Dwelling in Practice that Assures Attainment
From Amitabha Buddha’s Great Vows 28, 29, 30 & 31
Dwelling in Practice that Assures Attainment
Amitabha Buddha’s Great Vows 28, 29, 30 & 31
Sakyamuni Buddha speaks of the monk Dharmakara, his practice, and his forty-eight vows before he became Amitabha Buddha. Excerpted from the Infinite Life Sutra:
When I become a Buddha, my land will be devoid of names for unwholesomeness. All beings born in my land will be of one mind and dwell in the practice that assures perfect enlightenment. Free forever from agonizing afflictions, their minds will be pure and serene. The joy they feel will be like that of a bhikshu who has eradicated all afflictions. If they have any rising thoughts of attachment to self, I will not attain perfect enlightenment.
- Vow 28. No unwholesomeness in the land.
- Vow 29. Dwell in the practice that assures perfect enlightenment.
- Vow 30. Joy like that of one who is free from afflictions.
- Vow 31. No attachment to self.
Vows twenty-eight to thirty-eight describe what the bodhisattvas’ lives are like, including the merits and benefits they will receive, in the Western Pure Land. Of course, this is very relevant to us because we are all going to the Pure Land in the near future. So, understanding this now will be very helpful in strengthening our belief.
Let’s think about the fact that there are uncountable bad things in this world, but in the Pure Land there are no unwholesome things happening. Not even their names exist there. For example, in this world, greed, anger, ignorance, and arrogance abound. In the Pure Land, no one even gives rise to any thought of greed, anger, ignorance, or arrogance. Since they do not exist, there are no names or words for them. From all this, we know how wondrous the Pure Land is.
Our ever-changing world, with its unfavorable conditions, is the result of our deluded, impure minds. When our minds are impure, our thoughts are unwholesome. It understandably follows that our speech and actions — our very world — will likewise be unwholesome.
Fortunately, the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss is very different. Created by Dharmakara’s great store of merits and virtues, and by his pure mind, the Pure Land is permanent and stable with ideal conditions for cultivation. Everything is pure and conducive to moral advancement.
Due to Dharmakara’s vows, all beings born in the Pure Land are born as high-level nonretrogressive bodhisattvas. They receive three benefits that are unique to the Pure Land:
(1) Amitabha Buddha continuously teaching,
(2) other non-retrogressive bodhisattvas as companions, and
(3) ideal conditions.
Therefore, the bodhisattvas listen to the Dharma and continue their cultivation without interruption. Surrounded by ideal conditions, they do not give rise to unwholesome thoughts or actions. Indeed, there are not even any “names for unwholesomeness.”
The twenty-ninth vow says that “all beings born in my land will be of one mind.” This is the mind that is single-mindedly mindful of Amitabha Buddha. Knowing that their buddha-name chanting had enabled them to attain birth in the Pure Land and will enable them to attain supreme, perfect enlightenment, they wisely continue their chanting. And so, they are of one mind to chant the buddha-name.
The principle of the importance of being “of one mind” applies not only to the bodhisattvas in the Pure Land but also to beings in samsara, from small groups like a family to large ones like a country. This principle cannot be ignored. When we look around today, many families feel unfulfilled and are unhappy. What is the reason? They are not “of one mind.” For example, in a family with several members, each has their own ideas and opinions. This is distressing and a serious problem.
The same is also true for organizations. In an organization with many people, like a cultivation center, if everyone has their own ideas, the center will be acrimonious. In the past, in remote monasteries, no matter how many people lived there, hundreds or even thousands, all had the same mind, the same aspiration, and learned the same things.
Though the Buddha taught countless Dharma doors, he did not intend for us to practice them all. Because all living beings have different capabilities, the Buddha taught different cultivation methods. We just need to choose the one that is most suitable for us. The one that suits our capabilities and is convenient to practice.
It’s like attending a university. Although it offers many degree programs, we do not want to study them all. We just choose and then focus on one to succeed. It is the same for Buddhism. Although it has countless Dharma methods, we just choose and focus on one to succeed. For us it is the Pure Land method. With focused practice, we will become a bodhisattva and then a Buddha.
Being of one mind, the bodhisattvas in the Pure Land “dwell in the practice that assures perfect enlightenment.” To address beings of different capabilities, the Buddha spoke of three groups showing the different results they would achieve. They are the assured attainment group, the wrong views or wrong practices group, and the indeterminate group.
First is the assured attainment group. The Dharma method that those in this group study will definitely ensure their successful achievements. The principles and practice methods that they rely on are correct. By practicing resolutely, they will definitely be assured of transcending the cycle of rebirth. The bodhisattvas in the Pure Land are all in this assured attainment group. When one is born there, one will attain nonretrogression and surely become a Buddha in one lifetime.
Second is the wrong views or wrong practices group. No matter how hard they practice, they cannot transcend samsara and attain buddhahood. It is akin to “cooking sand to make rice” as spoken of in the Surangama Sutra. How can cooking sand turn it into rice? No matter how long we cook the sand, we will not produce rice.
Third is the indeterminate group. This is the group that most of us belong to. The conditions we encounter will be very important as they determine the result we obtain. For example, if we meet a good teacher with assured attainment and follow their teachings, we will become a practitioner in the assured attainment group. If we meet a teacher with wrong views and practices, we will become a practitioner in the wrong practices group.
As we mentioned before, most of our capabilities are suitable for practicing the Pure Land method. Therefore, Venerable Master Chin Kung suggested we learn from Amitabha Buddha. His teachings are found in the Pure Land sutras, especially in his forty-eight vows in the Infinite Life Sutra. We need to treasure our opportunity to practice the Pure Land method in this lifetime. Be single-mindedly mindful of Amitabha Buddha and do not allow other thoughts such as greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, doubt in the proper teachings, or other afflictions to intermingle with our chanting or they will taint our practice.
Once beings go to the Pure Land, their minds will be pure and serene. “The joy they feel will be like that of a bhikshu who has eradicated all afflictions.” These bhikshus are arhats. Their inconceivable joy is that of one who, no longer ignorant, understands why everything happens and does not feel disappointed or become upset.
Arhats have this joy because they have eradicated their afflictions, particularly the five afflictions of views and five afflictions of thoughts. Of these, the five erroneous thoughts of greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, and doubt in the proper teachings are graver and thus harder to eliminate than the five erroneous views.
The first affliction of views is self-view. This is the belief that the body is the “self” and is a permanent entity. It is the belief that my “self” is who “I” am and who I need to protect. Consequently, our mind becomes centered on our body. With this focus on our body, we become attached to it. This attachment to our body leads to afflictions and selfishness. If we are attached to this body and consider it our “self,” we will not be able to transcend the cycle of rebirth.
We do not understand that a body is a provisional combination of various elements. When certain causes and conditions come about, the elements come together. When those conditions no longer exist, the elements disperse. Thus, a being is born and, in time, dies. The five senses shut down, and the consciousness leaves the body and passes to its next existence.
With such understanding, instead of viewing a body as a permanent self, we will regard each body as a temporary home. As the Buddha said in the Diamond Sutra, “All conditioned existences are like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow, like a dewdrop or a flash of lightning.”
The body is not permanent — it is not the true self. The body is not “I.” Consider our clothing. A piece of clothing is something we own temporarily. When it wears out, we replace it. Our body is the same. It is something we now have and use for a while. When we are finished with it, we need to let go of it and discard it. It is something that I have. It is not “I.”
What is “I”?
The Buddha explained that the true mind — the true nature — is “I.” True nature is one of the terms Sakyamuni Buddha used for buddha-nature, the true and immutable nature of all beings. “True” means permanent and never changing. As Venerable Master Chin Kung said in one of his lectures on the Amitabha Sutra, “When the Buddha spoke of the true nature, he only said ‘inconceivable.’ In other words, we cannot understand it with our mind or explain it with words. Words are too limited to describe the truth. Due to our store consciousness, there is a limit to our thinking and imagination. The true nature is not the store consciousness, so it is beyond detection.”
Our store consciousness is our true nature covered by layers of discrimination, attachments, and subtle wandering thoughts. Only when we let go of discriminations, attachments, and subtle wandering thoughts can we realize our true nature, can we see our true self.
The second affliction of views is extreme view. “Extreme” refers to the two ends. Viewing everything in terms of dualism, we see such extremes everywhere. For example, the opposite of long is short. The opposite of far is near. Everything is dualistic. With dualism, we believe one extreme view is true and attach to our viewpoint.
Our most obvious dualistic concept is the differentiation of “I” and “you,” which readily escalates to “us” versus “them.” Disparate viewpoints lead us to attach to one side or the other. Stubbornly clinging to our viewpoint, we quarrel and are confrontational. From here conflicts arise, which all too easily end in fighting and war. All from the affliction of extreme view.
The third affliction of views is attachment to views. This is an incorrect belief about the result we are experiencing as being the final one. Beings born in the form or formless heaven may think they have achieved the ultimate result because they perceive the state that they are born in to be absolutely perfect and beautiful. But this result is not the ultimate one because they are still within the cycle of rebirth.
The fourth affliction of views is the attachment to rites and rituals. This is an incorrect view about a cause. We mistakenly think something is a genuine cause. For example, wanting to become wealthy, we devise various schemes to make money. But this is not the way to accumulate wealth. The actual cause of having wealth is the giving of wealth. If we are supposed to have wealth, it will come to us, even in the most unexpected way. Without planting the necessary seeds for wealth, we will fail to attain it despite our money-making schemes. In mistaking causes and results, we will fail to obtain what we want. We need to understand this to stop making incorrect choices and suffering unwanted results.
The fifth affliction of views is evil views. These are incorrect views that do not belong to the previous four categories. The most serious evil view is not believing in cause and effect. If due to our failure to understand cause and effect we adversely affect others, our resultant suffering will be even more onerous.
In the Pure Land, the bodhisattvas do not have these five afflictions of views. They all have proper and correct views.
The affliction of thoughts refers to erroneous thoughts of greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, and doubt. Previously, we looked at the first three: greed, anger, and ignorance.
The fourth affliction of thoughts is arrogance, which can arise due to our thinking that we are superior to others, sentient or non-sentient. When we are arrogant, we are not humble. Failing to realize that all beings are equal because all beings have buddha-nature and all objects have Dharma-nature, we are unable to treat others impartially. Unable to treat all with respect.
The last affliction of thoughts is doubt. Doubt is our biggest obstacle to being born in the Pure Land. What do we doubt? The teaching of the sages. We do not understand. We hold mistaken ideas. If we doubt the teachings, we will let the opportunity of attaining birth in the Pure Land slip away, yet again.
We need to eliminate doubts about the teachings and develop confidence.
What can eliminate doubts?
Wisdom! With wisdom, we will make the decisions that enable us to be close to virtuous teaching and sages. We will then benefit, accomplish our virtue and learning, and elevate our state.
How do we attain wisdom?
Through proper learning and cultivation. The afflictions of views and thoughts are so harmful because they keep us mired in samsara, unable to help ourselves or others attain lasting liberation from suffering.
In the Pure Land, every bodhisattva has proper views and thoughts. With only good companions around them, they help each other to make progress in their cultivation.
Next, Dharmakara vowed that if the beings had “any rising thoughts of attachment to self,” he would not attain perfect enlightenment.
Some people wonder whether they will still have attachments to self when they go to the Pure Land. Will they still think about themselves? No, definitely not. Beings in the Pure Land have no attachments. If we still have the thought of attachment to self, we will not have the bodhi mind to help all beings.
Without the bodhi mind, we will not be born in the Pure Land.
In vow thirty-one, “I will not attain perfect enlightenment,” applies not only to this vow but to vows twenty-eight through thirty-one.
>> Learn more: The Initiation, Amitabha Buddha’s Forty-eight Vows
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Dedication of Merit
May the merits and virtues accrued from this work
adorn the Buddha’s pure land,
repay the four kinds of kindness above,
and relieve the sufferings of those in the three paths below.
May all those who see and hear of this
bring forth the bodhi mind
and at the end of this life,
be born together in the Land of Ultimate Bliss.
Note: The above is excerpted from the book “Awakening the Bodhi Mind: Amitabha Buddha’s Forty-Eight Vows”, which is available for download at eLibrary collection, Amitabha Gallery.
The Amitabha Buddha’s forty-eight vows is derived from the Chinese verses of the Infinite Life Sutra, that we are immensely grateful to the compilation efforts by Mr Xia Lianju. Translation credits go to The Pure Land Translation Team, Pure Land College Press.
