Single-minded Practice of Buddha-name Chanting
Excerpts from the Commentary on the Amitabha Sutra, by Grand Master Ou-i
Grand Master Ou-i pointed out that if your faith and vows are solid and strong, then even if you recite the Buddha-name only ten times, or only once, as you are on the brink of death, you are sure to attain birth in the Pure Land.
Without faith and vows, even if you recite the Buddha-name until you achieve a level of concentration the Zen literature describes as “wind cannot enter you and rain cannot wet you” and “you stand like a silver wall or an iron wall”, you will still not have a way to be born in the Pure Land.
Those who cultivate Pure Land practices must realize this truth. The Longer Amitabha Sutra also takes”vows” as essential and is identical in meaning to this section.
Now the sutra directly teaches practitioners that reciting the Buddha-name is the way to practice. First it shows the working of cause and effect in creating the bodies of the Buddha, and then it reiterates its admonition to recite the Buddha-name. The sutra continues:
“One cannot be born in this land through minor good roots, blessings, virtues and causal connections. If there are good men or good women who hear of Amitabha Buddha, and recite his name singlemindedly and without confusion, for one day or two days or three days or four days or five days or six days or seven days, then when these people are about to die, Amitabha Buddha and his whole assembly will appear before them. When they die, their minds being unified and not chaotic, they will attain rebirth in Amitabha’s Land of Ultimate Bliss.”
Good roots stem from the Bodhi Mind, the direct cause. Other meritorious actions that promote the path, such as charity, discipline, and meditation, bring merits and virtues. They are the conditions that help the Bodhi Mind to develop.
Literalist disciples of the Lesser Vehicle (Shravakas and Pratyeka Buddhas), have few good roots. The meritorious deeds and virtues of human beings and gods, defiled as they are, are also few. These will not enable you to be born in the Pure Land.
Only if you have faith and vows and recite the Buddha-name will each and every repetition of the Buddha-name be amply supplied with good roots, merits and virtues.
Even if you invoke the Buddha-name in a scattered state of mind, the merits and good roots are still incalculable — how much the more so when you invoke the Buddha name singlemindedly.
By invoking the Buddha-name, you will bring on a response — the impression is made and the seal is lifted — Amitabha and his holy retinue come to you without coming, and extend a hand to lead you off. You, the person practicing Buddha-name recitation, recognize Amitabha in your mind, and you go to the Pure Land without going, placing yourself in a jewel lotus there.
When the sutra speaks of “good men and good women”, it does not matter whether you are monks and nuns or householders, whether you are high-ranking or low-ranking, old or young. No matter what your station in life, even if you belong to the Six Planes of Existence and are subject to the Four Modes of Birth, the fact that you are now able to hear the Buddha-name means that the good roots you have accumulated over many eons have ripened and you deserve the appellation “good”. This is so even if you have committed the Five Deadly Sins and the Ten Evil Deeds.
“Amitabha Buddha” is the all-inclusive term for the myriad virtues. When you use the name of Amitabha to summon virtue, all the virtues are engendered. Thus, reciting the name of Amitabha is the correct practice, and you do not need to get involved with other practices such as visualization or meditation. Reciting the name of Amitabha is the simplest and most direct method.
If you hear the Buddha-name and believe in it, if you believe in it and make vows, then you are fit to recite the Buddha-name. If you do not have faith and do not make vows, it is as if you never heard [the Buddha-name] at all. Merely hearing the name of Amitabha without faith and vows may become a long-tern causal basis for your enlightenment, but it cannot be called the “wisdom that comes from hearing”.
Reciting the Buddha-name is a matter of being mindful of the Buddha-name from moment to moment — thus it is the “wisdom that comes from reflecting on what you heard”.
There are two levels of practice in reciting the Buddha-name: reciting the Buddha-name at the phenomenal level and reciting the Buddha-name at the level of inner truth (noumenon).
1. Reciting the Buddha-name at the phenomenal level means believing that Amitabha exists in his Pure Land in the West, but not yet comprehending that he is a Buddha created by the Mind, and that this Mind is Buddha. It means you resolve to make vows and to seek birth in the Pure Land, like a child longing for its mother and never forgetting her for a moment.
2. Reciting the Buddha-name at the level of inner truth (noumenon) means believing that Amitabha and his Pure Land in the West are inherent features of our own [pure] Minds, the creation of our own [pure] Minds. It means using the great name of Amitabha, which is inherent in our Minds and the creation of our Minds, as a focal point to concentrate on, so that we never forget it for a moment.
The sutra speaks of reciting the Buddha-name for one to seven days, defining a period of time in which we should achieve singlemindedness. This passage can be interpreted in two ways.
One interpretation is that those with sharp faculties will be able to reach singleminded Buddha-remembrance after one day of invoking the Buddha-name. Those with dull faculties will only be able to reach complete undisturbed Buddha-remembrance after seven days of invoking the Buddha-name. Those of middling faculties may take from two to six days to reach singleminded Buddha-remembrance.
Another interpretation of this passage is that those with sharp faculties will be able to maintain singleminded Buddha-remembrance for seven days, those will dull faculties will only be able to maintain it for a single day, and those of middling faculties may maintain it for from two to six days.
There are also two categories of singleminded practice (Undisturbed One Mind).
i) Regardless of whether you recite the Buddha-name at the phenomenal level or the inner truth level, if you invoke the name of Amitabha until you subdue all afflictions (anger, greed, ignorance…) and put an end to Delusions of Views and Thoughts, this is the One Mind at the phenomenal level.
ii) Regardless of whether you recite the Buddha-name at the phenomenal level or the inner truth level, if you invoke the name of Amitabha until your mind opens and you see inherent Buddhahood, this is the One Mind at the level of inner truth.
The One Mind at the phenomenal level is not tainted by Delusions of Views and Thoughts, and the One Mind at the inner truth level is not deluded by the supposed dualisms of essence and form, nirvana and samsara, Buddhas and sentient beings. This is “the wisdom that comes from cultivation”.
When you are not subject to Delusions of Views and Thoughts at the moment of your death, the response you get is that Amitabha Buddha will appear before you in his Emanation Body, along with his whole retinue of holy ones. Your mind will no longer create the delusions of desire, form, and formlessness characteristic of this mundane world “Endurance”, and you will go to be reborn in either the Pure Land Where Saints and Ordinary Beings Dwell Together, or the Pure Land of Expedient Liberation, in Amitabha’s Pure Land.
When you are no longer deluded by dualisms at the moment of your death, the response you get is that Amitabha Buddha will appear before you in his Reward Body, along with his whole retinue of holy ones. Your mind will no longer create the delusions of Samsara and Nirvana, and you will go to be reborn in either the Pure Land of Real Reward, or the Pure Land of Eternally Quiescent Light, in Amitabha’s Pure Land.
We must then realize that reciting the name of Amitabha is not only a method that is simple and direct, it is also a method for Sudden Complete Enlightenment. Since, in reciting the Buddha-name, you merge with Buddha from moment to moment, without bothering with visualization or meditation, you immediately witness perfect illumination, with no excess and no lack. Those of the highest faculties cannot go beyond this level, while those of the lowest capabilities are also able to reach it. Of course the way Amitabha appears to people and the level of the Pure Land they are born in is not the same for those different capacities.
We can say that the method of reciting the name of Amitabha fully encompasses all the varieties of Buddhism, the “eight teachings and five periods” (i.e., all the teachings of the Buddha’s during his lifetime, according to the T’ien-t’ai schema). In so doing, it is the most complete expression of the Buddha’s compassionate heart, teaching spontaneously without being asked.
What incredible power!
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Source:
The above excerpt is a translation from the Chinese Commentary on the Amitabha Sutra written by Grand Master Ou-i. Translation comes from the book, Mind-Seal of the Buddhas.
To learn more about the Pure Land teachings from this commentary, read the complete text at The Commentary on The Amitabha Sutra.
Resources:
Five Pure Land Sutras from Pure Land Buddhism
Buddha-name Chanting Music Collection
