THE INFINITE LIGHT OF THE BUDDHA AMITABHA
The INFINITE LIGHT
of THE BUDDHA
amitabha
infinite
life, is the most exalted. no other buddha’s light can match his. and because
of his
incomparabble celestial radiant light, amitabha is revered as the
foremost among all the buddhas in the universe.
amitabha’s
light embodies boundless compassion and supreme wisdom, forever transmitting
pure karmic energy to purify, liberate, and enlighten all sentient beings who
have faith in him.
if
sentient beings see his pure light, their three main defilements
(greed,
hatred, and ignorance) will be dissolved.
the
primary aim of the pure land practice is to seek rebirth in sukhavati, the pure
land of amitabha, to be achieved through the spiritually powerful fusion of the
energy of self-effort and the limitless power of amitabha – sourced from the
fulfillment of all his vows and from his ineffable cultivation over millions of
trillions of kalpas, as well as from his great compassion towards all beings.
pure
land practice is basically the cultivation of mindfulness of the buddha, by
means of chanting or reciting the buddha’s name to the point of
singlemindedness, where one’s mind fuses with amitabha’s.
the
masters of the various mahayana schools have practised and recommended reciting
the buddha’s name; this is a technique taught by shakyamuni buddha more than
two millennia ago, and perpetuated by mahasthama bodhisattva since countless
kalpas ago. and it’s still regarded and valued as the simplest and most
successful dharma-door to spiritual liberation and enlightenment.
NAMO AMITABHA BUDDHA
Main Text 6 pages (2,341 words) Notes: 8 pages (3,900 words)
Taman Ipoh Jaya 9.6.2002 0915 18.6.2002 0059 26.6.2002 1551 27.6.2002
0137 28.6.2002 2151 20.9.2002 2023 02.02.2014 22:11
The Infinite Light of the Buddha Amitabha
In the premier
scripture of Pure Land Buddhism, The Sutra On The Buddha Of Infinite Life,
Shakyamuni Buddha said to the Venerable Ananda, His closest senior disciple and
cousin: “The majestic light of the Buddha Amitayus (Infinite Life, and popularly
revered as Amitabha, Infinite Light) is the most exalted. No other Buddha’s
light can match His… (1)
“The light of Amitayus (regarded as an emanation and a reflex of
Amitabha) shines brilliantly, illuminating all the Buddha-lands of the ten
directions (throughout the universe)….”
The cosmic, spiritual light of the Buddha Amitabha (Infinite Light) is praised
and glorified universally by all the Buddhas, Sravakas, Pratyekabuddhas and
Bodhisattvas – all those who have become fully and perfectly enlightened as
well those seeking Buddhahood for themselves and those seeking it to benefit
and save all sentient beings.
“If sentient beings, having heard of the majestic virtue of His light,
glorify it continually, day and night, with sincerity of heart, they will be
able to attain birth in His land (the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss), as they
wish,” the Buddha Shakyamuni said to Ananda.
“The majestic glory of the light of Amitayus (Amitabha) could not be
exhaustively described even if I praised it continually, day and night, for the
period of one kalpa (one eon)…” .
The light of Amitabha embodies boundless great compassion (the gift of
Infinite Life) and the omniscient consciousness of supreme and transcendent wisdom
(the Dharmakaya of Infinite Light) , forever transmitting pure karmic energy to
purify, liberate, and enlighten all sentient beings who have faith in Amitabha,
the Buddha of Infinite Light and Infinite Life.
In Wikipedia is posted a wide-ranging article
on the somewhat tantalizing theme of God
in Buddhism, citing among several supremely regarded Buddhas the Eternal
Buddha of Shin Buddhism in Japan: “The Shingon Buddhist monk, Dohan, regarded
the two great Buddhas, Amida (Amitabha) and Vairocana (the Cosmic Buddha), as
one and the same Dharmakaya Buddha and as the true nature at the core of all
beings (Self Nature/Buddha Nature) and phenomena…”
In one of the
articles in Breath of Life: The Esoteric
Nembutsu in Tantric Buddhism in East Asia (edited by Dr. Richard K. Payne,
Wisdom Publications, Boston, 2006), Dr. James H. Sanford has written (p. 176)
to point out and explain that “there is the realization that Amida (Amitabha)
is the Dharmakaya Buddha, Vairocana; then there is the realization that Amida
as Vairocana is eternally manifest within this universe of time and space, and
finally there is the innermost realization that Amida is the true nature,
material and spiritual, of all beings, that He is the omnivalent wisdom-body
(the Dharmakaya of Buddhahood)…”
In
Shin Buddhism, Amida Buddha is viewed as the Eternal Buddha Who emanated and
manifested as the Buddha Shakyamuni in India two and a half millennia ago.
To
quote the Shin Buddhist priest John Paraskevopoulos who has written in his
monograph on Shin Buddhism (Call of the
Infinite: The Way of Shin Buddhism, Sophia Perennis Publications,
California, 2009, pp. 16-17):
“…Amida is the Eternal Buddha who is said to have taken form as
Shakyamuni in order to become known to us in ways we can readily comprehend…”
The Buddha of Infinite Light and Infinite Life embodies Nirvana
(Ultimate Reality) as well as, synonymously, the Dharmakaya of Omniscient
Consciousness.
Shinran Shonin (1173-1262), founder of the Jodo Shinshu in Japan, has
taught that to attain this supreme Self (the Dharmakaya, the Dharma-Body of
Omniscience and Buddhahood, the ultimate form/formlessness of Being), it is
necessary to transcend the ego-bound, ordinary and mundane “small self”, and to
do so with the powerful assistance of an “external” agency (the “Other Power”
of Buddha in Chinese Pure Land Buddhism).
To
quote John Paraskevopoulos again (ibid., p. 43):
“…Shinran’s great insight was that we cannot conquer the self by the
self. Some kind of external agency is required: (a) to help us shed light on
our ego as it really is in all its petty and baneful guises; and (b) to enable
us to subdue the small ‘self’ with a view to realizing the Great Self by
awakening to Amida’s light…”
In one of the “treasure texts” bequeathed by
the great Dharma Master Padmasambhava, the Lotus Guru, in Tibet in the 8th
century AD, now widely known as THE
TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD (as edited by John Baldock, Arcturus, London,
2009, p.23), the Guru teaches: “Thine own consciousness, shining, void, and
inseparable from the Great Body of Radiance (the Dharmakaya of the Clear Light
of the Ultimate Pure Reality and the Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment), hath no birth,
nor death, and is the Immutable Light – Buddha Amitabha…”
According to the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism founded by
Padmasambhava, the Dharmakaya (Truth Body) is a Buddha’s omniscient
consciousness and its emptiness of inherent existence (as explained by
Professor Jeffrey Hopkins of the University of Virginia, who translated and
edited the teaching of Khetsun Sangpo Rinbochay in TANTRIC PRACTICE IN NYING-MA, Snow Lion Publications, New York,
1996, pp. 226-227)
In
The Flower Ornament Scripture (The Avatamsaka Sutra), which has
been described as the king of scriptures in the Mahayana canon, can be found a
good number of strong declaratory verses on the Buddha’s light, such as the
following:
“
Sentient beings are blinded by ignorance, always confused;
The light of Buddha illumines the path of safety
To
rescue them and cause suffering to be removed…
“Buddha
mastered the ocean of practices,
Fulfilling transcendent wisdom;
Therefore He sheds light, illumining all,
Destroying the darkness of ignorance.
“All
virtuous activities in the world
Come from the Buddha’s light;
The ocean of Buddha’s wisdom is immeasurable…” (2)
“If sentient beings encounter His (Amitabha’s) light, their three
defilements (greed, anger/hatred, and ignorance/stupidity) are removed,”
Shakyamuni said to Ananda.
“If sentient beings in the three realms of suffering (the samsaric
realms of birth and death) see His light, they will all be relieved and freed
from affliction. At the end of their lives, they all reach emancipation (from
the cycle of rebirths)…” (3)
The Easy Path to the Pure Land
The goal of all
the Pure Land aspirants is to achieve spiritual liberation, free themselves
from the samsaric cycle of birth and death, and attain complete enlightenment
and Buddhahood.
The
pre-condition for total spiritual fulfillment is cultivating the Bodhi Mind (Bodhicitta), the aspiration to attain
enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings (including oneself). This
all-embracing, altruistic objective heads the list of the four great vows to
which all Bodhisattvas are pledged. (4)
Of
some 84,000 methods of spiritual training, often referred to as expedients, the
Pure Land way of cultivation is known as the Easy Path of Practice, relying on
the vast and inexhaustible power of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, particularly
Amitabha Buddha (the “Other-Power”) to enhance and turbocharge one’s own
(“self-power”). (5)
Amitabha is the Buddha of Infinite Light and Infinite Life. A
transhistorical Buddha venerated in the various Mahayana schools (T’ien-tai,
Tantric, Ch’an/Zen, Esoteric, etc.),
Amitabha (Amitayus) presides over Sukhavati,
the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, also known as the Western Pure Land. And,
anyone can be reborn here through utterly sincere and earnest recitation of
Amitabha’s Name, particularly at the time of death. (6)
The
primary aim of Pure Land faith and practice is rebirth in Sukhavati, to be
achieved through a spiritually powerful fusion of the energy of self-effort and
the limitless purifying and enlightening power of Amitabha Buddha’s
fulfilled-vows. Subsequently, all born in the Western Pure
Land can continue to
cultivate confidently, with Amitabha’s assurance that they will all eventually
obtain full enlightenment and Buddhahood (their ultimate spiritual goal).
Grand Master T’an Hsu, one of the great Dharma teachers of the 20th
century, has taught: “…To practice Amidism,
one is to cultivate the spiritual life; and relying on Buddha’s power and his
own strength, he aims to be reborn in the Western Paradise… as soon as one is
reborn in the Western Paradise, there will be no retrogression to a lower
spiritual level. He will never create any evil karma, and the work of
self-cultivation will proceed until he finally becomes a Buddha (like Amitabha)
who will, in turn, enlighten all sentient beings.
“As the saying goes, Amitabha resides in one’s own nature, and the Pure
Land exists solely in the mind. All sentient beings are potential Buddhas, and
Buddhas are also sentient beings, for both are permeated with the essence of
Buddha Nature (the spiritual DNA of Buddhahood)…”
Lama Khetsun
Sangpo has taught: “…Everyone has the nature and essence of a Buddha, and is
capable of becoming a Buddha…” It is everyone’s Buddha nature.
“At present it
is obscured by the temporary defilements of desire, hatred and ignorance, but
these are not part of a person’s essential nature; they are accidental and can
be removed.
“When a person
becomes capable of removing these temporary defilements, he will turn into a
Buddha in and of himself. He does not have to acquire a Buddha nature because
he has always had it…”
Faith, Vows and Practice
“Faith, Vows and Practice form the cornerstone of Pure Land,”
Elder Master Yin Kuang (1861-1940) wrote in a letter to a layman named Kao
Shao-lin. “If these three conditions are fulfilled, rebirth in the (Pure) Land
of Ultimate Bliss will be achieved.
“You should pay particular attention to Faith and Vows, and wish
wholeheartedly to achieve rebirth in the Pure Land.” (7)
Master Ou i (1599-1655) said: “Achieving rebirth in the Pure Land depends
entirely on Faith and Vows, while the level of rebirth depends on the depth of
practice…” (8)
Faith means faith in Amitabha Buddha’s
Vows and His Vow-fulfilled power to rescue all who recite His sacred Name, as
well as faith in one’s own Self-nature (also called Buddha-nature) with its
inherent potential for complete and perfect enlightenment. (9)
Vows generally refer to the four great
vows of all Bodhisattvas, but specifically to the vow renewed daily to express
one’s determination to be reborn in the Pure Land. (10)
Practice generally means chanting or
reciting the Buddha’s Name to the point where one’s mind and that of Amitabha
are in unison, i.e. to the point of singlemindedness. Samadhi (deep and one-pointed concentration) and insight/wisdom are
achieved, through the highly concentrated, diligent and faithful practice of
reciting (or chanting) the Name of Amitabha. This basic Pure Land practice of
mindfulness of the Buddha is known as the nien-fo
(Buddha Recitation).
In
The
Surangama Sutra, Mahasthamaprapta (Great Strength) said that he has
had, for countless eons, practiced
“continuous pure mindfulness (of the Buddha) to obtain samadhi.” And, he
added: “That is the foremost method” in his experience. The first enlightened
being to recite the Name of Amitabha with the utmost faith in its power and
efficacy, Mahasthamaprapta is also known as the Bodhisattva of Boundless Light,
embodying the Wisdom-Power of the Buddha Amitabha. (11)
02.02.2014 22:39
Nearly two thousand years ago, Patriarch Asvaghosa said: “It is as the
sutra says: ‘If a man meditates wholly on Amitabha Buddha in the world of the
Western Paradise 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 (in Amitabha’s Pure Land),
he will never fall back…(If a cultivator follows this path), he will be able to
be born there in the end because he abides in the correct samadhi.” (12)
Master Yin Kuang wrote to Teng Po-ch’eng: “Although Buddha Recitation is
simple, it is very deep and encompassing. The most important thing is to be utterly sincere and earnest, for only
then will your thoughts merge with those of Amitabha Buddha and will you reap
true benefits in this very life…” (13)
In
another letter to Teng, the Pure Land Master and Patriarch wrote that “the key
to rebirth in the Pure Land is singlemindedness…” (14)
And, faith is the key
operating word in the Pure
Land practice. Faith in Amitabha is the golden master
key to the Dharma Door of spiritual emancipation and enlightenment.
As
spelt out in The Avatamsaka Sutra:
“Faith
is the basis of the path, the mother of virtues,
Nourishing and growing all good ways…
Faith can increase knowledge and virtue;
Faith can assure arrival at enlightenment…” (15)
There is no spiritual retrogression in the highly conducive and ideal
environment of the Pure Land, and, having left birth and death behind forever
(having achieved spiritual liberation and cut off all karmic bonds), all those
born in the Pure Land can focus their energy entirely on the ultimate objective
of attaining Buddhahood. (16)
The Dharma Door for all sentient beings
Advising a layman in Yungchia not to doubt the efficacy of the Pure Land
practice, Master Yin Kuang wrote: “Even if no one else in the whole world
obtains results, you should not develop a single thought of doubt. This is
because the true words of Buddha Shakyamuni and the Patriarchs should be proof
enough.” (17)
Preaching the keynote sermon on Amitabha Buddha at the Vulture Peak
(Mount Gridhrakuta) near Rajagriha, capital of Magadha, Shakyamuni Buddha said:
“This is My door of Dharma practice and I speak of it accordingly. We should also
follow the Way (of cultivation) practiced by the Buddhas. It is the Dharma Door
to be followed by all.
“Everyone should diligently cultivate all
kinds of blessings and good roots and seek to be born in the Pure Land (of
Amitabha Buddha).” (18)
Shakyamuni said to Maitreya Bodhisattva (the
future Buddha): “Thus have I formed My Dharma, thus have I expounded My Dharma,
thus have I taught My Dharma.” And he
urged Maitreya (the next Buddha after Shakyamuni): “ You must receive it and
practise it by the method prescribed.”
(19)
One day (ca 530) T’an-luan (476-542), the great Madhyamika scholar monk
met with Bodhiruci, the great Tripitaka master from India, at Lo-yang, then the
capital of China. Because of illness, the Chinese monk had turned to Taoism seeking
health and longevity and sought T’ao Hung-ching (452-536), the greatest Taoist
authority of the time.
That chance meeting with Bodhiruci, however, was to change T’an-luan’s
spiritual life. As reported by Dr Hisao Inagaki, a Japanese Buddhist scholar,
the Indian monk “admonished him that even if one gained longevity, he would
still be bound to Samsara, and that the Buddha Dharma was the true way to
eternal life.” (20)
T’an-luan was also given a copy of the Contemplation Sutra (The Sutra
on Contemplation of Amitayus) and, according to another report, he was
told: ”These are the recipes of Amitabha Buddha. If you rely on His practices,
you will be liberated from Samsara.”
(21)
According to some historians, T’an-luan subsequently established the Pure Land
school in China
(Hui-yuan’s Lotus school, the first in the Pure Land
tradition in China,
having closed down soon after his death in 416). T’an-luan famously invoked
Amitabha’s awesome saving power, calling it “the Other Power” in the Pure Land
formula (finite self-power + infinite Buddha-power) for total spiritual
liberation and enlightenment. (22)
Elder Master Han-Shan (1546-1623), a great Ch’an/Zen master, wrote:
“Even Bodhisattvas who are already enlightened still practise Buddha
Recitation, because without Buddha Recitation (the practice of mindfulness of
the Buddha) they cannot attain complete enlightenment. We know that all the
Patriarchs attained Enlightenment through mindfulness of the Buddha…” (23)
He
also said: “Anyone who practices the Dharma of Pure Land will achieve rebirth
in the Pure Land in one lifetime. It is stated many
times in the sutras that this is a direct method and the shortest route to the Pure Land.
“One need only take the shortcut of reciting the Buddha’s Name
(Amitabha).
“Anyone who abandons this wonderful Dharma has no better path to
follow…” (24)
The
simplest, yet the supreme practice
A contemporary
of the distinguished Ch’an/Zen master Han Shan, though much younger, Master Ou-i,
himself a noted scholar monk, said: “Reciting the Name of Amitabha is the
simplest and most direct method (of correct, precise and powerful practice)…”
Added Ou-i: “Invoking the Buddha-name is a seed for becoming
enlightened…” (25)
A
Ch’an/Zen monk when he started his spiritual practice, he eventually became the
Ninth Patriarch of Pure Land Buddhism.
In
his own words: “…When I first left home and became a monk, I prided myself on
being a follower of Zen and I looked down on the sutras. I wrongly imagined
that reciting the Buddha-name was an adaptation of Buddhism suited for those of
average and below average capacities.
“Later on, due to a grave illness (at the age of 28 he combined reciting
the Buddha’s Name with his Zen practice, and after another grave illness at the
age of 46, he devoted himself entirely to mindfulness of the Buddha), I
developed the aspiration to go to Amitabha’s Pure Land.
“After I studied various Pure
Land writings, like the
commentaries Miao-tsung and Yuan-chung as well as the Commentary
on the Amitabha Sutra by Chu-hung (1535-1615), I finally came to
realize that the Buddha-Recitation Samadhi is truly the supreme jewel.
“Only then did I become utterly focused on reciting the Buddha-name –
wild horses couldn’t drag me away from it…”
(26)
Amitabha’s Power to save all with faith
On
the significance of the Buddha-recitation samadhi, the practice of mindfulness
of Buddha through the single-minded and wholehearted recitation (or chanting)
of the Name of Amitabha, the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua (1918-1995) has
explained as follows:
“Relying on Amitabha Buddha’s great and vast vows, we are like
passengers aboard a ship (crossing the tumultuous Ocean of Samsara) bound for
the other shore (of Nirvana – the realm of supreme bliss, total spiritual
liberation and complete enlightenment).
“The power of Amitabha Buddha’s vows arises from a contract or covenant He
signed with us – all the living beings of the ten directions – in the distant
past.
“Amitabha Buddha would not have qualified to attain Buddhahood if we
could not be reborn in the Land of Ultimate Bliss through reciting His Name.
“Recognising this affinity, every one of us should bring forth deep faith and sincere vows to put into
practice the Dharma-door of reciting the Buddha’s Name.
“Reciting the Buddha’s Name is the simplest, most perfect, and most
efficient Dharma-door of all…” (27)
Elder Master Han Shan said: “Anyone who practices Buddha Recitation
singlemindedly and without distraction will find that all defilement vanishes.
With their minds thus pure, they are called enlightened…” (28)
In the
Contemplation
Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha said to Ananda: “…If good men or women simply hear the Name
of this Buddha or the names of those two bodhisattvas (Avalokitesvara and
Mahasthamaprapta), the evil karma which they have committed during innumerable
kalpas of Samsara will be extinguished. And so, how much more merit will they
acquire if they concentrate on them!
“You should know that all who are mindful of that Buddha are like white
lotus-flowers among humankind; the Bodhisattvas Avalokitesvara and Mahasthamaprapta
become their good friends.
“They will sit in the place of Enlightenment and be born into the family
of the Buddhas…” (29)
At the end of this highly influential discourse, one of the three main
guiding sutras of the Pure
Land school, Shakyamuni
urged Ananda “to hold fast to the Name of the Buddha Amitayus (Amitabha).”
Mindfulness of the Buddha is firmly maintained by chanting or reciting His Name
with full concentration and unshakeable faith. (30)
All the truly faithful Pure Land devotees
thus hold fast to the Name of Amitabha Buddha, as the spiritual master key to
their ultimate emancipation and enlightenment.
Amitabha assures salvation and spiritual
fulfillment for all the faithful. He has vowed to save, free and enlighten all sentient
beings who have faith in the Buddha.
NAMO
AMITABHA BUDDHA
NOTES: THE INFINITE LIGHT OF THE BUDDHA AMITABHA
1. THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, translated by
Hisao Inagaki with Harold Stewart, published by Nagata Bunshodo, Kyoto, 1995
(second edition), p. 255.
Speaking with the youthful
King Kanishka of Gandhara and his young physician friend Charaka, the elderly
philosopher Acvaghosha said:
“…The sage of the Shakyas
(the Buddha Shakyamuni) is one ray of its light only (the light of the
Dharmakaya Buddha), albeit for us the most powerful ray, with the clearest,
brightest, and purest light. He is the light that came to us here in this world
and in our country.
“Wheresover wisdom appears,
there is an incarnation, more or less partial, more or less complete, of
Amitabha…”
Quoted from Dr. Paul Carus, AMITABHA, A Story of Buddhist Theology,
Open Court Press, Chicago, 1906.
This short story, set in the first century CE
during the height of Buddhism in India, uses the narrative frame to discuss
Buddhist concepts of God, non-violence and religious tolerance.
A noted philosopher and a
prolific author on Buddhism, Taoism, philosophy, and other topics, Dr. Paul
Carus was the proprietor of Open Court Press.
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936),
English poet, short-story writer and novelist, born in India and the first English
writer to win the Nobel prize for literature in 1907, wrote a small poem on the
landmark 13th century bronze and gold statue (15 m high) of
Daibutsu, the Great Buddha (Amida) of Kamakura, a city in central Japan on S.
Honshu island. Kipling’s poem ends with a good question of faith:
“…Is God in human image made
No nearer than Kamakura?”
2. THE FLOWER ORNAMENT SUTRA a translation of
THE
AVATAMSAKA SUTRA by Thomas Cleary (born 1949), published by Shambhala,
Boston, 1993, the three verses in pp. 88, 145, & 91 respectively.
3. THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, p. 255.
4. Reference is to PURE LAND ZEN/ZEN PURE LAND: Letters from
Patriarch Yin Kuang, translated by Master Thich Thien Tam, et al with
Forrest G. Smith as consulting editor, published by SUTRA TRANSLATION COMMITTEE
OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA, New York, and reissued for free distribution
by Amitabha Buddhist Society, Pandan Indah, Kuala Lumpur.
A lot of material in this article
is adapted from the introductory essay on the Pure Land tradition prepared by
the New York-based Van Hien Study Group in 1992 (first edition).
Ven. Yin Kuang (1861-1940)
was the Thirteenth Patriarch of Pure Land in China.
In PURE LAND ZEN/ZEN PURE LAND (p. 237), Bodhi Mind, Bodhicitta, Great Mind, is defined as
the spirit of Enlightenment, the aspiration to achieve it, the Mind set on
Enlightenment. It involves two parallel (twin) aspects: (i) the determination
to achieve Buddhahood and (ii) the aspiration to rescue all sentient beings.
5. In THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS (pp. 89-90),
Inagaki comments: “T’an-luan was the first to use the term ‘Other Power,’ which
became the central theme of the Pure
Land teaching in China and Japan. He
already notes at the beginning of the Commentary
(his influential interpretation of Patriarch Vasubandhu’s Discourse on the Pure Land)
that one of the difficulties in the attainment of the Stage of
Non-retrogression during the time when there is no Buddha in the world is that
the practicer relies solely on his self-power and does not avail himself of the
Other Power.
“By ‘the Other Power’
T’an-luan means the Power of Amitabha as a Buddha or the Power of His Original
Vow. 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 (before becoming Amitabha Buddha, after innumerable eons of
cultivation), 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 through repeating the Name (Amitabha) ten times.
(2) Next, the Power
of the Vow works through the 11th Vow to enable the devotee to dwell
in the Definitely Assured State (of reaching Nirvana) 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 meritorious practices to be
performed by all bodhisattvas, as set by the great and exemplary Bodhisattva
(also known as Universal Worthy) who represents the ultimate principle,
meditation and practice of all the Buddhas).
“Because of the Other
Power which works through these three vows, one who entrusts oneself to
Amitabha can quickly realize Enlightenment.” The 11th Vow contains
Amitabha’s assurance of full spiritual
awakening and liberation for all the humans and gods in His Pure Land.
6. In TAMING THE MONKEY MIND: A Guide to Pure
Land Practice (p. 57), originally composed by the Buddhist scholar Cheng
Wei-an and translated by Elder Master Suddhisukha, the following explanation is
given: “…You should realize that because of scattered, deluded thoughts at the
time of death you have been wallowing in the Triple Realm (the Three Worlds of
Samsara) throughout many lifetimes many eons. Why? It is because Birth and
Death are governed by our last thoughts at the time of death. If that single
thought is focused on the Buddha, your body may be dead but your mind, being
undisturbed, will immediately follow that single thought towards rebirth in the
Pure Land. Therefore, remember to recite the
Buddha’s Name (Amitabha), always,
without fail.”
Comments Elder Master
Suddhisukha (Thich Tinh Lac) (p. 56): “…With pure thoughts and one-pointedness
of mind, you will be reborn instantly in the Pure Land
– even ten thousand horses cannot drag you back!”
Sogyal Rinpoche has written:
“…More intrinsically, Amitabha is the limitless, luminous nature of our mind.
At death the nature of mind will manifest at the moment of the dawning of the
Ground Luminosity (the primordial ground of our absolute nature, also called the
“Clear Light” (of Buddha Nature and the Dharmakaya of Buddhahood), where
consciousness itself dissolves into the all-encompassing space of truth,
presenting the great opportunity for spiritual liberation and enlightenment)…”
Amitabha embodies this infinite luminosity of perfectly enlightened and
omniscient consciousness.
(Refer Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying,
edited by Patrick Gaffney and Andrew Harvey, published by Rupa & Co,
Calcutta, 1997, pp. 232-233.)
Experiencing and recognizing
the Clear Light of Self-Nature, Buddha Nature, True Emptiness or the Void,
leads one to the breakthrough point of spiritual liberation and Buddhahood.
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
In his concise reference
book entitled A Buddhist Goal That Can
Be Achieved, Professor Li Ping-Nam has offered the same advice passed on by
the great Pure Land masters: “According to the Sutras, Amitabha Buddha will
lead you there (the Pure Land) at the end of your life, provided that you
repeatedly and single-mindedly recite “Amitabha Buddha” until you have achieved
perfect concentration.”
7. PURE LAND ZEN/ZEN PURE LAND, p. 51.
In this Pure Land text (p. 251), the Land of Ultimate Bliss of
Amitabha is described as an ideal place
of cultivation, beyond the Triple Realm of Samsara (the three realms of
Desire, Pure Form, and Formless), where those who are reborn are no longer
subject to spiritual retrogression.
“When the mind is pure and
undefiled, any land or environment becomes a pure land,” the Editors put in.
“At the noumenal level, everything, the Pure Land included, is Mind-Only, a
product of the mind.”
8. Quoted by Patriarch Yin Kuang, PURE LAND ZEN/ZEN PURE LAND, p. 52.
In his book LIVING BUDDHA, LIVING CHRIST (published
by Riverhead, New York,
1995, p. 136), world-renowned Vietnamese Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh has advised:
“Our faith must be alive… Faith implies practice, living our daily life in
mindfulness…”
To the Pure Land
faithful, it’s ever-mindfulness of Amitabha Buddha.
“Amitabha is Infinite
Compassion and Love Divine, the Christos,”
Dr. W. Y. Evans-Wentz has written in Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup’s English rendering
of the Tibetan classic text THE TIBETAN
BOOK OF THE DEAD, edited by Evans-Wentz and originally published in 1927
and reprinted half a century later by Pilgrims Book, Delhi, 1999, p. 32.
9. In THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS (pp. 33, 30),
Inagaki has written:
“Amitabha’s saving
power is available here and now, and no one is excluded from His salvation. But
unless one is awakened to it, this power is as good as non-existent. (It may be
added here, using a metaphor from electricity supply: To tap Amitabha’s
inexhaustible power of spiritual redemption, one must plug into the Pure Land
system of faith and switch on its ever-flowing current of purifying and
enlightening karmic energy. Amitabha’s power can be easily accessed by anyone
with heartfelt sincere and strong faith.)
“For those who are
deeply attached to themselves and their way of living in Samsara, it is
extremely difficult to aspire to the Pure
Land. Their karmic
tendencies tie them fast to the vicious circle of delusions, evil karma and
suffering. Any attempt to escape from such a condition is bound to face strong
resistance from within.
“To leave, as it were,
the present orbit of one’s karmic activity and reach the Pure Land
requires a special karmic energy, as when a powerful rocket is launched into
space.
“One needs to
concentrate mind and body on Amitabha
and direct to the Pure
Land all the merits
(positive karmic energy) which one acquires by doing various meritorious deeds.
“Then at a certain
point, one encounters the Buddha’s power and is brought to His Land of Bliss…”
Like a three-stage
rocket of today, the launch and takeoff (from Samsara) as well as the first
stage of propulsion are principally fuelled and fired by a Pure Lander’s faith,
vows and practice. And in the second and third stages, the rocket (representing
one’s Buddha-nature in the spiritually critical period of the great transition)
continues its journey deeper and deeper into spiritual space, boosted by the
Buddha’s infinite power until it successfully lands on the exquisite lotus pad
in the Pure Land.
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
In Zen Philosophy, Zen Practice (published by Dharma Publishing,
Berkeley, California, 1975, p. 128), Ven. Dr. Thich Thien-An, a Vietnamese Zen
Master and Abbot of the International Buddhist Meditation Center in Los
Angeles, has written: “…If the self-power and other-power work together to assist
each other, then we can go anywhere, reach anywhere we wish. By fusing these
two powers in our daily practice, we can enter the gates of enlightenment and
abide in the city of Nirvana.”
In the Pure Land
vocabulary, Self-Nature is also known as Buddha Nature, True Nature, Original
Nature, Dharma Nature, True Emptiness, True Thusness, Original Face, Prajna,
Nirvana, etc.
The Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen says: “According to
the Mahayana view, (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…the Mahayana sees the attainment of Buddhahood as the
highest goal; it can be attained through the inherent Buddha-nature of every
being through appropriate spiritual practice.”
Quoted in PURE LAND ZEN/ZEN PURE
LAND, p. 238.
As interpreted by
British scholar John Snelling in his book BUDDHISM
(Element Books, 1996, p. 87): “What Pure Land is saying is that we must let go
of all self-initiated activity, have complete faith in the Buddha-nature within
and allow it to function in its own mysterious way without interference from
the thinking mind. In this way it is not very different from Zen – or other
forms of Buddhism. The Nembutsu (Buddha Recitation) concentrates and clears the
mind, and focuses on the Buddha-nature within…”
(10)
Master Yin Kuang advised layman Ch’en His-chen (and
everyone indeed) to recite and repeat the words “Namo Amitabha Buddha”, and
then to express the vow for rebirth in the Pure Land as well as the vow of a
bodhisattva to save and liberate all living beings:
“I vow that, along with
other Pure Land cultivators,
I will be reborn in the Land of Ultimate Bliss,
See Amitabha Buddha, escape
Birth and Death,
And rescue all (sentient
beings), as the Buddha does.”
(PURE LAND ZEN/ZEN PURE LAND, p. 61.)
(11)
The Shurangama
Sutra,
Great
Strength Bodhisattva’s
Secret
Penetration through
Mindfulness
of the Buddha:
A Simple Explanation by the
Venerable Master Hsuan Hua, p. 2.
Mahasthamaprapta (Great
Strength) Bodhisattva is one of the Three Sages of the West (Western Land of Ultimate
Bliss). Great Strength Bodhisattva and Avalokiteshvara (Great Compassion)
Bodhisattva assist Amitabha Buddha in the Pure Land of Sukhavati.
In John Blofeld’s book Bodhisattva of Compassion (published by
Shambhala, Boston,
Massachusetts,
1988, p. 22), one Mr. P’an, an authority on Chinese Buddhism, is reported to
have told the author: “Amitabha Buddha embodies the primary liberating energy
of compassion; Avalokita (Avalokiteshvara) Bodhisattva embodies its secondary
emanation.”
Mahasthamaprapta, also known
as the Bodhisattva of Boundless Light, personifies the wisdom and power of the
Buddhas.
Known as Nien-fo in Chinese and Nembutsu in Japanese, the Buddha Recitation samadhi (deep and one-pointed
concentration) is the core of the Pure
Land practice. Patriarch
Tao-cho (562-645) called it “the king of all samadhis”, being the most
effective in extinguishing all evil passions.
12. The Awakening of the Faith, translated by
Yoshita Hakeda, published by Columbia University Press, New York, 1967, p. 102.
And quoted twice in PURE LAND ZEN/ZEN
PURE LAND, pp. 68 & 201.
Patriarch Asvaghosha’s treatise is
a major commentary, presenting the fundamental principles of Mahayana Buddhism.
13. PURE LAND ZEN/ZEN PURE LAND, p. 24. The
first letter in this celebrated collection of Patriarch Yin Kuang’s letters on
the Pure Land faith and practice.
14. Ibid., p. 37.
According to the Editors of
this text, singlemindedness or singleminded concentration is a sine qua non for rebirth in the Pure Land.
15. Ibid., p. 18.
Buddha said: “If a man has
faith and has virtue, then he has true glory and treasure.” (BUDDHA’S TEACHINGS, translated from the
Pali by Juan Mascaro, published by Penguin, 1995, verse 303, p. 59)
In THE DAWN OF THE DHAMMA (p. 148), Venerable Sucitto Bhikku (an
English monk, who was born in London
in 1949 and went to Thailand
in 1975 to embrace the Holy Life) has written insightfully: “…Faith is made
sincere by effort, mindfulness, concentration and discernment – then it will
certainly get you to a pure state of mind.
“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 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
practice, the meditator abandons that view and proceeds from the basis of being
one with the Buddha of bliss. You can’t do that by thinking about it – only
through faith born of a powerful commitment...”
In the Lam-rim tradition of
Tibetan Buddhism, Amitabha is one of the five Dhyani (Meditation) Buddhas, He
is also one of the thirty-five Buddhas of Confession with the greatest power to
purify sins.
Faith, energy, mindfulness, meditative
concentration, and insight/wisdom are the five powers (pancabalani) of the Buddhist path.
In For A Future To Be Possible (published by Parallax Press, Berkeley, California,
1993, p. 236), Master Thich Nhat Hanh has commented: “Without faith, we do not
have the direction and energy to go on (the path of enlightenment).”
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
(1910-1991), one of the foremost Tibetan masters, remarked: “…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.” (Excerpted in GLIMPSE
AFTER GLIMPSE, by Sogyal Rinpoche, published by Ebury Press, London, 1995,
entry for September 3.)
16. All who are of
strong faith, virtuous conduct and steadfast practice, when they are reborn in
the Pure Land of Amitabha, enter the highly advanced Stage of Non-retrogression
(Avinivartaniya), in which they
realize pure wisdom and continue to progress until they attain complete and
perfect enlightenment.
17. PURE LAND ZEN/ZEN PURE LAND, p. 170.
Three of the most prominent
patriarchs are cited here: Asvaghosa, Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu. They are also
greatly honoured as bodhisattvas.
Patriarch Asvaghosa (1st/2nd
century) has recommended the practice of reciting the Buddha’s Name as the
simplest means of spiritual cultivation.
Patriarch Nagarjuna
(150-250), considered as the greatest exponent of Buddhism after the founder
and first teacher Shakyamuni, has taken refuge in Amitabha and recommended
invoking this Buddha’s Name as being in perfect accord with the path of
practice of the bodhisattvas.
Vasubandhu (320-400) also
took refuge in Amitabha. As a co-founder of theYogacara school with his brother
Asanga (310-390), he devised the Yogacara-Pure Land system of the “five mindful
practices”, including worshipping and contemplating Amitabha, and aspiring to
be born in the Pure
Land. Reciting the Name
with deep concentration and zeal leads the faithful to a spiritual union with
the Buddha.
18. THE BUDDHA’S TEACHING ON THE SUTRA OF AWAKENING TO
THE EQUANIMITY, PURE ADORNMENT OF THE IMMEASURABLE LIFESPAN OF THE GREAT
VEHICLE, by Upasaka Xia Liang Ju, translated by Zhang Leng, published in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, p.
156. This beautifully illustrated text is a memorable and worthy Malaysian
effort, a local version of the main Pure Land scripture delivered by Shakyamuni
Buddha, and translated into Chinese by the distinguished Indian Tripitaka
Master Samghavarman (252 C.E.).
19. THE SUTRA ON THE
BUDDHA OF INFINITE LIFE, as translated by Inagaki.
in THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, p. 313.
Bodhisattva Maitreya said to
Buddha Shakyamuni: “I accept and understand the teaching of the Buddha
thoroughly. I will singlemindedly practise the Pure Dharma door, and act in
accordance with the teaching of the Buddha. I will never be doubtful about this
door of practice.” (THE BUDDHA’S
TEACHING ON THE SUTRA OF AWAKENING…, p 118)
Commented Master Hsuan Hua
(as reported in Buddha Root Farm, p.
31):
“…All the Buddhas of the ten
directions were born from this practice (Buddha Recitation). At present, Kuan
Yin (Avalokiteshvara) Bodhisattva, Great Strength (Mahasthamaprapta)
Bodhisattva, Manjushri Bodhisattva (who
represents the wisdom and enlightenment of all Buddhas), and Universal Worthy
(Samantabhadra) Bodhisattva all continuously recite the Buddha’s name…
“So it is said,
One thought of Amitabha,
one thought of the Buddha;
Every thought of Amitabha
every thought is of the Buddha.
“Shakyamuni Buddha taught
this Dharma-door without having been requested to do so, because its wonders
are manifold, ineffable, and uncountable.
“The texts say, “Of all the
living beings in the Dharma-ending Age, if a billion cultivate, rare will it be
for even one to obtain the Way. They shall be taken across (the cycle of birth
and death) only by relying on Buddha Recitation.”
“However, if you recite the
Buddha’s Name, you can end birth and death, and be released from the spinning
wheel of rebirth. That is why we call it the most wonderful of Dharma-doors…”
20. THE
THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, pp. 83-84.
21. Quoted in PURE LAND ZEN/ZEN PURE LAND. P. 204.
22. Comment the
Editors in PURE LAND ZEN/ZEN PURE LAND
(p.243): “Ultimately, self-power is other-power, and vice-versa.” Amitabha’s
immeasurable spiritual power is committed and pledged to universal salvation
and enlightenment.
According to T’an-luan,
Amitabha’s transference of merits (parinama)
is the source of our salvation. And as explained by Inagaki in his book The Way of Nembutsu-Faith (p. 102):
“…One’s encounter with Amida can be considered as confrontation of the two
karmic forces, one’s own (grossly polluted) and Amida’s (supremely pure). The
more sincerely one is devoted to Amida, the more deeply and inescapably one
finds oneself caught in Amida’s Karmic Power, until one’s entire karma is
absorbed in Amida’s…”
23. Pure Land Of The Patriarchs:
Zen
Master Han-shan on Pure
Land Buddhism, translated by
Dharma Master Lok To, printed in Kuala
Lumpur for free distribution by AMIDA FELLOWSHIP,
p.25.
The best known Zen monk
towards the end of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), the great Han-shan also
combined Zen practice with devotion to Amitabha Buddha. He said the dual
practice of Zen meditation and Buddha Recitation produced spiritual tigers
“with horns”.
Zen historian Heinrich
Dumoulin has written that Amitabha appeared to Han-shan “while he was invoking
the holy name.”
24. Ibid., p.28.
25.
Mind-seal of the
Buddhas
Patriarch Ou-i”s Commentary on the Amitabha Sutra,
translated by Dr. J. C. Cleary, p. 28
This commentary was written
in nine days in late autumn of 1647.
Master Ou-i has described
reciting the Buddha-name as “the number one expedient among all the expedient
methods” and “the one that is the easiest to put into practice.” (p. 15)
He stresses that
perfectly-focused recitation, coupled with faith and vows, is the optimum
practice. But he also “reminds us that even reciting the Buddha-name in a
scattered state of mind still plants seeds of future attainment” (to quote
Cleary, p. 28)).
26. Mind-seal of the Buddhas, pp. 124-125.
A great Ch’an master like
his very close friend Han-Shan, Chu-hung also recommended mindful practice of
the nien-fo since concentration on
the Name leads to realization of the true nature of one’s mind. People in the
last Dharma-age should aspire to be born in Amitabha’s Pure Land
through the nien-fo. (THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, p. 137)
As reported in Buddha Root Farm (p. 5), Master Hua
said:
“As you recite the Buddha’s Name
every sound of the Buddha’s Name is a sound
of purity;
When every sound is
recitation,
each thought is clear and pure.
When every thought is pure,
every thought is of the Buddha.”
27. The Shurangama Sutra, Great Strength Bodhisattva’s
Perfect Penetration through Mindfulness of the Buddha, pp. 13-14.
Master Yin Kuang has
described the Buddha Recitation Samadhi as “the most expedient path to
Buddhahood.” (PURE LAND ZEN/ZEN PURE
LAND, p. 73)
In his letter to a laywoman
Hsu Fu-hsien, he wrote (ibid., pp.
72-73):
“When reciting the Buddha’s Name,
you should gather your thoughts together. Recitation originates in the mind and
is channeled through the mouth, each phrase, each word, clearly enunciated.
“You should also listen
clearly, impressing the words in your mind. If the faculty of hearing is under
control, the other faculties are also held in check and cannot chase after
external dusts (referring to all the mundane things that cloud our bright
Self-Nature/Buddha Nature, including the five senses and the discriminating
mind).
“As
a result, one-pointedness of mind is swiftly achieved.
“Thus, the Bodhisattva Mahasthamaprapta said in the Surangama Sutra:
To gather the six senses together, pure
recitation following upon pure recitation
without
interruption, thus attaining samadhi --
this is uppermost.
“Likewise, the Bodhisattva Manjusri taught:
“Hearing” within, hearing one’s Nature –
one’s Nature
becomes the Supreme Path..
“…This method of recitation is perfectly the wonderful door to the Way,
the most
expedient path to Buddhahood…”
As
instructed by Zunshi (964-1032), an eminent monk of the early Song dynasty
(960-1279) who played a role in reviving the
T’ien-tai school, and who was also an
ardent Pure Land devotee:
“The key is to restrain the mind and not
allow it to become distracted or confused. 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 reciting the Buddha’s Name),
keeping each syllable
perfectly distinct so that mind and mouth operate in perfect coordination…”
(Excerpted from Daniel
Stevenson’s article on Pure
Land worship in China,
published in BUDDHISM
IN PRACTICE, Princeton University
Press, edited by Donald Lopez, Jr., 1995, pp.368-370)
28. Pure Land Of The Patriarchs, p. 25.
29. Sakyamuni spoke
those words to Ananda towards the end of the Contemplation Sutra.
30. THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, p. 350.
.
In THE SUTRA ON THE BUDDHA OF INFINITE LIFE, the Buddha Shakyamuni
told Ananda that the Bhiksu Dharmakara, after proclaiming all his 48 vows to
the Buddha Lokesvararaja, said, speaking in verse:
I have made vows, unrivalled in all the
world;
I shall certainly reach the unsurpassed Way.
If these vows should not be fulfilled,
May I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
If I should not become a great benefactor
In lives to come for immeasurable kalpas
To save the poor and the afflicted
everywhere,
May I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
Shakyamuni also told Ananda
that Dharmakara “cultivated the immeasurable meritorious practices of the
Bodhisattva Path”, and that he did so for “inconceivable and innumerable
kalpas.”
He attained perfect
enlightenment ten kalpas ago, and has since been known as the Buddha Amitayus
of Infinite Life (Great Compassion)-- having vowed to “deliver all beings from
misery.”
Better known today as the
Buddha Amitabha of Infinite Light (Omniscient Wisdom), He has promised to
deliver from Samsara all beings with faith in the Buddha and help them to
become Buddhas.
NAMO AMITABHA BUDDHA
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