Pure-Land Zen Zen Pure-Land - Letter from Patriarch Yin Kuang

PURE-LAND ZEN

ZEN PURE-LAND

Letters from

Patriarch Yin Kuang

´

`

Translated by Master Th ich Thi

ˆen Tˆam, et al

Forrest G. Smith, consulting editor

SUTRA TRANSLATION COMMITTEE OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA New York - San Francisco - Toronto Note to the reader. This is an electronic version of the book “Pure-Land Zen, Zen Pure-Land” (second edition 1993∗), which is a translation of selected passages from the letters of Elder Master Yin Kuang, the Thirteenth Patriarch of Pure Land. The original Chinese titles are Yin Kuang Fa Shih Wen Ch’ao and Yin Kuang Ta Shih Chia Yen Lu.

Except for the two pictures of Master Yin Kuang, nothing has been added or changed. However, the notes to the letters and the Glossary prepared by the Van Hien Study Group as well as the Appendix (The Practices and Vows of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra) were left out, but will hopefully be added later on.

T.G., May 2005 ∗reprinted and donated for free distribution by The Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Contents

p. 3 About the author p. 5 Preface p. 8 Introduction

The Pure Land Tradition p. 17 Translations Letters from Patriarch Yin Kuang The supreme and endless blessings of Samantabhadra’s deeds, I now universally transfer.

May every living being, drowning and adrift, Soon return to the Land of Limitless Light!

The Vows of Samantabhadra

About the author

The life of the Pure Land Patriarch Yin Kuang (1861-1940) covers a most eventful period for East Asia and parallels the Sino-Japanese War, the Chinese Revolution of 1911 and two world wars.

The revolution of 1911 that toppled the Manchu dynasty and established the Republic of China also brought in its wake a number of problems for the Buddhist sangha [clergy]. Following the political revolution, an intellectual climate was ushered in that was unfriendly to the interests of Buddhism ... The attack and criticism against Buddhism ... resulted in a number of discri-minatory measures, such as special taxes and contributions being levied on temples, monasteries being appropriated for use as barracks and police stati-ons, tenants on temple lands being encouraged not to pay rent, and Buddhist images being destroyed ... (Kenneth Ch’en, Buddhism in China, p. 455ff.)

Against this backdrop, two eminent monks rose to lead the resurgence of Bud-dhism: Master T’ai Hsu, who was instrumental in the revival of the Mind-Only school and Master Yin Kuang, later to become the Thirteenth Patriarch of Pure

Land.

The monk mainly responsible for instilling new life and meaning to ... [the practice of Buddha Recitation and chanting of sutras was Master] Yin Kuang ... who, after his conversion to Pure Land pietism, concentrated on living a pu-re religious life based on faith, devotion and holiness ... [Master] Yin Kuang carried on his teachings mainly in the provinces of Kiangsu and Chekiang, where he gained numerous followers and disciples ... These efforts by [Master] Yin Kuang and his followers brought about an extensive revival of the Pu-re Land school. Lotus Societies, Nien-fo [Buddha Recitation] Societies, and others of a similar nature sprang up all over China. (Ibid.)

The compendium of Master Yin Kuang’s letters – excerpts of which are translated in this book – represents a broad cross-section of the Master’s thought and forms a prized collection of inspirational writings cherished throughout the Mahayana world. Scarcely a Chinese temple can be found anywhere without several different editions of these letters.

Diˆ eu Phung Minh Th` anh P.D. Leigh Festival of Amitabha Buddha Shepherd Park Hartford, CT: 1992 Patriarch Yin Kuang (1861-1940) 4

Preface

After the demise of the historical Buddha, His teachings spread in two main directions, southward (Theravada tradition) and eastward into China, Vietnam, Ko-rea, Japan (Mahayana tradition). In East Asia, these teachings developed into ten different schools, several of which remained important to this day: Zen, Tantric and Pure Land. Pure Land is by far the most widespread form of Buddhism in East Asia.

All these schools teach the same basic truth: “Do not what is evil, do what is good, keep the mind pure.” True to this spirit, the Pure Land approach is simple and straightforward. Through mindfulness of the Buddha (i.e. Buddha Recitation), the practitioner can calm his mind and achieve samadhi and wisdom. Thus reborn in the Pure Land (i.e., in his pure Mind), he will eventually attain Buddhahood. This is also the core teaching, the very essence, of Zen and all other Mahayana schools. As D.T. Suzuki has pointed out, “the psychological effects of the repetition of the holy name are close to the effects of Zen meditation.”

This notwithstanding, the main emphasis of the Pure Land school lies elsewhere. Pure Land provides a safety net, a refuge of last resort for everyone, through the compassion of Amitabha Buddha – through His Vows. Taken together, these two concepts of the Pure Land – as Mind and as a transcendental land – “effectively brought ... within the reach of all men the deliverance taught by Sakyamuni” (Allan

A. Andrews).

But why do we have to purify the mind and seek deliverance? It is because in the wasteland of Birth and Death, subject to the three poisons of greed, anger and delusion, we all undergo suffering – the ultimate suffering being, of course, death.

Echoing this conclusion, a well-known American professor made this observation about the motivation of Western Buddhists:

Probably the majority of non-Orientals who become practicing Buddhists do so because of an overriding need for relief from suffering. Sometimes the suffering is physical, but more often it is emotional and often psychosoma-tic. The individual practicing meditation, chanting, or any kind of Buddhist “self-cultivation” is motivated by a need for symptomatic relief, mitigation of anxiety and depression, reduction of hostility ... (Emma McCloy Layman,

Buddhism in America, p. 269)

This is precisely why Buddha Sakyamuni, when preaching the Four Noble Truths to Kaundinya and his friends, taught them first the Truth of Suffering. The letters of Master Yin Kuang address this issue squarely. If you are suffering and if you realistically discover that you have only average motivation, fortitude and self-discipline, then Pure Land is for you. Pure Land is about suffering and the liberation from suffering. ♦ ♦ ♦

This book consists of excerpts of selected letters by the Patriarch Yin Kuang [...]. Each letter can be considered a unit in itself [...]. Please note that in this text, the expressions “Buddha Recitation” and “Buddha’s name” refer specifically to Amitabha Buddha. [...]

Here, then, are the letters of the Patriarch Yin Kuang. We hope the Western reader will enjoy and benefit from them, as several generations of Eastern readers have. As a Zen Master has written in another context, “read them once, read them twice and look for the same thing that Bodhidharma brought to China: look for the print of the Mind.”

Van Hien Study Group Festival of Samantabhadra New York: 1992 6 There shall be no distinction, no regard to male or female, good or bad, exalted or lowly; none shall fail to be in his Land of Purity after having called, with complete faith, on Amida Buddha.

Honen Shonin (as quoted in “Pure Land Buddhist Painting”)

Introduction

The Pure Land Tradition

The goal of all Buddhist practice is to achieve Enlightenment and transcend the cycle of Birth and Death – that is, to attain Buddhahood. In the Mahayana tradition, the precondition for Buddhahood is the Bodhi Mind, the aspiration to achieve Enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings, oneself included.1

Since sentient beings are of different spiritual capacities and inclinations, many levels of teaching and numerous methods were devised in order to reach everyone. Traditionally, the sutras speak of 84,000, i.e., an infinite number of methods, depending on the circumstances, the times and the target audience. All these methods are expedients – different medicines for different individuals with different illnesses at different times – but all are intrinsically perfect and complete. 2 Within each method, the success or failure of an individual’s cultivation depends on his depth of practice and understanding, that is, on his mind.

A) Self-power, other-power Throughout history, the Patriarchs have elaborated various systems to categorize Dharma methods and the sutras in which they are expounded. One convenient division is into methods based on self-effort (self-power) and those that rely on the assistance of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas (other-power).3

Traditionally, most Buddhist schools and methods take the self-power approach:

progress along the path of Enlightenment is achieved only through intense and sustained personal effort.4 Because of the dedication and effort involved, schools of this self-power, self-effort tradition all have a distinct monastic bias. The laity has generally played only a supportive role, with the most spiritually advanced ideally joining the Order of monks and nuns. Best known of these traditions are Theravada and Zen.

Parallel to this, particularly following the development of Mahayana thought and the rise of lay Buddhism, a more flexible tradition eventually arose, combining self-power with other-power – the assistance and support provided by the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to sincere seekers of the Way. Most representative of this tradition are the Esoteric and Pure Land schools. However, unlike the former (or Zen), Pure Land does not stress the master-disciple relationship and de-emphasizes the role of sub-schools, roshis/gurus and rituals. Moreover, the main aim of Pure Land – rebirth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss through the power of Amitabha Buddha’s Vows – is a realistic goal, though to be understood at several levels. Therein lies the appeal and strength of Pure Land.5

B) Pure Land in a Nutshell

Pure Land, like all Mahayana schools, requires first and foremost the develop-ment of the Bodhi Mind,6 the aspiration to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings. From this starting point, the main tenets of the school can be understood at two main levels, the transcendental and the popular – depending on the background and the capacities of the cultivator.

i) In its popular form, i.e., for ordinary practitioners in this spiritually Degenerate Age, some twenty-six centuries after the demise of the historical Buddha, Pure Land involves seeking rebirth in the Land of Amitabha Buddha. This is achieved within one lifetime through the practice of Buddha Recitation with sincere faith and vows, leading to one-pointedness of mind or samadhi.

The devotees of this school venerated Amitabha Buddha and sought not out-right Nirvana but rebirth in the ... “Pure Land” of Amitabha, also called Sukhavati. In that idyllic environment, no new negative karmic accumulati-ons would be created and all existing ones would evaporate. Nirvana would be therefore just a short step away. (J. Snelling, The Buddhist Handbook, p.

133-4.)

Thus, at the popular level, the Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha is an ideal training ground, an ideal environment where the practitioner is reborn thanks both to his own efforts and the power of Amitabha Buddha’s vows (other-power).7 No longer subject to retrogression, having left Birth and Death behind forever, the cultivator can now focus all his efforts toward the ultimate aim of Buddhahood.

This aspect of Pure Land is the form under which the school is popularly known.8

ii) At the advanced level, i.e., for cultivators of high spiritual capacity, the Pure Land method, like other methods, reverts the ordinary, deluded mind to the Self- Nature True Mind.9 In the process, wisdom and Buddhahood are eventually attai-ned. This is exemplified by the following advice of the eminent Zen master Chu Hung (Jap. Shuko), one of the three “Dragon-Elephants” of 16th-17th century China:

Right now you simply must recite the buddha-name with purity and illumi-nation. Purity means reciting the buddha-name without any other thoughts.

Illumination means reflecting back as you recite the buddha-name. Purity is sammata, “stopping.” Illumination is vipasyana, “observing.” Unify your mindfulness of buddha through buddha-name recitation, and stopping and observing are both present. (J.C. Cleary, Pure Land, Pure Mind.)

As stated in Buddhism of Wisdom and Faith (Section 18):

If we have the roots and the temperament of Mahayana followers, we should naturally understand that the goal of Buddha Recitation is to achieve Buddha-hood ... Why is it that the goal of Buddha Recitation is to become a Buddha?

It is because, as we begin reciting, the past, present and future have lost their distinction, marks exist but they have been left behind, form is emptiness, thought is the same as No-Thought, the realm of the Original Nature “apart from thought” of the Tathagata has been penetrated. This state is Buddha-hood; what else could it be?

This high-level form of Pure Land is practiced by those of deep spiritual capacities: “when the mind is pure, the Buddha land is pure ... to recite the Buddha’s name is to recite the Mind.” Thus, at the advanced level, Pure Land is Zen, Zen is Pure Land.10

In its totality, Pure Land reflects the highest teaching of Buddhism as expressed in the Avatamsaka Sutra: mutual identity and interpenetration, the simplest method contains the ultimate and the ultimate is found in the simplest.11

C) Faith, Vows and Practice

These three factors are the cornerstones of Pure Land Buddhism. If they are present, rebirth in the Pure Land is achieved. Faith means faith in Amitabha Buddha’s Vow to rescue all who recite His name, as well as faith in one’s own Self-Nature, which is intrinsically the same as His (to recite the Buddha’s name is to recite the Mind). Vows are the determination to be reborn in the Pure Land – in one’s pure Mind – so as to be in the position to save oneself and others. Practice generally means reciting the Buddha’s name to the point where one’s Mind and that of Amitabha Buddha are in unison – i.e., to the point of singlemindedness.

Samadhi and wisdom are then achieved.

Please note that all Buddhist teachings are expedients, dividing the one and indivisible Truth into many parts. Faith, Vows and Practice, although three, are really one. Thus, it can be said that rebirth in the Pure Land depends on three conditions or two conditions (Faith and Vows) or even one condition (Faith), as the one contains all and all is contained in the one. The formula to be used depends on the audience and the times. The aim is to enable sentient beings to achieve rebirth in the Pure Land as a steppingstone toward Buddhahood.

D) Transference of Merit Central to the Pure Land tradition is the figure of the Bodhisattva Dharmakara, the future Amitabha Buddha, who came to exemplify the Bodhisattva ideal and the doctrine of dedication of merit.12 This merit transference is the source of the vow-power, or other-power, in Pure Land Buddhism.

The Mahayana idea of the Buddha being able to impart his power to others marks one of those epoch-making deviations which set off the Mahayana from so-called ... original Buddhism ... The Mahayanists accumulate stocks of me-rit not only for the material of their own enlightenment but for the general cultivation of merit which can be shared equally by their fellow-beings, ani-mate and inanimate. This is the true meaning of Parinamana, that is, turning one’s merit over to others for their spiritual interest. (D.T. Suzuki, tr., The Lankavatara Sutra, p. xix.)

The rationale for such conduct, which on the surface appears to run counter to the law of Cause and Effect, may be explained in the following passage concerning one of the three Pure Land sages, the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (Kuan Yin):

Some of us may ask whether the effect of karma can be reverted by repeating the name of Kuan-Yin. This question is tied up with that of rebirth in Sukhavati [the Pure Land] and it may be answered by saying that invocation of Kuan-Yin’s name forms another cause which will right away offset the previous karma. We know, for example, that if there is a dark, heavy cloud above, the chances are that it will rain. But we also know that if a strong wind should blow, the cloud will be carried away somewhere else and we will not feel the rain. Similarly, the addition of one big factor can alter the whole course of karma ...

It is only by accepting the idea of life as one whole that both Theravadins and Mahayanists can advocate the practice of transference of merit to others.

With the case of Kuan-Yin then, by calling on Her name we identify ourselves with Her and as a result of this identification Her merits flow over to us.

These merits which are now ours then counterbalance our bad karma and save us from calamity. The law of cause and effect still stands good. All that has happened is that a powerful and immensely good karma has overshadowed the weaker one ... (Lecture on Kuan Yin by Tech Eng Soon – Penang Buddhist

Association, c. 1960. Pamphlet.)

This concept of transference of merit, which presupposes a receptive mind on the part of the cultivator, is emphasized in Pure Land. However, the concept also exists, albeit in embryonic form, in the Theravada tradition, as exemplified in the beautiful story of the Venerable Angulimala.13

E) Faith and Mind Faith is an important component of Pure Land Buddhism.14 However, wisdom or Mind also plays a crucial, if less visible, role. This interrelationship is clearly illustrated in the Meditation Sutra: the worst sinner, guilty of matricide and parri-cide, etc. may still achieve rebirth in the Pure Land if, on the verge of death, he concentrates on the Buddha’s name one to ten times with utmost faith and sincerity.

This passage can be understood at two levels. At the level of everyday life, just as the worst criminal once genuinely reformed is no longer a threat to society and may be pardoned, the sinner once truly repentant may, through the vow-power of Amitabha Buddha, achieve rebirth in the Pure Land – albeit at the lowest grade.

Thus, Pure Land offers hope to everyone; yet at the same time, the law of Cause and Effect remains valid.

At the level of principle or Mind, as the Sixth Patriarch taught in the Platform Sutra:

A foolish passing thought makes one an ordinary man, while an enlightened second thought makes one a Buddha.

Therefore, once the sinner repents and concentrates on the Buddha’s name with utmost sincerity and one-pointedness of mind, for that moment he becomes an awakened person silently merging into the stream of the Sages – can Enlightenment and Buddhahood then be that far away?15 As the Meditation Sutra states: “the Land of Amitabha Buddha is not far from here!”16

Van Hien Study Group / 1992 Festival of the Bodhisattva Kuan-Yin

(1) See the following passage, by the late founder of the Buddhist Lodge and Bud-dhist Society (London), on the true goal of all Buddhist practice:

In the West, the need for some guidance in mind-development was made acu-te ... by a sudden spate of books which were, whatever the motive of their authors, dangerous in the extreme. No word was said in them of the sole right motive for mind-development, the enlightenment of the meditator for the benefit of all mankind, and the reader was led to believe that it was qui-te legitimate to study and practice mindfulness, and the higher stages which ensue, for the benefit of business efficiency and the advancement of personal prestige. In these circumstances, Concentration and Meditation, ... was com-piled and published by the [British] Buddhist Society, with constant stress on the importance of right motive, and ample warning of the dangers, from a headache to insanity, which lie in wait for those who trifle with the greatest force on earth, the human mind. (Christmas Humphreys, The Buddhist Way of Life, p. 100.)

(2) Since every method is an expedient, adapted to a particular target audience, each one is perfect and complete for a given person or group at a given time. See also the following passage from D.T. Suzuki:

Buddhist theology has a fine comprehensive theory to explain the manifold types of experience in Buddhism, which look so contradictory to each other.

In fact the history of Chinese Buddhism is a series of attempts to reconcile the diverse schools ... Various ways of classification and reconciliation were offered, and ... their conclusion was this: Buddhism supplies us with so many gates to enter into the truth because of such a variety of human characters and temperaments and environments due to diversities of karma. This is plainly depicted and taught by the Buddha himself when he says that the same water drunk by the cow and the cobra turns in one case into nourishing milk and in the other into deadly poison, and that medicine is to be given according to disease. This is called the doctrine of [skillful] means ... (The Eastern Buddhist, Vol. 4, No. 2, p. 121.)

(3) The crucial role of other-power in Buddhist cultivation is emphasized in the Lankavatara and Avatamsaka Sutras, among others.

(4) See the following passage from D.T. Suzuki:

Jiriki (self-power) is the ... [wisdom] aspect of enlightenment and tariki (other-power) is the ... [Great Compassion] aspect of the same. By [wisdom] we transcend the principle of individuation, and by [Great Compassion] we de-scend into a world of particulars. The one goes upwards while the other comes downwards, but this is our intellectual way of understanding and interpreting enlightenment, in whose movement however there is no such twofold direction discernible. (The Eastern Buddhist, Vol. 3. No. 4, p. 314.)

(5) Historically, the roots of Pure Land go back to Ancient India, albeit the tradition was not emphasized there:

Although a cult dedicated to Amitabha Buddha worship did arise in India, piety toward this Buddha seems to have been merely one of many practices of early Mahayana Buddhism. (Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis, in Joji Okazaki, Pure

Land Buddhist Painting, p. 14.)

Note: An early form of Buddha Recitation can be found in the Nikayas of the Pali

Canon:

In the Nikayas, the Buddha ... advised his disciples to think of him and his virtues as if they saw his body before their eyes, whereby they would be ena-bled to accumulate merit and attain Nirvana or be saved from transmigrating in the evil paths ... (D.T. Suzuki, The Eastern Buddhist, Vol. 3, No. 4, p. 317.)

For details, see Glossary, “Pure Land School.”

(6) See the following passage on Bodhisattva practice, from the “Practices and Vows of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra”:

Because of living beings, they bring forth great compassion. From great com-passion the Bodhi Mind is born; and because of the Bodhi Mind, they ac-complish Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment. (Avatamsaka Sutra, ch. 40. See

Appendix.)

(7) The text of the Primal (Eighteenth) Vow is as follows:

If, after my obtaining Buddhahood, all beings in the ten quarters should desire in sincerity and trustfulness to be born in my country, and if they should not be born by only thinking of me for ten times ... may I not attain the highest Enlightenment. (Meditation Sutra, quoted by Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis, op.

cit., p. 15.) (8) Professor Allan A. Andrews has noted that there are two levels of the Pure Land practice, which have co-existed in China since the fourth century, beginning with the first two Patriarchs:

Hui-yan used [Buddha Recitation] to achieve prajna wisdom by his own self-efforts. T’an-luan considered [Buddha Recitation] the best practice for salva-tion, that is, for rebirth, because [it] is the easiest practice through the power of Amida’s compassionate vows. (“Nembutsu in the Chinese Pure Land tra-dition.” In The Eastern Buddhist, Vol. 3, No. 2, p. 40.)

Please note that understanding the dual nature of the Pure Land, as Mind-Only and as a separate entity, requires meditation and recitation – not intellectual reasoning.

In secular western thought, awareness of psychological projection as a source of supernatural being has served to demythologize demons, goblins, angels and saints and rob them of their power. The Bardo Thodol [Tibetan Book of the Dead], however, speaks of the deities as “projections” but never as “mere projections.” The deities are present and must be dealt with religiously ... not just by intellectual insight. (D.G. Dawe in The Perennial Dictionary of World

Religions, p. 93.)

(9) For details, see Buddhism of Wisdom and Faith, section 29.

The ordinary, deluded mind (thought) includes feelings, impressions, conceptions, consciousness, etc. The True Mind is the fundamental nature, the Original Face, Reality, the Buddha Nature, etc. The True Mind is to the ordinary mind what water is to waves – the two cannot be dissociated. They are the same but they are also different. All methods of cultivation aim at calming the waves, restoring the water to its original stillness. The surface then becomes a mirror, reflecting everything. This is wisdom or Enlightenment.

The practice of meditation (samatha/vipasyana), in one form or another, is the basis of cultivation in all Buddhist traditions, including Pure Land.

(10) See the following passage from D.T. Suzuki:

We observe that even the extremely devotional form of Buddhist life as revea-led in the [Pure Land] begins in its last stage of “spiritual rest” ... to approach the Zen type. Indeed here lies the unity of Buddhist experience throughout its varied expressions. (D.T. Suzuki, The Eastern Buddhist, Vol. 4, No. 2, p.

121.)

(11) The Avatamsaka Sutra teaches the interpenetration of all dharmas – the smal-lest dharma contains the largest and vice versa. As a modern example, a single computer chip can contain numerous books. This teaching is clearly expressed in chapter 26 of the sutra, which describes the last phases of practice of a Bodhisattva before final Buddhahood. In that chapter, it is taught that at each and every stage, the actions of the Bodhisattva “never go beyond Buddha Recitation”:

This is a summary of the tenth stage of enlightening beings, called Cloud of Teaching ... Whatever acts they undertake, whether through giving, or kind speech, of beneficial action, or cooperation, it is all never apart from thoughts of Buddha [Buddha Recitation], the Teaching, the Community ... (Thomas Cleary, tr., The Flower Ornament Scripture [Avatamsaka Sutra], Vol. II, p.

111.)

(12) See the following passage:

The [Longer Amitabha Sutra] ... which was in existence before a.d. 200, descri-bes a discourse offered by the Buddha Sakyamuni ... in response to questions of his disciple Ananda. Sakyamuni tells the story of the Bodhisattva Dharmaka-ra, who had for eons past been deeply moved by the suffering of sentient beings and who had determined to establish a Land of Bliss where all beings could experience emancipation from their pain ... In the presence of the eighty-first Buddha of the past, Lokesvararaja, Dharmakara made forty-eight vows rela-ting to this Paradise, and promised that he would not accept enlightenment if he could not achieve his goals ... When, after countless ages, Dharmakara achieved enlightenment and became a Buddha, the conditions of his [18th] vow were fulfilled: he became the Lord of Sukhavati, the Western Paradise, where the faithful will be reborn in bliss, there to progress through stages of increasing awareness until they finally achieve enlightenment. (Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis, in Joji Okazaki, Pure Land Buddhist Painting, p. 14-15.)

(13) The life story of the Venerable Angulimala is one of the most moving accounts in the Theravada canon. After killing ninety-nine persons, Angulimala was converted by the Buddha, repented his evil ways and joined the Order:

One day as he went on his round for alms he saw a woman in labor. Moved by compassion, he reported this pathetic woman’s suffering to the Buddha.

He then advised him to pronounce the following words of truth, which later became known as the Angulimala Paritta (Mantra) ... “Sister, since my birth in the Arya clan [i.e., since my ordination] I know not that I consciously destroyed the life of any living being. By this truth may you be whole and may your child be whole.”

He went to the presence of the suffering sister ... and uttered these words.

Instantly, she delivered the child with ease. (Narada Maha Thera, The Buddha and His Teaching, p. 124.)

(14) Faith is an important element in all Buddhist traditions, but it is particularly so in Pure Land. See the following passage from the Avatamsaka Sutra:

Faith is the basis of the path, the mother of virtues, Nourishing and growing all good ways ...

Faith can increase knowledge and virtue;

Faith can assure arrival at enlightenment.

(Thomas Cleary, tr., The Flower Ornament Scripture, vol. 1, p. 331.)

(15) This is true at the level of noumenon or principle. At the level of phenomena, there are infinite degrees of Enlightenment, from those of the sages to the Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment of the Buddhas. (A Buddha is one who is completely enlightened at all times.)

(16) The strength and pervasiveness of Pure Land teaching are such that its main practice, Buddha Recitation, is found in other schools, including the Tantric and Zen schools. In Pure Land, Buddha Recitation is practiced for the purpose of achieving rebirth in the Land of Amitabha Buddha. In the Tantric school, the immediate aim is to destroy evil karma and afflictions and generate blessings and wisdom in the current lifetime. In Zen, the koan of Buddha Recitation is meant to sever delusive thought and realize the Self-Nature True Mind. The ultimate goal of all three schools is, of course, the same: to achieve Enlightenment and Buddhahood.

Letters from Patriarch

Yin Kuang

From all delusions, karma, and demon-states, Amid all worldly paths, I will be freed, As the lotus does not touch the water, As sun and moon do not stop in space.

The Vows of Samantabhadra Letter 1

Turn Afflictions into Bodhi

Since we last met, six years have gone by in a flash. During that time, not only have the snow and dew undergone change, the destiny of our nation has been profoundly transformed as well. The evanescence of life is truly something we all deeply mourn!

I am pleased to learn from your letter that you have not neglected your Pure Land practice. However, you indicated that you are not at peace in body and mind. Could this be the result of financial difficulties or chronic illness?

If you suffer financial hardship, I suggest you retreat a step. You should reflect thus: “although there are many in this world more fortunate than I, those who are less well off are hardly few in number. I should seek only to escape hunger and cold;

why dream of riches and honor?”

Moreover, if you are content and at peace with your circumstances and surroun-dings, you can even turn afflictions into Bodhi (Enlightenment), not to mention grief into peace and joy!

If you suffer chronic illness, you should reflect deeply that this body is the very source of suffering, develop a revulsion toward it and strive to cultivate the Pure Land path, determined to achieve rebirth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss. The Buddhas view suffering as their teacher, thus achieving Ultimate Enlightenment.

Likewise, you should consider illness as medicine, to escape Birth and Death.

You should realize that human beings are bound by all kinds of karmic afflic-tions. Without the sufferings of poverty and illness, they will, by nature, pursue the world of sight and sound, fame and profit, finding it difficult to let go. Who would then willingly turn around to watch and ponder the state of perdition to come?

The sage Mencius once said:

Those who will be entrusted with great tasks should first endure hardship both in body and mind, suffering hunger and destitution or failure in their undertakings. Only then will they be able to forge their character, develop patience and endurance and attain outstanding abilities, beyond the ken of the multitude.

Therefore, you should realize that human character is usually forged in adversity. If adversity cannot be avoided, you should remain at peace and practice forbearance.

Moreover, in speaking of great tasks, the sage Mencius was referring merely to mundane undertakings. Even so, enduring hardship is necessary for success – how much more so when lowly beings such as ourselves undertake the great dual task of achieving Buddhahood and rescuing sentient beings! If you are not tested to a certain extent by financial hardship and disease, your worldly delusions will know no bounds and your Pure Land practice will be difficult to perfect. With your Mind-mirror clouded, you will revolve for many eons in the evil realms – not knowing when you will ever achieve liberation!

The ancients have said:

If it were not for a period of penetrating cold, the plum blossom could never develop its exquisite perfume!

This is the meaning of what I said earlier.

♦ ♦ ♦ You should persevere in reciting the Buddha’s name, to eradicate past karma swiftly and avoid developing a mind of afflictions, resenting the Heavens, blaming your fellow beings, considering the law of Cause and Effect as a fairy tale and rejecting the Buddhas and their teachings as ineffective. You should know that from time immemorial, we have all created immeasurable evil karma. As the Avatamsaka

Sutra states:

If evil karma had physical form, the empty space of the ten directions could not contain it.

Thus, how can haphazard, intermittent cultivation possibly annihilate all afflictions and obstructions?

Sakyamuni Buddha and Amitabha Buddha, out of compassion for sentient beings who lack the strength to rid themselves of evil karma, specifically taught the method of “relying on the Buddha’s power to take their residual karma along to the Pure Land.” Such compassionate action is all-encompassing; even our obligations to the Heavens or to our parents cannot be compared to it – not even on a scale of ten thousand to one. Therefore, you should engage in earnest repentance, seeking the Buddhas’ assistance in eradicating past karma and achieving peace and tranquility of body and mind. ♦ ♦ ♦ 20 If illness and suffering become unbearable, in addition to reciting the Buddha’s name morning and night and dedicating the merits toward rebirth in the Pure Land, you should call wholeheartedly upon the Bodhisattva Kuan Yin (Avalokitesvara). With Her silent vow to rescue sentient beings, the Bodhisattva appears throughout the worlds of the ten directions. If in time of crisis, a person can keep reciting Her name and revere Her, She will respond according to the circumstances, enabling him to escape suffering and achieve happiness.

♦ ♦ ♦ Although Buddha Recitation is simple, it is very deep and encompassing. The most important thing is to be utterly sincere and earnest, for only then will your thoughts merge with those of Amitabha Buddha and will you reap true benefits in this very life. If you are lazy and lax, lacking even the least bit of reverence and awe, you may sow the seeds of future liberation but you must still bear the inconceivable evil karma stemming from disrespect and over-familiarity. Even if, thanks to residual merits, you escape the evil realms, you will still find it difficult to join the Ocean-Wide Lotus Assembly!

Nowadays, there are quite a number of scholars who study Buddhism. However, almost all of them simply read the words of the sutras and commentaries seeking arguments and rationalizations to prove that they are versed in the Dharma.

Those with the sincerity and devotion to cultivate according to the Dharma are few indeed! I have always said that to reap the real benefit of the Dharma, you should approach it with a truly reverent mind. One-tenth of reverence and devotion annihilates one-tenth of afflictions and evil karma, and increases merit and wisdom by one-tenth – and this applies to two-tenths, three-tenths or total reverence and devotion.

Conversely, the more lax and disrespectful you are, the more obstructions and evil karma you develop, resulting in a corresponding decrease in merit and wisdom.

How sad it is! When you meet with other laymen, you should counsel them along these lines. This would be a great Dharma gift.

♦ ♦ ♦ If you can penetrate the profound, subtle meaning of the Pure Land method, so much the better. However, even if you are not entirely clear about certain aspects of it, you should still believe firmly in the words of the Buddhas and the Patriarchs.

You must not harbor doubts. To doubt is to turn your back on Buddha Amitabha, distancing yourself from Him, making it difficult to be in communion with Him and be “received and guided” at the time of death. The ancients have taught:

Only the Buddhas can truly fathom the ultimate meaning of Pure Land; even those Bodhisattvas who have achieved near equality with the Buddhas cannot grasp it completely.

If even the highest level Bodhisattvas cannot fully understand the Pure Land method, how can we expect to assess it with our own limited minds and capacities without falling into error? Intelligent persons, these days, may study the Dharma, but since they have not been in the company of fully enlightened sages, they almost always emphasize theory and noumenon (principle) while rejecting “phenomenal” cultivation as well as the law of Cause and Effect. Little do they realize that without phenomenal cultivation and belief in Cause and Effect, theory and noumenon cease to exist.

There are also certain individuals of great talent and ability, whose writings can astound the gods. However, their actions are no different from those of the dullards in the marketplace. The root cause is their rejection of phenomenal cultivation and Cause and Effect. This grave error is repeated by other people; it is a case of betraying the Dharma with one’s body (actions). The depth of such offenses and transgressions is immeasurable! Witnessing this, those endowed with profound wisdom can only sigh in pity and compassion ...

An Elder Master once said:

Those who skillfully discourse on Mind and Self-Nature surely can never reject Cause and Effect; those who believe deeply in Cause and Effect naturally understand the Mind and Self-Nature in depth. This is a natural development.

The Master’s words are a truth that has withstood the test of time, a needle pricking the heads of those with delusive wisdom.

Last autumn, during your esteemed brother’s visit to P’u T’o Mountain, I brought up these “sincere, respectful” points. However, I wonder whether he has taken them as the sincere, earnest words they were meant to be?

♦ ♦ ♦ 22 Letter 2

A Pure Mind in a Pure Land

How delighted I was to receive and read your letter! The sage Ch’u Po-yu, upon reaching his fiftieth birthday, looked back and realized the errors he was still committing at age forty-nine. When nearing seventy, Confucius expressed the wish to survive much longer in order to study the Book of Changes in depth and thus avoid major transgressions.

The scholarship of these sages had reached the highest level of mind and thought. Today’s scholars like to study chapter by chapter, with few showing concern for the issue of rectifying mind and thought. Thus, they peruse books all day long without understanding the true intent of the sages, their words and actions differing from those of the sages as greatly as day from night or square from round. There is no possible correspondence. We are not even speaking here of the transgressions of mind and thought; if these transgressions were enumerated, the list would be endless!

♦ ♦ ♦ Buddhist sutras teach followers to practice repentance constantly in order to transcend delusion and achieve Buddhahood. Thus, even the Bodhisattva Maitreya, who has attained the level of Equal Enlightenment, still pays respect to the Buddhas of the ten directions during the six periods of the day, so as to wipe out delusion and attain the Dharma Body. If this is true for the Bodhisatt-va Maitreya, what can we say of common beings filled with heavy karmic afflictions?

If you do not feel shame and remorse, your Self-Nature may be the same as the Buddhas’, but it is hidden by afflictions and evil karma and cannot manifest itself.

Just like a precious mirror which has been covered with dust for eons, not only does it not reflect light, even its reflecting nature is hidden. If you realize that the mirror already possesses the nature of brightness and strive ceaselessly to clean it, the light reflected will gradually increase until it reaches maximum radiance. The mirror can then become, once more, something of value in the world.

You should realize that the potential for reflection is inherent in the mirror and is not the result of polishing. If it were not so, a brick would also shine brightly when polished. Yet, you should also realize that although the brightness is inher-ent in the mirror, without polishing, the day would never come when it would gleam.

The Mind-Nature of sentient beings is similar. Although it is intrinsically identical to that of the Buddhas, [it is clouded]. Thus, if sentient beings do not mend their ways, from evil to wholesome, and turn their backs on worldly dusts “to merge with Enlightenment,” their inherently virtuous nature cannot appear. Such a mind-consciousness, inherently possessing the Buddha Nature in full but busily creating evil karma and suffering – mired in Birth and Death for many eons – is no different from a dark house filled with treasures. You not only cannot make use of the treasures, you may, in fact, suffer further loss. Is this not lamentable?

♦ ♦ ♦ Pure Land is precisely the sublime method enabling the practitioner to turn his back on worldly dusts to merge with Enlightenment and return to the source (the Mind). Laymen bound up in mundane affairs cannot easily find the time to attend retreats, practice meditation and recite the sutras. This method is, therefore, very suitable for persons such as yourself. Each one can pay respect to the Buddhas and recite sutras or Buddha Amitabha’s name according to individual circumstances and capacities, dedicating the merits thus accrued to rebirth in the Pure Land. In addition to your regular cultivation sessions, you should practice Buddha Recitation when walking or standing, reclining or sitting, speaking or remaining silent, eating or dressing, throughout the day, wherever you may be.

When venerating the Buddhas in clean places, you may recite either aloud or silently. In dirty places (such as washrooms) or in circumstances that do not call for reverence (such as sleeping or bathing) you should just recite silently. To recite aloud when reclining is not only disrespectful, it is also fatiguing and may lead in time to illness. Silent recitation brings the same blessings and virtues as oral recitation, as long as it is distinct, earnest and not subject to distractions.

♦ ♦ ♦ You already know that you must confess your transgressions and practice repen-tance. This is very much in accord with the Pure Land method because “when the mind is pure, the Buddha land is pure.” However, once having repented, you should change your ways and practice wholesome deeds, lest your repentance consist of empty words bringing no real benefit. This is also true if you wish to be free of external attachments in order to concentrate on Buddha Recitation and reach one-pointedness of mind. No extraordinary method is required: you should paste the single word “death” on your forehead or dangle it from your eyebrows, always keeping the following thoughts in mind:

Since time immemorial I have created untold, immeasurable evil karma; if such karma had form, the empty space of the ten directions could not contain it. Thanks to good conditions, I have been reborn in a human body and have, in addition, had the opportunity to hear the Dharma. However, given my evil karma, I must now recite the Buddha’s name singlemindedly, seeking rebirth in the Pure Land. Otherwise, when my breath has ceased, [I am bound to endure the sufferings of hells, hungry ghosts and animality]. After recovering a human body, I would lack intelligence and be deluded, prone to create evil karma, unable to perform good deeds readily. In no time, I would sink deeper into the evil realms. With my residual bad karma from previous lives still not repaid, I would commit new evil karma, constantly revolving along the Six Paths throughout eons as numerous as motes of dust – hopelessly lost in the immense sea of suffering, not knowing how to reach liberation.

If you always reflect on these points, your cultivation will be focussed. Take the example of the two notorious men who – on the verge of death – witnessed the marks of hell appear, whereupon they recited the Buddha’s name several times with utmost sincerity and devotion. Immediately, they saw Amitabha Buddha coming to “receive and guide” them back to the Pure Land. This beneficial feature exists only in the Pure Land method, out of all the countless methods taught by Sakyamuni Buddha throughout His teaching career. Therefore, I have always said that “if the Nine Realms of sentient beings do not practice this method, they cannot easily perfect the fruits of Enlightenment, while if the Buddhas of the ten directions abandon this method, they cannot benefit the masses far and wide.”

If you have utmost Faith and cultivate earnestly, seeking escape from Birth and Death, then even though you still have not left the evil, deluded world, you will not remain long in the Saha World either. While you may not have reached the Pure Land yet, you will soon be a new guest in the Land of Ultimate Bliss.

From now on, when you meet virtuous persons, do your utmost to emulate them; when you encounter an opportunity to practice good deeds, do not hesitate.

How can you have the heart to procrastinate, lest the error of one moment lead to ten thousand lifetimes of regret? Surely those with high aspirations cannot tolerate being “walking corpses,” running aimlessly while alive and simply decaying after death, along with the grass and trees. Redouble your efforts and exert yourself!

♦ ♦ ♦ Finally, while the key to rebirth in the Pure Land is singlemindedness, you, as a layman, still have your parents and your family. Although you should not unduly seek wealth and honor, you should still fulfill your family obligations – for to cultivate the Dharma is not to abandon everything. If you could let go of everything and still manage to provide for your parents and family, that would be all to the good. Otherwise, it would be contrary not only to human morality but also to the Dharma. This is something you should also realize.

As a filial son, you should counsel your parents concerning cultivation, so that they may practice Buddha Recitation and seek rebirth in the Pure Land. If they can practice with faith, they will surely achieve rebirth. Once reborn, they will transcend the mundane and enter sagehood, escape Birth and Death, join the Ocean-wide Assembly, be close to Amitabha Buddha and eventually achieve Buddhahood. Mundane filiality cannot be compared with such an achievement!

If anyone were to advise others to cultivate the Pure Land method, the merits and virtues from such teaching would be entirely his. In the future, he would surely be reborn in the upper lotus grades.

♦ ♦ ♦ 26 Letter 3

The True Mark Vehicle has no Marks

It is very difficult indeed to respond to the important questions raised in your letter. Why? It is because your aspirations are lofty while my knowledge is limited and meager. Loftiness and meagerness cannot meet; therefore, my teaching will not be appropriate to your needs!

However, in the True Mark Single Vehicle, the marks of loftiness and meagerness cannot be found. Within this Vehicle, whether the marks are lofty or limited depends on how they are conceived. Loftiness and meagerness always possess in full the nature of the Dharma Realm. Moreover, the meagerness to which I refer encompasses all the dharmas of the Ten Realms.

The Pure Land Patriarch Shan Tao has said:

If you wish to study “meaning,” [understand the Dharma] you should study all dharmas, from the mundane level to the level of the Buddhas. However, if you want to engage in “practice,” you should choose a method compatible with the Truth as well as your own capacities and level and then concentrate on it earnestly. Only then can you reap benefits swiftly. Otherwise, even if you spend many eons, you will not be able to escape Birth and Death.

This being so, there is no better method than to recite the Buddha’s name with a mind of Faith an Vows, seeking rebirth in the Pure Land. If you wish to go deeper, you should carefully peruse the Commentary on the Essential Points of the Amitabha Sutra and other Pure Land sutras and treatises.

♦ ♦ ♦ Buddhism is an open method within the ten Dharma Realms – everyone should practice it and anyone can practice it. Because they do not fully understand its true nature, some Confucian scholars blindly criticize Buddhism ... However, the evil karma resulting from maligning the Dharma pales before the karma of vilifying it with one’s own body! These days, some individuals, mouthing Mahayana teachings, consider themselves awakened to the Way. They say: “I am [intrinsically] a Buddha, why recite the Buddha’s name? Afflictions are Bodhi, what is the need to sever them? Lust, anger and delusion are precepts, concentration and wisdom, why sever lust, anger and delusion?”

Their words are as lofty as the heavenly clouds, but their actions, upon close examination, are as low as the underworld! Such persons may be considered the enemies of Buddhism. Their evil karma is ten thousand times worse than that of persons who malign Buddhism through mere ignorance of the Dharma. While their efforts in studying the Dharma are not entirely wasted, these can only constitute the seeds of liberation in the future. Their transgressions, on the other hand – the vilification of the Dharma with their bodies – will assuredly result in retribution along the Evil Paths for countless eons to come.

You should study Mahayana sutras and commentaries to ensure that your understanding is broad and complete. As far as cultivation is concerned, you should concentrate on Faith, Vows and recitation of the Buddha’s name.

♦ ♦ ♦ 28 Letter 4

The Jewelled Net of Indra

From your letter, I can see that you are concentrating on reciting the Buddha’s name, bowing to the Lotus Sutra and trying to reduce your transgressions, but you have not yet achieved success. You are thinking of following a special method to review your progress day by day. All these actions demonstrate that your cultivation in recent days is truly aimed at self-improvement, unlike those who attempt to deceive others with external displays to achieve renown. This being so, nothing could be better. I truly rejoice in your actions.

♦ ♦ ♦ A mind of sincerity and respect is the key to Pure Land cultivation. With utter sincerity and respect, even though you are only an ordinary being whose virtues are not yet perfected, you will achieve unimaginable results!

Conversely, without sincerity, bowing and reciting are no different from perfor-ming on stage, singing and prancing. Although you may be displaying the external signs of suffering, joy, compassion and other emotions, they are all make-believe because they do not spring from the depth of your mind. Any blessings or virtues that may result are but deluded merits of the human and celestial realms, and these are precisely the basis of evil karma and the seeds of immense suffering in the future. You should explain this to all your friends and colleagues, enjoining them to cultivate sincerely, so as to spread the benefits widely ...

You should not think that the merits and virtues of reciting the name of, or visualizing one Buddha are less encompassing than those received from reciting the name of, or visualizing many Buddhas. You should realize that Amitabha Buddha is the Dharma Realm Treasure Body. All the virtues of the Buddhas in the ten directions of the Dharma Realm are fully encompassed in Amitabha Buddha. This is like the jewelled net of Indra, whose thousands and thousands of jewels are fully reflected in one jewel, the image of one jewel is reflected in thousands and thousands of jewels, and each and every jewel encompasses every other, in perfect, unimpeded fashion.

♦ ♦ ♦

To great sages who have cultivated for a long time, widely varying conditions and environments do not matter; in fact, the more diverse they are, the more focussed the minds of these sages become. For beginners, on the other hand, if conditions and environments are varied, the mind-consciousness grows confused and unfocussed. Those with heavy obstructions and shallow wisdom may even, at times, be afflicted by demons. For this reason, Buddha Sakyamuni and the Patriarchs all enjoined us to recite the Buddha’s name singlemindedly until achieving samadhi – at which time hundreds of thousands of Dharma methods and countless sublime meanings will manifest themselves in full. To exemplify this Truth, the ancients have said:

To bathe in the great ocean is to use the waters of hundreds of rivers...

♦ ♦ ♦ 30 Letter 5

The Ten Thousand Dharmas have no True Nature

From your letter, I learned that in recent days you have engaged in earnest cultivation, examining yourself, mending your ways and following the path of the sages, with no desire for empty fame. I am very happy indeed!

To follow in the footsteps of the Buddhas and sages and escape Birth and Death, you should first develop an attitude of shame and repentance, abandon evil ways, perform wholesome deeds, keep the precepts and practice self-restraint. You should aim for the Truth and practice to your utmost ability. Otherwise there is deceit within deceit. Thus, understanding the Dharma is not difficult; practice is the real difficulty! Many intelligent persons merely verbalize but fail to practice. They there-fore waste an entire lifetime, spoiling a visit to the jewelled mountain and returning empty-handed. What a great pity! Their deluded thoughts flare up unchecked be-cause they are not earnest in maintaining correct thought. If they would only con-centrate on one realm, deluded thoughts would be converted into “correct wisdom.”

Therefore, as the saying goes:

If the king rules wisely, rebels and bandits will become like his own sons; if he rules unwisely, even his closest friends will turn into enemies.

♦ ♦ ♦ As common beings, who among us is not afflicted by delusion and evil karma?

However, if you take precautions in your daily life, afflictions will not flare up whenever you meet with adverse circumstances. Even if they do arise, you will be aware of and eradicate them. The conditions leading to afflictions are numerous.

Most powerful among them are wealth, lust and unusual adversities.

If you realize that ill-gotten gains are more dangerous than venemous snakes, you will not desire them when you see them. On the other hand, to assist fellow beings is precisely to lay the foundation for our own future merit and virtue.

Knowing this, whenever those in need seek your help, you should not be stingy and refuse, developing afflictions in the process.

As for lustful thoughts, when you come across women as beautiful as flowers or precious gems, even women of pleasure and courtesans, you should view them as your own sisters and, with a compassionate mind, seek to rescue them. In this way, you will not be moved by beautiful forms or swayed by lustful thoughts. Within the family, husbands and wives should respect one another as guests ...

When encountering adverse circumstances, you should develop thoughts of compassion, forgiving those who do not realize their mistakes and avoiding dis-putes. You should think: “in my previous lives, I have caused suffering and hurt sentient beings on many occasions. If I meet with adversity today, it is merely the repayment of previous debts.” Thinking thus, you become naturally content and do not develop a mind of anger and vengefulness.

However, these methods are for those of low capacities. In the case of sages who have cultivated for a long time, all afflictions become the “illuminating Mind Store” – the ten thousand dharmas have always been without self, the adverse or beneficial consequences of all actions depend on the individual alone.

♦ ♦ ♦ Faith, Vows and Practice form the cornerstone of Pure Land. If these three conditions are fulfilled, rebirth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss will be achieved. You should pay particular attention to Faith and Vows, and wish wholeheartedly to achieve rebirth in the Pure Land ... [and not as a celestial being or a Dharma Master, however awakened, as these are still within the realm of Birth and Death]. Only then will your Faith and Vows reach Amitabha Buddha so that His Compassionate Vow may embrace you. In this connection, Elder Master Ou I has said:

Achieving rebirth in the Pure Land depends entirely on Faith and Vows, while the level of rebirth depends on the depth of practice.

This is a truth as solid as steel – even if a thousand Buddhas were to appear on earth, it would not change. Only by firmly believing in this truth will you have a destiny in the Western Pure Land.

♦ ♦ ♦ If you experience difficulty in reaching one-pointedness of mind, you should focus your mind and recite with care. The main criteria of such concentration are utter sincerity and earnestness. It is very difficult to achieve one-pointedness of mind without utter sincerity. However, sincerity is not enough. You should next listen attentively to the recitation. Whether or not recitation is performed aloud, it should originate from the mind. It then proceeds from the mouth and enters the ears (even if you recite silently, the marks of oral recitation still exist in the mind). With mind and mouth reciting clearly, the ears hearing clearly and the mind thus concentrated, deluded thoughts will cease by themselves.

♦

♦ ♦ You have now reached your fifties. If you wish to attain liberation in this very life, you should concentrate on the Pure Land method. The Diamond Sutra and the Lotus Sutra should be temporarily set aside, until such time as you fully possess the Pure Land principles and achieve one-pointedness of mind through Buddha Recitation. If you spend time studying while you are trying to engage in cultivation, you may not have the time or energy. Thus, you will achieve neither and lose the benefits of both.

♦ ♦ ♦ 33 Letter 6

Faith, Vows and Practice

The true intention of Buddha Sakyamuni, when He appeared in the world to preach the Dharma and rescue sentient beings, was for all beings to escape Birth and Death and attain Enlightenment immediately. However, because sentient beings were all of differing capacities and thus could not entirely meet His transcendental expectations, the All-Compassionate Being resorted to one expedient teaching after another, all of them adapted to the individual capacities of sentient beings.

To those of the highest capacities, the Great Sage taught the path of the Bud-dhas, showing them the Self-Nature directly so that they might attain Buddhahood in one lifetime – as in the case of Sudhana in the Avatamsaka Sutra or the Dragon Princess in the Lotus Sutra. To those of more modest capacities, the Buddha taught the Bodhisattva, Pratyeka Buddha and Arhat paths, so that they might reach Buddhahood through step-by-step cultivation. To those of still lower capacities, the Buddha taught the Five Precepts and the Ten Virtues.

♦ ♦ ♦ These methods, high or low, some leading to swift liberation, others to gradual liberation, are all different. However, they all require self-power and deep cultivation to escape from the cycle of Birth and Death and reach the Self-Nature. If even a trace delusion of views or delusion of thought remains, the roots of Birth and Death cannot be extirpated. This being the case, even if the cultivator’s powers of concentration and wisdom are profound, he will continue to revolve in the cycle of Birth and Death. Only at the level of the Arhats are the roots of Birth and Death completely severed.

However, transcending Birth and Death is merely the small fruit of the Arhats;

the cultivator must still aim for the path of Great Bodhi, relying on his Vow to be reborn in the worlds of the ten directions. He may then cultivate the six paramitas and the ten thousand conducts, in order to achieve Buddhahood and rescue sentient beings ... [In this manner, he will gradually achieve the 52 different stages of Bodhisattvahood, up to the level of Wonderful Enlightenment, before finally reaching Buddhahood.] ♦ ♦ ♦

Although Buddha Sakyamuni expounded countless methods throughout His teaching career, they are all based upon the various stages of Bodhisattvahood mentioned above.

Thus, the Zen tradition points directly to the Self-Mind, seeing one’s Nature and achieving Buddhahood. This is a perfect, direct shortcut. However, we are speaking here from the viewpoint of the inherent Dharma Body (that is, principle or noumenon), bypassing phenomenal cultivation and attainment grounded in the law of Cause and Effect. If we were to consider the different levels of cultivation and achievement, there would be no difference between Zen and the Sutra Studies method.

However, in the midst of this Dharma-Ending Age, there are very few good spiritual advisors, while the capacities of sentient beings are limited. It is difficult enough to find someone who is awakened to the Way, not to mention one who has truly attained Enlightenment ! Thus, knowing that sentient beings would find it extremely difficult to achieve liberation by relying on self-power alone, Sakyamuni Buddha taught, in addition to other methods, the special approach of Pure Land.

With this method, as long as their Faith and Vows are true and earnest, even those who have committed the Five Grave Offenses or the Ten Evil Acts, may, on the verge of death, when the marks of the hells appear, follow the advice of a good spiritual advisor and recite the Buddha’s name one to ten times. Then, thanks to the compassionate power of Amitabha Buddha, even they will be received and guided to the Pure Land – not to mention those who practice wholesome deeds and do not commit transgressions!

The more diligently the cultivator engages in wholesome conduct and the deeper his power of concentration, the higher his level of rebirth will be. He will see Amitabha Buddha soon after rebirth and be able to hear the wonderful Dharma.

Therefore, even those who have awakened to the Way, severed delusion and attained the Truth should dedicate all merits toward rebirth in the Pure Land, seeking perfect attainment of the Dharma Body and swift attainment of Buddhahood.

♦ ♦ ♦ Other methods depend on the capacities of the practitioner. If they lead only to limited attainment [such as Arhatship], those of high capacities need not practice them. If they lead to great attainment, those of limited capacities cannot cultivate them. Only the Pure Land method embraces practitioners of all three capacities, high, moderate and low. Supremely lofty beings, such as the Bodhisattvas Ava-lokitesvara, Mahasthamaprapta, Manjusri and Samantabhadra, cannot transcend it, while those of low capacities, who have committed the Five Grave Offenses or the Ten Evil Deeds and have sown the seeds of the Never-Ending Hell, can still participate in it. If Sakyamuni Buddha had not taught this method, the majority of sentient beings in the Dharma-Ending Age could not hope to escape the cycle of Birth and Death.

♦ ♦ ♦ Despite its loftiness, the Pure Land Dharma Door is a very easy method of cultivation. For this reason, not only do ordinary beings find it difficult to believe, but cultivators of the Two Vehicles (Theravada followers) also harbor doubts. This applies even to Bodhisattvas at the “expedient level.” Only those who have sown the wholesome seeds of Pure Land in previous lives as well as the higher level Bodhisattvas can truly have firm and deep Faith in it.

A newborn prince, who has not yet proven his talents and virtues, is still above the ministers in nobility and honor, thanks to the power of his royal lineage.

Likewise, those who practice Buddha Recitation with full Faith and Vows, though they may be ordinary beings, belong to a lineage superior to that of the disciples of the Two Vehicles. This is because they have learned to cast their earthly minds into the sea of Enlightenment – silently in tune with the wonderful Way. Thanks to Amitabha Buddha’s power, they will swiftly attain the level of non-retrogression.

In discussing the Pure Land method, you should make a general comparison of the ease and difficulty of other-power vs. self-power, as employed in this and other methods, respectively. Otherwise, even if you do not doubt the Dharma, you will doubt yourself, and even a trace of doubt becomes an obstacle. In such a case, even if you engage in cultivation you will not reap the full benefit – not to mention what will happen if you do not cultivate. For this reason, Faith is the first criterion. You should firmly believe that the Saha World is a place of suffering, the Western Pure Land a realm of bliss ... As is said in the Smaller Amitabha Sutra:

Shariputra: Why is that land called Utmost Happiness? The beings of that land experience no suffering; they only know every kind of joy; therefore it is called Utmost Happiness. (Hozen Seki, Amida-kyo, p. 18.)

You should be wary and not attempt to reason with the mind of an ordinary being, lest you mistakenly think that “all the wonderful, extraordinary events beyond common understanding that occur in the Western Pure Land are myths representing the Mind Dharma, rather than a true environment.” With this misunderstanding, you lose the benefit of rebirth in the Pure Land. This is a major error, so be careful! ♦ ♦ ♦ 36 Once you realize that the Saha World is a place of suffering while the Pure Land is a place of joy, you should develop true, earnest Vows, resolving to leave the Saha World and return to the Land of Ultimate Bliss. Such Vows are no different from those of a person who has fallen into an excrement pit and seeks to escape swiftly, or of a prisoner who yearns for his native village. Such hopes and desires should be utterly sincere, because your own strength cannot free you from your predicament.

Sentient beings in the Saha World, facing circumstances that accord or fail to accord with their wishes, often develop the mind of greed, anger and delusion, create the karma of killing, stealing and lust, and tarnish their bright, spotless Self-Nature – this is a filthy bottomless pit. Having created evil karma, they must endure suffe-ring through many lifetimes along the Evil Paths – this is a drawn out imprisonment.

Untold eons ago, Amitabha Buddha made forty-eight Vows to rescue sentient beings. One of the Vows [the eighteenth] stated:

If, after my obtaining Buddhahood, all beings in the ten quarters should desire in sincerity and trustfulness to be born in my country, and if they should not be born by only thinking of me ten times ..., may I not attain the highest Enlightenment. (J. Okazaki, Pure Land Buddhist Painting, p. 15.)

Although Amitabha Buddha, the Compassionate One, made such a Vow, if sentient beings do not seek His help, there is little He can do. However, anyone who recites his name with utter sincerity, vowing to leave the Saha World behind, will be welcomed and escorted to the Pure Land. Amitabha Buddha has great power;

He can rescue sentient beings from the excrement pit and the prison of the defiled world, guide them to the Land of Ultimate Bliss, and help them enter the realms of the Buddhas to assume the prerogatives and functions of the Tathagatas (Buddhas).

♦ ♦ ♦ Rebirth in the Western Land thus requires, first of all, deep Faith and fervent Vows. Without these conditions, even if you were to cultivate, you could not obtain a response from Amitabha Buddha. You would merely reap the blessings of the human and celestial realms and sow the seeds of liberation in the future. Anyone who fulfills the conditions of Faith and Vows is assured of rebirth in the Pure Land.

When Elder Master Yung Ming stated that “out of ten thousand who cultivate Pure Land, ten thousand will achieve rebirth,” he was referring to those with full Faith and Vows. Once you have deep Faith and earnest Vows, you should practice

Buddha Recitation as your principal method, guided by your Faith and Vows.

These three components [Faith, Vows, Practice] are precisely the main tenets of

Pure Land – lack of any one of these conditions will prevent you from achieving rebirth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss. ♦ ♦ ♦

The form of Buddha Recitation Practice depends on the circumstances of each individual – there is no single set way ... If the cultivator is very busy, having no free time, he should set aside a specific period in the early morning. After washing up, he should bow three times to the Buddha in front of his altar (if he has one). Then, standing erect, he should join his palms and singlemindedly recite the words “Na Mo Amitabha Buddha” as many times as he can in one stretch, each stretch counting as one recitation. He should recite thus for ten stretches, and then utter the following stanza:

I vow that, along with other Pure Land cultivators, I will be reborn in the Land of Ultimate Bliss, See Amitabha Buddha, escape Birth and Death, And rescue all, as the Buddha does.

After reciting this stanza, he should bow three times before retiring.

If he does not have an altar, he can face west with palms joined, reciting according to the above method. This is the Ten Recitations Method which Elder Master Tzu Wen established for rulers and officials who are too busy with affairs of state to engage in cultivation. Why recite in one stretch? It is because sentient beings have scattered, unsettled minds and are thus unable to practice assiduously.

This recitation method relies on the breath to concentrate the mind. However, the number of utterances is dependent on the length of the breath span. There should be no effort or constraint, as this would lead to fatigue ... Since recitation with a scattered mind cannot easily lead to rebirth in the Pure Land, this method is useful for focussing the mind. While the recitations are few in number, the virtues accrued are profound and rebirth is assured.

♦ ♦ ♦ Moreover, the practitioner should maintain a virtuous and forgiving mind in all circumstances, guard against mistakes in each of his thoughts, be willing to recognize mistakes, correct his transgressions and gladly perform good actions – only then will he be in accord with Buddha Amitabha. Failure to do so indicates that his mind is still obstructed and thus not consonant with the mind of the Buddha. This makes it difficult for the two to interact. Furthermore, when bowing, reciting Mahayana sutras or accomplishing various wholesome deeds, he should dedicate all the resulting merits to rebirth in the Pure Land. He should not dedicate only the merits of Buddha Recitation itself, while transferring incidental merits toward worldly blessings. In the latter case he would not be singleminded, making rebirth in the Pure Land very difficult to achieve. ♦ ♦ ♦

The Pure Land method is extolled in numerous Mahayana sutras. Theravada sutras, on the other hand, do not mention it at all. Those who are not versed in the Dharma and reject Buddha Recitation as a “self-benefit” method are speaking thoughtlessly. Do not listen to them.

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