Fulfillment of All Wishes
From Amitabha Buddha’s Great Vows 37 & 38
Fulfillment of All Wishes
Amitabha Buddha’s Great Vows 37 & 38
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, for those who are born in my land, food, clothing, and myriad offerings will appear the instant they are thought of. No wish will be unfulfilled. All Buddhas in the ten directions will receive the offerings immediately when they are thought of. If this is not so, I will not attain perfect enlightenment.
- Vow 37. Clothing and food appear spontaneously.
- Vow 38. Offerings are received the instant they are thought of.
The thirty-seventh vow speaks of clothing and food appearing spontaneously. In our world, humans have long found life to be very difficult. For example, obtaining and preparing food, making and repairing clothing takes time and energy. In Buddhism, it is often said, “The wheel of Dharma does not turn until the wheel of food is turned.” In other words, not having a stable life will be a great obstacle to our spiritual practice. After all, a mortal is a mortal.
When Dharmakara visited all the buddha-lands in the ten directions to know what he wanted for his pure land, he saw that many beings in those lands had such concerns. He was very aware that the beings, even spiritual seekers, worried about meeting their need for “food, clothing.” And so, he thoughtfully devised a way to provide food and clothing, as well as myriad offerings for visits to Buddhas in other lands. How did he provide this? “Food, clothing, and myriad offerings will appear the instant they are thought of.”
Some may wonder why there is still food and drink in the Western Pure Land. Some of the bodhisattvas recently born in the “Land Where Sages and Ordinary Beings Dwell Together” in the Pure Land are still prone to the habit of eating. Thus, the thought of food can still arise. With this thought, the food appears in front of them. But then the bodhisattva thinks, “I’m a bodhisattva now. I don’t need food!” With that thought, the food is immediately gone.
The next phrase is “No wish will be unfulfilled.” In the Pure Land, everything the bodhisattvas need is available. Whatever they think of, including food, clothing, offerings will appear. It is all there at their fingertips. This allows them to focus on their cultivation.
An important part of the daily life of bodhisattvas in the Pure Land is making offerings to the Buddhas in other lands throughout the ten directions. Dharmakara vowed in his thirty-eighth vow that “All Buddhas in the ten directions will receive the offerings immediately when they are thought of.” The bodhisattvas can make offerings to multiple Buddhas at the same time.
Making offerings to a Buddha is cultivating great good fortune and great wisdom. How can this be? Making an offering is a sincere show of respect. In response, that Buddha will teach the bodhisattva. As that Buddha does so, the bodhisattva gains wisdom. Thus, by making offerings, the bodhisattva gains both great good fortune and great wisdom.
It is not easy for us to meet an arhat or a true practitioner in this world, not to mention meeting a Buddha. Since it is so hard to meet a Buddha in our buddha-land, where can we go to make offerings to Buddhas? The Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss! In the Pure Land, all the bodhisattvas have the ability and the opportunity to make offerings to all the Buddhas in the ten directions. How wonderful this is!
This is but a glimpse of the daily life of a bodhisattva in the Pure Land. We can see how wonderful their lives are. They enjoy great ease and freedom. They can instantly travel to any of the buddha-lands in the ten directions. In those lands, they make offerings to and learn from the Buddhas and help the beings they have an affinity with. This is the great freedom and great joy that we too will have when we are born in the Pure Land.
>> 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.
