A Dharma Quote A Day Keeps Samsara At Bay
Those who recite the Buddha's name should seek rebirth in the Western Pure Land to escape the cycle of birth and death and gradually attain the four virtues of Nirvana. They should not seek the false pleasures of this earth. Only in this way is Buddha Recitation consonant with the goal of liberation and with the compassionate Mind of the Buddha, which is to save sentient beings from suffering and bestow happiness.
If any sentient being hears the name of Amitabha Buddha and is transported with delight even for a moment, you should know that he has received great benefit and has perfected supreme merits and virtues
The Dharma doors of Zen Sutra Recitation and other methods are all praiseworthy schools to be encouraged. However, in this Dharma-Ending Age, we should follow the Buddha Recitation method in addition, dedicating all merits to rebirth in the Pure Land, to ensure escape from the cycle of birth and death. If we do not take the Pure Land as our goal, the virtues gained from cultivating other methods can only provide good roots, merits and blessings, and serve as the causes and conditions of liberation in the future.
Practitioners should recite the name of Amitabha Buddha for the purpose of escaping the cycle of birth and death. However, if we were to practice Buddha Recitation for the sake of our own salvation alone, we would only fulfill a small part of the Buddha's intention. What, then, is the ultimate intention of the Buddha? The true intention of the Buddha is for all sentient beings to escape the cycle of birth.
In this Dharma-Ending Age, if we practice other methods without following the Buddha Recitation method at the same time, it is difficult to attain emancipation in this very lifetime. If emancipation is not achieved in this lifetime, deluded as we are on the path of birth and death, all of our crucial vows will become empty thoughts.
A high ranking monk of old, having expressed his determination to cultivate, recited the following verses: "I have pondered this world, and the world beyond, Whose name would one recite, if not Amida Buddha's?" Truthfully, after reading these verses, pondering, and comparing Dharma methods, this author is convinced that Pure Land is the safest and most complete path.
Our Master, Buddha Sakyamuni, experienced the Way to Buddhahood first hand, and knew full well which was the easy path to tread and which was the difficult one. Therefore, with his compassionate, enlightened Mind, he especially established the Buddha Recitation method. Followers of this method, even while not entirely rid of afflictions, may "bring their residual karma along" to rebirth in the Pure Land. Once reborn, thanks to the highly favorable conditions of that realm, progress in cultivation and attainment of the Way is as easy as holding an object before the eyes.
The critical points of the Pure Land method are Faith, Vows and Practice. These three conditions interact like the three legs of an incense burner; if one is lacking or broken, the incense burner cannot stand. Among these conditions, faith is the foundation. If this critical condition is missing, the Mind of Vows and Practice cannot develop.
The element of Faith consists, in general, of three factors. First, we should believe in the words of the Buddha, truly acknowledging that the Pure Land, from it's inhabitants to the environment itself, really does exist (just like this Saha World and everything we see around exist). Next, we should believe that the Lord Amitabha Buddha is always true it his Vows, and that, however deep the evil karma of sentient beings may be, if they recite his name, they will be reborn in the Pure Land. Finally, we should believe that, if we recite the Buddha's name and vow to be reborn in the Pure Land, we will certainly see the Buddha and be reborn, as cause and effect cannot diverge.
We can think of some recent Zen followers with not much practice who object to Buddha Recitation. Little do they realize that many high-ranking Zen Masters of the past, having been "enlightened to the Mind and seen the Nature" through meditation, subsequently leaned toward the Pure Land Faith. Within the Zen tradition, these Masters were high-level spiritual advisors who taught meditation. In the Pure Land tradition, they were Masters of great repute and virtue who taught Buddha Recitation. This demonstrates that Zen and Pure Land are not in opposition.
We should realize that practicing other methods involves complete reliance on "self-power," and is therefore bound to be difficult. The Pure Land method characteristically involves two powers, the power of one's own Mind and the Buddha's power of "welcoming and escorting." Therefore obtaining results is extremely easy. When we recite the Buddha's name, our Mind-power develops at the same time. When one-pointedness of mind is achieved, the Mind-power manifests itself perfectly. At that point the power of our karma is subdued and is no longer a hindrance. If we add to that the Buddha's power to "welcome and escort," we will attain rebirth, in spite of the fact that not all of our bad karma is extinguished. Once reborn, our life span extends over innumerable kalpas; non-retrogression until Buddhahood is therefore an easily understandable occurrence.
The Pure Land method is not reserved for people with low or moderate capacities alone; it embraces those of the highest capacities as well. Sentient beings of middling and low capacities who recite the Buddha's name will be able to rid themselves of afflictions and karmic obstacles and develop merit, virtue and wisdom, leading in time to the state of concentration. Depending on the amount of effort they exert, they will be reborn within the nine lotus grades of the Land of Ultimate Bliss. Those of high capacities, on the other hand, enter deeply into the sphere of concentration and wisdom as soon as they begin uttering the Buddha's name. Whether walking, standing, lying down or sitting straight up, they are always in the "Buddha Remembrance Samadhi." After death they will be reborn in the highest grade. Some of the sages of old who entered this realm explained it in the following terms: "Holding the rosary, I am rid of worldly thoughts, suddenly, I already become a Buddha a long time ago." For this reason, the Buddha Recitation method embraces people of all three levels. For those of high capacities it becomes a sublime method, for those of high capacities it turns into a simple method.
The sutras also teach: "A single wholehearted recitation of Buddha Amitabha's name will obliterate all the heavy karma committed in eighty million kalpas of birth and death." If Pure Land followers can regularly concentrate their Minds, they will develop wisdom, as with other methods. In addition, since they recite the Buddha's name while in concentration, their evil karma and afflictions will easily be dissolved, and they will attain a high degree of merit and wisdom much sooner. For this reason, Elder Master Lien Ch'ih lauded the Buddha Recitation method as "great samadhi," "great wisdom," "great merit and virtue," and "great emancipation."
As far as the question of "self-power" vs. "other power" is concerned, it is wrong to understand the Pure Land method as exclusive reliance on the Buddha's power. The Pure Land practitioner should use all his own power to rid himself of afflictions, reciting to the point where his own Mind and the Mind of the Buddha are in unison. From that state, in this very life, the Buddha will emit rays to silently gather him in, and at his deathbed he will be welcomed and escorted back to the Pure Land.
The Prajna Paramita Diamond Sutra states, "Subhuti, do not think that to develop the Bodhi Mind is to annihilate all the marks of the dharmas. Why is this so? It is because developing the Bodhi Mind with respect to Phenomena is not the same as nihilism."
The Buddha's basic approach was to prescribe a different treatment for every spiritual ailment, much as a doctor prescribes a different medicine for every medical ailment. Thus his teachings were always appropriate for the particular suffering individual and for the time at which the teaching was given, and over the ages not one of his prescriptions has failed to relieve the suffering to which it was addressed.
Reciting Buddha's name so as to be born in the World of Ultimate Bliss is a special method besides the 84,000 ways of practicing Buddhism. It is called "the great path outside of all paths". Although the method is is very simple, the principle involved is extremely profound and difficult. One cannot explain it in a few sentences. However, one does not need to understand the principle to practice it and to reap the full benefit. Bear in mind that Buddha's moral standard is the highest and his words are always true, and therefore we must believe that whatever the Buddhist sutra describes is true.
You do not need to be a vegetarian... the important rule is not to kill. If you can avoid killing animals, you shall be credited with great virtues. You can eat "three-pure meat" for your meals. "Three-pure meat" has the following conditions: The animal was not specifically killed for you; you did not witness the killing; and you did not hear the killing. There is plenty of meat and fish (not live) in the markets that is "three-pure meat".
One of the great differences between the Pure Land and the Heavens of other religions is the "Equality" which is peculiar to Buddhism, that every Buddha-follower may finally attain the same omnipotence as Buddha; not as in other religions where omnipotence is peculiar to a tyrant chief of the universe, whose adherents only enjoy the bliss and leave the great task of salvation to their chief alone.
Buddha Sakyamuni laid special stress on the Pure Land doctrine. He almost everywhere taught beings that the adoration of Buddha Amitabha is a shorter and easier way than that of self-stuggling with difficulties amid the sea of pain and sorrows, to cross over the other shore of Buddha-Land.
During the period of the Law of Finality, there will be very few who succeed by self-attainment; not even one out of millions can achieve without the aid of Buddha Amitabha.
Buddha said: "For the achievement of crossing over to the other shore never mind if the present world is blazing with fire, we must go ahead and pass through it until we reach that new world of peace and happiness."
Four Aspects (of Buddha Dharma
1. The teaching 2. The principle 3. The pratice 4. The fruit/reward/result
The Four Noble Truths
1. Life means suffering.
2. The origin of suffering is attachment.
3. The cessation of suffering is attainable.
4. The path to the cessation of suffering.
1. Life means suffering.
To live means to suffer, because the human nature is not perfect and neither is the world we live in. During our lifetime, we inevitably have to endure physical suffering such as pain, sickness, injury, tiredness, old age, and eventually death; and we have to endure psychological suffering like sadness, fear, frustration, disappointment, and depression. Although there are different degrees of suffering and there are also positive experiences in life that we perceive as the opposite of suffering, such as ease, comfort and happiness, life in its totality is imperfect and incomplete, because our world is subject to impermanence. This means we are never able to keep permanently what we strive for, and just as happy moments pass by, we ourselves and our loved ones will pass away one day, too.
2. The origin of suffering is attachment.
The origin of suffering is attachment to transient things and the ignorance thereof. Transient things do not only include the physical objects that surround us, but also ideas, and -in a greater sense- all objects of our perception. Ignorance is the lack of understanding of how our mind is attached to impermanent things. The reasons for suffering are desire, passion, ardour, pursuit of wealth and prestige, striving for fame and popularity, or in short: craving and clinging. Because the objects of our attachment are transient, their loss is inevitable, thus suffering will necessarily follow. Objects of attachment also include the idea of a "self" which is a delusion, because there is no abiding self. What we call "self" is just an imagined entity, and we are merely a part of the ceaseless becoming of the universe.
3. The cessation of suffering is attainable.
The cessation of suffering can be attained through nirodha. Nirodha means the unmaking of sensual craving and conceptual attachment. The third noble truth expresses the idea that suffering can be ended by attaining dispassion. Nirodha extinguishes all forms of clinging and attachment. This means that suffering can be overcome through human activity, simply by removing the cause of suffering. Attaining and perfecting dispassion is a process of many levels that ultimately results in the state of Nirvana. Nirvana means freedom from all worries, troubles, complexes, fabrications and ideas. Nirvana is not comprehensible for those who have not attained it.
4. The path to the cessation of suffering.
Faith may also be read as True Mind
