Common Questions on Amitabha Sutra
Excerpts from the Commentary on the Amitabha Sutra, by Grand Master Ou-i
Grand Master Ou-i wrapped up the essence of the Commentary by taking on some commonly asked questions. His insightful answers serve to instill our faith and concentration in Pure Land practice.
Question: The Visualization Sutra is devoted to explaining visualization. Why do you say not to bother with visualization?
Answer: This idea comes from the Visualization Sutra itself. Because the superior forms of visualization focusing on the Sambhogakaya of Amitabha are beyond the mental power of ordinary people, that sutra in the thirteenth contemplation also introduces a lower grade of visualizing the form of Amitabha focusing on the Nirmanakaya, that is, the physical form, of Amitabha. However those whose karmic barriers are heavy cannot even focus on Amitabha in that way, so in the sixteenth contemplation, the sutra teaches the method of invoking the name of Amitabha. The Amitabha Sutra concentrates on the Buddha-name-recitation method of the sixteenth contemplation because it is the Dharma-Ending Age, and there are many people with heavy karmic obstructions.
Question: Masters like T’ien-ch’i and Tu-feng have proposed meditating on the Zen question, “Who is the one reciting the Buddha-name?” Why do you say that it is not necessary to practice Zen meditation?
Answer: This idea comes from Master T’ien-ch’i himself as well as other masters. Master T’ien-ch’i did not want to stand idly by while people reciting the Buddha-name failed to comprehend the compassion of Sakyamuni in teaching Buddha-name-recitation, so he posed this question to help them wake up to the real sense of reciting the Buddha-name, which is that our True Mind, not our deluded errant mind should do the recitation (i.e., recitation should be singleminded with no deluded errant thoughts). When he taught this it was like the dawn returning after a long night.
If we are unwilling to still our minds by following Master T’ien-ch’i’s advice to contemplate “Who is the one reciting the Buddha-name?” in order to recite the Buddha-name with complete concentration, we are taking hold of “a fragment of tile with which to knock on a door to hit out at our own grandparents [our Mind]”; we are rebelling against our own patriarchal teachers and doing evil, rather than obeying them and being good.
Question: Those who are willing to still their minds by reciting the Buddha-name will be all right, but how can those who are unwilling to still their minds achieve accord with the Buddha’s Mind?
Answer: Alas! The reason that Master T’ien-ch’i is asking you to still your minds by reciting the Buddha-name and reach accord with the Buddha’s Mind is precisely because you are not yet willing to do so. Since you have not yet developed true faith, it is as though you are wearing thick leather blinders, and cannot see through them. You must realize that those with eyes have no reason to light a lamp when the sun is shining — why should those without eyes struggle to find a lamp in broad daylight?
The Bodhisattva Mahasthamaprapta (a Pure Land sage) has given us a saying that is like a great mass of fire lighting the Buddha Remembrance Samadhi: “Without using any other expedients than Buddha recitation, you are able to open your own mind.” Who dares to touch this saying? How can you not be burned by it?
Question: When Amitabha Buddha appears to Pure land practitioners who are on the brink of death, how can they be sure it is not a demon?
Answer: If a Zen follower is not meditating on the Buddha, and yet Buddha suddenly appears unexpectedly, this is called a demon (delusion). A Pure Land practitioner sees the Buddha while focusing on the Buddha. Thus in his case, cause and effect coincide and his mind is in unison with that of the Buddhas. The appearance of the Buddha is therefore not a demon. There is no need to worry about this.
Question: When the sutra speaks of reciting the Buddha-name singlemindedly for seven days, does this refer to ordinary times, or to the time when we are about to die?
Answer: This refers to ordinary times.
Question: If we recite the Buddha-name for seven days, singlemindedly and without confusion, but later we again become confused and create bad karma, will we still achieve birth in the Pure Land?
Answer: A person who has actually managed to recite the Buddha-name singlemindedly will not become confused or create bad karma again.
Question: The Longer Amitabha Sutra speaks of attaining birth in the Pure Land through ten repetitions of the Buddha-name. The Treatise of the Precious King of Samadhi speaks of attaining birth in the Pure Land through a single repetition of the Buddha-name. Are they referring to ordinary times, or to the time when we are about to die?
Answer: Attaining birth in the Pure Land through ten repetitions of the Buddha-name applies to both times. If we recite the Buddha-name ten times each morning, this is an ordinary occasion. On the other hand, the Longer Amitabha Sutra speaks of attaining birth in the Pure Land through ten repetitions (and this is the same as what the Meditation Sutra says) — this refers to when we are on the brink of death. As to the passage in the Treatise of the Precious King of Samadhi about attaining birth in the Pure Land through a single repetition of the Buddha-name, this refers to the time when we are facing death.
Question: If we can attain birth in the Pure Land through ten repetitions of the Buddha name, or even a single repetition, why do we need seven days of reciting the Buddha-name, as the Amitabha Sutra says?
Answer: If we have not done the work of reciting the Buddha-name singlemindedly for seven days during ordinary times, how can we manage to recite ten times or even once when we are on the brink of death?
It would be one chance in a million if someone who had committed many evils were to have a causal basis from past lives ripen as he was on the brink of death, enabling him to meet a spiritual friend, hear his teaching, and develop faith and vows. How could he be so lucky? Master T’ien Ju’s book Doubts and Questions about the Pure Land has refuted this idea of waiting till death to practice Buddha recitation in great detail. People these days should read that book.
Question: If Amitabha’s Pure Land is a hundred billion worlds away from here, how can we be reborn there instantly?
Answer: A hundred billion worlds are not beyond one moment of thought, since fundamentally there is nothing outside the True Mind. When we rely on the power of Buddha that is inherent in our own mind, what is so hard about being born in the Pure Land instantly?
It is like a many layered scene of mountains and rivers and towers reflected in a mirror: all the layers appear there in the mirror, and in reality there is no near and far. All are reflected at once, appearing without before or after. When the sutra says,”West of here, past a hundred billion Buddha-lands, there exists a world called ‘Ultimate Bliss’”, it is also like this. When the sutra says “In this land there exists a Buddha called Amitabha, who is expounding the Dharma right now”, it is also like this.
It is also like this when a person who has developed faith and vows and recited the Buddha-name is about to die, and Amitabha and all his assembly of saints appear before that person. It is also like this when the person dies without his or her mind falling into delusion, and the person is immediately born in Amitabha’s Land of Ultimate Bliss.
We must recognize that every word in the sutra is reflected in the Great-Perfect-Wisdom-Mirror of the Ocean-Seal Samadhi.
Question: Reciting the Buddha-name is a partial practice, an auxiliary practice. Why do you call it a principal practice?
Answer: Basing ourselves on the One Mind, we speak of faith, vows, and practice. There is however no order of precedence here, nor is naming three aspects a set definition. Without vows and practice, we cannot speak of true faith. Without practice and faith, we cannot speak of true vows. Without faith and vows, we cannot speak of true practice.
Relying fully on our faith and our vows, we recite the Buddha-name. Thus faith, vows, and practice seem to be three things, but all three are fully present in every repetition of the Buddha-name. This is why reciting the Buddha-name is called the cause and condition for numerous good roots, merits, and virtues. The Visualization Sutra means this when it says that by invoking the Buddha-name, from moment to moment we are clearing away the bad karma of eighty million eons of birth and death. Without great merits, virtues and good roots, how could we clear away bad karma on such a grand scale?
Question: With the intensity that comes from reciting the Buddha-name on the brink of death, we can clear away a lot of bad karma. Can we achieve the same result in ordinary times if we invoke the Buddha-name singlemindedly?
Answer: When the sun comes out, all darkness disappears. When we invoke the great name of Amitabha, myriad evil deeds are wiped away.
Question: Can we also clear away bad karma if we invoke the Buddha-name with a scattered mind?
Answer: The merit and virtue of the Buddha-name are inconceivable, so how could they not clear away bad karma? But reciting the Buddha-name with a scattered mind does not guarantee being reborn in the Pure Land, since the good roots created by a diffuse, scattered recitation are no match for the evils that have accumulated from time without beginning.
We must understand that all of space could not contain our accumulated evils, if they took on physical form. Every repetition of the Buddha-name might wipe away the bad karma of eighty millions eons of birth and death, but even if we recited the Buddha-name day and night for a hundred years, the amount of bad karma which would be wiped out is like the amount of dirt under a fingernail, while the amount of bad karma remaining is like all the dirt on earth.
The only way to eliminate all bad karma is to recite the Buddha-name to the point of singleminded concentration. This is like a powerful warrior breaking out of an encirclement, so even three armies cannot hem him in any more. In all instances however, invoking the Buddha-name is a seed for becoming enlightened. It is like an indestructible diamond.
When Sakyamuni Buddha was in the world, there was an old man who asked to become a monk. The congregation of five hundred monks all said the old man was lacking in good roots. Buddha however said: “Countless ages ago this man was being pursued by a tiger, and cried out ‘Nam Mo Amitabha Buddha!’ Now the good roots from that occasion have become ripe: he has met me and found the path. This is not something that followers of the Lesser Vehicle can perceive.” This story, together with the teachings of the Lotus Sutra, show that even those who invoke the Buddha-name in a scattered, confused state of mind have planted the seed of Buddhahood. How can we not believe them?
It is my humble hope that no matter whether you are a layperson or a monk or nun, no matter whether you are smart or stupid, you will adopt a positive attitude toward this simple, direct, Sudden Perfect Pure Land teaching. Do not look upon it as difficult and shrink away from it. Do not look upon it as easy and become complacent and not try hard enough. Do not look upon it as shallow and despise it. Do not look upon it as profound and not dare to accept it as your task.
The name of Amitabha which we recite is truly inconceivable. But the True Mind of those who recite it is also truly inconceivable. If you recite the Buddha-name once, you are inconceivable for the time the sound of it lasts. If you recite it ten or a hundred or a thousand or a million times, or countless times, you are inconceivable all the while the sound of your recitation lasts.
In the next passage in the sutra, Buddha reiterates his advice: “I have seen this benefit, and so I speak these words. If sentient beings hear what I say, they must make a vow to be born in that land.”
Buddha says, “I have seen this benefit.” The vision of the Buddha is the ultimate in clarity. The benefit he has seen is that through reciting the Buddha-name, sentient beings can transcend the world of the Five Corruptions, be reborn within the Four Lands, and reach the level where they do not backslide. This benefit is brought about by the inconceivable merit of the Buddha-name.
With reference to what happens when we die, this benefit is that our minds do not fall into delusion and error. In this polluted world, if we rely solely on self-effort in our practice, it is extremely hard to gain power over the crucial juncture of birth and death.
If there is the least bit of bad karma that you have not cleared away by the time you are about to die, you will plunge into an untoward rebirth — this applies no matter whether you have ignorantly cultivated a misguided practice and trusted in your deluded intellect, or whether you have had some profound awakenings and your conduct has been consistent and correct.
As the Pure Land Patriarch Yung-ming said, “Nine out of ten people who practice Zen meditation miss the road: scenes of delusion appear before them at death, and in an instant they follow them off.” This is truly a chilling prospect!
Even Arhats become deluded again as they emerge from the womb, and even Bodhisattvas can become benighted between death and a subsequent rebirth. Here, at the point of death, how can you forcibly act the master? If you expect to be so lucky, you are a fool.
The only way out is to have faith, vows, recite the Buddha-name and rely on other-power. Amitabha’s vows of compassion are certainly not empty promises. If we have faith and vows and recite the Buddha-name, when we die Amitabha and the assembly of saints will appear before us to lead us way. That way we will not fail, and we will easily be reborn in the Pure Land.
Buddha saw that sentient beings’ greatest suffering is to fall into confusion at the moment of death, and so he vouchsafed this Pure Land teaching to us. This is why he urged us again and again to take vows: because vows can guide us.
Question: If Buddha is a creation of the Mind, if Buddha is the Mind, why do you not speak of our own inherent Buddha as supreme? Why do you insist that another Buddha, Amitabha Buddha, is better?
Answer: This Pure Land teaching is all a matter of comprehending that Amitabha Buddha is precisely our own Buddha Nature, our Mind. If we mistakenly refer to the Buddha as “other”, we would fall into one form of delusive view. If we were to overemphasize our own inherent Buddha, this would be another form of delusive view. Both are wrong.
Through our invoking the Buddha-name both at the phenomenal level and at the level of inner truth (noumenon), Amitabha and the assembly of saints appears before us: this is our inherent True Nature becoming manifest. Also, we are born in the Pure Land and see Amitabha and hear his teaching: this is perfecting the body of wisdom of our True Nature. This is not awakening through something other than ourselves.
The Pure Land teaching is profound and wondrous. It destroys all sophistry and cuts off all delusive views. Only those with the wisdom of Ashvaghosha, Nagarjuna, Chih-i and Yung-ming can take it up completely. Those of worldly intelligence, the followers of Confucianism and the devotees of Zen, may try to figure it out to the limit of their powers, but the more they think about it, the farther off they get. In terms of being able to reach the wisdom of the Buddhas and mesh with the wonders of the Path, such intellectuals are not as good as ordinary men and women who recite the Buddha-name in all sincerity.
“I have seen this benefit and so I speak these words.” Buddha’s eye and Buddha’s voice clearly affirm this truth, so how can we dare to go against it? Shouldn’t we accept it?
This concludes the commentary on the main body of the sutra.
The Pure Land method of developing faith and vows and reciting the Buddha-name both perfectly subsumes and perfectly surpasses all other Buddhist methods. Vertically, it intermingles with all the Buddhist teachings; horizontally, it stands apart from them.
Buddha spontaneously gave this Pure Land teaching without being asked. Who is worthy to extol it and transmit it? Only when a Buddha communicates with a Buddha is it possible to fully express the absolute reality of all the teachings. This Amitabha Sutra is about a Buddha-realm, and it can only be transmitted from Buddha to Buddha.
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Source:
The above excerpt is a translation from the Chinese Commentary on the Amitabha Sutra written by Grand Master Ou-i. Translation comes from the book, Mind-Seal of the Buddhas.
To learn more about the Pure Land teachings from this commentary, read the complete text at The Commentary on The Amitabha Sutra.
Resources:
Five Pure Land Sutras from Pure Land Buddhism
Buddha-name Chanting Music Collection
