Females Transformed upon Birth in the Pure Land
From Amitabha Buddha’s Great Vows 22, 23 & 24
Females Transformed upon Birth in the Pure Land
Amitabha Buddha’s Great Vows 22, 23 & 24
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, there will be no females in my land. If any female who hears my name and gains pure belief, awakens the bodhi mind, is weary of and afflicted by a female body, and vows to be born in my land, then at the end of her life, she will immediately transform into the form of a male and come to my land. All the beings in the worlds in the ten directions who come to my land will be born through transformation in the lotus flowers in the ponds of seven jewels. If this is not so, I will not attain perfect enlightenment.
- Vow 22. No females in the land.
- Vow 23. Weariness of a female body and transformation into the form of a male.
- Vow 24. Transformation birth in lotus flowers.
In his twenty-second vow, Dharmakara stated that there would be “no females” in his land. After reading about his land’s wonders, we now learn that females are prohibited!
Having visited twenty-one billion buddha-lands, Dharmakara witnessed what happened when females and males existed together. He saw how females developed strong attachments to husbands and children. He saw how they suffered from broken relationships and grieved or became destitute after the death of their husband. How they underwent the life-threatening risks of childbirth and the difficulties they encountered in raising their children. How they could find themselves mistreated or abused by others, family members and strangers alike. All too often considered less important than males, females could find themselves treated like servants. Or worse. Living in patriarchal societies, even well-educated or wealthy women could see their rights, their very lives, restricted by those with power.
Having witnessed all the difficulties that arose when men and women existed together, Dharmakara also saw all the resultant emotions: love and grief, worry and fear, jealousy and anger. As these are triggered, attachments take hold. The everyday results are suffering as one’s emotions and attachments disturb one’s pure, tranquil mind. When the calm mind is agitated, one regresses. Due to regression, people keep losing ground in their practice, and their goal of buddhahood becomes even more elusive. The more elusive this goal, the greater the suffering. Due to all this, Dharmakara witnessed the sad reality of suffering when there are two genders.
Dharmakara’s solution?
All beings in his pure land would be of one gender and have the same appearance — that of Amitabha Buddha himself. When everyone looks like everyone else, there is equality. And equality is unsurpassed when that one appearance is that of a Buddha!
Next, we learn that when a woman hears Amitabha Buddha’s name, gains pure belief, awakens the bodhi mind, and becomes weary of having a female body, as her life ends, she will let go of her attachment to the female body. Amitabha Buddha will come with her lotus flower to escort her to the Western Pure Land.
In our world, lotus flowers emerge from the mud and impurities at the bottom of the pond, rise through the water, and break through the surface of the water, pure and untainted. In the Pure Land, our lotus birth symbolizes transcending the ten Dharma realms to be born pure in both body and mind.
(The ten Dharma realms comprised of the paths of hells, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, asuras, heavens, arhats, pratyekabuddhas, unenlightened bodhisattvas, and Buddhas in our world who still have subtle wandering thoughts and have not yet seen their true nature.)
This birth is very different from those in samsara where due to the development of feelings, one has attachments to parents, siblings, and children. Our attachments have kept us mired in samsara. But our birth in the Pure Land will be free of all attachments, including those that arise from clinging to beings we have an affinity with.
Where do the lotus flowers come from?
Due to the utmost compassion and great vows of Amitabha Buddha, a lotus flower will appear when a practitioner develops belief in, makes the vow, and practices the Pure Land method.
We next learn that “all the beings in the worlds in the ten directions who come to my land will be born through transformation in the lotus flowers in the ponds of seven jewels.” If any being in the worlds in the ten directions aspires to attain birth in the Pure Land, a lotus bud will grow in one of the ponds of seven jewels with the being’s name on the bud.
The flower’s size, radiance, and color are closely correlated to the being’s diligence in their practice. If the being is diligent in mindfully chanting the buddha-name, the flower will continue to grow and its qualities will be enhanced. If the being stops chanting the buddha-name, the flower will gradually wither and disappear.
Although the lotus has not yet opened, it is so immense that it is no different from a world. As Venerable Master Chin Kung explained, “I was able to appreciate this a little after I read the Avatamsaka Sutra. A large world, a great universe is no different from a world in a small particle. Within a minute particle is a world. The particle is not big, and the world is not small. Entering a world of a particle is no different from being in a large world. There is neither big nor small. Residing in a lotus flower feels like residing in the entire Pure Land. The lotus flower has not become large, and the Pure Land has not become small. But inside the flower, we would feel that the world is the same as the world outside.”
Inside the flower, we will see not only manifestations of Amitabha Buddha, Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, and Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva but also of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas in the ten directions. It is so in every lotus flower of every person who attains birth in the Pure Land. When in the flower, we do not know that we are. Daily, we will see Amitabha Buddha’s manifestation body and be with all the bodhisattvas of superior goodness in the Pure Land. The height of all beings in our lotus, including Amitabha Buddha and us, will reflect our progress in our buddha-name chanting.
What is one’s life like before the flower opens?
The Avatamsaka Sutra tells us that when inside the flower, one feels like one is residing in the entire Pure Land. We continue our buddha-name chanting within our flower. Although it has not opened, we can see the manifestation bodies of the Buddhas in the ten directions and visit them.
If we are born in the lowest grade in the Land Where Sages and Ordinary Beings Dwell Together in the Pure Land, it will take twelve kalpas at the most for the flower to open. Twelve kalpas is extraordinarily brief compared to the infinite number of kalpas that it takes in our world called Endurance (Saha World) to become a Buddha. It is like taking seconds instead of years.
When we attain enlightenment and see our true nature, our flower will open. Finally, we will see the enjoyment body of Amitabha Buddha and reside in the Land of Real Reward.
>> 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.
