Wonders of the Western Pure Land
Excerpts from the Commentary on the Amitabha Sutra, by Grand Master Ou-i
Grand Master Ou-i divided the main body of the Amitabha Sutra into three parts — Faith, Vows, and Practice.
The essential message of the sutra as a whole is to induce people to develop faith and vows and recite the Buddha-name. Vows and faith are acts of wisdom, reciting the Buddha-name is an act of practice. Whether we achieve rebirth in the Pure Land depends entirely on whether or not we have faith and vows. How high we rank in the Pure land depends entirely on how deeply we recite the Buddha-name. Thus, the act of wisdom is the guide, and the act of practice is true cultivation: they go together like eyes and feet.
For instilling faith in the Pure Land: The first part of the main body of the sutra has two sections: the first describes the wonders of the Pure Land, and the second describes the wonders of Amitabha.
Now let us look at the first part. Buddha asks Shariputra:
“Why is this land called Ultimate Bliss?”
Next comes the explanation, in two parts: an explanation of the beneficiaries of the Pure Land, and and explanation of what they receive.
“It is called “Ultimate Bliss” because the sentient beings in this land are free from the myriad sufferings common to mankind, and only know every kind of joy.”
Sentient beings are the ones who receive the benefits of the Pure Land. All sentient beings can be said to have inherent enlightenment (Buddha Nature). But here we are talking in the language of everyday people, using the lowest to stand for the highest.
In this mundane world of ours, the world called “Saha” (Endurance), suffering and happiness intermingle. We suffer when we suffer pain, because it harries the body and the mind. When we are happy we soon suffer the pain of disintegration, since happiness does not remain for long. When we are neither suffering nor happy, we still suffer the pain of transiency, since all beings are transitory by nature.
The Pure Land is forever removed from these three kinds of suffering. The happiness in the Pure Land is not the same as the happiness in our world, which is only relative to suffering, so the former is called ultimate bliss…
Next, Buddha explains what sentient beings experience in Amitabha’s Land of Ultimate Bliss:
“Furthermore, this land is called “Ultimate Bliss” because it is surrounded by seven rings of railings, and seven layers of netting, and seven rows of trees, all made of the four precious jewels.”
The number seven represents the seven categories of the Thirty-seven Limbs of Enlightenment (the four mindfulnesses, the four right efforts, the four bases of miraculous power, the five roots, the five powers, the seven factors of Enlightenment, and the eightfold path). The four precious jewels represent the four qualities of enlightenment: that it is eternal, blissful, personal, and pure.
The word “surrounded” stands for the innumerable abodes of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The fact that the surroundings are all made of the four precious jewels indicates that the sentient beings in the Pure Land have their own deep merit, and the fact that these precious things surround them stands for the holy ones who are everywhere in this Land of Ultimate Bliss…
Next the sutra gives two broad explanations: first, an explanation of what sentient beings receive in the Pure Land and second, a combined explanation of the recipients and what they receive.
The first explanation is also in two sections: a description of where sentient beings are born in the Pure Land, and a summary of the powers of Amitabha Buddha.
“Moreover, the Land of Ultimate Bliss has ponds of seven jewels filled with the waters of eight virtues. The bottom of each of the ponds is pure golden sand, and the stepped walkways that lead up from all four sides of each of the ponds are made of gold, silver, lapis lazuli and crystal. Above the ponds there are towers which are adorned with silver and gold and lapis lazuli and crystal and mother of pearl, red agate and carnelians. In the ponds there are lotus flowers as big as cartwheels: blue ones shining with blue light, yellow ones shining with yellow light, red ones shining with red light, and white ones shining with white light, each emitting a subtle pure fragrance.”
Earlier on the sutra described where sentient beings live in the Pure Land; now it describes where they are born.
The jewel ponds and the things made of gold and silver and so on in the Pure Land are not the same as the earth and stones in our mundane world.
The eight virtues of the water that fills the jewel ponds in the Pure Land are the following:
it is pure and clear, unlike the turbid water of our world;
it is clear and cool, unlike the water of our world, which is either too cold or too hot;
it has a sweet pleasing taste, unlike the water of our world, which has an inferior taste …
it is light and limpid, unlike the heavy water of our world;
it is sparkling bright, unlike the murky water of our world;
it is peaceful, unlike the turbulent water of our world;
it eliminates hunger and thirst, unlike the water of our world which makes us shiver;
it always nurtures the capacities of sentient beings, unlike the water of our world …
The water in the Pure Land always keeps the jewel ponds perfectly full, unlike the water of our world, which can dry up or overflow. The bottom of the jewel ponds is pure golden sand, unlike the mud and muck on the bottom of ponds in our world. The walkways … are made of precious things, unlike the brick and stone walkways in our world.
The pavilions above the ponds are adorned with silver and gold and crystal and mother of pearl and red agate, unlike the pavilions in our world. These pavilions are dwelling places, and they are also places where teaching assemblies are held. As soon as a person is reborn in the Pure Land, and comes forth from one of the lotus-wombs in one of the jewel ponds, that person can enter a teaching assembly, see Amitabha Buddha, and hear the Dharma being preached. The bodies that are born from these lotuses are shining with light, and the lotus-wombs themselves are also shining with light. The colored lights of the Land of Ultimate Bliss are infinitely varied … The “subtle pure fragrance” of the lotus flowers is emblematic of their special virtues: they are ethereal, unobstructed, formless, and not sense-objects.
In the next sentence, the sutra sums up the powers of Amitabha Buddha.
“The Land of Ultimate Bliss is complete with all these adornments and virtues.”
All the adornments of the dwellings in the Pure Land and the settings in which sentient beings are reborn in the Pure Land are created by the inherently real virtues of the great vows and great deeds of Amitabha Buddha. That’s why he can adorn all the Four Pure Lands, and embrace all the ordinary people and saints of all the worlds of the past, present, and future, and enable them to be reborn in the Pure Land.
With his great vows, Amitabha creates the causal basis for sentient beings to multiply their good roots, and with his great deeds he creates the conditions for sentient beings to increase their merits and virtues. Amitabha enables us to develop faith and vows and to recite the Buddha-name, and from moment to moment achieve these virtues.
All this is already accomplished: it is not just happening now, nor is it yet to happen. All the adornments of Amitabha act as an augmenting substance that stimulates the development of all the adornments within the minds of sentient beings. Amitabha in toto merges with sentient beings: all his powers merge with ours. Thus the sutra says that the Pure Land “is complete with all these adornments and virtues.”
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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
