A Perfect Tapestry

Periodically I receive an email or letter saying the writer has read or been told that the Buddha did not teach the Pure Land sutras and that they were written later by others.

If there were only a handful of sutras that mentioned the Pure Land or Amitabha Buddha, this might be viewed as a possibility. But in fact, there are references to Amitabha Buddha and/or the Pure Land, in about 200 sutras. These range from the eight-page Amitabha Sutra to Thomas Cleary’s 1643 page translation of the Flower Ornament Sutra.

These frequent Pure Land teachings are like threads in a sutra tapestry woven by Sakyamuni over his forty-nine years of teaching. Not only are the Pure Land teachings consistent with his other teaching threads, they are a crucial part of his teachings. Remove the sutras that refer to Amitabha and/or the Pure Land, and you begin to unravel the whole tapestry.

If you still have doubts about the validity of the Pure Land teachings, please ask yourself the following:

1. Believing in causality and understanding the teachings, how could any student of the Buddha write a sutra and claim it to be by the Buddha? This would be an outrageous breaking of the precept against lying and a betrayal of him. The effects of such an act would terrify anyone with a basic understanding of the teachings.

2. Conversely, not believing in causality and lacking understanding of the teachings, how could any student of the Buddha, or anyone else, have written so many perfect teachings? How could any person without understanding have woven so perfectly all the threads of the Pure Land teachings into the Buddha’s tapestry of teachings?

2. Accomplishing the unaccomplishable—ghostwriting a sutra. One simply does not sit down and write a sutra. How could anyone have managed to so flawlessly include the Pure Land teachings in so many sutras?

As Buddhists, each of has our chosen path to follow. For some, that path is the Theravada teachings. For others it is the Mahayana teachings with the different schools. Actually, we read in the sutras that the Buddha taught 84,000 methods! The number 84,000 is a symbolic number meaning the Buddha taught innumerable methods.

The Buddha taught so many methods because the beings he wanted to help had such a wide range of abilities and levels of understanding. But the Buddha wanted us to respect each other’s choice, not speak ill of what others have chosen or cause others to lose their confidence in the teachings. Every method taught by the Buddha leads eventually to enlightenment. And the Pure Land teachings, now said to be the most widely practiced Buddhist teachings in Asia, is one such path taught by Sakyamuni Buddha.

For centuries in countries such as China, Vietnam, Tibet, and Japan, wise and accomplished masters and laypeople have immersed themselves in Pure Land study and practice. In China, those with good fortune studied and practiced as many as sixteen hours a day, year after year. They studied and chanted the sutras. They chanted the name of Amitabha Buddha. And thus they were reborn in the Pure Land. The Pure Land accounts of such events have been scrupulously investigated before being reported. Accounts of such rebirths have continued to our times, including the one of Master Dixian’s student.

The reality is that what is suitable for one person may not be suitable for another. And what one can believe, another cannot. At the end of the Amitabha Sutra, Sakyamuni Buddha himself said that this sutra was very hard for people to believe.

Personally, I trust that ancient and modern patriarchs and masters who came from various schools including the Pure Land, Zen, and Tibetan schools, knew what they were practicing. But I do not expect everyone to share my views or level of trust. But I would hope that others would respect my views and chosen method of practice just as I respect theirs.

In my lifetime, I have been unbelievably fortunate to have my good roots, which extend over many lifetimes, and conditions bring about my encounter with Pure Land Buddhism and Amitabha Buddha. When I am chanting, I experience what for me is a sense of correctness and joy that I find at no other time in my life. There is an unshakeable sense of confidence that when I am chanting, I am doing the most important thing in my life. In those moments, I am doing what I am meant to do.

For me, my Pure Land practice is perfect. It teaches me to live morally, to serve others and put their best interests ahead of my personal interests, to not harm any living being, and to seek rebirth so that I may return to help all the beings I have vowed to help over my uncountable lifetimes. For me, as for many, this is a perfect teaching.

Do I expect others to practice Pure Land as I do? 

No.

Do I hope everyone will respect others’ decision as to what to practice? 

Yes.

What's the Urgency?

The reality of life in Samsara (the cycle of rebirth) is that as humans our lives are incredibly short, an average of some seventy odd years. Of those years, roughly one-third is spent sleeping, years are spent in growing up, a good portion of our adult life is involved in work, and so on. After all these activities, how much time do we really have to spend on our practice?

We can spend our lifetime reading about Buddhism and this can certainly feel like an admirable use of our time. But while learning about our chosen method of practice is vital, reading about other schools and traditions runs the risk of becoming a distraction.

We need to remember that our lifetimes are short and we do not know when we will breathe our last breath. The Buddha advised people who would be living in other times to learn and practice other methods. But for those in our time he recommended the Pure Land method so we could transcend the cycle of rebirth by being reborn in the Western Pure Land.

Once there, we will be in the presence of Amitabha Buddha and uncountable bodhisattvas. No longer hampered by a short lifetime or a need to work or sleep or do all the other things we humans do, we will have all the time we need to learn from these beings who have progressed farther than we have. Finally, the time will be right for us to learn all the different methods and practices we will need to help an incredible range of beings end their suffering and attain happiness, and break through delusion and attain enlightenment. Until those of us who are drawn to this path attain that rebirth, we need to remember this is our primary goal.

What’s the urgency?

Sakyamuni Buddha compared the odds of our being reborn as a human to the likelihood that a blind sea turtle, surfacing from the depths of the ocean only once every century, would encounter a tree trunk with a hole suitable for nesting. That’s how unbelievably rare our opportunity to have been born as a human is. And there’s more. Next, we needed to be reborn during the period of time after the appearance of a Buddha so we could hear the Dharma. Then we needed to have the right conditions to hear those teaching, then to find the specific teaching that is right for us, then to find a teacher we can learn from and Dharma friends to practice with. And when we have finally managed to accomplish all this, we have to realize that all we can count on is our next breath!

We need to use this rarest of opportunities to focus on and achieve in our practice. If we fail to do this, we will carry the seeds from our practice with us, but as the Buddha cautioned, it will be a long time for we ordinary people to encounter these wonderful conditions again. We cannot afford to waste time.

I know that on the surface seeking our own release from suffering can sound selfish. And the urgency stressed above can seem a tad over the top. When I first heard that our primary goal is to seek rebirth, the conversation in my head would come up with things like “But I need to help those who can’t understand Chinese” and “People want to learn now. What about them?” and “I still have time.”

Well, after taking the three refuges and five precepts under Ven. Master Chin Kung almost fifteen year ago and having been involved in learning and working with the teachings for much of that time, in the past twelve years virtually on a daily basis, I have learned a few things. :-)

One of the things I have learned is that my ability to help people in this lifetime, even as a nun who spends a great part of her time in different aspects of propagating the Dharma, is limited. I don’t know very much. My level of achievement is extremely modest, my abilities inadequate. I make mistakes all the time and am not nearly as skillful in helping others as I should be. In short, there isn’t a lot I can do to truly help people. I just don’t have enough time. Life can and does end in a moment. And as someone shared with me recently, “If we don’t attain rebirth in this lifetime—what a waste.”

So, we need to focus. Now, not next year, not after we learn everything. We need to remember the first vow of Buddhas and bodhisattvas: “Sentient beings are innumerable; I vow to help them all.”

How do we focus, and then how do we maintain that focus? Perhaps we can ask ourselves some questions:

What is the ultimate goal in my life?

What is the ultimate goal in my practice?

How much time will I devote to my practice and learning?

Is it enough to accomplish my goal?

Am I honestly doing everything I can to progress in my practice?

What is my strongest motivation to practice?

What inspires me to practice or learn when I’d rather do something else?

What is the one book or recorded talk that I can really get into by reading or listening to it on a regular (daily is ideal) basis?

And the final question:

How much time do I have left in this lifetime?

I Have Some Questions!

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.

The Illusory Mind or the Enlightened Mind

Ordinary beings have an illusory mind, the mind that arises and ceases. In other words, ordinary beings have wandering thoughts. Enlightened beings have true minds that constantly dwell on truth. They do not have wandering thoughts, only deep concentration. Deep concentration is the state without discriminatory wandering thoughts or attachments.

However, this does not mean that we are idle all the time; we continue to do our job with a pure and completely aware mind. When the external environment no longer hinders or affects us, we have attained deep concentration.

Understanding this principle, we will know how to correct our improper behavior. When our six senses encounter the external environment, our thoughts, words, and deeds are improper because our senses follow the external conditions and we allow afflictions to take hold. We have been wrong for countless eons and this is the root of our improper behavior. We have buried our true nature and have allowed afflictions, especially those of views and thoughts, to be dominant. Thus, we have transformed the One True Dharma Realm into the Six Realms of Reincarnation. How are the Six Realms formed? They are formed by our attachments.

The first mistake from the view or thought affliction is our attachment to our bodies as we think that this body is “I”. This is why the Buddha told us there is no self and therefore our attachment to self is wrong. With the initial attachment to self, we have a mistake that is hard to undo. This body is not “I”. This body is something that we possess just like the clothes that we own.

If we understand this, we will realize that humans do not have births or deaths. Death is just like taking off our soiled clothes and birth is like putting on a new set of clothing. In the cycle of reincarnation, our birth and death is like changing clothes.

What then is “self”? In India, some religions believe that the spiritual self is I. In China, we call it the soul. In Buddhism, we call it the spirit. This state of believing that the spiritual self is “I” is higher than that which views the body as “I.” Why is it such an improvement? Because when one believes that when revolving in the cycle of reincarnation the spiritual self takes on a body just like someone takes on a piece of clothing, there is no fear of death. Rather, death is regarded as something quite normal.

If we have accumulated only good karma in this lifetime, then we will be reborn into the Three Good Realms—changing from a human into a heavenly being and having a much more beautiful and dignified appearance, a longer lifespan and greater good fortune. This is to “sow a good cause and reap a good result.” However, if we were to do bad deeds, then our body will change for the worse.

~ Ven. Master Chin Kung

It's the Connection, Not the Language

Today’s entry is a follow-up to the entry “Does the Language Really Matter?” and the ensuing comments by some readers. I am also responding to a related question about why everyone does not chant “Amitabha” instead of chanting in other languages. Two readers also essentially asked the same question. As one asked, “why the original Sanskrit Name, as given by Sakyamuni Buddha, was changed, given that the Name is said to be so centrally important. The Vietnamese Name doesn't sound much like 'Amitabha' at all. Is it really just as effective?”

My response is that I am not a scholar in ancient languages, but from what I understand we do know not for certain what language the Buddha spoke because his teachings were initially an oral tradition. However, many Buddhist scholars believe that Sakyamuni Buddha spoke various dialects of Prakrit Magadhi as he traveled around India and Nepal.

The specific language or dialect he spoke would have been the local one. So when he spoke in one area, he spoke in one language or dialect and in another area he spoke in another language or dialect. The Buddha himself would have said what came to be pronounced in Sanskrit as “Amitabha” differently to different people.

So we really do not know how he pronounced “Amitabha Buddha” or in how many different ways!

The Chinese sutras were translated, with some words being transliterated, from the Sanskrit versions. So the Chinese deliberately chose to not translate some words, but to try to pronounce them as close to the Sanskrit as they could. But different languages require different sounds.

For example, I was trying to teach another nun how to pronounce stollen with a German pronunciation. She could not say it as a German would because some German language sounds are simply not naturally made by Chinese speakers. So even with the most diligent effort, someone who speaks German will probably pronounce “Amitabha” differently than someone who lives in India. Or in Botswana.

To further complicate things, people who speak the same language have different accents or dialects. Someone who speaks Cantonese will pronounce words differently from someone who speaks Mandarin. Also, there is the time factor in pronunciation. Language pronunciation changes over the centuries and especially over millennium. Try to read a Shakespearean play as William wrote it and you’ll see how much the English language has changed in just four hundred years.

As to the language we chant in, that can depend on where we practice. I chant “Amituofo,” which is Chinese, not because I think Chinese is superior to other languages, but because I live and practice with people who speak and chant in Chinese. When I go to a Vietnamese Buddhist center, I chant “Adida Phat.” When in Japan, I’d chanted “Amida Butsu.”

All things considered—the Buddha himself spoke different languages and dialects, what is easily said in one language will be pronounced with an accent by the speaker of another language, accents and dialects are found even in the same language, and pronunciation changes because of the passage of time—I think it safe to say that no one is saying “Amitabha Buddha” like Sakyamuni did almost 3000 years ago. Or as beings throughout the ten directions have chanted the name since “Amitabha Buddha” fulfilled his vows and became a Buddha many billions of years ago.

So we’re back to sincerity and doing the best we can regardless of our current circumstances. I chant “Amituofo” to form a connection with him by mindfully saying his name. My American accent doesn’t matter. My sincerity does. The name is a tool, a term. And so I’m okay language-wise because Amituofo is looking for sincerity, not perfect pronunciation. And just as a mother recognizes a call for help from her baby who is not calling her by her proper name, Amitabha Buddha, who has been waiting uncountable lifetimes for us, hears our calling him. And he responds.