LESSON 71 PURE LAND 27 10 2010 FREE ONLINE eNālandā Research and Practice UNIVERSITY
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The teachings of Buddha are eternal, but even then Buddha did not proclaim them to be infallible. The religion of Buddha has the capacity to change according to times, a quality which no other religion can claim to have…Now what is the basis of Buddhism? If you study carefully, you will see that Buddhism is based on reason. There is an element of flexibility inherent in it, which is not found in any other religion.
§ Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar , Indian scholar, philosopher and architect of Constitution of India, in his writing and speeches
I.
KAMMA
AWAKEN-NESS
II.
ARHAT
TWELVEFOLD CONDITIONED ARISING
III.
IV.
FOUR APPLICATIONS OF MINDFULNESS
V.
FIVE TYPES OF BUDDHIST STUDY AND PRACTICE
MAHAYANA AND HINAYANA COMPARED
VI.
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THE RESEARCH OF PURE LAND
This is the most important doctrine in Buddhism, we wish all the practitioners could concentrate on this page and get the most benefit you can get. Good Luck.
ACCOMPLISHED practitioners in history admonished us that a practitioner when study the Buddhist doctrines at the same time should match real practice, then we will not go to the wrong way which is to hold the subjective views of ego. This will produce all kinds of differently wrong idea and mislead those who are interested in Buddhist doctrines and practices.
THE Buddhist cosmology is the description of truth which is from the experientially entering of limitless practitioners. And most of Mahayana doctrines remind us that If we do not have the real practice, we will not have the mercy and wisdom of Bodhisattva, then we will not understand the width and depth of the Buddhist cosmology.
WHEN we study The Canon deeply, we will discover that Pure Land is as a matter of fact the greatest institution of learning cosmic reality. Pure Land is the achievements of entering experientially of all Buddhas. What a word means in its broadest, Pure Land as a matter of fact is the method of becoming Buddha (as a Bodhisattva does on reaching supreme perfect bodhi).
THERE ARE NUMBERLESS WORLDS IN COSMOS
The Four Agamas Sutra say that there are numberless worlds which have all kinds of beings live there in the cosmos.
No matter from the point of view of numberless planets in so many outer spaces which is approved by modern scientific research, or from the point of view of numberless chiliocosm which is put down in writing in The Four Agamas Sutra and the Mahayana Sutras, they all approve that the world (Earth) we live, is just one of the groups of star light which has life forms in this limitlessly great cosmos.
THERE are numberless different kinds of life forms live in limitless world in the cosmos, most of scientists believe in that, but just cannot approve it, because we have not reach that territory yet. In some Buddhist Sutras already describe very clearly about this.
THE EARTH –The world we live
The earth has three evil paths, and the Pure Land has no evil path. Why? It is because of the projections of sentient beings in the earth. If we want the Earth to be like the Pure Land, first thing we have to do is to get rid of these evil paths. To change the mind of sentient beings and the projections of deeds of community (collective accumulation of past activities of all sentient beings), then the quality of the Earth can be changed. But it is impossible to change the Earth, according to the reality of present environment, we can see the future of the Earth.
THE WARFARE in this world
Any weapon built in this high technical era will easily destroy this world in just few minutes. And many more countries now own more powerful nuclear weapons than before, any war happens between any countries will easily lead this world to the vanished level. From this standpoint of view of war, killing, and reprisal breeds reprisal, we really cannot get rid of these evil paths.
ECOCIDE OF THE EARTH
Such as the more and more desert crisis in Africa, the violation of forest of the torrid zone in South America, the death of West Germany’s forest because of the sour rain, the death of the forest in Alps area, and the crisis of the corals of oceanic oasis in Japan and the whole world, these are only part of the problems. Almost all forests in this world are damaged by the sour rain daily. All deserts in this world are expanding day by day. And many other ecocide are beyond we can image.
AND because of the activities of human daily life, such as the discards from industries, automobiles, … these things cause the increase of carbon dioxide and bring about the hothouse effect, then damage and pollute our surroundings, this is also why the average air temperature of our planet is higher and higher than before.
THE POLLUTED HUMAN MIND
“Birds of the same feather flock together” is the unofficial principle or rule of living for sentient beings.
All sentient beings in this world no matter what happen to them always follow the principle of “Birds of the same feather flock together”. The
WHEN our mind is in darkness, it will correspond with the karma of darkness naturally, when our mind is in brightness, it will correspond with the karma of brightness. This principle of existence is always existent naturally, with or without Buddha, with or without Dharma.
IN general, there are six directions of reincarnation in different dimensions around the Earth, hells, hungry ghosts, animals, malevolent nature spirits, human existence, and deva existence.
THE world we live, is from the collective and corresponding karma of numberless beings who are greedy and desirous deeply. That’s why we call this world “the world of impurity or degeneration”. Same reason the other directions of reincarnations in different dimensions are created naturally according to the degree of karma.
TODAY, there are many Buddhist and other religious organizations, many organizations of charity, and many merciful people try to spread the idea of modernizing religions through modern media. They are working hard and trying to change the bad moral atmosphere through religious spreading. Every body has a common understanding, that the time is changed, the trend is changed, the human mind is changed, the information science is changed, and the thought is changed, and the way of spreading abroad teaching should be changed in order to match the demand of modern world and human mind.
ALL things are changed, but do not forget that the response of karma cannot be changed, the moral laws of retribution cannot be changed, the truth of becoming Buddha cannot be vanished, the foundation of deliverance of transmigration cannot be vanished, the “in turn” of cultivating the Dharma cannot be vanished. Therefore we should learn, understand, and practice the Dharma in order to change societies, countries, and the world.
ALTHOUGH relying on the strength of small amount of people cannot change the collective karma or deeds of the community, but remember as long as we are in this world, we must do our level best to do good things for other people, cultivate Dharma, and preach Dharma, in order to build the differentiated karma within collective karma, then we will get more chance to surpass and liberate ourselves.
THE WORLD OF UTMOST JOY – Pure Land
Why there is no three evil paths in Pure Land (The World of Utmost Joy)?
The Earth has three evil paths, because every being in the Earth has the karma of “greedy for darkness” and we create automatically the karma net for the Earth.
THE World of Utmost Joy has no three evil paths, the same reason because all the beings in Pure Land, under the support of power of Amitabha Buddha, do good things for others and cultivate the Dharma, then Utmost Joy World is created for their collective karma.
MIND LEADS US TO THE TRANSMIGRATION
Buddhist doctrine tell us, our mind has all kinds of dirty thought and that’s the reason why we are always in the circle of transmigration, because these thoughts lead us to do things which correspond with the circle of transmigration. Therefore we have to observe our mind, self-reflect our mind, are there any greedy thought, hate thought, ……. in our mind?
NUMBERLESS BEINGS AND NUMBERLESS KARMA
The truth of karma and retribution (the chain of cause and effect) always are existent in appearance of all kinds of things in the cosmos naturally with or without Buddhas. The transmigration of six directions is created by the response to collective karma of all beings. And any direction of these six directions is created by the response to individual karma of all beings of certain direction.
FURTHERFORE, the world of hells, hungry ghosts, animals, malevolent nature spirits, human existence, and deva existence, all have the same situation, every world is created by the response to collective karma of the being in that world. And every directional world has its own all different kinds of worlds of individual karma and collective karma. These worlds are in all kinds of different sizes, from big to small, from small to tiny …….. And the collective and individual karma of numberless beings are intertwined mutually, intermingled mutually, interwork mutually, reduplicated mutually, intermixed mutually, hard to understand, incomprehensible, mysterious, incredible, ……..
NUMERLESS beings of good and bad karma, are back and forth, in and out in the transmigration of this world and the worlds of ten directions space. And all these cannot be seen and understood by ordinary eyes and wisdom of human being in this planet. Also numberless beings of pure karma, are back and forth, in and out in pure land world of ten directions space. And all these also cannot be seen and understood by ordinary eyes and wisdom of human being in this planet.
IN doctrine of the Four Agamas Sutra, we should understand one thing, the regions (class) of being are numberless, the karma of being are numberless, the worlds which human collective karma correspond with are numberless, the individual karma worlds which human individual karma correspond with are numberless, the impure worlds which human alike bad karma correspond with are numberless, and the pure worlds which human alike good karma correspond with are numberless.
WORLD OF UTMOST JOY – Pure Land
The World of Utmost Joy was built by the cause of Amitabha’s original vow of redeeming beings from the misery of all worlds, even if the beings have all kinds of karma in their past life, when they are in the World of Utmost Joy, all their mind-nature, the force of habit, the remaining influence of illusion, ……., will be purified by the guides of Amitabha, all bodhisattvas, and the surrounding of hearing and learning the Dhamas naturally.
The beings in Pure Land, cultivate themselves with pure mind, therefore the major condition for beings who want to go to or stay in Pure Land is to purify their mind, when mind is purified then all the causes of becoming three evil paths will be destroyed totally.
When we chant NOMO AMITABHA, will destroy all the causes which correspond with three evil paths, then we will build the good individual karma of collective karma, this will lead us to the place which correspond with pure karma of beings.
BEINGS IN THE WORLD OF UTMOST JOY
In our world there are all kinds of human races in different color because of the weather and surroundings. Also there are confused wrangling and distance separating one from another because of the difference in color. All races think that they are the best of all.
IN the Pure Land, there is no such problem of color of race, because all the beings are the same in color, and that is the color in gold. Why gold? There are two meanings for the gold. First, that is the correspondence with retribution of the beings who cultivate the blessed virtues or all good deeds for many lives, here the gold means bright and pure, noble and kindly, exemplary conduct and nobility of character, ……. , second, when the deva existence are in deep meditation, their body will produce automatically hollow light with color in bright gold.
COLOR IN GOLD
Scientists have already proved that the electromagnetism of human being’s body can emit light, even leaves of tree and beings low in grade also have some kind of invisible light, with very special photographic skill.
WHY can human being emit light? We all knew that human body has static electricity, our fingers can produce or emit light because of the theory of static electricity. As a matter of fact, every part of our body has this kind of magnetic field’s light, these lights sometimes are strong, sometimes are weak according to the power of our body and mind.
THERE are seven kinds of lights or flames in human body: the light overhead, the lights on shoulders, the light on chest, the light on navel, the lights on knees, the lights on feet, and the lights on hands. We all have lights on our body, and the light overhead usually is the color in purple. These lights of human body are already proved by scientists with very special photographic skill.
THE science also prove, when practitioners are in deep meditation, their mind are calm, their brain wave are concentrating, then the super microwave will be produced, and emitted constantly. These super microwave are much tinier than light wave and sound wave, when they are emitted just like the laser beam, not just powerful but also make lots of essential functions.
THE Buddhist practitioners, when they are in the deep cultivation of wisdom, their body and mind cannot be tangled, bothered, and mutable then the color of their brain wave will be changed from the purple of ordinary people to the brilliant gold. The color in gold does not mean wealth but the highest pure and brilliance.
AS we mentioned in the beginning of this page, when we believe in Amitabha, and chant Amitabha, then we can concentrate our mind, we will receive the super energy of Amitabha, when we reach this step, our mind will be delivered from imprisonment.
MOST of the time the beings in deva’s worlds are in deep meditation, all emit their light of mind and materialize their gold, pure, and brilliant appearance, and the degree of appearance are different according to their degree of meditation and degree of virtue and wisdom. And because of gold, pure, and brilliant appearance of all beings, make Pure Land world a pure and brilliant world.
THE seven chief sutras (textbooks) of Pure Land School all describe that the land of Pure Land is made of gold, the trees and ponds are made of jewel and all over the places. When Buddhist sutras describe the environment of deva’s worlds always use the same words such as gold and jewel.
WE should understand the gold and jewel are just some kind of parable, to hint that beings in Pure Land emit their gold, pure, and brilliant light of mind, then brighten the world they live like a world of gold.
THE CULTIVATION OF BEINGS OF PURE LAND
When human in this world cultivate themselves in blessedness and goodness without the mind of “Worry”, “Desire”, “Arrogance”, and “Five skandhas” then it is to cultivate blessedness and goodness in the way of spiritual world. When we cultivate ourselves with broadening the capacity of our mind and emptying our mind, then our mind will surpass the limitation of time and space of this world and become more closed to the condition of nirvana.
THE Wisdom Sutras introduce the doctrine [When we practice the almsgiving, we have to remember that we should not have the following notions “the one who gives”, “the one whom is given”, and “the physical and mental effect due to the giving”]. This is the “real almsgiving”, and also is the level almost impossible to reach, unless we enter experientially the emptiness, but this is the elevation of spirit of Arahat who have already destroyed or removed the “attach to self” or “persisting in self”.
MOST of the Buddhist misunderstand the “real almsgiving”, their idea is when practicing almsgiving if they don’t think that “I am the one who gives”, “Somebody who is given”, and “Persisting in the materials of almsgiving”, then they will destroy the mind of “attach self”, “Worry”, “Desire”, “Arrogance”, and “Five Skandhas”. But this is terribly wrong.
“Real almsgiving” is just a example for cultivating ourselves with the mind of spiritual world. But what is the spiritual world? According to Nagarjuna Bodhisattva’s words: “The practitioners who search for the world and the spiritual world, and cannot find, because of that, then should understand that the world and the spiritual world which exist only in name. To say [the spiritual world] in order to destroy [the world], the appearance of [the world] is the appearance of [the spiritual world] and nothing else. The practitioners cannot find [the world] and do not attach [the spiritual world], when cannot find [the world] also do not attach [the spiritual world] then the mind of [Desire] and [Arrogance] are destroyed right away, no more remonstrate with the beings of [the world]”.
THE beings in Pure Land cultivate themselves in blessedness and goodness with the mind of spiritual world. Therefore their appearance of retribution are corresponding with the appearance of retribution that is cultivating with the mind of spiritual world.
IS THERE ANY WAY TO MAKE THIS WORLD PURE LAND?
If we want to make this world a kind of pure land, we have to cultivate ourselves in blessedness and goodness with the mind of spiritual world. When every body change their thought of envy, hatred, glower, harm ……. to the thought of gentleness, blessed virtues, not bothering by material concerns, brilliance, tranquil concentration, glory ……. Then our physical appearance will be greatly changed because of the changing of that huge collective karma. Also the dependent environment (surroundings) will be changed totally because of the greatly changing of collective karma of human being.
TO make the dream of pure land of this world come true, we have to remember that pure land is the projection of cause of cultivating blessedness and goodness with “the mind of spiritual world” of huge amount of beings. And also this is the only way to get rid of the evil paths (same reason the evil paths is also the projection of our mind) and upgrade the beings in this world.
THE ILLUSION THAT BODY OR SELF IS REAL
VIEWING THE EGO AS REAL
Every being in Utmost World of Joy (Pure Land) does not have the thought of greed, the greed of keeping the body forever.
The Miscellaneous Treatises of The Four Agamas Sutra says:{Beings in all the worlds of impurity, the scope of their hearing, thinking, seeing, talking … and so on are always within “I’, “Mine”, “Being”, “Other people’s worldly business”, “People’s life span”, “Good and bad, misfortune and fortune” … and so on.} All the phenomena, we are talking about here, are a “viewing the ego as real” (persisting the notions of self). If we can leave these scope of “viewing the ego as real”, then we are going to be in a elevation of spirit of “spiritual world”.
AND the beings in the Pure Land never talk about the things like “I, Mine, You, Him, Business, feeling ……. and so on.” therefore they will not have the thought of persisting in self or ego.
WHAT is the “the illusion that body or self is real”?
If we look around all the beings in the six directions of reincarnation, the most important thing to them is nothing more than the body or the life they have. We know nothing about the future life, therefore only thing we could is to hold and keep everything we have at present time. But from the Buddhist doctrine point of view, the body we have in this life is the karma from former lives, and they will end in any minute when the karma from former lives is vanished temporarily. And the phenomena of persisting in present life is called “the illusion that body or sell is real”. This also include “I” and “Mine”.
SHAKYAMUNI Buddha told us: “All beings in Pure Land are direct birth by transformation through the lotus. They all cultivate themselves in leading to Buddha-hood with all their heart and mind. The only thing in their pure mind is Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.”
TO CULTIVATE THE SAMADHI
To cultivate the samadhi is the most important thing for almost all the Buddhist practitioners if they want to reach the Buddha-hood, especially for the Pure Land practitioners.
FROM now on we are going to introduce the EASIEST and BEST way to practicing meditation for the people with DISTRACTED mind all the time.
WHEN we try to calm down our mind (try to make thoughts less), but most of the time it gets worse (more thoughts come out), sometimes even is impossible to do a little meditative thing. From the Buddhist point of view, all these are because of the karma from our past lives. The degree of karma (more or less) influences the degree of thoughts in our mind (more or less).
THE reason we want to learn more about the Buddhism is that we want to learn Buddha’s wisdom that extends beyond the limitations of time and sense. And we want to cultivate the meditation in order to stop the thoughts in our mind, also we want to practice the Buddhist teachings in our daily life in order to reach the elevation of spirit of Buddha some day.
THE RELIABLE STEPS FOR REACH THE MIND OF SAMADHI
To cultivate calm mind in CHANTING AMITABHA
If we want to reach the samadhi, we have to calm down the distracted mind first, plus transforming character by Buddhist doctrine daily, and cultivate ourselves in any correct Buddhist way according to our different causes, then gradually we will reach the samadhi.
FOR the Pure Land’s practitioners, seek forgiveness and repentance for past evil karma by chanting Amitabha and worshipping the Buddhas, by slow accumulation, the distracted mind will be getting better and better, then we will understand and perceive the reality of ordinary things around us. And this is the first step we have to reach. When we reach this step, anything happen to us, we will meekly accept the humiliations and deal with them unperturbedly.
TO cultivate samadhi is a very hard job, once the Shakyamuni Buddha taught us quite a few ways of practicing samadhi, but today is in the period of decay and termination, not too many people can accept those perfect teaching of samadhi that were for the bodhisattvas who are in the degree of “complete and immediate”. And we have to practice million lives to reach this kind of degree.
PRAJNA WISDOM FOR SAMADHI
We need Prajna wisdom to guide us to cultivate samadhi. But the people in the period of decay and termination are impossible to perceive and obtain the prajna wisdom. In The Wisdom Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha told his oldest student: [Do you know what kind of natural capacity of being can receive the deep prajna doctrine of unsurpassed samadhi? There are two kinds of being can receive the meaning of emptiness of prajna. The first one is the Avaivartika bodhisattvas who already enter the bhutatathata, obtain the overcoming of illusion, and cultivate in prajna paramita, and the second one is the one who practice the six paramita for a long time, and always learn the meaning of emptiness of Mahayana from the experienced teachers, therefore they got help of “inside blessed virtues” and “outside co-operating cause”]
THE first kind, like the experienced people say: “The Avaivartika bodhisattva we will not find a single one in this world.” And the second kind of practitioners who have been practicing very hard the six prajna paramita for million lives, therefore accumulating profound virtues and wisdom, it is very hard to find one in today’s modern world.
THE BEGINNERS MISDERSTANDING THE PRAJNA WISDOM
Shakyamuni Buddha told us, for the beginners who don’t know how to control the distracted mind and understand the steps of cultivating the “eightfold noble path”, shouldn’t teach them the deep meaning of prajna wisdom.
THE beginners who start out for Bodhi, their good roots and blessed virtues of former existences are very meager, therefore when they receive the “Fundamentally void or emptiness”, most of the time they cannot swallow it and cause wrong views. What kind of wrong views are they? When the beginners who start out for Bodhi, first time learn the theory of “all things are empty”, then they will attach the “emptiness” (persisting in emptiness) automatically, and even think like this “If all things in the world are empty eventually, why should I do good things for other, and cultivate so hard in blessed virtues?”
CHANTING AMITABHA
Buddha Shakyamuni understood that not too many people in this world have practiced the six prajna paramita for million lives and accumulated profound virtues and wisdom enough to reach the samadhi immediately. Therefore for the beings who have heavy karma in this world, introduced a easiest and best way of reaching the samadhi. And this is to chant the “NAMO AMITABHA”, this is the most correct contemplation, just hold to the name of Amitabha with all you heart, then we will reach the samadhi, eventually we will enter experientially the nirvana that is “neither dying nor being reborn” or “neither to be born nor ended”.
EVEN easy like this, for some people are still hard too, when they are chanting Amitabha they notice that in this chanting Amitabha moment they don’t know why so much thoughts come to their mind and cannot control these thoughts (one thought vanishing and another thought arising and never stop).
THERE is another way to chant Amitabha. The way of “hearing, thinking, and cultivating” is to concentrate on chanting Amitabha through hearing, thinking, and cultivating. And this is the way that Shakyamuni Buddha perceived experientially during the moment when HE was reaching the Buddha-hood.
HEARING THINKING CULTIVATING AND THE SAMADHI
The beginners think that the “hearing, thinking, and cultivating” must be a special way of practicing Buddhist doctrine, and neglect the deep relation between IT and our daily life. The Shakyamuni Buddha wanted us to observe and perceive all kind of appearance of beings in our daily life, to think, examine, and understand the true meaning of life through joys and sorrows, separations and reunions in the drama of life.
THE Madhyamika sastra told us: [The Buddhas in the past, present, and future preach the Buddhist doctrine through two categories, the first one is the fact in our daily life (ordinary categories), the second one is the absolute truth (categories of reality). If we want to study, understand, and cultivate the Buddhist doctrine deeply, we have to understand the mutual relation between the fact and the truth. Otherwise when we talk about truth, we will neglect the fact, when we talk about fact, we will neglect the truth. We never understand and perceive the true meaning of Buddhist doctrine. We have to rely on the fact in order to reach the truth, we have to rely on the truth in order to reach the nirvana.]
WHEN we read the history of Shakyamuni Buddha, we will get the idea like this, the utmost truth of Shakyamuni Buddha’s entry experiential was found or revealed through the research of all kinds of worldly things in our daily life. Therefore we should understand that we will not find out, understand, and perceive the absolute truth (categories of reality) without the fact in our daily life (ordinary categories). And if we don’t understand and perceive the absolute truth, it will be impossible for us to reach the nirvana.
THE idea we should get from the Madhyamika sastra is that the Buddhist doctrine will not abandon the law of this world, because if there is no law of this world, the Buddhist doctrine will have no dependence.
THEREFORE if we want to destroy our polluted and illusional mind totally, we have to perceive the fact of our life through the long time thoughtful research of our life, and this research will be completed through the observation and contemplation of the reality of cause of birth, age, sickness, death, pain, and emptiness.
THE EIGHTFOLD NOBLE PATH
Right View, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right conduct, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Remembrance, and Right Meditation are the Eightfold Noble Path. In this paragraph we will talk about the relation between the Eightfold Noble Path and the Samadha of chanting Amitabha.
THE right view is the foundation for cultivating Buddhist doctrine in any correct way. Buddha Shakyamuni told us: “When cultivating Buddhist doctrine, always use the right view as guide or basis, otherwise the other seven noble paths will have no eyes to guide them, then we will go to the wrong way.”
THE definition for the right view is that all things arising are depending on conditions. The way to practice the right view is to observe and contemplate our surroundings, sufferings, and pains, try to find out the reality of those pains, then we will cultivate ourselves in the correct way more effectively. This is especially for the Zen practitioners. And this is the procedure for reaching the Buddha-hood according to Shakyamuni Buddha’s experience.
RIGHT VIEWS FOR PURE LAND PRACTITIONERS
Buddha Shakyamuni told us in The Sukhavativyuha Sutra a special way of surpassing this Saha world that is to beseech for rebirth in Utmost Joy World.
THE first step for beseeching for rebirth in Pure Land is to understand different kinds of impermanent appearance in the world correctly and totally, this is called the right view of the world. The next step is to think, observe, and experience the suffered, painful, and impermanent world through Buddhist wisdom any time any place in our daily life. Also quiet our thought and mind on the truth of impermanent life all the time.
SHAKYAMUNI Buddha told us: [If Buddhist practitioners only concentrate on wisdom obtained from hearing and do not go further for more and deeper “research and practice” for utmost Buddhist doctrine, then they will not reach the final destination of complete enlightenment.] The main reason for us to beseech for rebirth in Pure Land is to listen to Amitabha Buddha’s preaching directly and release from the bonds of births-and-deaths eventually.
WE should understand wisely the phenomena that we experience in this world are all changed quickly even in the shortest measure of time, changed any minute any second, and nothing can stop them. All these phenomena of production and annihilation (birth and death) of things in any second any minute are doubly small and deep, cannot be compared and seen the difference or noticed by the ordinary people like us whose mind are always polluted by all kinds of garbage thoughts. Unless we can get rid of those different thoughts through contemplation all the time, then we can perceive experientially the phenomena of production and annihilation of things.
TO UNDERSTAND REALITY OF IMPERMANENCE IS THE FIRST STEP
During Shakyamuni Buddha’s cultivating time, he perceived the reality of impermanence of the worldly things first, then made up his mind to find a way of deliverance from suffering. Buddha perceived that all the material or non-material things in this world are arising depending on all kinds of complicate causes, when causes are get together, then things are arising, when causes are dispelled, then things are vanishing. When we observe our surroundings carefully we will find out that the surroundings are constantly changed because of the relating and tangling of all kinds of causes.
THE enlightened one of universes – Buddha told us according to his wisdom of cultivating experientially, we should know there is no ego at all, not only in the moment our visible body is vanishing, even in the moment that we are living in this world, there is no true ego ever existent. All this we see, hear, touch, and think of are the illusions of unreal ego or the illusory existence of causes gathering.
RIGHT VIEW AND RIGHT THOUGHT
Once Shakyamuni Buddha told his followers: [When you have the right view of this world and perceive that things in this world are impermanent, therefore are suffering, empty, and no ego, and the appearance of the things you see, hear, touch, smell, taste, and think of are all unreal. Then furthermore try to contemplate, think, and enter experientially the impermanent body and mind.] And the fact is just like the Buddha said, all the existences in our life are “arising depending on conditions and their original nature are empty” and “not real but a illusion”.
HOW to REACH this level?
Shakyamuni Buddha told his followers: [All the dharma I told you, you have to remember, and always try to recall every word I told you. Beside that you should find a quiet place, contemplate why are the body and mind painful, dream, not real, and empty? Is this physical body real I? Am I the physical body? Is there mind and cognition without physical body? Is there physical body without mind and cognition? Am I dwelling in this physical body? Or is the physical body dwelling in my mind? Does this physical body belong to me “I”? If the physical body belongs to me, but why I cannot control it at will always? Another words, supposed “I” belong to this physical body, then the mind and cognition should be vanished as the physical body is vanished. But although being’s physical body is vanished, the “cause and effect” of karma is still existent. So many practitioners when they are in deep meditation, they approve experientially the truth of six directions of reincarnation (transmigration). They tell people the fact of human’s death, when being’s eighth consciousness leave the unreal physical body, it will follow the causes of being’s good and bad karma to search for another occasion and begin another life. In this case, do I belong to this physical body? Or don’t I belong to this physical body? If I don’t belong to the physical body of present life, how come my body won’t move without the command of my consciousness? The reality approve that the “I” and the present body cannot be separated, it is because of the existence of arising depending on causes or conditions, there is no mind and cognition can be existent without physical body, also there is no physical body can be existent without mind and cognition. ……. When you are in meditation, try to purify your mind and contemplate always the doubly hard “the concatenation of cause and effect in the whole range of existence” that is no “I” and “MINE” (the self and its possessions). Then you will give up passions, feelings, and desires, destroy worries, you will cultivate the pure living and deliverance. In your daily life, when seeing things you won’t have second thought, when hearing things you won’t be influenced by difference, when smelling things you won’t be greedy for better, when eating things you won’t be greedy for more, when in different surroundings you won’t have mind for them, for all the things no matter good or bad around you, you understand totally, you won’t be removed by any things happened, you will be less in talking, your mind will be free from temptation and distress ……. finally you will enter experientially that five skandhas is “nature void”
(immateriality of the nature of all things), and the “nature void” is five skandhas, eventually you perceive that you have already entered experientially the nirvana, the retributive body of skandhas of present life is complete, and the your pure living also has been built, you know that you won’t have any other retribution in the future. This kind of nirvana that you perceive and approve experientially is not from outside, but inside yourself, also you don’t need anybody to approve for you, you will approve for yourself.]
THE Pure Land’s practitioners should have the same right thought like this, we will introduce more about the right thought of practicing Pure Land. If we could understand, cultivate, and perceive no “I” and “Mine” (No self and its possessions), then we will not attach too many things in present life, and benefit our goal of beseeching for rebirth in Utmost Joy World.
DECISION OF LEAVING THE PAIN OF TRANSMIGRATION
The decision of leaving the pain of transmigration is the premise of beseeching for rebirth in Pure Land, if we still are greedy for all kinds of love, feeling, and desire in this world, then rebirth in Pure Land become impossible.
ONLY observing this unreal world of “as an illusion and as if transforming” in our daily life, contemplating this unreal mind of impermanence and changing, from here we will build very strong mood of abandoning the transmigration, then we will have the real mind of abandoning the transmigration and the real mind of beseeching for rebirth in Pure Land. This is the right view of Pure Land practitioners.
UNDERSTAND REALITY OF UNREAL LIFE
To understand the reality of the life is like a dream, smoke, a bubble, lightning, shadow, and as an illusion is one of the right thoughts.
Buddha Shakyamuni told his followers, according to the experience of his cultivating in the past, [I was always in deep meditation in a quiet place, my mind was arising this kind of thought “How hard for us to become human being from six directions of transmigration, but we have to go through a series of mishaps of constant changing of birth, age, sickness, and death. The happiness of our life is too short, too impermanent, and too painful. However, the human being never try to find out the reason of causing the birth, age, sickness, and death. Why am I here? Why should I accept numberless pain and stress? What causes make the beginning of rebirth? And what causes support the “carry on” of life?” When thinking of these questions, I was sitting straight with a proper mind and regulated will, cultivating very hard day and night, meditating and thinking over and over unintermittedly. One day I suddenly realized like coming out of a dream, as a matter of fact this world is the unreal dream of projection of our unreal mind and cognition. The human beings all are in the unreal dream of “birth and death” of ignorance ever since from the time without beginning. “I was in the dream ever since I was born, I was in the dream ever since I had consciousness.”]
SHAKYAMUNI Buddha told us: [If you want to leave the lifetime dream that is the circle of impermanence, do not try to get the answer from the surroundings are in front of you. Because all the things reveal in front of you are all the projections of your dream.]
TWELVE LINKS IN THE CHAIN OF EXISTENCE
The twelve nidanas is the right thought of leaving the dream of life.
The Buddha told us: [To surpass the dream of life is not a difficult thing, the first thing you have to do is not to have a polluted mind of desiring for all things in surroundings.] [ When we perceive that life is a huge dream, and do not attach the appearances of dream, in addition to that, cultivate yourself with right meditation for a period of time, then you will come out of the huge dream of life.]
THE Buddha told us: [Human beings don’t understand all surroundings in our present life are the huge dream that is produced by worries of greed, hatred, and ignorance. And because our body, mouth, and mind produce all kinds of good and bad karmas, therefore human beings follow these numberless karmas, which are stored in our eighth consciousness or database consciousness, and stay in the six directions of transmigration forever.
THE twelve links in the chain of existence also called twelve links of dependent origination are circulated forever, therefore all beings cannot break this circle of rebirth and redeath, and jump out of the dream of birth and death.
HOW TO COME OUT OF THE DREAM
The causes for creating dream of birth and death are the result of greed, hatred, and ignorance of all human beings. If we could get rid of all the desires of greed, hatred, and ignorance in our mind, then we will not create the new karma of good and bad, for which we will have more and new retributions.
LET’S review the twelve links in the chain of existence. Ignorance, activity or conception, consciousness, name and form, the six sense organs, contact or touch, feeling or sensation, craving or desire, clinging or grasping, becoming or existing, birth, aging and death are the chain of existence.
IGNORANCE is the condition for activity or conception.
Activity or conception is the condition for consciousness.
Consciousness is the condition for name and form.
Name and form is the condition for the six sense organs.
The six sense organs are the conditions for contact or touch.
Contact or touch is the condition for feeling or sensation.
Feeling or sensation is the condition for craving or desire.
Craving or desire is the condition for clinging or grasping.
Clinging or grasping is the condition for becoming or existing.
Becoming or existing is the condition for birth.
Birth is the condition for aging and death.
Aging and death is the condition for ignorance.
THE idea for coming out of the dream of birth and death is: To get rid of totally the worries of greed, hatred, and ignorance that are existent ever since time without beginning, then we will not make new karma, if there is no new karma, we will not follow the activity-consciousness to have another life, if there is no another life, we will have no contact or touch, if there is no contact or touch, we will have no feeling or sensation, if there is no feeling or sensation, we will have no craving or desire, if there is no craving or desire, we will have no clinging or grasping, if there is no clinging or grasping, we will have no becoming or existing, if there is no becoming or existing, we will have no birth, if there is no birth, we will have no aging and death.
STARTING OUT FOR BESEECHING FOR REBIRTH IN WESTERN PURE LAND
The Pure Land practitioners also should be cultivating in destroying the worries of greed, hatred, and ignorance with the way of twelve links in the chain of existence. The practitioners should concentrate on chanting AMITABHA with all their heart, vow for beseeching for rebirth in Western Pure Land with all their heart also, then every thought in our mind is “chanting Amitabha”, when we are doing this, all the causes for retribution will be removed, we will not be distracted by material world, then, the mind of desire, erroneous thinking, and worries will be destroyed totally.
WITH all the though of chanting Amitabha, our unreal mind of greed, hatred, and ignorance will turn into pure thought of Buddha. And the dream of trouble of the world will be vanished gradually because of the less and less desire. Then the practitioners will be reaching the “Right concentration of chanting Amitabha”.
RIGHT SPEECH RIGHT CONDUCT RIGHT LIVELIHOOD
Wherever and whenever the Buddhist practitioners should always observe their work of mouth, watch the evil karma produced by the mouth, especially from lying, double-tongue, ill words, and exaggeration. In addition do not do any talking against the truth. The practitioners should always observe their work of body, watch the evil karma produced by the body, especially from fighting, killing and all the karma operating in the body. In addition do not do any activity that will hinder the deliverance of birth and death. The practitioners live in this world with right livelihood or right life in order to seek after the truth, the correct doctrine, and the deliverance, therefore remember strongly these words “abstaining from any of the forbidden modes of living.”
SHAKYAMUNI Buddha told us: [……. In order to reach the goal of deliverance, you should feel terrible anywhere anytime for anything may cause you a tiny dirty thought that will lead you to make bad karga. You have to guard yourself against this kind of thought carefully, so call a little spark can cause a conflagration, this tiny dirty thought in your mind, will become the karma seed and let you receive the retribution of transmigration in the future, with changing and cumulation of surroundings, experiences, thinking, and causes …….]
SHAKYAMUNI Buddha told us: [……. No matter you are working in the city, eating, rescuing from life of pains and misery for others, and especially when you are planting all virtuous roots for being with carrying a almsbowl and begging for food, you have to think this way: Today I beg for food lowly in order to cut off my mind of greed for food and destroy my mind of arrogance. Going to houses one by one, no matter rich or poor, and begging for food with pure mind. If I am eating, at the same time seeing beautiful things or people, and making the greedy, desiring, and polluted thoughts arising, then I will make the cause of “planting all virtuous roots for being” less and also I will violate the rule of deliverance of birth and death, this will hinder me for reaching the deliverance. In order to enter experientially the nirvana that is free from temptation and distress, also in order to plant all virtuous roots for being, therefore no matter I am begging food in the street or eating in place of assemblage, I should contemplate my thoughts and mind with wisdom and all my heart. When I see or hear beautiful things, if any impurely greedy, desired, and polluted thoughts are arising ……. then I should right away contemplate that the original force of the form and sound are the impermanent and unreal appearance which are arising depending on causes temporarily, and do not have their entity existent. All things are arising depending on causes, all things also are vanishing depending on cause. Only the nirvana of calmness and extinction, is our hometown which is real, eternal, and no birth and death. With seeking after the truth, urge yourself in cultivating the correct Buddhist way, for a while, when you are begging for food, if you see things you will not go with them (your mind will not be moved), if you hear sounds you will not go with them (your mind will not be moved) very naturally. Any moment any place you can control your own mind and thoughts completely and without any delusion ……. ]
RIGHT SPEECH RIGHT CONDUCT RIGHT LIVELIHOOD
RIGHT EFFORT OF PURE LAND PRACTITIONERS
The Pure Land practitioners should watch the mouth any moment, because we use our mouth to practice and cultivate the Pure Land doctrine with chanting Amitabha, therefore our mouth must be very clean all the time.
SONG dynasty of China, Pure Land transcripts of Long Shu sayings: “For the people no matter we know or we don’t know, we should have this kind of good thought in our mind always that we should try to find the best chance whenever wherever use the easiest and clearest words to introduce the wonderful and auspicious West Land to them in order to lead them to the Pure Land. Even birds that fly and beasts that run, insects, worms, crawlers … and so on, anything visible as long as we see them, we should always chant NA MO AMITABHA few times for them, and start out a vow: [With the reward of virtue of chanting Amitabha, wish you could be reincarnated as being in good path, to turn and rely on the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha (Triratna), cultivate yourself in Pure Land doctrine, beseech for rebirth in Western Pure Land (Utmost Joy World), when I become Buddha, I will save and release you from the ocean of misery first, we will ascend the yonder shore together.]
RIGHT CONDUCT OF PURE LAND PRACTITIONERS
Ming dynasty of China, West Pure Land transcripts of Yuan Hung Dao: [For those who want to achieve the Buddhahood in chanting Buddha category, should cultivate themselves in pure commandment. The pure commandment is the door for all pure categories, the foundation of cultivating all good dharmas, and also the door for entering all Buddha’s pure land. Here we will give ten pure commandments for cultivating purpose for those who have already started out their vow for rebirth in Pure Land:
FIRST, Greed Commandment: the pure land practitioners should practice wealth almsgiving (offerings or gifts of material goods) and dharma almsgiving (the almsgiving of the Buddha-truth including preaching and explanation), even sacrifice themselves for saving other beings, in order to destroy the mind of greed, and corresponding with all pure and bright categories earlier.
SECOND, Prohibiting Defamation Commandment: for the beginner of cultivating pure land doctrine should keep the first five of Ten Commandments (against killing, stealing, adultery, lying, and intoxication liquors) very strictly. In order to deliver all beings and ask them to keep the pure commandment for rebirth in Pure Land, the practitioners should make themselves serve as example to others, give heed to their behavior and demeanor, otherwise might cause satirizing of beginners and forfeit the cause of beings who want to beseech rebirth in Pure Land. The practitioners should chant NOMO AMITABHA with all their heart in order to destroy all the worries of greed and hatred whenever walking, standing, sitting, and lying in every state, then the practitioners will satisfy their wish of superior order of birth in the Pure Land.
THIRD, Hatred Commandment: when the practitioners of Pure Land are not in agreement with what they want for all kinds of things in daily life, they should handle with the way of meekly accepting humiliations, readjust and submit our thought of impulse with the word “Tolerance”.
Fourth, Loose Commandment: ……. If you let the five desires (arising from the objects of the five senses, things seen, heard, smelt, tasted, and touched. Or the five desires of wealth, sex, food-and-drink, fame, and sleep) run wild, and any behavior against the pure commandment, these will become the bad karma, also the cause of blocking you for beseeching for rebirth in Pure Land.
Fifth, Dispersal Commandment: the practitioners of Pure Land should always control the dispersal mind, cut off the bad cause, purify the six sense-organs, and chant NAMO AMITABHA with all your mind and all your life …….
Sixth, Ignorance Commandment: the practitioners of Pure Land should always destroy the illusion, delusion, and doubt in the mind with the wisdom of entering experientially truth …….
Seventh, Arrogance Commandment: the practitioners of Pure Land shouldn’t have the thought of arrogance in the mind because of the higher practical ability, forensic skill, wisdom, and exposition …….
Eighth, Coverture Commandment: if the practitioners of Pure Land have any behavior of harming the pure land cultivation, should always confess the crime or problem in front of the Buddha or Bodhisattva and do not offend again …….
Ninth, Non-benefit Commandment: the practitioners of Pure Land should leave argument, seeking profit, frivolities ……and so on, because this kind of vulgar business will delude the mind and block the idea of rebirth in Pure Land.
Tenth, No attachment Commandment: the purpose for the practitioners of Pure Land is to seek for deliverance and get the wisdom of Prajna, then try their best to deliver all beings in all directions of the universes. So attaching the fame, wealth, becoming beings in heaven, and becoming human being again is not the purpose of the practitioners of Pure Land.
THE LIVELIHOOD OF PURE LAND PRACTITIONERS
Song dynasty of China, Pure Land transcripts of Long Shu sayings: [For the Pure Land practitioners who have family and business or career, should cultivate doctrine with this kind of attitude:
FOR those who are in student post, should study hard for knowledge, obey parents, and be kind to brothers.
FOR those who hold an official post, should practice kindness to the people and associate with the virtuous and benefit public utility in order to cultivate goodness in the field of blessedness. And devote their merits to West Pure Land …….
FOR those who hold a wealth post, should help with food, necessities or money to the poor, famine victims according to situation …….
FOR those who are slow-witted or in straitened circumstances, do not blame God and others, should seek for repentance and forgiveness in front of Buddha or budhisattvas, and always chant NAMO AMITABHA in order to get rid of the hindrance of past karma, and increase blessed virtues, all good deeds, or the nutriment of blessedness …….
FOR those who are in business of agriculture, trade, and industry ……. should always remember do not have the illegal behavior or improper demand. And always chanting NAMO AMITABHA, having the mind of seeking for repentance and forgiveness, starting vows for seeking after the good …….. and also starting a vow in front of Buddha “Wish when my life ends, I could be in West Pure Land, behold the Buddha when the lotus blossom, and enter experientially the law of no-birth, then I will deliver first the beings who were killed by me in past life, second I will deliver the beings who were my relatives, friends, and enemies in former existences, and also all the beings who are either affinitive or non-affinitive with me.” …….
FOR those who are in business of fishing, hunting, butchering, cooking, and running restaurant, should always examine oneself strongly that “all the animals no matter in the sea, sky, and ground, are all like the human being, are life form with consciousness. If I kill them I will make numberless karma of enmity.” Changing job is the best way, otherwise should cut down the amount of killing, do not kill them for bodily desires, remember the animals in the sea such as spiral shellfishes, eels, and turtles are hard to kill, they will die with crying pitifully for quite a long time ……. (If we have to kill animals for making living or job, during the time we doing that, we should always chant NAMO AMITABHA for the animals we kill, and wish them could be in good paths in their next life.)
FOR those who are in business of prostitute or relating work, should always realize and examine themselves that the job or work of immoral conduct, obscene talk, porno, violating female, violating plays ……. are the main cause of blocking rebirth in Pure Land …….]
RIGHT EFFORT RIGHT REMEMBRANCE AND RIGHT MEDITATION
Right effort for the Chan or Zen practitioners
Shakyamuni Buddha once told his followers: {When the Vipasyin Buddha was still on his way to buddhahood, in one of his past life, he was sitting on mats of grass, with cross-legged and soles upward under the Bodhidruma (the wisdom-tree), contemplate the twelve nidanas (twelve links in the chain of existence) day and night, neither sleep nor rest …….}. There was another time, the Boddha told his followers: {If you want to deliver yourselves from birth and death, you should be zealous courageously day and night in contemplating meditation thoughts of truth (Chan) opportunely, also should calm your mind within …….}
WHAT is Chan or Zen? The meaning of Chan, in fine, “is wisdom of becoming enlightened”. The contemplating opportunely means contemplating the truth of calm thought with the opportune wisdom. And all the truth that are from contemplating, observing, and choice with the mind of consciousnesss, we could call them “opportune wisdom”.
HOW TO CULTIVATE THE RIGHT EFFORT
Like Shakyamuni Buddha used to praise Nanda bhiksu: {that good sons (one of the Buddha’s terms of address to his disciples like we say “gentle” today), the Nanda bhiksu, after he comprehends experientially the twelve nidanas (links are “the concatenation of cause and effect in the whole range of existence”), he closes his senses as doors (through which illusion enters), enjoys the drink and food the right way (drink and food these two things on which sentient beings depend, desire for them is one of the three passions, offerings of them are one of the five forms of offerings), cultivates himself in right Buddhist way with right effort, accomplish the correct knowledge (samyagjnana), purifies himself completely, and builds up the pure living (the discipline of celibacy which ensure rebirth in the Brahmaloka, or in the realms beyond form) with all his life.}
RIGHT REMEMBRANCE FOR CHAN PRACTITIONERS
The remembrance is generated in mind, when the mind does not leave the right path, and only remember the “with form” (from the point of view of phenomena) and “without form” (from the point of view of void), therefore is called the right remembrance. When we have the right remembrance, then will correspond with the Bodhi, the mind will make no mistakes.
RIGHT MEDITATION FOR CHAN PRACTITIONERS
When we have the right view and understand the reality of twelve links of dependent origination, then we will start by ourselves automatically, guard our senses as doors (through which illusion enters), tranquilize our thoughts and mind, control our food and drink, comprehend spiritual reality with right effort all day and night. [Contemplating the five skandhas(the five fundamental conditions of passions and delusions), no “I” and no “Mine” (no subject and object)(I and Its possessions), all these are the projections of our dreams. Understanding the differences of appearance of five skandhas, and contemplating the unreal appearances of five skandhas with right remembrance, purifying the hindrances of five skandhas, cultivating the pure living with all our heart. Getting rid of the lust for sleep when in cultivating. Do not doubt the law of correct Buddhist doctrine. Trying to leave all the delusive bondage of desire to its environment in order to get the correct remembrance and knowledge, then we will enter the right meditation.
ENTER EXPERIENTIALLY THE TRUTH OF WITHOUT FORM AND WITH FORM THROUGH PRACTICE
For the Chan practitioners, if there is no Prajna wisdom (right view and understanding) as guide, no matter how much improvement we have gotten in cultivating meditation, this is just the illusion of consciousness, eventually we will go to the wrong way. Also if there is no practice or cultivation in performing the proper duties, the meaning of teachings, and meditation, no matter how much result we have gotten in research, hearing the doctrine, and recognizing, eventually we will be in the level of “take a wait-and-see attitude”, “I know”, “I understand”, and “but I can’t do it” forever.
UNDERSTANDING OUR NATURAL CAPACITY
We are the ordinary people, the only difference between us and the others, who don’t know or never heard of Buddhist doctrine, is that we accumulate a little bit karma of blessedness in our past numberless lives, and these karma of blessedness lead us to the Buddhist world.
BUT if we want to deliver ourselves from the ocean of birth and death (rebirth and redeath) in this life, is almost a hundred percent impossible. Because we need several lives even several hundred lives to complete the procedures we mentioned above. And remember nobody knows what will be the next life, not always human being, maybe some kind of animal, ghost, or even in hell, supposed we go to heaven, eventually we still have to reenter this circle of the transmigration.
PRACTICE IN PROPER ORDER
For the Chan practitioners, right view, right understanding, right thoughts, destroying desires, and cultivating the pure living is the foundation of the deliverance. Same reason for the Pure Land practitioners, right view, right understand, right thoughts, destroying desires, cultivating the pure living, and chanting Amitabha with pure thought is the foundation of beseeching rebirth in West Pure Land.
WHEN we read the Buddhist scriptures, we should understand that for a budhisattva practitioner, Right View, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right conduct, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Remembrance, Right Meditation, Destroying desires, Destroying worries, Cultivating pure living, and Purifying the senses in the daily life are just a basic practice, a very basic practice. When we have this kind of practice for certain time, then when we are in the environment of quality of sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, and thought, our mind won’t be tangled, illusive, and polluted.
WHEN we understand the Buddhism, the law preached by the Buddha, or the principles underlying these teachings, and purify our mind for quite a long time, we will discover the side of “nothing exciting” and “direct honest” of the Buddhism, we will also discover the limitless treasure of the true, the good, and the beautiful in human being’s mind nature. Then we will start out our first step of cultivating Buddhist doctrine that is lower our desire and cut off our worries, and try to understand and perceive “the time of depending arising also is the time of cultivating” in our daily life and the environment of depending arising.
THE GOAL OF PURE LAND PRACTITIONERS
The Pure Land practitioners although are doing their level best for delivering from the circle of transmigration and becoming Buddha, but the first step or first goal for the Pure Land practitioners is to beseech rebirth in Pure Land.
WHEN the Pure Land practitioners start out a decision of leaving this Saha (refer to http://maxpages.com/drfu1) world of impermanence, then all their thinking, thoughts, and actions are for the purpose of perceiving the Pure Land truth, the deeds which lead to birth in the pure land, and devoting their merits to the Pure Land. In this present life, repeating (chanting) the name of Amitabha,, exhorting others to chanting Amitabha, and proclaiming the Pure Land truth widely, eventually they will rebirth in the West Pure Land because of the great vows of Amitabha’s great mercy.
PURE LAND PRACTITIONERS’S RIGHT VIEW RIGHT THOUGHT
BASIC SUPPLIES FOR BESEECHING FOR REBIRTH IN PURE LAND
We should have some ideas about the supplies for beseeching for rebirth in Pure Land according to the “Amitabha Sutra”, such as:
THE practitioners must believe in the utmost joy world just like Shakaymuni Buddha said: {Passing from here through hundreds of thousands of millions of Buddha-lands to the West, there is a land called Ultimate Bliss.}
THE practitioners must start out vows “I beseech for rebirth in the West Pure Land”, must hold and chant the holy name of Amitabha with one heart unconfused in daily life.
WHEN the practitioners approach the end of life, their heart must be without inversion. In the moment, before the practitioners will appear Amitabha and all the Assembly of Holy Ones, the practitioners must beseech for rebirth in West Pure Land, then almost at the same time the practitioners will be reborn in West Pure Land.
FOR the Pure Land practitioners, these ideas “hold and chant the holy name of amitabha with one heart unconfused in daily life” and “approach the end of life, their must be without inversion” are the pivot of the door of opening West Pure Land (REMEMBER THIS IS DOUBLY IMPORTANT). “One heart unconfused” is the result of abstract meditation with chanting Amitabha Buddha, also is the result of supplies of right thought, also is the result of keeping Amitbha Buddha in mind, and the result of chanting Amitabha Buddha to the level of pure thought continuously (only the thought of Amitabha and nothing else), that is the level Surangama Sutra always emphasizes.
BEFORE talking about the right view and right thought for the Pure Land practitioners, let’s have some idea of Pure Land arising of phenomenon.
THERE MUST BE ANOTHER HIGHER LIFE FORM EXIST IN COSMOS
In the Amitabha Sutra mentioned: {hundreds of thousands of millions of Buddha-lands}, from the scientific knowledge of outer space point of view, we may say that the “hundreds of thousands of millions of Buddha-lands” is those numberless world in cosmos far far away from the Earth, or the numberless galaxies of material cosmos, or the non-material cosmos of numberless dimensions that we know or we don’t know yet.
THE scientific knowledge of outer space approved that there are numberless Milky Way systems (the Galaxy) and solar systems in limitless cosmos. And the surroundings or the environments of these solar systems have the possible conditions of creating all kinds of life form including the life form of higher wisdom like human being in the Earth.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SAHA AND PURE LAND WORLD IN RETRIBUTION
Saha world is a impure world of projection of beings’s all kinds of good and bad karma in the Earth. And the West Pure Land is the pure world of projection of Amitabha Buddha’s vow and the pure karma of numberless Pure Land practitioners.
THERE are numberless pure world and impure world in cosmos. So call “birds of a feather flock together” or “things of a kind come together”, brightness always corresponds with brightness, and the darkness always corresponds with darkness. The beings in Saha world, are always greedy, hated, and ignorant, therefore create all kinds of collective good and bad karma, forever are in the circle of transmigration. The beings in West Pure Land always are in the deep meditation, no greed, hatred, and ignorance, therefore create only pure collective karma, and only one final destination for all the beings of West Pure Land is to get nirvana.
IF we could understand the point of “things of a kind come together”, we should try our level best to get the collective pure karma and cause of Pure Land, then we will have chance to correspond with the retribution of “Pure and Glory” of the Pure Land.
PURE LAND PRACTITIONERS BESEECH FOR REBIRTH IN PURE LAND WITH PURE KARMA
The West Pure Land is a pure Buddhist land of happiness of “calmness, extinction, deliverance”, corresponds with the nirvana of right view of Eightfold Noble Path, therefore the Pure Land practitioners should have the right view of “calmness, extinction, and deliverance”. Whenever and wherever chanting Amitabha, should be with the mind of beseeching for calmness, extinction, and deliverance. Just like the Sukhavativyuha Sutra says:{the beings come from ten directions all have pure mind free from doubt or defilement}. And finally devoting all the merits to the West Pure Land, then can be corresponding with the pure retribution of calmness, extinction, and deliverance of Utmost Joy World (West Pure Land).
THE RULE OF CAUSE AND EFFECT (RETRIBUTION)
All the dimensions, appearances, phenomena, beings, species ……. and so on, are always affected and decided by the law of “cause and effect” (every cause has its effect, as every effect arises from a cause), the impure world we live in now is the projection “cause and effect” of our collective good and bad karma ever since the time beginningless. And the Utmost Joy World (West Pure Land) is the projection of Amitabha Buddha’s great mercy vow and Amitabha Buddha’s limitless time’s cultivation.
WHEN we make causes of greed, hatred, and ignorance, then we will have effect of living in this impure world for more lives. And if we make causes of pure karma which correspond with the great mercy vow of Amitabha Buddha, and start out a vow of beseeching for rebirth in West Pure Land, then Amitabha Buddha will lead us to the West Pure Land without any doubt.
THE REAL BODHI PRACTITIONER
From the Hua-Yen Sutra standpoint of view, we will have an idea about the process of cultivation for all the great bodhisattva. All bodhisattvas, during the deep meditation, discover the real natural capacity of human beings with their eyes of wisdom, then expound the doctrine fittingly and properly. All great bodhisattvas, during the deep meditation, receive limitless treasure of wisdom. All highest bodhisattvas, during the deep meditation, complete the ideal of adorning and glorying the pure land, and rescue all being widely, then will be on their way to the Buddha-hood without any hindrance.
THE limitless wisdom of brightness of all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are come out gradually during the right meditation of cultivating Chan (Zen). Later on we will talk about the great vow of limitless brightness of Amitabha.
THE GREAT VOW OF LIMITLESS BRIGHTNESS OF AMITABHA BUDDHA:
THE FINAL GOAL OF BUDDHIST PRACTITIONERS
When Amitabha Buddha was in the causal ground (the state of practising the Buddha-religion which leads to the resulting Buddhahood) said: {When I become Buddha, if my light of wisdom is limited in such a way that it is bound by time and space, and cannot illuminate limitless Buddha’s worlds, then may I not attain enlightenment.}
FROM the point of view of cultivating Buddhist doctrine of Hua Yen Sutra, the twelfth vow of Amitabha Buddha, that is the vow of limitless brightness, is the utmost and most wholly complete vow of Amitabha Buddha’s forty-eight great mercy vows. And also is the final goal for the Mahayana Bodhisattva practitioners. Any Mahayana Buddhist practitioners, no matter which doctrine they chose for starting out, but the final goal for their cultivation is to beseech for the completely revealing and realizing of brightness of supreme Buddha-nature.
CHANTING AMITABHA WILL CORRESPOND WITH THE GREAT VOW OF BRIGHTNESS
When Amitabha Buddha wholly complete the forty-eight mercy vows of becoming Buddha, also is the time of Amitabha Buddha’s Pure Land of benefiting numberless beings, become real. When Amitabha Buddha shows the light of wisdom limitless and entered everywhere without hindrance, also is the time of all beings receiving the Buddha Light in universes. And when Amitabha Buddha becoming Buddha, also is the time that the name of Amitabha has the infinite power of welcoming and leading all beings to the West Pure Land.
WHEN the being of ten directions in universes, hear the name of Amitabha and under the control of the power of Amitabha’s great mercy vows, automatically build up the most believing mind (which receives without doubting) to the Amitabha Buddha’s great mercy vows. Then holding and chanting the name of Amitabha Buddha that has limitlessly meritorious virtue and power, and because of that, all beings will receive the Buddha aid. When chanting the name of Amitabha Buddha, the beings will reveal the wisdom from previous existences, then will start out a decision of leaving this Saha world (the ocean of birth and death), and start out the trust and vow for beseeching for rebirth in the West Pure Land (enjoying the happiness of deliverance). When chanting the name of Amitabha Buddha always with all our heart, then we will turn our mind towards the Buddha aid of the great mercy vows.
WHEN we are holding and chanting the name of Amitabha Buddha, we must have this kind of believing thought in our mind, “When we are chanting the name of Amitabha Buddha with the thought in our mind that is to leave the suffering ocean of Saha World, and chanting the name of Amitabha Buddha with the every thought of [to the death]”. Then we will get into the welcome vow of great brightness and mercy of Amitabha Buddha, then we will build the function of devoting our merits to others deeply, then we will accomplish the samadhi in which the individual whole-heartedly thinks of the appearance of the Buddha, or repeats the Buddha’s name. then we will be on our way to the West Pure Land with every thought.
POWER OF MERITORIOUS VIRTUE OF THE NAME OF AMITABHA BUDDHA
The reason for the holy name of Amitabha Buddha is so powerful beyond thoughts and words is that the word of “Amitabha” comes from Amitabha Buddha spent numberless kalpa (a fabulous period of time) on cultivating and apprehending the truth of limitless great mercy vows and actions.
THE HUA-YEN SUTRA
The clearest explanation for the cultivating process of Buddha’s great mercy vows and actions should be in Hua-Yen Sutra. In Hua-Yen Sutra, we will learn the way of cultivating of completing Buddha-hood and the mercy vows of delivering beings. What kind of vow we start out, what kind of doctrine we cultivate, and what kind of cause we make, then it will have the certain kind of effect which corresponds with the cause we make. This is the law of “cause and effect”, (every cause has its effect, as every effect arises from a cause), and no beings or things can escape from the law.
CHAN (ZEN) OF MAHAYANA AND HINAYANA
We will get the idea from the Hua-Yen Sutra about this question. The Hinayana practitioners after starting out for enlightenment, cultivating the deliverance with leaving desire and destroying worries directly. And the Mahayana practitioners after starting out for bodhi, use the great mercy vows and actions as guide to deliver other beings and wish all the being will get to the Buddha-hood at the same time.
THE FORTY-EIGHT VOWS
When Amitabha was in the ascetic life of cultivating Buddhist doctrine in a previous existence, made his great mercy forty-eight vows and actions in front of the Lokesvararaja Buddha. At the same time making the forty-eight vows and actions as a frame of reaching supreme perfect bodhi (becoming Buddha), a frame of complete way of cultivating Buddhist doctrine. The vows which relate to the cultivation of Pure Land doctrine:
IN forty-eight vows, talking about the questions of cultivation and retribution of devas in Pure Land are number one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, fifteen, sixteen, twenty-one, thirty-eight, and thirty-nine.
IN forty-eight vows, talking about the questions of cultivation and retribution of Hinayana disciples in Pure Land is number fourteen.
IN forty-eight vows, talking about the questions of cultivation and retribution of bodhisattvas in Pure Land are number twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty nine, forty, and forty-six.
IN forty-eight vows, talking about the questions of cultivation and retribution of beings in the worlds of ten directions who beseech for rebirth in Pure Land are number eighteen, nineteen, and twenty.
IN forty-eight vows, talking about the questions of vows for beseeching for rebirth in Pure Land of bodhisattvas in the worlds of ten directions is number twenty-two.
IN forty-eight vows, talking about the questions of all Buddhas praising the name of Buddha and the benefits of beings in the worlds of ten directions hearing the name of Buddha are number seventeen, thirty-four, thirty-five, and forty-eight.
IN forty-eight vows, talking about the questions of cultivation and benefit of bodhisattvas in the worlds of ten directions hearing the name of Buddha are thirty-six, forty-one, forty-two, forty-four, forty-five, forty-seven, and forty-eight.
IN forty-eight vows, talking about the questions of cultivation and benefit of bodhisattvas in the other world smelling doctrine is number thirty-two.
IN forty-eight vows, talking about the questions of mutual containing and depending of the beings and surroundings in the West Pure Land are number twenty-seven, twenty-eight, thirty-one, thirty-two, and forty.
IN forty-eight vows, talking about the questions of Amitabha’s light, wisdom, and age, and the beings who receiving the Buddha’s light are number twelve, thirty, and thirty-three.
THE HUA-YEN SUTRA
The Hua-Yen Sutra is one of the utmost and most thorough Mahayana sutras that leads us to putting in practice of great mercy of Buddhas and bodhisattvas. The content and principle of Hua-Yen Sutra is abstruse, mysterious, profound and limitless, and very hard to be understood and accepted by the beginners. If we don’t have the background or foundation of Mahayana and Hinayana doctrines, and the three systems of Buddhist doctrine, we still cannot comprehend the whole picture even we read it very carefully.
Besides that, the numberless experiential level of limitlessly deep meditation of the process which is for completing the Buddha-hood and the level of cultivation of bodhisattvas cannot be reckoned and conjectured by the ordinary people like us who do not have any real cultivation and entering experientially, do not have any mercy bodhi mind.
IF we are lucky enough, can get a little bit non-worldly wisdom, understand, perceive, and practice a little bit of Pure Land’s doctrine as the Hua-Yen Sutra indicated, from the law of “cause and effect” standpoint of view, this all because of cultivating the Buddhist doctrine in our previous existences.
MAHAYANA PURE LAND DOCTRINE
When we try to understand the Amitabha Pure Land from Hua-Yen Sutra standpoint of view, we should apprehend this way, that there are numberless pure lands in cosmos, and every pure land has its different dimension of cause. For example, the Amitabha Pure Land is formed (built) by the power of vows of Amitabha Buddha and the collective pure karma of Pure Land practitioners. The West Pure Land (Utmost Joy World) is just a representation of pure land among numberless pure land in cosmos.
WE might say that Amitabha Pure Land doctrine is a very special, easy, and safe path that can access to all pure lands in cosmos. And this is a very special question in depth and width, if we want to discover how deep, profound, and abstruse about the Amitabha Pure Land doctrine, we have to read almost all the doctrines of Mahayana and Hinayana first, and understand or perceive the experiential meditation of great mercy vows of Buddha and bodhisattvas. Because the Mahayana Pure Land doctrine is the most important and final cultivating result for the process of cultivating Buddha-hood of all the bodhisattva practitioners.
IF we want to know more about the Mahayana Buddhist doctrine, Mahayana Pure Lande doctrine, levels of cultivating Buddha-hood of Mahayana bodhisattvas, and process of building pure lands, the Hua-Yen Sutra is a very important reference.
LIGHT-EMITTING (SENDING OUT AN ILLUMINATING RAY)
Like the Hua-Yen Sutra says: [In numberless experiential wisdom level of Buddha, there is wisdom of light-energy, that is built up by the cause of pure karma of pure land practitioners in previous existences who have very deep affinity with Buddha. When the cause of pure karma of pure land practitioners is reaching the mature level, Buddha will give the pure land practitioners this kind of power of light-emitting and lead them to the pure world during the time that pure land practitioners are approaching the end.
LECTURE FOR THE DYING BEINGS
When beings are dying, if we can lecture them with Pure Land doctrine as an expedient method, exhort them to start chanting Amitabha, make them love, respect, and believe in Amitabha, let them chanting Amitabha with the other practitioners, then their mind will follow the peaceful holy name of Amitabha and be on their way the Amitabha Pure Land, or make good cause of cultivating Pure Land doctrine in their future lives.
BUDDHA’S CONFERMENT
According to Hua-Yen Sutra, only the beings who follow Buddha in cultivating doctrine in previous existences and have the sharpest endowment with very good deeds or roots, when their cultivation are reaching the mature level, then they will correspond with the bright and pure power of meditation and wisdom of Buddha.
MAGNETIC FIELD AND BUDDHA’S LIGHT
Buddha and bodhisattvas turn their original ordinary bodies, who have all kinds of dark, selfish, greedy, hateful, and complicated magnetic waves surrounding their bodies, into high-minded, pure, and simple magnetic waves, and this kind of waves have higher spiritual frequency, surpassing the beings of three realms (Trailokya) in another inconceivable dimension. And this pure purple Buddha’s light will produce limitless function of guided launching, it will reach limitless outer space through different levels or dimensions, and will correspond with the magnetic waves that are the projections of minds of the beings whose affinities is reaching the mature level with Buddha or bodhisattvas.
BUDDHA’S ACTION AND VOW
The actions of all Buddhas, in fine, are charity or almsgiving (including the bestowing of the truth on others), moral or conduct or taking precepts, patience (especially bearing insult and distress without resentment), vigor or devotion or fortitude, contemplation or meditation, and supreme wisdom (the power to discern reality or truth). – the six paramitas. And the vows of all Buddhas are the mercy vow of becoming Buddha that is above to seek bodhi, below to save all (transform all beings).
TO HEAR TO THINK AND TO CULTIVATE
The ordinary beings like us, although we have learned the Mahayana and Hinayana doctrines and wish to get deliverance some day. But as long as we have not reached or entered experientially the Buddhism, any Buddhism we know, understand, and perceive is not the real Buddhism that is to perceive with wisdom of non-discriminating, but just is regular understand from the meaning of hearing Buddhist scriptures. And this kind of understanding always carry our subjective prejudice, this is not the real Buddhism but Buddhism-alike.
FOR today’s Buddhist or Buddhism researcher, no matter how much they know about Buddhism, is still in the level of “just hear but not to think”, in the level of “worldly philosophical research”, because they do not have the foundation of power of meditation.
FROM the cultivating Mahayana Pure Land doctrine standpoint of view, the Amitabha Buddha’s forty-eight vows is to lead us to the field of cultivating Buddhism, to show us the fruits of bodhisattvas’s cultivating action in six paramitas, to enlighten us to learn the mercy vow of limitless bodhi of bodhisattvas, and to devote our bodhi mind of great action and vow to Pure Land, then we will get the supplies of pure karma of the highest stages in the Pure Land.
TODAY’S Pure Land practitioners do not understand enough the attainment of Amitabha’s brightness and the cause of formation of Amitabha Pure Land, do not study the forty-eight great mercy vows of Amitabha enough, therefore when they are chanting the name of Amitabha always without the mind or thought of great mercy vow.
IF we are chanting the name of Amitabha Buddha, at the same time cannot give up our impermanent appearance, cannot chant with the mind or thought of great mercy vow, cannot turn around our power of karma and the force of habit (the uprising or recurrence of thoughts and passions, the remaining influence of illusion), cannot sever the gravitation of the earth (the omnipresent cause of karma), cannot make our mind towards the West Pure Land, then will be doubly hard to correspond with the retribution of West Pure Land (beseeching for rebirth in the Utmost Joy World).
PURE LAND IN SAHA WORLD
The Mahaparinirvana Sutra says: {This world has been experiencing many times of dimensions of the circle of four kalpas (The Viyarta kalpa, consisting of twenty small kalpas during which worlds and the beings on them are formed. The Vivarta-siddha kalpa, kalpa of abiding, or existence, sun and moon rise, sexes are differentiated, heroes arise, four castes are formed, social life evolves. The Samvarta kalpa, that of destruction, consisting of sixty-four small kalpas when fire, water, and wind destroy everything except the fourth Dhyana. And The Samvarta-siddha kalpa, that of annihilation.). Numberless kalpas ago, there was a pure land in this world because of the projection of the causes of good karmas of beings and the cause of responsive incarnation in accordance with the nature or needs of different beings for one of the Buddhas. That pure land was just like the Western Utmost Joy World, limitless, glorious, and pure (but difference in nature). And there were so many bodhisattva practitioners came to this world to respond the collective karma, above to seek bodhi, below to transform all beings. Therefore, made the world plentiful, sumptuous, and fruitful results in every field. The Buddha has numberless age because of the responses to pure karma of beings there, after numberless kalpas, when the pure cause of responsive incarnation in accordance with the nature of beings are reaching the end, then the Buddha entering into nirvana, but the Buddhist doctrines still were stayed in this world for quite a long time.}
EVER since time beginningless every Buddha forms numberless good and bad causes before and after cultivating of Buddha-hood. Also ever since time beginningless numberless beings who have cause with Buddha, in this vast wheel of transmigration, making all kinds of good and bad karma never stop, follow the karmas, discover the final destination of karmas, and get rebirth for the karmas in these vast ten directions of pure and pollute worlds.
THE Buddhas always are responding to the teaching and converting of all kinds of beings who have cause with Buddhas, then are back and forth in these ten direction worlds. Therefore, the Saha world is just one of the places that Shakyamuni Buddha responding to those who have the cause with Shakyamuni Buddha, showing Buddha’s teaching and converting, and completing the cause. Also there are numberless great beings who have the cause with Shakyamuni Buddha, live in pure lands that are from the projection of collective karmas of pure mind beings, are expecting another level of teaching and converting from Shakyamuni Buddha.
PURE LAND OF SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA
The Mahaparinirvana Sutra says: {All bodhisattva practitioners, cultivating the glorious and pure actions of ten kinds of benefiting self and others, therefore when becoming Buddha, will accomplish the retribution of glorious and pure, and will never become Buddha in any impure world that is not responding with the pure karma and action. Gentlemen! When you see Buddhas in impure worlds and think that many Buddhas become Buddha in impure worlds, this is wrong. You should have this kind of understanding that all these mountains, rocks, thorns, ……. evils, illiberality, and despicable things in the surroundings of the Saha World are the collective projections of being’s minds that are illiberal and despicable.
All Buddhas have gotten limitless pure mind already, how can they get the retribution of impure karma like the ordinary beings? All the beings when listening to Buddha’s preaching in any assembly for worship or preaching, should have this kind of awareness that although all beings cannot see my land of reward of becoming Buddha because of the obstacle by bad karmas, but I the Shakaymuni Buddha now really come to this impure world, teach and save all beings because of responding to the collective karma of the beings in this world.
But if you think this way that the Sun and Moon only appear in this world, and cannot be seen in other worlds, this is terribly wrong. When looking at it this way, just like bodhisattva before the first stage bodhisattva, who doesn’t enter experientially the pure mind, during the preaching, mentions that the Shakaymuni Buddha’s world is impure, and the other Buddha’s worlds are pure. Gentlemen! Let me tell you now, my glorious and pure appearance of retribution of becoming Buddha appear in another kind of pure world that is the projections of all pure beings.
Passing from Saha World through as thirty-two the sands of Ganges, numberless and limitless Buddha-lands to the West, there is a land called the “Unexcelled Land”. Why is that world called “Unexcelled Land”? It because that all beings in that world are under the teaching and converting of Shakyamuni Buddha, and the slow influence and transforming of great virtue of bodhisattvas, turn towards the deliverance with all their heart, and during the process of cultivation, all have gotten a pure mind free from doubt or defilement and entered experientially the truth of equal attitude (mind) towards all beings. And because of responding to the “equal mind” of beings, it makes all glorious things in that world are equal and no difference, that is why called “Unexcelled Land”. The Unexcelled Land is glorious and pure just like the West Utmost Joy World and the East Full Moon World. My glorious and pure “reward body” appears in Unexcelled Land, teaches and convert the beings who are profound in virtue and wisdom, with mind of Mahayana. The reason I appear in the Saha World, is because the transformative cause of different level of the beings in this world is reaching the mature time with me, therefore I appear in this planet, preach the doctrine for and benefit all beings. I am not the only Buddha who appears in Saha World preaches the doctrine for beings in Saha World, there were many Buddhas when cultivating the way of bodhisattva in the past, if they had the co-operating cause with Saha World, they would show up here, the only difference is that the cause between the Buddhas and the beings sometimes is deep, sometimes is shallow.
When reaching a certain level of saving the beings (give release from the wheel of transmigration) and completing the past cause between a honoured Buddha and the beings in certain world, naturally when the collective karma of all beings are reaching the mature time for this reason, the honoured Buddha will appear in certain world, becoming Buddha, and will give release from the wheel of transmigration for all beings wildly.
Maitreya bodhisattva was starting a vow of appearing in Saha World and saving the beings who have deep cause or affinity with him, when the Saha World becoming pure land because of the responding to the good karma of all beings in that world. Therefore when Maitreya bodhisattva becoming Buddha, Maitreya bodhisattva will respond to the great mercy vow of himself, appears in this Saha World, accomplish the way of Buddha, benefit, guide, and release the beings.}
PURE MIND AND PURE LAND
The Vimalakirti-nirdesa Sutra says: {Buddha says:[If bodhisattva would like to get pure land, should purify their mind, when their mind are purified, then the land of Buddha is pure.] Sariputra has heard the words and asks Buddha for more for all others:[If the mind of bodhisattva is pure then the land of Buddha is pure, when our world’s most venerable was in bodhisattva position, the mind was so pure, but how come the land of Buddha, the Saha World, is so impure?] Buddha knows the doubt of everybody, asks a question in reply:[What do you think? Could it be true that the Sun and Moon are impure, then the blinds cannot see them?] Sariputra replies:[No, World’s Most Venerable, is the blinds themselves cannot see them (the Sun and Moon), not the Sun and Moon’s fault.] Buddha says:[Sariputra, same reason we could understand that impurely collective karma of beings respond the impure land, that’s why beings cannot see the glorious and pure reward land of Buddha that is from completing the virtue and wisdom. Sariputra, if beings can accomplish the numberless pure karma, when the pure karma reaching the mature moment, then will respond with the cause of great mercy vow of Buddha, see the glorious and pure world of Buddha naturally.] In this moment a Brahma explains for everybody:[Sariputra, the impure Saha world is the projection of impure karma of beings, the appearance appears according to the mind, the changing of appearance follows the changing of mind, if the original nature of mind of beings is changed, then should perceive that impure land responds to impure mind, not impure land itself makes the land impure. How? Take me as an example, I have been cultivating the pure living for many kalpas, therefore I don’t have to leave the Saha World, but in this present moment I see the glorious and pure land of Shakyamuni Buddha is just like the Palace of Isvaradeva (a title of Siva, king of the devas),] Sariputra asks a question in reply:[But we all see very clearly this world is filled up with knolls, holes, thorns, sands, stones, mountains ……. All kinds of impure appearance, how can you say do not leave the reality of Saha World and still can see the pure land of the Buddha just like the Palace of Isvaradeva?] the Brahma replies:[Because the mind of beings are filled up with haughtiness impudicity, greed, fame, wealth ……. and so on that respond with the retribution of impure karma of Kamadhatu (the realms of desire for food, sleep, and sex, consisting of souls in purgatory, hungry spirits, animals, asuras, men, and the six heavens of desire), responding to the collective karma of beings, of course you can only see the holes, thorns ……. all the impure appearance. If beings do not follow the Buddha’s preaching “Purify the mind with the emptiness of Prajna wisdom”, the wisdom of non-worldly cannot be built, then cannot turn the impure karma into pure karma in present life, cannot perceive and see the truth of mind making the appearance of pure and impure world. Sariputra a bodhisattva practitioners, during the process of cultivating the way of bodhisattva, treating, saving, and transforming all beings with the mind of equal attitude. And cultivating the enlightened mind and wisdom of emptiness with the deeply pure nature of mind, then will respond to the power of Buddha, can see the glorious and pure Buddha land of Shakyamuni Buddha without leaving the Saha World.]
At this moment, in order to remove everybody’s doubts, Buddha press the ground with his feet and fingers, suddenly the impure worlds turn into glorious and pure world with numberless jewels. It is just like named “numberless virtue precious glorious pure land” taught and converted by a honoured glorious Buddha. At the present time, everybody in the assembly, are receiving the Buddha aid, seeing themselves sitting on a lotus decorated with jewels, and feeling so exclaimed in surprise. In order to remove the doubt, Buddha tells Sariputra:[The disciples of Buddha should have this kind of contemplation, “the original appearance of things are not impure, the pure and impure mind makes the appearance pure and impure.” Beings would like to see the pure world, should rely on the power of Buddha (Buddha aid) and the own power, good roots, and the maturation of cause, then can see the pure land of Buddha.] Sariputra reply with respect:[Everybody’s cause of pure karma is mature now, receiving Buddha aid, seeing the land of reward of World Honor One becoming Buddha, that is glorious and pure, the reality of the pure land manifests before everybody, the doubts are already removed.]
Finally Buddha tells Sariputra:[The mind of beings in Saha World are impure, I appear in this impure world to teach and convert the beings because of responding to the collective karma of the beings who have the cause or affinity with me. In the future if the beings accomplish wisdom-eye, respond to the pure karma, then in the cause of responding with the pure power of Buddha, will see my pure land of becoming Buddha that is glorious and pure.] This is just like the devas in heaven, during the meal time, all the foods and tools for meals are the same, but the virtues of devas are different, either deep or shallow, therefore they will see “the meal are different”. [If the level of purity of being’s mind can respond with the cause of pure land, when the cause and action of pure karma are mature, will see the pure world of teaching and converting of Buddha, understand and perceive the truth of pure or impure world being from the mind.] ……. After benefiting the beings because of the appearance of the pure world, Buddha takes back the supernatural power, instantly the pure land is disappeared, all beings again live in Saha World that is filled up with greed, desire, sin, and evil.}
HOW TO MAKE “PURE LAND FROM PURE MIND” COME TRUE?
Vimalakirti-nirdesa Sutra says: {Bodhisattva purify their mind and benefit beings with causes and actions of numberless pure karma of straightforward or blunt, a mind profoundly engrossed, the mind of bodhi, almsgiving, keeping the rules or commandments, patience, fortitude or unfailing progress, meditation, prajna wisdom, four boundless mind, four all-embracing virtues, expedient methods, the thirty-seven conditions leading to bodhi, devoting one’s merits to the salvation of others, ten good characteristics or virtues ……. and so on. When bodhisattvas wholly complete the achievement of bodhi, these beings, who have been receiving the teaching and converting in the past directly from the certain bodhisattva and doing numberless pure karman of straightforward, a mind profoundly engrossed, the mind of bodhi, almsgiving, keeping the rules, patience, fortitude, meditation, prajna wisdom ……. and so on with the bodhisattva, have special, deep, and good roots, also have very strong cause or affinity with the bodhisattva, will go to the pure land, that is the projection of the great perfect mirror wisdom of becoming Buddha of the bodhisattva, continue to receive the teaching and converting from the Buddha.}
WHOLE COMPLETE THE PURE MIND
Vimalakirti-nirdesa Sutra says: {Bodhisattva because of the straightforward, then will start out actions, because of the starting out actions, then will receive a mind profoundly engrossed, because of the mind profoundly engrossed, then will control thoughts, because of controlling thoughts, then will act as says (deeds suit words), because of acting as says, then can devote the merits to the others, because of devoting the merits to the others, then will have expedient methods, because of expedient methods, then will bring beings to perfection, because of bringing beings to perfection, then the Buddha land is pure, because the Buddha land is pure, then preaching doctrine is pure, because preaching doctrine is pure, then the wisdom is pure, because the wisdom is pure, then the mind is pure, because the mind is pure, then all the virtues are pure.}
DURING numberless kalpas time, any bodhisattva practitioners have to go through all the cultivating process of causes and actions of numberless pure karmas, then can reach the ideal of the “Whole Complete Pure Mind”.
WHEN bodhisattva practitioners reach the elevation of spirit of “Whole Complete Pure Mind”, then we can talk about “Pure Land is from Pure Mind”. When we are still in the ordinary people position, in the impure land, having and receiving all kinds of retribution of good and bad karmas, cannot respond with any Buddha’s pure land. We have to turn the impure karmas into pure karmas, turn the unreal mind into pure wisdom, when our blessed virtues or all good deeds and good roots are mature, then we will respond with the pure land of Buddhas who have deep cause or affinity with us.
THE common run of men do not understand the projective level of the “Pure Land is from Pure Mind”, misleading people with reaching the Pure Land naturally by just doing meditation or chanting name of Buddha, and this is terribly wrong. Like we mentioned that we are in the position of greed, hatred, and ignorance ever since from the beginningless time, we even never think of pure land. Buddha wants us to understand that cultivating the way of pure land should start out with “purify our mind” by saying “the pure land is from pure mind”.
WHEN our mind are purified enough, can reach the level of responding with the vows of welcome of Buddha, then we will get the retribution of pure karma, when we are nearing the end of life, will see the pure land is in front of us, rebirth in the pure land naturally.
THERE ARE FOUR KINDS OF BUDDHIST PRACTITIONERS
FIRST kind is the beings who have good roots, believe in Buddhism because of being influenced by other Buddhists, when they have heard of the doctrines of Buddha, right away gotten very strong faith, nobody can remove this kind of faith. But they always stop in the level of “Believing in other’s word but without their own ideas”, the intellection of others also is theirs, they don’t have the ability to discern the content and depth of doctrines. Buddhist scripture call them “Beings of believing action”.
SECOND kind is the beings who have good roots, when they have heard of the doctrines of Buddha, they can organize the doctrines and find out the best practicing way for their natural capacity. Because they know how to observe and discern the law of phenomena and non-phenomena, and the level of real and unreal business. Therefore they will not be effected by the words of others. Buddhist scripture call them “Beings of believing doctrines”.
THIRD kind is the beings who have good roots, and the good roots in the past are much better than the ordinary beings, when they find out the best practicing way from the vast doctrines, then they try to put down everything gradually, and get the deliverance of birth and death with all their heart. When they are in the process of cultivation in meditation, already entered experientially the four dhyanas on the form-realms and the eight concentrations. Buddhist scripture call them “Beings of entering experientially”.
FOURTH kind is the beings who have good roods, during the process, they can control their mind, body, and mouth, further more when they are in deep contemplation, don’t persist in “I am the one who keeps the commandments, and the others are not”. When they are in the meditation of cultivating “no ego”, they find out the reality of no original nature of their body. When the practitioners see the reality of emptiness through their eyes of purified mind, they perceive the “things arising depending on conditions and the original nature is empty”, eventually they see the source of transmigration of their impermanent bodies. Buddhist scripture call them “Beings of seeing the truth”
THESE four kinds of Buddhist practitioners tell us the process of a Buddhist practitioner who wants to enter experientially the truth of “the nature of emptiness”, should be through the faith, the teacher, the hearing of doctrines, the contemplating doctrines, the understanding and perceiving doctrines, and cultivating doctrines.
THE MEANING OF THREE REALMS
Buddhist scriptures describe three kinds of living dimensions of spiritual status that human being can reach through all kinds of meditation work.
The first kind is the living space of wealth desire, sex desire, fame desire, food desire, and sleep desire, we call it the realm of desire. The second kind is some kind of human beings who have more spiritual nature, dislike and leave the surroundings of hatred and desire, and enter the status of spiritual adjustment. During the cultivating process of meditation, the desire and hatred getting lighter gradually, but the mind and body are still bounded by material world, we call it the realm of form. The third kind is some kind of human being, when cultivating deeply in meditation, the mind and cognition surpass the bound of material world and appearance, and enter the spiritual status of deep meditation, we call it the realm of formless.
BUDDHA MADE STRICT RULES FOR SURPASSING THE REALM OF DESIRE
The numberless beings in different levels of cosmos, all live in the worlds or realms that respond with their different karmas. We are the one who lives in this Desire Realm according to our karmas of desire, hatred, and greed. If we want to surpass the boundary of the Desire Realm, we muse destroy the worries that respond with the Desire Realm. The practitioners of the first stage of the arhat start out their cultivation in surpassing the Desire Realm, cutting off all desires that respond with the Desire Realm, is just like the Diamond Sutra’s words {cannot be bothered by the form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and thinking}. And surpassing the Desire Realm is just a first step of reaching the goal of deliverance of birth and death. But to the numberless beings in the Desire Realm, the desire, hatred, greed, and worries are doubly hard to destroy. In order to help all the students and followers to reach the goal of deliverance in the present world, Shakyamuni Buddha made the strict rules for deed, word, and thought that are very hard to control and will make all beings sink into the karma net of Desire Realm.
WHAT IS THE STARTING OUT FOR BODHI FOR NEW PRACTITIONERS
When a practitioner can first try to control the body and mouth for making bad karmas, and practice the “the study of wisdom for deliverance” as the foundation of cultivation according to the teaching of The Agamas Sutra, then the practitioner will start out the mind of leaving the Saha World and going for the deliverance with keeping rules and cultivating meditation.
MIDDLE GRADE IN THE PURE LAND
The Contemplation Sutra says: {When beings can receive and retain the Panca veramani (the first five of the ten commandments, against killing, stealing, adultery, lying, and intoxicating liquors), keep the first eight of the ten commandments (not to kill, not to take things not given, no ignoble conduct, not to speak falsely, not to drink wine, not to indulge in cosmetics, personal adornments dancing, or music, not to sleep on fancy bed, but on a mat on the ground, and not to eat out of regulation hours), cultivate and practice all the rules, do not make any Pancanantarya (the five rebellious acts or deadly sins, parricide, matricide, killing an arhat, shedding the blood of a Buddha, destroying the harmony of the sangha, or fraternity), and do not have the common defilement of all beings by the false view that the ego has real existence, devote this merit to and beseech for rebirth in, the Western Utmost Joy World with this good root, then when the beings are reaching the end of this life, Amitabha Buddha and all bhiksu and their retinues will come to the place with light-emitting, preaching the suffering, the emptiness, the impermanent, and the no ego, also praising to leave home and become a monk or nun therefore leaving all the sufferings. The being
when are seeing the whole process, feeling so great with the bottom of their heart, and seeing themselves are sitting on lotus throne, kneeling and worshipping with two palms together to pay their respects Buddha, in a very short instant, the beings are going to be born in the Pure Land of Amitabha, the lotus flowers blossom right away. When the lotus flowers are blossoming, the beings are hearing the sounds from all devas of Pure Land that is to praise the four dogmas or noble truths (the primary and fundamental doctrines of Shakyamuni Buddha), the beings at the same time have gotten the Arhat position, the three insights (insight into the mortal conditions of self and others in previous lives, supernatural insight into future mortal conditions, and insight into present mortal sufferings so as to overcome all passions or temptations), the six supernatural or universal powers, and the liberation or deliverance in eight forms. This is to be called the upper position of middle grade.}
STARTING OUT THE MIND OF LEAVING SUFFERING
The pure land is non-worldly dharma (the way of leaving the world). The great practitioners of pure land in ancient and modern time instruct us again and again that if we want to beseech for rebirth in Utmost Joy World, we must start out the mind of leaving suffering first, no option at all, we must start out deeply the mind of strong vow and belief of leaving the suffering ocean of birth and death, for beseeching for rebirth in the Pure Land.
THE WAY OF CULTIVATING THE MIND OF LEAVING SUFFERING
According to the doctrines, we will start out the mind of leaving suffering through the process of keeping commandments, contemplation, and meditation.
The best way of cultivating contemplation is to learn “the meditation on the uncleanness of the human body of self and others”, this will incite the mind of wearying of the world and abandoning it, and the mind of impermanence.
STARTING OUT THE MIND OF LEAVING SUFFERING
The pure land is non-worldly dharma (the way of leaving the world). The great practitioners of pure land in ancient and modern time instruct us again and again that if we want to beseech for rebirth in Utmost Joy World, we must start out the mind of leaving suffering first, no option at all, we must start out deeply the mind of strong vow and belief of leaving the suffering ocean of birth and death, for beseeching for rebirth in the Pure Land.
THE WAY OF CULTIVATING THE MIND OF LEAVING SUFFERING
According to the doctrines, we will start out the mind of leaving suffering through the process of keeping commandments, contemplation, and meditation.
The best way of cultivating contemplation is to learn “the meditation on the uncleanness of the human body of self and others”, this will incite the mind of wearying of the world and abandoning it, and the mind of impermanence.
WHEN the mind become much quieter and more concentrated, then we will feel more that the worldly things are impermanent, all things are suffering, and all things shouldn’t be greedy for and attached, only in this moment we will chant the name of Amitabha, keep the commandments, and beseech for rebirth in the Pure Land with the strong mind of leaving suffering, impermanent, and no ego.
LOW GRADE IN THE PURE LAND
The Highest Class of Low Grade in the Pure Land
According to Amitayus Sutra, when the beings of the highest class of low grade are leaded by the light of metamorphosed Buddha to the Lotus Lake of seven treasures in the Pure Land, forty-nine Pure Land days later, the lotus of the beings will be blossomed. The beings in these lotus will not see Amitabha Buddha, but Avalokitesvara (Guan Yin) Bodhisattva, and Mahasthama (Da Sh Tz or Great Power Arrived) Bodhisattva, with great light in front of the beings, and preaching the profound Buddhist doctrine for the beings.
AND because these beings had already started out the mind of faith and resolve in their past life, therefore their wisdom of bodhi automatically have been revealed, in order to understand and believe the profound Buddhist doctrines and perceive the supreme principle of becoming Buddha. They will learn and practice very hard the action and vow of becoming Buddha that is to benefit self and other beings for around ten kalpas. Then they will go to numberless Buddha worlds with their vast and deep power of works of supererogation, in order to learn the essentials of the Truth of becoming Buddha of all the Buddhas in ten directions in cosmoses, and perceive experientially the profound meaning of action and proof of the door to the knowledge of universal phenomena. This is to enter experientially the first of the ten bodhisattva stages to perfect enlightenment and nirvana, that is from the mutual entering and containing of action and vow of mercy and wisdom.
AND because these beings had already started out the mind of faith and resolve in their past life, therefore their wisdom of bodhi automatically have been revealed, in order to understand and believe the profound Buddhist doctrines and perceive the supreme principle of becoming Buddha. They will learn and practice very hard the action and vow of becoming Buddha that is to benefit self and other beings for around ten kalpas. Then they will go to numberless Buddha worlds with their vast and deep power of works of supererogation, in order to learn the essentials of the Truth of becoming Buddha of all the Buddhas in ten directions in cosmoses, and perceive experientially the profound meaning of action and proof of the door to the knowledge of universal phenomena. This is to enter experientially the first of the ten bodhisattva stages to perfect enlightenment and nirvana, that is from the mutual entering and containing of action and vow of mercy and wisdom.
THE Middle Class of Low Grade in the Pure Land
The beings of the middle class of low grade when reaching the end of present life, seeing the spiritual flowers showing in front of them, right away leaded by the appearance of the light of Buddha and Bodhisattvas on those flowers, to the Lotus Lake of seven treasures in the Pure Land. Six Pure Land kalpas later , the lotus of the beings will be blossomed. Also the beings will not see Amitabha Buddha but Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, and Mahasthama Bodhisattva. The two great Bodhisattva preaching the profound Buddhist doctrine for the beings. The beings when listening the Buddhist doctrines feel so deeply touched and start out the wisdom that were built in the past lives, then at the same time start out the supreme mind of becoming Buddha faithfully.
THE Low Class of Low Grade in the Pure Land
The beings of low class of low grade when reaching the end of present life, seeing a special lotus flower with gold light like the Sun showing in front of them, almost at the same time them are already in the Lotus Lake of seven treasure in the Pure Land. Twelve Pure Land kalpas later, the lotus of the beings will be blossomed. Also the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva and Mahasthama Boddhisattva will be in front of them, preaching the prodound Buddhist doctrine for the beings, and showing the way of seeking forgiveness, patience, indulgence, and forbearance through the absolute fundamental reality. When the beings understand, practice, and perceive the theory and way of seeking forgiveness, patience and forbearance through the absolute fundamental reality, then under the situation of purifying all heavy karmas, the beings will start out the mind of bodhi, that is to beseech the Buddha-hood and save all beings.
THE LENGTH OF DAYS OF BEINGS IN PURE LAND
One of the main goals for Buddhist practitioners is to free from the constraint of the length of days. And it is almost impossible for the practitioners to reach this kind of goal unless beseeching rebirth in Pure Land.
WHY can the beings in Pure Land free from the constraint of the length of days? From the standing point of cultivating, there are two reasons:
The power of meditative enlightenment on reality.
Let’s read one of the paragraphs in HEART SUTRA:
When Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva is practicing the profound Prajna-paramita(Truth wisdom), He contemplates, sees, and illuminates to the emptiness of the five skandhas(the five fundamental conditions of passions and delusions, the first one is form, matter, or the physical form related to the five organs of sense, the second one is reception, sensation, feeling, the functioning of the mind or senses in connection with affairs and things, the third one is conception, or discerning, the functioning of mind in distinguishing, the fourth one is the functioning of mind in its processes regarding like and dislike, good and evil, etc., and the fifth one is mental faculty in regard to perception and cognition, discriminative of affairs and things), and thus attains deliverance from all suffering.
THE most important word in this paragraph is “Illuminates”(pas’yati). When Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva is in profound meditation of Prajna-paramita, he illuminates with presenting facts, that all things including material and non-material are empty. A wise practitioner contemplates the five fundamental conditions of passions and delusions, sees experientially that all of them have no original nature, and reaches the level of deliverance of mind.
THE contents of Heart Sutra is a disclosure of the result of entering experientially the truth of universes that is through the prajna of literal, contemplation, and reality, for the process of cultivation of the sharp practitioners.
WHAT is PRAJNA? The Prajna is wisdom of experientially entering the truth. This kind of wisdom is totally differently from the worldly knowledge. If we want to reach the level of Prajna, we have to hear or study the Buddhist doctrines, try to understand the words of these doctrines through research, thinking, and examining, in this step we will find out the most suitable practice way to our natural capacity. Next step will be to contemplate and illuminate our mind and behavior any moment any place depending on doctrines of sutras or sastras, then we will enter the right track which responds with the wisdom of Buddha.
THE result of contemplation and illumination, and the result of controlling the thought and mind for a practitioner should be in direct proportion. When practicing the Buddhist doctrines, how much you can give up for thoughts of greed, hatred, ignorance, love ……., then how much you will get the response to the pure thought of non-greed, non-hatred, non-ignorance, and non-love. So call “The enlightened heart”, or “To behold the Buddha-nature within oneself”, or “Enter experientially the emptiness” are not so easy to reach by the ordinary people like us with some kind of meditation day and night or study all kinds of Buddhist doctrines.
ACCORDING to Buddhist doctrines, in the time of the last of the three periods of Buddhist Doctrines, the ordinary individuals like us have much more “The barrier of temptation, passion, or defilement” (which obstructs the attainment of the Nirvana-mind) and much more “The barrier of the known” (arising from regarding the seeming as real), therefore it is doubly hard to get rid of the heavy barrier of sin (which hinders the obtaining of good karma, and the obedient hearing of the truth) with ordinarily calm mind for just short period of time.
THERE are quite a few people, during the cultivating meditation reach some kind of joy of the mystic trance, therefore misunderstand that “This is the enlightenment”, or teach the beginners so call the best and fast way of reaching enlightenment of “When meditating, entering experientially the emptiness” and “When meditating, getting experientially the bodhi”, this will mislead the beginners that they are the sharp natural capacity and can enter experientially the emptiness and become Buddha without going through the removing all worries, and the cultivating of discipline, meditation, and wisdom (discipline wards off bodily evil, meditation calms mental disturbance, wisdom gets rid of delusion and proves truth).
BUDDHA Shyakiamuni once said in Agama Sutra: {Buddha attains enlightenment not because of meditation, or less food, or less sleep, but because of supreme discipline, supreme wisdom, supreme intellection, and supreme intelligent contemplation.} A practitioner when giving up one percent of thought of greed at the same time gaining one percent of thought of purification, when giving up two percent of thought of hatred at the same time gaining two percent of thought of purification ……., according to the principle of efficient causality, every cause has its effect, as every effect arises from a cause.
REMEMBER that cause and effect in the moral realm have their corresponding relations. The levels of cultivating and contemplating should be in direct proportion with the levels of removing delusion and all kinds of thought in our daily life.
If we can reduce our thought and calm our mind only in meditative moment, and can not control our thought of greed, hatred, ignorance, jealousy, arrogance, fame, wealth, power ……. in our daily life, then no matter how much time we spend on meditation or how much effort we can provide, but still cannot reach the better level of cultivation and contemplation.
Same reason, If we can reduce our thought and calm our mind only in the moment of chanting Buddha’s name (Namo Amitabha), and cannot control ourselves and cannot remove all kinds of moral infection in our mind, then we will have no way to reach the level of Samadhi.
WHEN we get the POWER of MEDITATIVE ENLIGHTENMENT on REALITY, we will free from the constraint of the length of days.
When we cultivate the Rddhipada we will free from the constraint of the length of days. According the Agama Sutra: {When cultivating the Rddhipada will prolong life}, what is Rddhipada? The Rddhipada will make the body independent of ordinary or natural law. There are four steps in Rddhipada, the four steps are said to be the four kinds of dhyan, but there are several definitions, the first one is desire (intensive longing, or concentration), the second one is energy (or intensified effort), the third one is memory (or intense holding on to the position reached), and the fourth one is meditation (or survey, the state of dhyana).
THE Rddhipada, we call it Deva-Foot Ubiquity, when we cultivate the Rddhipada daily through the Desire (not the worldly desire), Energy, Memory (mind), and Meditation, eventually we will reach the elevation of spirit of free from everything including body and mind.
CULTIVATE OURSELVES IN SAMADHI
The Desire, Energy, Memory (mind), and Meditation are the only way for practitioners to start their cultivating (composing the mind, or intent contemplation, or perfect absorption of thought into the one object of meditation) in Samadhi.
HOW TO PRACTICE IN OUR DAILY LIFE
It is doubly hard for Buddhist practitioners to cultivate the Desire for doctrines, Energy for cultivation, Mind for holding on to it, and Meditation for illumination. Here we have some suggestions for the beginners, first we should cultivate the power in thought and selection of correct principles, and the power in controlling self, whenever and wherever starting out a bad desire, should always think this first “I have already start out vows in front of Buddha that I will turn to and rely on the Triratna, joyfully trust in the Buddha, study Buddhist doctrine, and become Buddha”, supervise and direct ourselves with the four steps of cultivation, and treat our mind as the mind of Buddha (a heart of mercy).
A sharp practitioner, who understands the impermanence of birth and death, tries to complete the nutriment of blessedness and wisdom (or virtue and wisdom), should always think of the way of deliverance, at the same time should always notice, cultivate, and control the arising of evil desire. When evil thought arising, purify it with the cultivation that is to contemplate the source of beginning, purify it with the desire of thinking doctrines, desire of unadulterated progress, desire of right believing, desire of at ease, desire of right views, and desire of cultivating doctrines. As time goes on, the elevation of spirit of continuing pure thought and removing evil desire, then will be corresponding with Samadhi, eventually the form of transmigration will be transformed.
THE POWER OF MIND AND THE PROLONGATION OF LIFE
When the wave of mind or the power of thought can adjust or change the magnetic field of electric current, then the electrical activity of elements in the body will be controlled by the power of will, meaning when the electromagnetic field in the body is changed by the power of mind, when the mind can transform things or forms, then the aging of body of another step or level will be changed or created.
THE ACHIEVEMENT OF VOWS OF MERIT
The Vijnaptimatrasiddhi-sastra says: {The birth and death of all the beings with consciousness have two kinds: first kind is the condition and station resulting from good or bad karma in the three realms (desire, form, and formlessness) and in the six paths, second kind is the condition and station resulting from good karma in the realms beyond transmigration, including arhats and higher saints. Like the life of human being, from one life transmigrate to another life, this is the first kind of birth and death. This kind of phenomena of one life to anther is the responding of causes of good and bad karmas which are created in the past and present lives, make these periodical reward or punishment bodies that are controlled by the karmas made in the past lives, and this kind of lives have time limit, cannot change the aging. And the saints like arhats they have already removed the illusory or misleading views and thoughts, surpassed the ordinary people of the three realms and belong to the phenomena of birth and death of spirit, this is called mortal changes (a body that is being transformed from mortality).}
THE Vijnaptimatrasiddhi-sastra explains more about Mortal Changes: {The inconceivable Mortal Changes is built by all passionless purity, good karma, and the barrier of the knows (arising from regarding the seeming as real) as a cause, then responding to another extraordinary kind of heterogeneous effect produced by heterogeneous cause. This kind of extraordinary transformation body or incarnation body that is from the power of great merit and vow, do not have time limit.}
{IF the practitioner during the cultivation of present life, reveals the passionless wisdom, vows and perform the merit, and starts out to cultivate the way of discipline of the bodhisattva. When reaching the end of present life, starting out to cultivate the way of the bodhisattva during the transmigration with the extraordinary power of passionless wisdom and merit, never receding (never retreating but going straight to nirvana) till becoming Buddha, then the body of the end of present life will be received by the Moral Changes.}
THE POINTS FOR CULTIVATING THE VOWS OF GREAT MERIT
Vijnaptimatrasiddhi-sastra says: {If the Atma-grah has been turned, when facing the attendant circumstances, always causing like or dislike, then the mind of great merit will be hindered. And if entering experientially the truth of NO EGO of no self, the Atma-grah will be either removed or turned, then the mind of great merit of “All living things are equal” will be built, then delivering all beings will be started out.}
FROM this standpoint of view, we should understand that if a practitioner, who has the mind of great merit, during the cultivation of meditation, can enter experientially the truth of NO EGO of “Whatever is phenomenal is impermanent”(non-permanence), “Nothing has an ego”(non-personality), “All feeling is suffering”, and “Complete extinction of individual existence”(nirvana), then during the process of cultivating the great way of bodhisattva in the future, will start out the mind of great merit of “all living things are equal” and save all the living beings.
THE FOUNDATION OF CULTIVATING BUDDHIST DOCTRINES
Bodhipaksika dharma is the foundation of cultivating Buddhist doctrines, including five spiritual faculties(panca indriyani), the five powers of panca indriyani(panca balani), seven degrees of enlightenment or intelligence(sapta bodhyanga), the eight-fold noble path(asta-marga), four states of memory or subjects of reflection(smrtyupasthana), four proper lines of exertion(samyakprahana), and four steps towards supernatural power(rddhipada), these called thirty-seven conditions leading to bodhi or Buddha-hood.
WE all know the “Thirty-seven conditions leading to bodhi”, but most of the Buddhist treat it like some kind of reference, do not look into it closely, think it deeply, and practice it formally. The difference between the saints and the ordinary people is here “knowledge and action” (knowledge is easy, but action is difficult).
THE Sastra on the Prajna-paramita sutra says: {The ocean of Buddhist doctrines, only entering with believing, only delivering with wisdom.} meaning having the “The wisdom obtained from hearing” (hearing the word and becoming wise in it) of Buddhist doctrines is not enough. We have to remove our own thought of greed, desire, and evil with the Buddhist doctrines, then we will build “The knowledge of reality” for ourselves, with the knowledge of reality we can lead being to bodhi, this is called “Only delivering with wisdom”.
Forty Eight Vows
Pure Land Sutra
Hua Yen Sutra
Bequeated Sutra
Enlightenment Sutra
Contemplation Sutra
Visualization Sutra
Buddhism as Education
Four Kinds of Buddhis
Taking Refuge
Infinite Life Sutra
Anapanasati Sutra
HELP for Dying and Bereaved
Perfection of Patience
Four Immeasurable Minds
Emptiness of Emptiness
Amitabha Sutra
Pure Land Buddhism
Pure Land Buddhist Doctrine
The Prayer of Pure Land
Prayer Reborn in Pure Land
Arya Avalokiteshvara Guan Yin Bodhisattva
Embodiment of Compassion
Respect
Real Meaning of Pure Land
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