Question: I have a few questions. Hope you can help me with them. I haven't heard a lot about your Pure Land Buddhism. Is it very popular in Asia? Is the Pure Land Heaven? It sounds kind of selfish to want to go there but I must have missed something to think that. Isn’t Buddhism a religion? Is chanting the same as praying? Thank you!
Response: After almost 3000 years there are many forms of Buddhism being practiced. Forms of Pure Land are found in China, Japan, Malaysia, Tibet, and Vietnam, and to a lesser degree in other countries as well.
How they are practiced depends on many factors. A primary one is the master (or teacher). Our teacher, Master Chin Kung, stresses that Buddhism is a teaching of understanding the reality of our lives and everything around us, and that Buddhism is not a religion.
In the Visualization Sutra one of the three Pure Land sutras, there is a short, but vitally important paragraph where the Buddha tells Queen Vaidehi of the Three Conditions and how they are the true causes of attaining Buddhahood for all Buddhas of the past, present, and future.
The First Condition is to be filial and provide for parents, be respectful to and serve teachers, be compassionate and do not kill, and cultivate the Ten Virtuous Deeds.
The Second Condition is to take the Three Refuges, abide by all precepts, and behave in a dignified and appropriate manner.
The Third Condition is to generate the Bodhi mind, believe deeply in the law of cause and effect, recite and uphold the Mahayana sutras, and encourage others to advance on the path to enlightenment
In the Amitabha Sutra, another of the three Pure Land sutras, the Buddha emphasized the importance of being "good men and good women." To qualify as such, a person must accomplish the above eleven practices.
We do not pray to Buddhas, we respect them. The Buddha himself asserted that he was not a god and explained that he was "awakened."
Our practice is to chant the name of Amitabha Buddha. Understanding that everything is created by our minds (not a higher being) we chant to form a connection with Amitabha Buddha, to become one with him and thus with all Buddhas. Understanding that every thought is a cause that will produce a result, our chanting is the cause that will result in our being reborn in the Pure Land. This is simply karma, cause and effect, nothing more. It is not praying, but rather diligent work on our part.
The Western Pure Land is not a heaven. Heaven is still within the cycle of rebirth. The Pure Land is not within the cycle of rebirth. We do not go to the Pure Land to enjoy the pleasures of living in a paradise. We go to learn how to help all beings end their suffering just as students go to a university to continue their studies.
The beauty of the pure land is the result of the purity of the minds of the beings who are there. Just as our world with all its unhappiness and conflict is the result of our impure minds. As soon as we are ready, we will return to this and other worlds to help all beings. This is a major difference between the Heaven and the Pure Land.
Amitabha Buddha will help us just as any good teacher will help an earnest student. He is not a god. But unless we reach out to him, he cannot help us. Our reaching is our chanting and our accomplishment of the eleven above practices.
These practices help us to be moral, compassionate, wise people. They require hard work, constant mindfulness, and dedicated effort.
I know many people regard Buddhism as a religion. We do not. We read and study the Pure Land sutras and listen to our teacher explain them to us. We work hard to be moral and caring people who do not harm any beings. We practice and vow to go to the Pure Land so we will be able to learn all the ways to help others end their suffering.
We pay our respect to the Buddha for teaching us so wisely and tirelessly. We do everything possible to resolve the conflicts within each of us so we may help bring peace to ourselves, and in so doing, to our troubled world.