabha Sutra (Amitou-jing) Bodhi 8, 46, 80, 91
3, 4, 5, 16, 19, 26, 42, 53, 55,
61, 75, 77, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, Bodhi Mind (Bodhichitta) 9,
17, 18, 46,
84, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 95, 89, 91
96, 98, 102
Bodhiruci 95
Amitayus 1, 4, 43, 62
Bodhisattva 9, 10, 18, 45, 50,
89, 92, 96.
Amituo 1, 71, 107 98, 105
Ananda 1, 5, 43, 48, 51, 55, 76, Buddha 10, 56, 57, 67, 100,
105
105
Buddhahood 9, 10, 18, 41, 42, 43, 47, 48,
Anuttarasamyaksambodhi 5 52, 55, 67, 77, 80, 81,
83, 90, 91, 96,
102, 107
Arhat/arhatship 6, 87
Buddha, Dharma, Sangha 11, 16,
21, 34, 41,
ARYA DHARMA OF 47, 90, 97
SAKYAMUNI GAUTAMA
THE BUDDHA 11, 34, 41, 45, Buddha Nature 1, 10, 11, 16,
18, 30, 31, 38,
60 43, 51, 56, 67, 84, 103
Asvaghosha
7, 96
Buddha of Infinite Light and Life 1, 10, 11,
23, 26, 35, 42, 43, 53, 54, 66, 77, 82, 84, 89, 99
Avalokiteshvara (Kuan Yin) 6, 9,
20, 22, 26, 51, 52, 62, 65, 78, 100 Buddha Recitation 12, 14, 107
Buddha Recitation Samadhi 13 Death 14, 25,
26, 47, 106
BUDDHISM OF WISDOM & FAITH Death-bed experiences 26
12, 13, 26, 28, 29, 32, 38, 44, 61, 72, 75,
77, 83
Death-bed rites 27
Death-bed
scene in Pure Land
Chanting the Buddha’s Name 14 literature 27
Chia-ts’ai 14
Defilements 27, 36, 38, 46, 87, 97
Chi I 15, 33
Definitely assured state 28, 33, 35,
42, 53, 74
Chin Kung 15, 19, 66
Delusion
27, 28, 29, 37
Cleary, J. C. 12, 27, 42, 43, 50, 56
Dependent Origination 20, 27
Cleary, Thomas 3, 21, 53, 99, 103
Detachment from self 29, 30
Compassion 16, 17, 18, 31, 46, 60, 61,
69, 104, 105
Devotion 31, 32, 35, 49
Concentration 19, 39, 40, 41, 47, 62, 66, DHAMMACAKKAPPAVATTANA
77, 90, 91, 94, 102, 105, 106, 10 SUTTA 5, 39, 47
Consciousness 20, 22, 28, 36, 47, 68 Dhammananda, K Sri (Ven Dr
Contemplation 21, 22, 66, 102 DHAMMAPADA
39, 67, 68, 70, 85
Contemplation/Meditation Sutra 22, 43, Dharmakara 33, 34, 48, 50,
61, 94,
53, 55, 66, 70, 81, 82, 91 98, 101
Conze, Edward 71
Dharmakaya (Dharma Body) 10, 11,
31, 32, 45, 57, 93, 99
Corless, Roger 71
Dharma- Ending Age 32
Craving 20, 22, 86
Dharmapala
(Anagarika) 10, 34, 41,
Cultivation 23, 24, 44, 72, 83, 103, 105 60
8.2.2009 1308
Dharma Realm 33
Dalai Lama XIV 9, 10, 16, 17, 18, 37, 60, DICTIONARY OF BUDDHIST
61, 91, 103
TERMS AND CONCEPTS 20
DAWN OF THE DHAMMA 44 Dilgo Khyentse
Rinpoche 31
Diligence 33, 105 Faith 15, 21, 26, 31, 34,
35, 41, 42, 43, 44,
45, 47, 48, 49, 50, 53, 57, 59, 66, 74, 77,
Dipankara 34
89, 90, 91, 93, 95, 96, 97, 98, 102, 103,
104, 106
Doubt 34
Fearlessness 46
Drubwang Konchok Norbu Rinpoche
(His Eminence) 12
Fei-hsi 53
Five grave offences 46
Easy Path 35, 36, 43, 50, 80, 95, 103
Five powers 47
Effortless spontaneity 36
Five precepts 47, 91
Ego 29, 30
Five realms of Samsara 47
Eidmann, Philipp Karl (Ven) 59
Five roots of goodness 47
Eight consciousnesses 36
Five skandas 47
EIGHT STEPS TO HAPPINESS 17, 29,
37, 43, 69, 89, 91
Fourfold assembly 47
Einstein 17
Four Noble Truths 19, 22, 37, 47
Emptiness 11, 30, 33, 37, 47, 103
Genshin
49
Enlightenment 37, 73, 74, 84, 88, 89, 90,
91, 92, 94, 95, 104, 105 Geshe
Kelsang Gyatso 16, 17, 29, 43, 69,
89, 91
ESSENCE OF THE HEART SUTRA 9, 11,
16, 37, 91, 103
GLIMPSE AFTER GLIMPSE 17, 25
Equanimity 38
Gomez, Luis O. 4, 5, 16, 50, 52, 66, 70, 80
Evil paths 38, 97
Govinda Lama 5
EXHORTATION TO RESOLVE Grace 49, 50
UPON BODHI 8
GREAT STRENGTH BODHISATTVA’S
Expedients 39, 57, 68, 77, 82, 102, 107 PERFECT PENETRATION 63, 68, 73
Gyonen 95
Fa-chao 39, 41
Han-Shan 51
Infinite (Immeasurable) Light 71, 84, 90
HEALING BUDDHA 53 Insight 45,
47, 52, 68, 73, 77, 90, 91, 97,
105
Hearing 28, 51, 52, 53, 58, 97, 102,
106 Insight into non-arising of all dharmas 56
Heart 67, 87 Invoking the Buddha’s Name 56, 57, 70,
70, 71, 75, 82
Heart Sutra 20, 47
Hecker, Helmut 62 Jivamjivaka 58
Holding fast to the Buddha’s Name 64, Jodo School 53, 58, 59, 81
66, 71, 81, 82
Jodoshinshu 49,
50, 59, 81
Honen Shonin 53, 58, 81, 88, 95
Joyful faith 59
HRIH 65
Hsing Yun 81
Kakuban 65
Hsu Yun 24, 52, 54
Kalavinka 60
Hsuan Hua 2, 4, 5, 13, 23, 24, 48, 52, 54, Kalpa 60
55, 63, 68, 73, 80, 81, 83, 103
Karma 34, 60, 91, 96
Hsuan-tsang 55
Karuna (Compassion) 60, 61
Hui-yuan 55, 61, 81
Khetsun Sangpo Rinbochay 9, 12, 32, 33,
37, 43, 67, 97, 101
Ignorance 10, 20, 27, 28, 29, 51, 85, 86,
103, 105
Koya 53, 58
Inagaki, Hisao 1, 22, 27, 28, 30, 36, 37,
42, Krishna
(Lord) 31
45, 48, 52, 59, 70, 72, 75, 79, 80, 89, 95,
98, 100, 101, 102, 103 Kuan
Yin 6, 51, 52, 78
Inconceivable 56
Kuang-chin 83
Infinite Life 84
Kuei-feng Tsung-mi 19
INFINITE LIFE SUTRA 3, 26, 28, 37, 43, Kumarajiva 61
48, 50, 52, 70, 76, 79, 81, 82
Kunzang Palden 64
13, 56, 71, 77, 82, 84
Moggallana 25, 62
Liberation (Spiritual) 23, 30, 43, 44, 46,
47,
51, 61, 62, 75, 83, 87, 101, 102, 103, 104 Morality/moral discipline 39, 40,
47,
69, 77, 90, 91, 104, 105
Lokesvararaja 61
LOTUS OF THE WONDERFUL LAW Nagarjuna 21, 35, 53, 70, 103
(Lotus Sutra) 6, 61
Name
70
Namo 71
Lu K’uan Yu 6, 63
Mahakasyapa 25, 54, 62 Narada
Maha Thera 25, 37, 39, 68, 69,
92, 101, 104
Mahasthamaprapta 22, 26, 62, 63, 64, 68, 78,
99, 100, 107
NATURAL WAY
BUDDHISM , 2, 50, 59, 90
Mahayana 64, 81, 95
NECTAR
OF MANJUSHRI’S
Maitreya 28, 34, 43, 57, 69, 77, 90, 91,
104, 105 SPEECH 64
Manjushri 38, 41, 51, 65, 104 Nembutsu 50,
75, 88
Mantra 65, 66 Nien-fo
14, 15, 19, 55, 58, 64, 88, 96,
106
Mascaro, Juan 31
Nirmanakaya 10, 32, 57
Matsumoto, Shoji 2, 50, 59, 90
Nirvana/Nibbana 11, 14, 21, 28, 33, 34,
Meditation 45, 51, 66, 96, 105, 106 37, 43, 45, 48, 51, 72,
77, 86
Meditation/Contemplation Sutra 22 Noble Eightfold Path 12,
19, 22, 39, 47,
88, 104, 105
Merit 46, 66, 91, 98, , 101
Non-retrogression
21, 28, 35, 37, 42,
Middle Path 39
44, 48, 52, 77, 84, 91, 92, 95, 100
Mind 19, 33, 54, 67, 68, 79, 84, 99 Non-self 30
Mindfulness 21, 27, 47, 68, 73, 77, 88, 91,
100, Noumenon 72, 84
107
O’Hara, Charles (Rev) 81 PURE
LAND OF THE
PATRIARCHS 51
Omniscience 43, 103, 104, 105
PURE LAND PURE MIND
One Mind 14, 20, 77, 86 12,
16, 22, 27, 29, 36, 40, 41,
42,
43, 50, 55, 56, 68, 81,
Oneness with the Buddha 74, 75, 90, 93,
98
Pure Land School
One-pointedness of mind 73, 84 Pure Land
Sutras 81
One-time invocation of the Buddha’s PURE-LAND ZEN, ZEN
Name 53, 58, 83, 93, 94, 96
PURE-LAND 1, 2, 11, 19, 20, 23,
39,
44, 46, 73, 74, 83, 87, 102
Other-Power 35, 43, 45, 50, 53, 54, 74,
75, 77, 88, 93, 95, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, Pure Mind 44
106
Other shore 75. 76 Rajagriha
82
Ou-i 3, 14, 13, 56, 70, 75, 77, 82, 84, 102 Rebirth 47
Ou-Yang Chi’ing-wu 83
Rebirth in Pure Land 26, 33, 35, 49,
78,
79, 80, 81
Reciting the Buddha’s Name 12, 13,
Padmasambhava 23, 76, 106 40, 41,
42, 48, 49, 50, 53, 55, 55, 56, 14, 15,
16, 19, 21, 22, 35, 36, 40, 41, 59, 62, 68, 71, 73, 75,
79, 80, 81, 82,
83, 88, 93, 94, 96, 102, 103,
105, 106,
Paramita 76, 77, 98
107
Patience/forbearance 77, 104 Repentance
66, 96
Peace and Bliss 77 Reverence 83, 84
Practice 9, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 22, 23, 24,
28, Ryonin 75
30, 35, 43, 44, 49, 52, 53, 56, 59, 63, 75,
77,
81, 83, 96, 97, 100, 101, 102, 103, 105
Prajnaparamita Sutra 61, 70
Primal Vow (18th) 50, 53, 58,
59, 74, 88, 89,
95, 102
PURE LAND BUDDHISM: DIALOGUES
WITH ANCIENT MASTERS 15, 33
Sakyamuni/Shakyamuni 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, Singlemindedness 12, 44, 45, 51,
13, 19, 20, 22, 25, 28, 29, 32, 33, 43, 45,
48. 53, 54, 57, 73, 77, 80, 84, 86, 93,
51, 55, 57, 62, 63, 68, 70, 76, 85, 86, 88,
90, 102, 106
91, 92, 95, 99, 102, 103, 105
Single Path (One Way
Samadhi 19, 37, 39, 47, 51, 62, 63, 64, 68,
73, 79, 86, 93
Sixth Heaven 91, 97
Samadhi of Great Tranquility 3
Snelling, John 17, 49
Samantabhadra 3, 7, 18, 19, 29, 41, 46, 53,
74, Sogyal Rinpoche 2, 17, 23, 25,
86, 87, 103, 104 26, 29, 30, 31, 34, 60, 61,
67, 76
Sambhogakaya 10
Spiritual faculties/powers 91
Samsara 10, 14, 21, 27, 47, 48, 87 Spiritual path 69, 91, 103
Samghavarman 87
Sravasti 91
Sangha 46, 87
Stage of a non-returner 92
Self Nature 1, 10, 11, 24, 51, 54, 98 Stage of becoming a Buddha
after One More Life 92
Self-Power 35, 44, 50, 51, 54, 74, 88, 96
Stage of
Joy 92
Seven practices leading to enlightenment
88
Stewart, Harold 22, 28, 42, 52
SHAMBHALA DICTIONARY OF Suchness 92
BUDDHISM AND ZEN 11, 28
Suchness of all dharmas 92
Shan-tao 10, 27, 41, 79, 80,, 81, 84
Sucitto
44
Shantideva 89
Sudhana 104
Shariputra 25, 42, 88
Sumeru
92
Sheng Yen 30, 57
Sung Bae Park
Shin Buddhism 2, 59
Supernatural
powers 93
Shinran 2, 49, 50, 59, 81, 89, 90, 93,
94,, 95, 101
Sutra/sutta 93
Sila 39, 47, 90, 91, 103, 105 Suzuki,
D. T. 75, 93, 94, 98
Sying An 8, 80, 94
THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS 2, 3, 4,
8, 10, 14, 16, 19, 21, 22, 27, 30, 34, 35,
36, 37, 42, 43, 45, 46, 48, 49, 58, 64,65,
Tabrah, Ruth 2, 50, 59, 90 70. 72, 74,
75, 76, 79, 80, 91, 92, 95, 96,
97, 98, 100, 101, 102, 103, 105, 106
Tao-an 55
Three transcendent knowledges 97
Tao-ch’o 53, 58, 96
Three treasures/jewels (triple jewel) 11,
T’an-luan 74, 95, 96
16, 97
TANTRIC PRACTICE IN NYING-MA Three worlds 97
9, 12, 32, 33, 43, 67, 97, 101
TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD 23
Tathagata 45, 92, 96
TIBETAN BOOK OF
LIVING AND
DYING 2, 23, 25,
26, 29, 31, 34, 60,
Ten Directions 96
61, 65, 67, 76
Ten Evil Acts 96 Transference of merit 98
Ten Stages 96 True Mind 1, 10, 11, 84
Ten Spiritual Powers 96 Trust/trustfulness
98
Ten Thousand Conducts 97 Tsong Khapa 9, 26, 29, 59, 86, 92
Theravada 6, 15, 92, 102 Turnbull, Stephen 94
Thich Thien-An 14 Tu-shan 7
Thich Thien Tam 12, 13, 26, 28, 29, 38,
44, 61, 62, 72, 75, 77, 81, 83 Ultimate Bliss (Pure Land) 1, 2, 6, 7,
10, 12, 13, 14, 23, 29, 37, 38, 40, 41,
Thich Tri Tinh 7 51,
58, 59, 61, 68, 77, 78, 80, 84, 87, 88,
89, 92
Three defilements 97
Ultimate Reality 19, 33, 54, 64, 92, 93
Three evil realms 97
Ultimate Truth 37
Three insights 97
Universal enlightenment 50, 67, 104
Three Jewels 11, 16, 97
Universal equality 36
Three periods 97
Universal salvation 21, 30, 58, 59, 93, 96,
101, 102, 104
Vairocana 57, 99
Wisdom 29, 30, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41,
46, 47, 58, 68, 69, 71, 72, 77, 79, 85,
Vajrapani (Mahasthamaprapata) 64, 99 86, 91, 101, 103, 104, 105
Vajra god 99
Wonhyo 105
Vasubandhu 36, 58, 59, 70, 100, 101
Xu Yun (Hsu Yun) 105
Vigour 47, 77, 88, 91, 101
Visualization 55, 82, 100 Yen-shou
106
Virtue 71, 77, 88, 101, 102, 104 Yin Kuang 11, 19, 20,
39, 41, 44, 71.
74, 83, 84,
102, 106, 107
Virtues of Samantabhadra 74, 87, 95
Void 37
Zen (Chan) Buddhism 15, 51, 54, 55,
105, 106
Vow for rebirth in the Pure Land 102
Vow of universal salvation (18th
Vow) Zendo (Shan-tao) 81,
107
33, 102, 103
ZEN
PHILOSOPHY, ZEN PRACTICE 14
Walsch, Neale Donald 25 Zunshi 107
Way/Path 74, 103, 104, 107
WAY TO FREEDOM 17
Well-Gone 104
WHAT BUDDHISTS BELIEVE 19
Wheel of the Dharma (Dharma-cakra) 104
Wheel-turning monarch 104
Will 88, 99
9.2.2009 1850 1936
Comments
Post a Comment