AMITABHA OF BOUNDLESS GREAT COMPASSION

AMITABHA of boundless compassion

In buddhism, the practice of

compassion (karuna) leads to

the deliverance of the heart-

mind (ceto-vimutti). This is

spiritual liberation, also

experienced as enlightenment.

REvered by pure land buddhists

as the foremost among buddhas,

amitabha, the buddha of infinite

light and infinite life, has also

been described as the incomparable

treasure of compassion, in essence

embodying all the buddhas of the

past, present and future.

to the pure land buddhists,

amitabha is the number one buddha,

their supreme spiritual father, guide,

master, protector, and saviour.

out of great compassion,

amitabha has vowed to save all

sentient beings in the universe.

and to fulfill this vow, he had

cultivated for millions of

trillions of kalpas (cosmic Ages).

according to shakyamuni buddha,

amitabha has fulfilled all his vows.

amitabha has also acquired

immeasurable and inexhaustible

spiritual power to save, liberate,

and enlighten all beings with faith.

his boundless compassion embraces all those, including the greatest of sinners and saints. who have faith in him. and he responds to anyone who invokes his name sincerely, single-mindedly, and zealously.

amitabha’s boundless great compassion equates universal salvation.

namo amitabha

Main text: 7 pages (2,756 words) Notes: 3 pages (1,182 words)

Taman Ipoh Jaya 9.6.2002 0127 17.6.2002 1751 25.6.2002 1450 26.6.2002 0325

AMITABHA THE NUMBER ONE BUDDHA

   “Amitabha Buddha is number one,” Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua (1918-1995) said. “This is because of the power of his vows. This power is so great that when you recite “Na Mwo E Mi Two Fwo” (the Mandarin rendering of “Namo Amitabha Buddha”, “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…”

   It is said:

   “Of all the Buddhas of the three periods of time (past, present and future)

               throughout the ten directions (of the entire cosmos),

   Amitabha Buddha is foremost.”

   Why? “His awesome virtue is unfathomable,” Master Hua said. “The power of Amitabha’s great awesome virtue is incomparable. No other Buddha can compare with him.”  (1)

   In the Infinite Life Sutra, Shakyamuni, the Buddha of recorded history, has said that Amitabha cultivated when he was a Bodhisattva (then known as Dharmakara) for innumerable kalpas to acquire his superpower status of supreme wisdom, boundless great  compassion and ultimate virtues. Amitabha became a Buddha 10 kalpas ago.

   “In the Infinite Life Sutra, Buddha Shakyamuni was very clear in praising Buddha Amitabha as the most respected, with the brightest of light, the King of all Buddhas,” said Master Chin Kung (born 1927), a leading Pure Land teacher of today.

   “When returning to (one’s original Buddha-nature, the pristine state of Buddhahood) and relying upon a Buddha (for guidance, protection, and support to achieve one’s spiritual perfection and fulfillment), who would be better than the best?

   “Buddha Shakyamuni did not ask us to return and rely upon himself but rather upon Amitabha Buddha, for He is the ultimate Buddha of all Buddhas…”  (2)

   To quote Patrul Rinpoche, the great 19^th century Tibetan Buddhist teacher:

   “…Seated on the cushion is your glorious root teacher, incomparable treasure of compassion, in essence embodying all the Buddhas of the past, present and future, and in form the Buddha and Protector, Amitabha. He is red, like a mountain of rubies embraced by a thousand suns…”  (3)

   About 800 years ago, the great Japanese scholar-monk Shinran also regarded Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Light and Infinite Life, as the ultimate Buddha. In the nembutsu (reciting or chanting Amitabha’s Name), he said he heard his spiritual life “enfolded, embraced, fulfilled by Amida’s wisdom and compassion.”  (4)

   As seen and interpreted by Shinran, Amitabha is forever risking His Buddhahood for every living being, having vowed and committed Himself to universal salvation.

   In the light of His 48 great vows, Amitabha’s attainment of perfect enlightenment can also be seen as supporting and underwriting His primal vow to save all sentient beings. If He can become a Buddha, He wants to make sure – through acquiring the necessary inexhaustible purifying power over countless eons of cultivation -- that all other beings can also become Buddhas like Him, by guiding and empowering them to realize their innate Buddha-nature.

   And according to Shinran, all the other beings will also achieve mujobutsu, the ultimate buddhahood, on par with Amitabha, once they awaken to their true potential.

   While in deep mediation, Vasubandhu, the outstanding Indian Patriarch and Bodhisattva of the fourth century in the common era, visualized and saw Amitabha as the Buddha of transcendent Light shining everywhere without hindrance. So he took refuge in Amitabha and aspired to be born in the Pure Land. And he said: “The sacred Name which enlightens living beings is heard throughout the ten directions...”  (5)

INVOKE AMITABHA, AWAKEN BUDDHA-NATURE

   According to the Pure Land Patriarch Shan-tao, one only has to repeat Amitabha’s Name with singleness of mind to be born in the Pure Land. This pre-eminent seventh century Chinese sage has called it the act of right assurance, being in accord with the Buddha’s vow and thus assuring oneself a lotus dwelling-place in the Pure Land.

   While in samadhi (deep meditative concentration), Shan-tao also saw Amitabha and perceived this Buddha as the embodiment of immeasurable pure merits.  (6)

    The spiritual significance of the sacred Name is rendered in The Flower Ornament Scripture (The Avatamsaka Sutra) as follows:

   The reason for suffering in the past

   Over countless eons

   Revolving within birth and death

   Is due to not hearing the name of Buddha.  (7)

   Hearing the name Buddha and developing faith

   Is a monument in the world…(8)

   Hearing the Buddha’s Name is a great blessing as well as a cause of enlightenment. Amitabha Buddha has vowed that living beings who have heard His Name (with faith) will be reborn in His Pure Land, assured of full spiritual liberation and enlightenment.

   And because of His power to save, liberate and enlighten all sentient beings including gods and humans, Amitabha is glorified and praised by all the Buddhas in the universe.

   “The Name of Buddha Amitabha contains infinite meanings. It is the Name of the universe, so it includes everything,” Master Chin Kung has said.

   And, Master Chin Kung has added: “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…”  (9)

   Sogyal Rinpoche has written: “As you invoke Buddha, your own Buddha-nature is inspired to awaken and blossom as naturally as a flower (and as gloriously as a sunflower) in sunlight.”  (10)                                                                                   

   In the Surangama Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha has described the human mind as “the temple of enlightenment” (bodhimandala).

   An ancient gatha (stanza or poem) has got it down as follows:

   There is a Buddha in every mind.

   In the Dharma-ending age

   Among the people there is little faith.

   They look for the Buddha Dharma

   Outside the mind, not knowing

   That every mind is a Buddha.  (11)

   Wei Lang, aka Hui Neng (638-713), the Sixth Ch’an/Zen Patriarch of China, told his disciples in a final address at the Kwok Yen Monastery several hours before he passed away: “Within our mind there is a Buddha, and that Buddha within is the real Buddha. If Buddha is not sought within our mind, where shall we find the real Buddha? Doubt not that Buddha is within your mind, apart from which nothing can exist…”  (12)

   Hui Neng also advised them: “What you should do is to know your own mind and realize your own Buddha-nature (“the Essence of Mind”)…”     (13)

   To Saicho (766-822), a great scholar-monk and founder of the Tendai school in Japan, Amitabha is an embodiment of the absolute reality, and is to be sought in one’s mind. He also encouraged reciting Amitabha’s Name.  (14)

   Master Chu-hung (1535-1615), the Eighth Patriarch of the Lotus school in China, has taught that one’s mind is indeed the Buddha and also that Buddha is one’s mind. This means that it is a fallacy to believe only in Buddhahood in one’s own mind.

   Through the nien-fo (reciting or chanting the Buddha’s Name) which presupposes the existence of the Buddha outside the mind, one comes to realize its true nature within. (15)

   The great Chu-hung has also taught that:

• Amitabha has a particularly close relationship (affinity) with the people of this world. Even wicked people sometimes call His Name, and those in distress and sorrow involuntarily recite it. That is why one should think only on this Buddha and call His Name.

• The people in the last Dharma age should seek birth in the Pure Land only by uninterrupted mindful recitation of the Name. For all, whether of inferior or superior capacity, single-minded concentration on the Name leads to realization of the true nature of one’s mind.

• Through the steadfast mindfulness of the Buddha, one comes to realize that the Pure Land of Tranquil Illumination is nowhere but here, and Amitabha is not outside one’s mind.  (16)

   The New York-based Van Hien Study Group explains: “The most common Pure Land practice is the recitation of Amitabha Buddha’s Name (Buddha Recitation or Buddha Remembrance, Mindfulness of Buddha). This should be done with utmost faith and a sincere vow to achieve rebirth in the Pure Land.

   “Along with this popular form of Pure Land, there is a higher aspect, in which Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Light and Life, is equated with our Buddha Nature, infinitely bright and everlasting  (Self-Nature Amitabha, Mind-Only Pure Land). Thus, to recite the Buddha’s Name is to recite the Buddha of our own mind, to return to our own pure mind.”  (17)

   Master Chin Kung has said: “…Our self-nature was originally awakened. So, the Buddha that we rely upon is not to be found outside ourselves but is innate to our self-nature. The Pure Land School teaches “Buddha Amitabha and the Pure Land are already within our self-nature”. Buddha Amitabha, Buddha Shakyamuni and all Buddhas manifest from our self-nature. Therefore, what we rely upon is the Buddha or awakening of our self-nature. From now on we should be awakened and never again be deluded or filled with attachments for if we do so then we have not turned back…”   (18)

  To turn back spiritually is to return to our original Buddha-nature, and to reclaim it in its pristine clarity and pureness.

   Ven. Dr. Thich Thien-An, a leading Vietnamese Zen master, has written: “Every living being has within himself the Buddha nature, the principle of enlightenment. To become a Buddha is simply to discover this Buddha nature, always present within, eternally shining…”  (19)

   On the practice of chanting (or reciting) Amitabha Buddha’s Name which purifies and transforms the mind, Thich says: “The Chinese thus chant (or recite), “Namu A-mi-to-Fou,” the Japanese, “Namu A-mi-da Butsu” and the Vietnamese, “Namo A-di-da Phat.” They all mean: “I pay homage to Amita Buddha”.”

   And Thich stresses that “the important thing is to chant (or recite) with one mind, concentrating upon the chanting (or reciting) 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 (or recited) and no one to chant (or recite) it.

   “When this happens, this land and the Pure Land become interfused in a perfect harmony beyond the realm of perception and knowledge.

   “Then we change this Samsara into Nirvana, the suffering world into the Blissful Land of the West, this world of impurity into the Pure Land.

   “To experience this reality, one only needs to chant (or recite), “Namo Amita Buddha,” in complete sincerity, mindfulness and faith.”  (20)

REDEMPTION FOR THE SINNERS

   For even the greatest of sinners, the Pure Land message is that the vast redemptive power of Amitabha’s boundless great compassion (mahakaruna) can save them even from the very depths of the Avici Hell (the lowest of the eight hot hells, and considered to be the worst). In the Contemplation Sutra, Shakyamuni told Ananda and Queen Vaidehi: “…Because he (a sinner) calls the Buddha’s Name (up to ten times), with each repetition, the evil karma which he has committed during eighty kotis (800 millions) of kalpas (cosmic ages) of Samsara is extinguished…”   (21)

   Calling Amitabha with complete sincerity and faith signals a change of heart, and a break with the evil, impure, or sinful past.

   According to the Pure Land Patriarch Tao-ch’o (562-645), even a single nien-fo that grows in the mind can destroy all impurities. Quoting from the Garland (Avatamsaka) Sutra which states that the nien-fo can destroy all evil passions and hindrances, he dubbed it the king of samadhis (meditative concentrations).  (22)

   Another great exponent, Genshin (942-1017) has written in his comprehensive work on the Pure Land (A Collection of Essential Passages Concerning Birth in the Pure Land): “Those with extremely heavy evil karma have no other means (of salvation); by only repeating the Buddha’s Name, they can attain birth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss.”  (23)

   In a recent study of the Pure Land faith and practice, Dr. J. C. Cleary has written that “above all it is the power of Amitabha that makes birth in the Pure Land possible for sinners as well as saints, because Amitabha has vowed to save all who faithfully and single-mindedly invoke His name.”  (24)

UNIVERSAL SALVATION

   The redemption of sinners is, of course, subsumed in Amitabha’s assurance of Buddhahood for all beings. The essence of the Pure Land faith and practice arises from Amitabha’s commitment to universal salvation and His infinite power to enlighten all beings with faith and devotion.

   It is declared in The Flower Ornament Scripture:

   The Buddha’s boundless wisdom light

   Can destroy the net of ignorance and illusion

   Saving all beings in all worlds…

   Far more than others, the ignorant and the sinful need Amitabha to save them spiritually. One attains spiritual emancipation, breaking free from the karmic gravity of the world of Samsara, the moment one is reborn in Amitabha’s Pure Land. And rebirth in this Pure Land can be secured by having faith in Amitabha and reciting/chanting His Name as an act of mindfulness and devotion. Having faith in Amitabha and reciting His Name is like investing in a spiritual insurance policy, to secure a permanent and privileged place in the Pure Land.

   Pure Land Patriarch T’an-luan (476-540) has emphasized that ordinary beings full of evil passions should avail themselves of the “Other Power” to attain salvation. He was the first to use the term “the Other Power” to describe Amitabha’s infinite and self-renewable spiritual resource to save, liberate and enlighten all sentient beings.  (25)

   To Honen (1133-1212), the founder of the Japanese Pure Land school, who found enlightenment in the Name of Amitabha at the age of 43 after more than 30 years of monastic study and training, the nembutsu (reciting Amitabha) is the supreme practice which can bring salvation to even the most wicked of errant human beings.

   As insightfully perceived by Shinran, the best-known and boldest of Honen’s leading disciples, and felicitously expressed by two of his present-day followers in Hawaii, Shoji Matsumoto and Ruth Tabrah:

   “Amida’s enlightenment is pledged to each of us. This is the reality of the fulfilled vows, the reality of the light that we can no longer ignore.

   “This light opens us to empathy from and with Amida.

   “It gives us the courage to face the reality of our impermanence.

   “It enables us to respond to the certainty of buddhahood which Amida’s vow-fulfilment freely promises each one…  (26)

   “Amida’s wisdom and compassion is always piercing the dark cover of our self-imprisoning ignorance… (27)

   “In the inescapable light of (Amitabha’s) wisdom and compassion, none is helpless. No one is worthless. No one is excluded from the unconditional salvation of (His all-pervasive) vow-powered enlightenment…”  (28)

   Cleary has also written: “Believers put their faith in Amitabha Buddha and recite His Name, confident in the promise He has given to deliver all who invoke His Name. All classes of people, whatever their other characteristics or shortcomings, are guaranteed rebirth in the Pure Land and ultimate salvation (perfect enlightenment), if only they invoke Amitabha’s Name with single-minded concentration and sincere faith.”  (29)

   Amitabha has vowed to attain complete and perfect enlightenment on the condition that it can ensure that all sentient beings will be born in His Pure Land where they will eventually also achieve their own spiritual perfection like Him. Moreover, He has also vowed that all will be born in His Pure Land if they entrust themselves to Him, desire to be born there, and call His Name (just once or up to ten times, with the utmost faith).

   

   While a period of about three kalpas of spiritual cultivation is required for a dedicated Bodhisattva to become a Buddha, Amitabha (then known as Dharmakara Bodhisattva) practiced for innumerable kalpas (conceivably millions of trillions of cosmic ages) to develop an inexhaustible power plant of pure karmic energy in order to fulfill all His great vows. In brief, total spiritual liberation and the ultimate enlightenment for all sentient beings (their spiritual birthright and destiny).

   Buddha’s supreme accomplishment is recorded in The Flower Ornament Scripture:

   Buddha practiced for boundless eons

   Purifying and mastering transcendent vows;

   Therefore he appears throughout the world

   Saving beings forever and ever.  (30)

   Amitabha has become a Buddha on the condition of being able to fulfill His 48 great vows. According to Shakyamuni, Amitabha has fulfilled all of them. And His success in achieving the ultimate buddhahood based on their fulfillment, clearly signifies that He will also succeed in accomplishing universal salvation and enlightenment -- right into the infinite future.

   His primal vow to save and enlighten all sentient beings who have faith in Him is like an open cheque/check, universally valid “till the end of the future” (to use Samantabhadra’s poetic phrase).

   Amitabha’s boundless great compassion equates with universal salvation and enlightenment.

   NAMO AMITABHA BUDDHA

Mahasthama Mindfulness Center

25 Selasar Rokam 40

Taman Ipoh Jaya

31350 Ipoh Perak Malaysia

Telephone: 05-3134941

NOTES:   AMITABHA OF BOUNDLESS GREAT COMPASSION

1. Recorded in Buddha Root Farm: Pure Land Dharma talks by the Venerable Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua, Abbot of Gold Mountain Monastery in San Francisco, delivered during the seven-day Amitabha Buddha Recitation session at the Buddha Root Farm on the South River near Reedsport, Oregon, on 17-21 August 1975. This spiritual event was the first of its kind to be held in the United States of America. And this small but highly significant book was published by the Sino-American Buddhist Association, Buddhist Text Translation Society, San Francisco, February 1976. Reference to p. 56.

        2.   Quote taken from a talk  “To Understand Buddhism” delivered in Australia, January 1996, and

              published in The Collected Works of Venerable Master Chin Kung, printed for 

              free distribution by Amitabha Buddhist Society (Malaysia), Kuala Lumpur, July, 1999, p. 165.

 3.   The Words of My Perfect Teacher, by Patrul Rinpoche (1808-87), translated by the Padmakara

        Translation Group, and published by Harper Collins Publishers India, New Delhi, 1996, p. 361.

        Patrul was one of the greatest scholars and adepts of the Nyingma school, founded by

        Padmasambhava (considered an emanation of Buddha Amitabha and still revered as Tibet’s

        greatest saint) who had come from India to bring the Buddhist teachings toTibet in 747 C.E.

4.    The Natural Way of Shin Buddhism, by Shoji Matsumoto and Ruth Tabrah, published by

              Buddhist Study Center Press, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1994, p. 92.

              Shinran Shonin (1173-1262) has been compared with John Calvin (1509-64), theologian and

              leader of the Protestant Movement in France, who was born more than three centuries after this

              great Japanese master who transformed the Pure Land practice by his radical concept of the

              absolute role of faith in Amitabha.

        

5.       Quoted in THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, by Hisao Inagaki, published by Nagata

Bunshodo, Kyoto, Kyoto, 1995, p. 72.

      

6.       Ibid., p. 108.

7.       The Flower Ornament Sutra (The Avatamsaka Sutra), translated by Thomas Cleary, published by Shambhala, Boston, 1993, p. 380.

8.       Ibid., p. 383.

9.       The Collected Works, p. 435.

10.    Entry for October 26, in GLIMPSE AFTER GLIMPSE, by Sogyal Rinpoche, published by Ebury Press, London, 1995,

      

11.    Quoted in Grass Mountain, by Master Nan Huai-Chin, published by Samuel Weiser, Inc., Maine,

1986, p. 87.

12.    SUTRA SPOKEN BY THE SIXTH PATRIARCH ON THE HIGH SEAT OF “THE TREASURE OF THE LAW”, translated by Wong Mou-lam, Shanghai, November 21, 1929, and reprinted recently in Malaysia by contributors for free distribution, p. 122.

13.    Ibid., p. 124.

14.    THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, p. 150.

15.    Although Chu-hung, a highly distinguished Ch’an monk, first attained  satori (initial enlightenment) in his early thirties, he constantly practiced the nien-fo and in his last days concentrated on the Pure Land practice until his death at the age of 81 years.

16.    Refer Inagaki, THE THREE PURE SUTRAS, pp. 137, 139.

       The mindful recitation of Amitabha’s Name represents right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration, inscribed on the samadhi banner of the Noble Eightfold Path to spiritual liberation and enlightenment. The two other banners are sila (morality) and prajna (wisdom).              14.6.2003 2200

 22.11.2013 04:22

17.    TAMING THE MONKEY MIND: A Guide to Pure Land Practice, originally Nien-fo ssu-shih-pa fa, Forty-eight Aspects of Buddha Recitation, by the Buddhist scholar Cheng Wei-an, translated with commentary by Elder Master Suddhisukha (Thich Tin Lac), originally published by Sutra Translation Committee of the United States and Canada, New York, 1963, and reissued for free distribution by Amida Fellowship, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Vesak Day, May 2000, pp. i-ii.

Notes by The Van Hien Study Group:  The expression “Self-Nature Amitabha Mind-Only Pure Land” represents the quintessence of Pure Land/Buddha Recitation Practice. At the noumenal level (i.e. at the level of principle), Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Light and Infinite Life, is our Self-Nature, always bright and everlasting – thus the expression Self-Nature Amitabha. Rebirth in the Pure Land is rebirth in our mind, which is intrinsically pure, like the Pure Land – thus the expression Mind-Only Pure Land.

18.    The Collected Works, p. 346.

19.    Zen Philosophy, Zen Practice, by Thich Thien-An, D. Lit., published by Dharma Publishing,

Berkeley, California, 1975, p. 5.

20.    Ibid. pp. 133-134.

In the Hindu epic poem Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna tells Arjuna:

 

“When wisdom is thine, never more shalt thou be in confusion;

for thou shall see all things in thy heart,

and thou shall see thy heart in me.”  (4.35)

In the Hindu religion, Krishna is the Lord of the Universe as well as the seventh avatar of Vishnu,

the Supreme Being. The Lord Buddha of history is regarded as the ninth avatar. And in the epic poem featuring Arjuna as the hero and warrior without a peer, Krishna reveals to this noble disciple of His the secret doctrine of enlightenment.

THE BHAGAVAD GITA was translated with an introduction by Juan Mascaro, and published by Penguin Books, Middlesex, 1962.

        21. THE SUTRA ON CONTEMPLATION OF AMITAYUS, Chapter 30.      

       Evil karma refers to such evils as the five gravest offences: killing one’s father, killing one’s

       mother, killing an arhat, causing the Buddha’s body to bleed, and causing dissension in the

       Buddhist order.

       There are also the ten evil acts which include killing, stealing, committing adultery, lying, using

       harsh words, speaking divisive words, idle talk, greed, anger/hatred, and holding deluded views.

       Moreover, there are also various kinds of immorality.

      

       CONTINUED NEXT PAGE

      The Contemplation Sutra is the Buddha’s message of complete spiritual purification to get rid of

       evil karma, and then to attain perfect enlightenment. All this can be achieved by single-minded

       concentration and contemplation of Amitabha and invocation of the sacred Name.

       In the Avatamsaka Sutra, the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra has also vowed to wipe out instantly the worst offences of anyone who has faith in his ten Great Vows:

     In the past, owing to a lack of wisdom power,

     The five offenses of extreme evil he has committed;

     In one thought they can all be wiped away by reciting

     The Great Vows of Samantabhadra.

     (Quoted in PURE LAND ZEN/ZEN PURE LAND: Letters from Patriarch Yin Kuang, translated by Master Thich Thien Tam, et al, 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, p. 232.) Ven. Yin Kuang (1861-1940) was the Thirteenth Patriarch of the Pure Land tradition in China.

22. Inagaki, THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, p. 91.

     

      Tao-ch’o converted to the Pure Land practice at the age of 48 after reading the admonition by the

      great patriarch T’an-luan (476-540) on the futility of trying to become a Buddha by self-power.                             

      He subsequently practiced the nien-fo 70,000 times a day, and popularized it among the people of

      the Shanxi Valley in North China.

       23. Inagaki, The Way of Nembutsu-Faith, published by Nagata Bunshodo, Kyoto, 1996, p. 145.

              Comments Inagaki: “When he (Genshin) said ‘those with extremely heavy evil karma’, he referred

              to nobody but himself. He was fully aware of his evil karma, too heavy and boundless to dislodge

              by his own power. The moment he recited the Nembutsu with complete trust in Amida, he found

              that the mountain of his evil karma dissolved in Amida’s Light of Wisdom and Compassion.”.

              Krishna: For even if the greatest sinner worships Me with all his soul, he must be considered

                     righteous, because of his righteous will

.

                            And he shall soon become pure and reach everlasting peace. For this is My word of

                     promise, that he who loves Me shall not perish.  (THE BHAGAVAD GITA, 9.31-32)

24.    Pure Land, Pure Mind, Dr. J. C. Cleary, in TAMING THE MONKEY MIND, p. 95.

Krishna: Their thoughts on Him (Brahman) and one with Him, they abide in Him, and He is the end of their (spiritual) journey. And they reach the land of never-returning, because His wisdom has made pure their sins.  (THE BHAGAVAD GITA. 5.17)

Krishna: In My mercy I dwelt in their hearts and I dispel their darkness of ignorance by the light of the lamp of wisdom.  (Ibid., 10.11)

25.    Inagaki, THE THREE PURE LAND SUTRAS, p. 198.

26.    The Natural Way of Shin Buddhism, p.64.

27.    Ibid., p. 139.

28.    Ibid., p. 142.

29.    Pure Land, Pure Mind, excerpted in TAMING THE MONKEY MIND, p. 93.

30.    The Flower Ornament Scripture, p. 145