Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment
Excerpts from the Commentary on the Amitabha Sutra, by Grand Master Ou-i
Attainment of anuttara-samyaksambodhi (Sanskrit: Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment), the ultimate fruit of the Great Vehicle (Mahayana)
From the Amitabha Sutra, Sakyamuni continues,
“Why do you think this is called the sutra that is protected and kept in mind by all the Buddhas?
If there are good men or women who hear this scripture, uphold it and hear the names of all these Buddhas, these good men and women will be protected and kept in mind by all the Buddhas, and will not retrogress along the path of Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment.
Therefore, all of you should faithfully accept what I say and what all the Buddhas have said.”
Grand Master Ou-i explained this sutra is devoted to revealing that the Mind is supreme. The names of various Buddhas also reveal their supreme, perfect, ultimate virtues. Thus, those who hear this sutra and the names of the Buddhas are protected and kept in mind by all the Buddhas. Those who hear this sutra and accept its teachings will consistently recite the name of Amitabha, and the name of Amitabha is itself protected and kept in mind by all of the Buddhas.
Question: What about those who only hear the names of the various Buddhas, but do not uphold the teachings of the sutra — are they also kept in mind by all Buddhas and protected against backsliding?
Answer: There is a partial answer to this, and a comprehensive answer.
The Sutra on Divining the Results of Good and Evil Karma says that those who intone the Buddha-name in a confused, unfocused, defiled state of mind are not really “hearing” the Buddha-name and are incapable of decisive faith and understanding. By reciting the Buddha-name they only obtain conditioned merits in the human and celestial realms, but do not get the far-reaching and profoundly wondrous benefits of reciting the Buddha-name.
Those who singlemindedly recite the Buddha-name to the point of total concentration called “One-Practice Samadhi” achieve the mind of vast and wondrous virtues. This is called attaining the stage of quasi-Tolerance of Non-Birth (the forbearance that comes from realizing that all phenomena are unborn). By doing this these people truly hear the names of the Buddhas of the Ten Directions.
This is the way it must be with the sutra as well. After you hear it, you must put it into practice by reciting the Buddha-name. When you recite the Buddha-name to the point of singlemindedness, then you are really hearing the names of the Buddhas, and then you become protected and kept in mind by the Buddhas. This is the partial answer.
The comprehensive answer is this: The compassion of the Buddhas is inconceivable, and the virtues of their names are also inconceivable. Therefore, once you hear the Buddha-name, no matter whether you are mindful or not, or whether you believe in it or not, it always becomes the seed of an affinity with the truth. Moreover, when the Buddhas bring salvation to sentient beings, they do not sort out friends and enemies: they go on working tirelessly for universal salvation. If you hear the Buddha-name, Buddha is bound to protect you. How can there be any doubts about this?
Even those who have just heard the Buddha-name once share in the essential common nature of the Dharma body and have created the cause of their enlightenment in the long run, which they will never lose.
The sutra uses the Sanskrit term anuttara-samyaksambodhi, which means Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment. This is the ultimate fruit of the Great Vehicle.
To say you have reached the level where you do not fall back (non-retrogression) is another way of saying you will achieve Buddhahood in one lifetime. Thus Buddha urges all his listeners to believe in what this sutra is saying and accept it, and to have faith that the merit of hearing the Buddha-name is like this. Can we refuse to believe what Sakyamuni and all the other Buddhas have communicated to us?
This is the end of the section in which Buddha urges us to have faith in the sutra.
Next Buddha urges us to make vows. The sutra reads,
“All of those who have vowed, or are vowing, or will vow to be born in the land of Amitabha Buddha reach the level where they do not retrogress from Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment. They are already born, are now being born, or will be born in that land. Therefore, all good men and women, if they have faith, must make a vow to be born in that land.”
Those who have vowed to be born in the Pure land in the past have already been born there. Those who are now vowing to be born in the Pure Land will be born there at the end of this lifetime. Those who in future lives vow to be born in the Pure Land will be born there in the future. Here Buddha is demonstrating that vows that are made on the basis of pure faith are sure to come true. Without faith, we cannot make vows. Without vows and faith, rebirth cannot occur. That is why Buddha says, “If they have faith, they must vow to be born in that land.”
Vows are a token of faith, and the key link for practice. Making vows is then a most crucial component. When Buddha mentions vows, we must understand that faith and practice are included. That is why he repeatedly urges us most earnestly to make vows.
When we vow to be born in Amitabha’s Pure Land, we are demonstrating our disgust with the mundane world, and our joy in the Pure Land.
In feeling aversion to the mundane world, we are relying on the first two Noble Truths (the truth of suffering, and the truth of the formation of suffering), and taking two of the great vows of Bodhisattvas (to deliver all sentient beings from suffering, and to cut off countless afflictions).
In joyously seeking the Pure Land, we are relying on the other two Noble Truths (the truth of the path, and the truth of ending suffering), and taking the other two great vows of Bodhisattvas to master the endless variety of Buddhist teaching, and to consummate the Supreme Path. Because of such great vows, we will attain Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment and never retrogress.
Question: If we make vows now, is it not correct that all we can talk about is the life to come, not this present life?
Answer: There are two senses here.
One concerns a lifetime called the present one. If we vow in the present life to recite the Buddha-name, when we die we are sure to be born in the Pure Land.
The other is about an instant called the present. If our mind accords with the Mind of Buddha Amitabha for one moment, we are born in the Pure Land for one moment. If we reach accord moment after moment, we are born in the Pure Land moment after moment. Wondrous cause and wondrous effort are not apart from the One Mind. They are like the two ends of a balance, going down and up and sometimes being level.
Why do we have to wait until our life in the mundane world is over before we can be born in the Pure Land’s jewel ponds? All we have to do is develop faith and vows and recite the Buddha-name right now, and our lotus bud is already in bloom, and the image of the Pure land’s golden thrones appear before us — at that moment we are no longer inhabitants of this Saha world.
Reciting the Buddha-name is then the highest form of the complete and sudden teaching: impossible to rationalize, difficult to conceive. Only those with great wisdom can truly understand and believe in it.
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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
