Infinite Colored Trees
From Amitabha Buddha’s Great Vows 40 & 41
Infinite Colored Trees
Amitabha Buddha’s Great Vows 40 & 41
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 infinite colored trees in my land. Their heights can be hundreds or thousands of yojanas. The height of a cultivation-place tree can be as tall as four million li. All bodhisattvas will know this, even those with lesser good roots. If they want to see the magnificence and purity of the lands of other Buddhas, they can do so between the jewel trees. It will be like looking into a bright, clear mirror to see their face. If this is not so, I will not attain perfect enlightenment.
- Vow 40. Infinite colored trees.
- Vow 41. Trees reveal lands of Buddhas.
The phrase “infinite colored trees in my land” is an example of one of “all things in my land.” With so many things in the Western Pure Land, why are the trees mentioned? Probably because innumerable sentient beings in the other buddha-lands in the ten directions enjoy trees and plants.
The infinite colored trees refer to all the jeweled trees in the Pure Land. Made of seven jewels, the trees are radiant with wondrous colors. There are rows and rows of them, all artfully arranged with branches intricately intertwined. Perfect, they abound throughout the Pure Land. This refers to the uncountable number of trees, their unparalleled beauty and magnificence, and their incredible height.
The Pure Land is a land of Dharma-nature, a land created from our true minds.
As ordinary beings, we are still using our deluded minds. It is not just us deluded beings in the six paths who cannot imagine the splendor of the flowers, plants, and trees in the Pure Land. Even bodhisattvas in the ten Dharma realms cannot. Let alone describe it. What Sakyamuni Buddha described in this sutra is just a brief introduction in words and examples that we can understand.
Those who uncover the true nature and obtain enlightenment will be able to see the jeweled trees and all the wonders, just like the bodhisattvas in the Pure Land do. But it is almost impossible for ordinary beings in the Saha World to attain such a state. This is why we need to be born in the Pure Land.
In the sutra, the height of the trees was measured in yojanas, a unit of length in ancient India. Yojanas were categorized as large, medium, and small. In ancient China, a large yojana was equivalent to eighty lis (approximately 40 kilometers), a medium yojana was equivalent to sixty lis, and a small yojana, forty lis.
Trees that are “hundreds or thousands of yojanas” are incredibly tall. Why are the trees so tall in the Pure Land? Because everyone in the Pure Land is very tall. Compared to the beings in the Pure Land, we look as small as ants. This is because we create impure karma, which results in our having an inferior retribution body. The bodhisattvas in the Pure Land have pure karma. This is why the bodhisattvas and the trees are so tall.
In the verse titled “Praise to Amitabha Buddha,” Amitabha Buddha is praised for the size of his white curl, which is as large as five Sumeru Mountains, and his deep blue eyes that are as clear as the four great seas. Amitabha Buddha is incredibly tall, and all the bodhisattvas in the Pure Land are as well. We can thus see that the trees in the Pure Land are also incredibly tall in order to be proportionate.
The cultivation place is the lecture hall where Amitabha Buddha teaches in the Pure Land. Around the cultivation place are many bodhi trees, known as the king of trees. The height of these trees is four million li. They are taller and more magnificent than the other trees in the Pure Land.
Pervading everywhere are the light and fragrances from the trees. Additionally, all the trees have wondrous colors and exquisite shapes. The trees appear to the bodhisattvas according to their respective preferences, and by doing so fill their hearts with joy. The trees also emanate the sounds of the Dharma, which allows the bodhisattvas to hear all the specific Dharma teachings they wish to.
The virtues and merits of the bodhi trees in the cultivation place are truly supreme, rare, exquisite, and inconceivable. A result of Amitabha Buddha’s vows and attainment, they are teaching aids. The trees help the bodhisattvas achieve meditative concentration and to more quickly attain perfect enlightenment.
Next, Dharmakara said, “All bodhisattvas will know this, even those with lesser good roots.” The bodhisattvas with lesser good roots are those who have been born in the “Land Where Sages and Ordinary Beings Dwell Together”.
On their own, it would be hard for bodhisattvas with lesser good roots to understand the supreme and great merits and virtues of these bodhi trees. But with Amitabha Buddha’s compassion and support, bodhisattvas with lesser good roots, even those in the lowest grade, are able to fully understand. Their understanding will be the same as that of the great enlightened bodhisattvas.
In the Pure Land, through the trees of the cultivation place, whatever one wants to see will appear. If bodhisattvas want to see a specific buddha-land, they can instantly do so through the trees. It is like looking at a TV screen but without the need to select the channel. They just give rise to the thought. For example, we come from Earth. When in the Pure Land we might wonder, how is Earth? With this thought, we will immediately see a scene of Earth. We can see any place we want. If we want to see other worlds, even the six paths, we can see them all. This ability is incredibly rare.
>> 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.
