No Evil Paths in the Pure Land
From Amitabha Buddha’s Great Vows 1 & 2
No Evil Paths in the Pure Land
Amitabha Buddha’s Great Vows 1 & 2
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:
If I attain the supreme bodhi, the perfect enlightenment, the buddha-land I dwell in will be replete with infinite inconceivable merits and virtues, and magnificence. There will be no hells, hungry ghosts, animals, and flying and crawling insects. All living beings, even those from the three evil paths, including Yamaraja’s realm, who are born in my land will be inspired and transformed by my teachings, attain anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, and never again fall into the evil paths. If I fulfill these vows, I will become a Buddha. If I do not fulfill these vows, I will not attain supreme, perfect enlightenment.
- Vow 1. No evil paths in the land.
- Vow 2. Never fall into the evil paths.
Dharmakara’s vows start here. Although appearing only once in the sutra, this first sentence is a statement that applies to every one of the forty-eight great vows. Each vow is the expanded explanation of this first sentence.
Here, Dharmakara spoke of attaining “supreme bodhi, the perfect enlightenment.” This is the state of a Buddha.
Upon attaining buddhahood, his buddha-land “will be replete with infinite inconceivable merits and virtues” and immeasurable purity and magnificence. To “be replete with” means to have complete perfection. The buddha-land perfectly embraces all. All the merits and virtues, and magnificence are inconceivable. They are beyond imagination and vision, beyond thinking and differentiating. They cannot be expressed with words, so they are “inconceivable.”
To become a Buddha means to become a being with perfect quiescence, supreme compassion, unequaled wisdom, and whose every thought is towards benefitting all beings. Such a state is unimaginable to us unawakened beings. We have no words to express it, no experiences to help us envision it.
What we do have — and can have complete confidence in — is the assurance from our fundamental teacher, Sakyamuni Buddha, that “supreme bodhi, the perfect enlightenment,” is the ultimate goal we should aspire to. And so, we trust our teacher and follow his advice. This important juncture in our cultivation comes not only when appropriate conditions are present. We also need to have accumulated adequate good roots and abundant merits and good fortune.
Sakyamuni Buddha taught that, unlike people in the past who attained awakening through self-discipline and meditative concentration, the abilities of those who came later would be more limited. With all our afflictions, ignorance, and bad habits, achieving awakening on our own will be extraordinarily difficult. We will easily regress in our practice, advancing in one lifetime but losing ground in many more. We need help to attain perfect enlightenment.
And so, Sakyamuni Buddha spoke of Lokesvararaja Buddha and his student, a monk called Dharmakara. As we previously learned, Dharmakara aspired to help those who did not know the Dharma to learn it and those who did know it to attain buddhahood. Thus, he strove to create an ideal land for them — for everyone, including us — to cultivate in. He humbly went to Lokesvararaja Buddha to ask for guidance in creating this land.
Under Lokesvararaja Buddha’s guidance, Dharmakara saw and examined billions of buddha-lands in the ten directions. He saw how the lands differed greatly from one another. Some were beautiful and had little suffering. Conditions in those lands were favorable for the beings to cultivate good karmas as they progressed on their way to awakening. Other worlds were afflicted with intense suffering and had limited opportunities for moral and spiritual advancement. Our Saha world, the world of Endurance, is like the latter.
Viewing all these lands, Dharmakara chose the conditions to include in his land; for example, having Buddhas for teachers and nonretrogression for all the bodhisattvas there. He also determined that the conditions leading to afflictions would be excluded so no one in his pure land would commit the ten evil karmas or the five grave offenses. These afflictions, which include greed, anger, and ignorance, are the major causes of the three evil paths.
Beings are mired in samsara because of their desires and attachments. They are constantly affected by greed, anger, ignorance and arrogance, and these result in the beings being reborn in the three evil paths. When these afflictions are unrestrained, the beings commit the ten evil karmas and even the five grave offenses of patricide, matricide, killing an arhat (or a bodhisattva), intentionally shedding the blood of a Buddha, and creating a schism in the sangha.
Consider greed. Greed can arise in favorable conditions. When situations go according to our wishes, we may desire that they continue and want even more. We may also be afraid of losing what we have. Greed also arises when we do not have something and we crave it. Dharmakara saw that when greed abounds, people can become so wrapped up in satisfying their own desires that they are blind to everything else, even when others cry out for help. Focused on self-interest, these people feel justified in acquiring whatever they fancy. Feeling entitled due to their position, current situation, imagined personal importance, and so much more, their desires keep increasing and attachments keep deepening.
When greed is unchecked and a being commits the ten evil karmas, the being will be reborn as a hungry ghost. Often depicted with distended stomachs and tiny throats, hungry ghosts are frightened, filled with guilt, and always in a state of craving food and drink. Upon eating, food often turns into burning coals or molten iron. Those with little good fortune dwell in impure places and suffer immensely.
Next is anger. Anger can arise in unfavorable conditions. Anger comes hand in hand with greed, arising when desires remain unfulfilled. And since greed is rarely fulfilled, anger has countless opportunities to run rampant.
When anger is unchecked and a being commits the ten evil karmas or the five deadly offenses, the being will be reborn in the hells. There are three primary categories of hells: hot hells, cold hells, and solitary hells. The suffering, whether it is burning, freezing, or innumerable others, is intense and continues for so long that it seems never-ending.
And third is ignorance, which is the failure to understand the truth of existence. When ignorance is unchecked and a being commits the ten evil karmas, the being will be reborn in the animal path. For the vast majority of animals, the suffering is intense. Most spend their lives searching for food and are either killed by other animals or by people.
Those who are reborn as hungry ghosts have committed more severe ten evil karmas than those who are reborn as animals. And those reborn in the hells have committed the severest of the ten evil karmas.
Regardless of the individual causes and conditions of the three evil paths, each entails suffering. An animal’s suffering is the struggle for existence amid an ever-present threat of death. A hungry ghost’s suffering is the endless failure to attain adequate nourishment. A hell dweller’s suffering is the excruciating pain they have to endure for kalpas. (A great kalpa is the length of time in which a universe goes through the cycle of creation, existence, annihilation, and void.)
Failing to understand fundamental, eternal truths, we are prone to innumerable afflictions, not just greed, anger, and ignorance. We, therefore, commit a multitude of harmful karmas and set into motion the karmic retributions of much suffering.
Witnessing all this suffering, Dharmakara made his first vow: “There will be no hells, hungry ghosts, animals, and flying and crawling insects.” This assures us that his pure land will be free of the three evil paths and the conditions that lead to them. Why are the paths called “evil”? As we read in The Seeker’s Glossary of Buddhism, “Buddhism is not dualistic, and, therefore, does not divide phenomena into absolute ‘good’ or ‘evil’. It recognizes ‘evil’ as ‘limitation’, and, therefore, purely relative. . . . All evil is traced to desire for self. The ‘basic evil’ is the idea of separateness, and the Buddhist goal is the removal of evil by the eradication of every selfish inclination.”
And so, evil is what obstructs beings and holds them back from acting from their buddha-nature, their true nature. True nature is intrinsically good. Knowing this, we do not want to disparage those who inhabit the three evil paths. Hopefully, this will help us to understand that “evil” is separateness, essentially detachment — thinking of oneself as unique and individual.
What of the good paths? Of heavenly beings? Heavenly beings are born as such due to their kind hearts, virtuous behavior, and good fortune. Their lives are shaped by the fruition of the good seeds they have planted. But even in the heavens, where the beings’ lives seem filled with happiness, suffering still exists.
How can this be?
Because suffering exists throughout samsara.
Heavenly beings experience at least one of three kinds of suffering: (1) that which arises from mental and physical pain, (2) that which arises from deterioration, and (3) that which is inherent in impermanence. The suffering a being undergoes depends on which of the three realms — desire, form, or formless — the being is in.
Because heavenly beings in the desire realm still have a body and desires, they undergo all three kinds of suffering. When their good fortune is exhausted, their clothing will become dirty, the heavenly flowers on their heads will wither, and they will begin to sweat and develop a foul smell. Other heavenly beings will desert them. They will become frightened and die alone.
Heavenly beings in the form realm have a form but are able to subdue their desires through meditation. They will undergo the second and third kind of suffering. When they are dying, due to their changing circumstances or conditions, they undergo deterioration of form and lose the happiness they were enjoying. The other suffering is the suffering inherent in impermanence. They are unable to dwell in meditative concentration permanently and hence are no longer able to subdue their desires and changing thoughts. Their lifespan as a heavenly being will end.
Heavenly beings in the formless realm do not have a physical body so they do not have the first and second kinds of suffering. They do however have the third kind, that which is inherent in impermanence. The beings in the highest of the formless heavens have lifespans of 80,000 kalpas. All the beings in the formless realm have meditative concentration to subdue their desires temporarily, but they lack the wisdom to truly eradicate their desires. At the end of their incredibly long lifetime, which they thought would last forever, they will suffer intensely. They will lose their meditative concentration and no longer be able to subdue their desires. They will fall into the lower paths and continue to be mired in the cycle of birth and death. Truly terrifying!
Because heavenly beings spend their life enjoying happiness, it is only when they are dying that they suffer. Basically, they feel no need to cultivate with the goal of ending suffering. Nor is there a need to develop the bodhi mind, to try and help others reduce suffering when all around them other beings similarly enjoy happiness.
Having learned of the suffering that even those in the heavens undergo, what then of humans? Not only do human beings suffer from the three kinds of suffering, but their suffering is also much more intense. Like heavenly beings, human beings also have happiness but to a lesser degree. It is this combination of happiness and suffering that makes the human path best suited for cultivation.
But this opportunity for cultivation is rare to encounter.
Rebirth as a human is extraordinarily rare. Why?
Beings have to adequately cultivate the five precepts before rebirth as a human. The chance to be born as a human is as rare as a turtle rising from the depths of a vast sea to break through the surface into the center of a solitary wreath of flowers floating on the water!
But there’s more.
Having attained our incredibly rare human birth, we have to live when a Buddha is teaching or, at least, when his teachings are still available. Then we have to have the good roots and the conditions to encounter the teachings. We also need merits and good fortune, and conditions to believe, accept, and practice. Unless we and others in the buddha-lands in the ten directions encounter all these good conditions — and avail ourselves of them — we will continue to suffer.
Having witnessed all manner of suffering in the buddha-lands he examined, Dharmakara determined what he did not want for his pure land. Since the sufferings from the three evil paths are exceptionally intense and pitiable, he wanted none of the conditions that would lead to such rebirth. Thus, he first vowed that there would be “no hells, hungry ghosts, animals, and flying and crawling insects” in his land.
In his second vow, Dharmakara spoke of “even those from the three evil paths, including Yamaraja’s realm.” Yamaraja oversees the realm of the hells, one of the three evil paths. By highlighting Yamaraja’s name, Dharmakara was emphasizing how even beings from the hells can be born in the Western Pure Land. (Yamaraja is a being who oversees the realm of the hells.)
Once there, they will be born as bodhisattvas and achieve three things.
First, the bodhisattvas will be inspired and transformed by Amitabha Buddha’s teachings, which all Buddhas expound. The bodhisattvas will be immersed in these teachings as they listen to the Dharma, be it taught by Amitabha Buddha or other bodhisattvas, or by birds singing or through the rustling of trees. With sounds of the Dharma all around, the bodhisattvas never give rise to evil thoughts.
Second, the bodhisattvas will attain anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, the Sanskrit term for “supreme, perfect enlightenment.” Saying that “all living beings, even those from the three evil paths, including Yamaraja’s realm, who are born in my land will be inspired and transformed by my teachings, attain anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, and never again fall into the evil paths” assures us that anyone who is born in the Pure Land will surely become a Buddha and attain perfect enlightenment. This vow arises from the mind of Amitabha Buddha. His every thought is to wish that all beings become Buddhas.
And third, the bodhisattvas will never again fall back into the three evil paths.
Amazing! They will be transformed and never again regress in their cultivation, and even attain supreme, perfect enlightenment.
Dharmakara then said, “If I fulfill these vows, I will become a Buddha. If I do not fulfill these vows, I will not attain supreme, perfect enlightenment.” This is the first time in the sutra that Dharmakara said this — that if he does not fulfill his vows, he will not attain buddhahood.
We know Dharmakara fulfilled his vows because we read in the Amitabha Sutra that “At that time, Buddha said to the Elder Sariputra, ‘West of here, past a hundred billion buddha-lands, there exists a world called Ultimate Bliss. In this land there is a Buddha called Amitabha, who has been a Buddha for ten kalpas and is now still expounding the Dharma there.” The Buddha speaking to Sariputra was Sakyamuni Buddha, or simply the Buddha. What he said assures us that Amitabha Buddha is not an imagined being or a being yet to come into existence sometime in the distant future. Amitabha Buddha is real. His forty-eight vows have been fulfilled. And his Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss exists west of here, past a hundred billion buddha-lands.
In Mind-seal of the Buddhas, the translation of Great Master Ouyi’s Essentials of the Amitabha Sutra, (Great Master Ouyi was the ninth patriarch of the Pure Land school.), we read a conversation in which a student asked his teacher, “Master, does the Pure Land exist?”
The Master replied, “Does this world exist?”
The student said, “Of course it does, Master.”
The Master replied, “If this world exists, then the Pure Land exists all the more.”
>> 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.
