RELYING ON THE NAME OF AMITABHA

The Buddha Sakyamuni understands that all the beings have very heavy illusion, therefore, are deluded and unenlightened by ignorance, TREAT impermanence AS permanence, TREAT no ego, no soul (of an independent and self-contained character), impersonal, no individual independent existence (of conscious or unconscious beings) [The empirical ego is merely an aggregation of various elements, and with their disintegration it ceases to exist, therefore it has no ultimate reality of its won]

AS the ego, the self, TREAT misery, trouble, and distress AS joy, TREAT filthiness or impurity AS purity, ever since the beginningless (without beginning, as is the chain of transmigration). These all kind of Upside Down become deeply rooted, so it is doubly hard for beings to eliminate the illusion and attain truth by personal experience, therefore, Buddha Sakyamuni indicated its meaning of Doctrine of Chanting the Name of Buddha with heart of looking on all sympathetically as of the same nature as oneself. This way Buddha Sakyamuni puts a pearl of Buddha into every impure being’s mind, eliminates all the force of worried habit (the remainder or remaining influence of illusion) in every thought of all the beings, purify the mind of all the beings, and eventually lead the beings to the West Pure Land.

The Relying on chanting the name of Amitabha is a very special doctrine of Buddhist cultivating:
Firstly, only a holy name “Amitabha”, anybody can chant, anytime can chant, anywhere can chant, just remember keeping it in mind all the time. Once the thought raising and the thought is Amitabha, when thought after thought raising and all the thoughts are Amitabha, although the aim of chanting Amitabha is not for “beholding the Buddha-nature within oneself”, but the “beholding the Buddha-nature within oneself” will be in there, this is so called “meet the reality” or “meet the right path”. As long as we chant the Amitabha either in mouth or in mind no matter walking, standing, sitting, lying (in every state), then we will get into “without a thought” (apart from thought, nothing exists) from “with a thought” gradually, in this moment both the mind of beings and Amitabha are identical. (the Pure Land as a place is identical with the Pure Land in the mind).

 
Secondly, for those who were born with base character (or of low capacity), their barrier of temptation, passion, or defilement (which obstructs the attainment of the nirvana-mind) are much heavier, their mind of discriminating and holding on to the reality of self or things are also very heavy. If they can regret or repent for error for the past and future, and rely on the chanting of Amitabha with a mind profoundly engrossed in faith and vows, continuing instant in unbroken thought when chanting the Amitabha, as time goes on, the erroneous thinking and delusion will be cut down gradually, and the mind which clings to things as real will be changed gradually too, when the present life reach the end, the world where saints and sinners dwell together in West Land will be the next life for them.

Thirdly, for those who were born with medium character (or of medium capacity), their barrier of temptation, passion, or defilement are little lighter, they can reach the level of “To do no evil, to do only good”, external and internal are corresponded, and are learning the four all-embracing virtues (1, giving what others like, in order to lead them to love and receive the truth, 2, affectionate speech, with the same purpose, 3, conduct profitable to others, with the same purpose, 4, cooperation with and adaptation of oneself to others, to lead them into the truth), in the meantime the name of Amitabha never leave their mouth and mind, as time goes on, they will reach the level of “with the whole mind or heart”, and get rid of the illusory or misleading views and thoughts gradually, also desire, detestation, and delusion will be removed gradually, when the present life reach the end, the temporary realms (where the occupants have got rid of the evils of unenlightened views and thoughts, but still have to be reborn) in West Land will be the next life for them.

Fourthly, for those who were born with superior character (or of superior capacity), their root of prajna (power of wisdom) are much sharper, and have deep faith in “cause and effect” (every cause has its effect, as every effect arises from a cause”), and never confused with the “reality” (absolute fundamental reality, the ultimate, the absolute), some of them try to get enlightened heart with meditation, some of them try to benefit all beings with preaching or expounding the doctrine, and all of them are relying on chanting the name of Amitabha with pure mind, and devote their merits and virtues to West Pure Land. When they are practicing the relying on chanting the name of Amitabha, they can reach the level of the identity of chanting and contemplating, the level of unimpeded interaction of noumenon and phenomenon, and understand that there is no Buddha that is chanted besides the mind that can chant, also there is no mind that can chant besides the Buddha that is chanted, and reach the level of the active and passive ideas (ability to transform, or transformable and the object that is transformed) are the one and undivided (non-duality), when their present life reach the end, the Realm of permanent reward and freedom in West Land will be the next life for them.

THE CONDITIONS OF CULTIVATING

The basic conditions for cultivating the relying on chanting the name of Amitabha:

Preparing the supplies for beseeching rebirth in West Pure Land. The Faith, The Vow, and The Action are the three supplies of beseeching rebirth in Pure Land according to The Amitabha Sutra. And the Faith is most important of them all (faith as the first and leading step), Faith regarded as the faculty of the mind which sees, appropriates, and trusts the Amitabha, that’s why we say only those who have deep faith can reach the great ocean of Buddhist doctrines. And when having the Real Faith, then the vows and actions can be started out.

What is the Real Faith? According to Master Jei-Lio of The Lotus Sect, “I and Amitabha are not two but one in [the enlightened mind free from all illusion]”, “I am the being within Buddha’s heart, Amitabha is the Buddha within my heart”, “Remember Amitabha, maintain Amitabha, and chant the name of Amitabha, eventually I will meet Amitabha”, this is just like pouring some water into milk, then the water are within the milk, the milk are within the water, they are blending mutually, combining mutually. Therefore, when we are chanting the name of Amitabha, there will be mutual interaction between the individual and Amitabha Buddha.

Let’s talk about Vows, according to Avatamsaka Sutra, “When people are reaching the end of their life, all the organs of sense are going out of order, there is nothing we can do, only the power of the vow never leave us”, we should understand how important is the vow. Master Ou-Ee of The Lotus Sect pointed out “The point of going to be born in the Pure Land of Amitabha is Faith and Vow”.

The content of Vow is “To weary of the Soha world and abandon it and to seek gladly the Western Utmost Joy World” and “Starting out the mind of bodhi”, Master Ou-Ee of The Lotus Sect said:

“The Saha World is the projection of the dirty thought of our mind, and this kind of dirty thought should be got rid of”, and “The Western Utmost Joy Word is the projection of the pure thought of our mind, and this kind of pure thought should be beseeched”, that’s why we call it “When the mind is pure and the land is pure also”. According to the sutra, when people asked Sakyamuni Buddha, the lands of other Buddhas are so pure, and why yours is not pure, in this moment Sakyamuni Buddha touched the ground with his foot, the world suddenly become pure just like the Utmost Joy World. From these words, we should understand that the Saha World also is pure, but just the thoughts in our mind are not pure.

According to The Sukhavativyuha Sutra, one of the conditions of beseeching rebirth in West Pure Land for the three ranks (superior, medium, and inferior) of practicing the Pure Land Buddhist doctrine is to start out the mind of the supreme bodhi or enlightenment (the mind that perceives the real behind the seeming, believes in moral consequences, and that all have the Buddha-nature, and aims at Buddhahood) (above to seek bodhi, below to save all).

The Vows will lead to the Action, since we have already the deep Faith and the strong Vows, then the Action will be automatically started out. And the action is to rely on chanting the name of Amitabha. The Amitabha indicates the idea of unlimited eternal light and life, in Amitabha’s Paradise, the Western Pure Land, Amitabha receives to unbounded happiness all who call upon the name of Amitabha. This is consequent on Amitabha’s forty-eight vows, especially the eighteenth, in which Amitabha vows to refuse Buddha-hood until he has saved all living beings to Amitabha’s Pure Land, except those who had committed the five unpardonable sins, or were guilty of blasphemy against the Faith. The Amitabha’ Paradise is theoretically only a stage on the way to rebirth in the final joys of Nirvana, it is popularly believed as the final resting-place of those who Believe and Chant Namo Amitabha, or Blessed be, or Adoration to, Amitabha Buddha.

When chanting Amitabha will eliminate the heavy guilt ever since beginningless, chanting Amitabha will get blessedness and wisdom of endlessness. The “A” in Amitabha means the original nature of “impartial and equal attitude towards all beings”, also means all dharani or mantra and the mother of all Buddhas. Therefore, relying on chanting the name of Amitabha is the cultivation of all nature. Relying on the name of Amitabha means to hold to the dharani or mantra, is the cultivation of esoteric incantation.

Master Ou-Ee of The Lotus Sect said: [Sutras show us all kind of ways of practicing Pure Land, such as "Contemplating the image of Buddha", "Contemplating the thought", "To worship", "To make offerings of whatever nourishes", "The five stages in a penitential service" (1, confession of past sins and forbidding them for the future; 2, appeal to the universal Buddhas to keep the law-wheel rolling; 3, rejoicing over the good in self and others; 4, offering all one's goodness to all the living and to the Buddha-way; 5, resolve, or vows), and "The six thoughts to dwell upon: Buddha, the Law, the Order, the Commands, Almsgiving, and Heaven with it prospective joys", when completing any practicing way, will lead you to Pure Land, and only the "relying on the name of Amitabha" covers wildest and easiest to start out]. The relying on chanting the name of Amitabha is really the king of treasure.

"Covers wildest and easiest to start out", in the 84,000 teachings or lessons credited to the Buddha for the cure of all sufferings, only the relying on chanting the name of Amitabha can cover wildly all kinds of being, from the greatest Bodhisattvas like Manjusri and Samantabhadra to The five rebellious acts or deadly sins (parricide, matricide, killing an arhat, shedding the blood of a Buddha, destroying the harmony of the sangha) and The ten evil things (killing, stealing, adultery, lying, double-tongue, coarse language, filthy language, covetousness, anger, perverted views; these produce the ten resultant evils) all can practice it and will be leaded to Pure Land.

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