Translated by Michael
Lewis
Transcribed by Ngakpa Jeffery Könchog Gyaltsen
©San Francisco Ratna Shri Sangha
This morning His Holiness is going to give teachings concerning Amitabha Buddha,
the Buddha of Boundless Light, and His Pureland. In conjunction with the teachings
in general, this afternoon, His Holiness will teach how to obtain the transference
of consciousness to the Pureland of Amitabha Buddha through this practice. Specifically,
He will teach you how to practice the text of which all of you should get a
copy. It is the daily sadhana for the practice of Amitabha Buddha. Yesterday,
you received that empowerment.
Generally, it can be said that there are many purelands, many paradises of Enlightened
Beings we call Buddhas. The Pureland of Great Bliss of the Buddha of Boundless
Light, Amitabha, is quite a unique place. There are purelands in the four directions,
East, South, West, North, and in the center. Among them, the Pureland of Amitabha
is the easiest to get to and therefore quite special. By formulating a special
aspiration to be reborn in the Pureland of Great Bliss, one can accomplish the
transference of one’s consciousness to that pureland. The power of prayer,
the power of devoted and fervent aspiration, is all that is necessary. It is
said that the Pureland of Amitabha Buddha, in relation to our universe, is in
the western direction and above our universe. We have to adopt a cosmic view
and realize that there are many world systems throughout space. This is a very
vast system of which I am speaking. Let us get our bearings here. What I am
speaking of, in terms of the grand scheme of things, works like this: Lord Buddha
Shakyamuni is the chief enlightened being in one great chiliocosm. This means
that our entire known universe, with its suns and moons and stars and planets,
is one unit. Multiply that by one thousand and then multiply that by one thousand
and multiply that by one thousand. That is one trichiliocosm. Lord Buddha Shakyamuni
is the lord of one of those. The realm of the Buddha of Boundless Light goes
beyond even that cosmic scale. I am teaching right now, from a prayer for expressing
this powerful aspiration to be reborn in the Pureland of Great Bliss, composed
by Karma Chagne Rinpoche. In the prayer, Karma Chagne Rinpoche says the Pureland
of Great Bliss is on such a vast scale, so greatly distant from our ordinary
reality, our flesh eyes can never behold it. It is not something that can be
beheld physically. It is so vast; its scale is incommensurate with any kind
of scale we know that it is beyond the possibility for our senses to perceive.
It is so far and vast, so completely beyond our abilities to measure. We can
see stars and travel to the moon, but we will never be able to appropriate to
the reaching range our senses the actuality of Land of Great Bliss. It is that
vast and distant from our ordinary thinking and perceiving. In that sense, it
cannot be reached by any material means. However, our own minds, when purified,
when stripped of their faults, when returned to their own primordially pristine
condition can directly experience the reality of the Pureland of Great Bliss.
The way to perceive the Pureland is through the mind, not through the senses.
So, establish that vision in your mind and imagine that, in the center of the
vast, all-encompassing Land of Great Bliss, resides the Lord of the Pureland:
the Buddha Amitabha, the Buddha of Boundless Light. He is red in color and he
looks like Shakyamuni Buddha. He has all the 80 major marks and the 32 minor
signs of a fully enlightened manifestation of nirmanakaya. He has, for example,
the crown protuberance that you see on the statues and thangkas of Lord Buddha.
He has wheels on His hands and so forth, so, as you can see there are many different
signs. He holds His hands in the posture on meditative equipoise, the Dhyana
Mudra, and in His hands is a begging bowl. He looks quite like Shakyamuni Buddha,
only His skin is a deep, ruby red color. He is resplendent and radiant. He sits
on top of a lotus and moon seat. Behind His back is the Wish Fulfilling Tree.
To His right is Lord Avalokiteshvara, Chenrezig, white in body color. To His
left is Vajrapani, the Lord of Powerful Means. These are the three chief lords
of the Pureland of Great Bliss. To give a little bit of history of the formation
of the Pureland of Great Bliss of Buddha Amitabha, it is a pureland, which has
no flaws. It is perfect in every way. The realization of that pureland did come
without cause. What was this cause of this perfect paradise? Very many aeons
ago, before he was a Buddha, the Buddha Amitabha was a monk whose name was Dharmakara,
which literally translated means ‘the origin of Dharma’. When He was
in training as a bodhisattva, He formulated a series of prayers, or powerful
aspirations, about the way things should be when He becomes completely enlightened.
He said, “There are so many purelands that exist and can be reached by
those sentient beings who abandoned non-virtue, who accumulated a great deal
of merit, and assiduously practiced the Dharma. They can reach those purelands,
but that is very difficult. What about all those who have not abandoned non-virtue,
who have not accumulated a great deal of merit, and cannot practice in a rigorous
way? Let me establish a pureland that can be easily reached by them. May I liberate
all those sentient beings who don’t have those supernal qualities of the
practitioners that reach the other purelands of all the other Buddhas.”
There are many versions of the prayer (or vows), of Amitabha Buddha formulated
when He was Dharmakara. There are 500 different versions of the prayer in Tibet
alone. In China there are many texts concerning the formulation of the Great
Vows of Amitabha. In general, it can be said that all of His powerful aspirations
can be subsumed under 48 Great Vows. The Pureland of Great Bliss was brought
into reality because of one of the 48 Great Vows. This is the cause for the
existence of Pureland of great Bliss. This pureland does not exist causelessly,
nothing does. The cause for it was the activity of the bodhisattva who became
the Buddha Amitabha. In general, all the Buddhas hold all sentient beings in
the core of their heart with love and compassion. Out of their great compassion,
they formulate powerful aspirations. They make great vows. They work through
many lifetimes; while in training as bodhisattvas before they became Buddhas
to affect all sentient beings in vast variety of ways. Just as you can create
fire by rubbing two sticks together, long enough and hard enough, so, by the
accumulation of merit and primordial wisdom, anything can be accomplished. What
was accomplished, in this case, was the establishment of the Pureland of Great
Bliss in the western direction of our universe by the Buddha Amitabha through
His vast store of merit and primordial wisdom. Let us, again, examine the metaphor
of the two sticks that are needed to create fire. Fire does not spring automatically
from one stick. You need two sticks and you need the effort of rubbing them
together in a particular way over a period of time. Eventually a spark leaps
from the conjunction of the sticks and fire begins. In a similar way, all phenomena,
all reality, all dharmas, manifest by the conjunction of emptiness and interdependent
origination. Everything is totally interrelated with each other thing. That
is called interdependent origination. That is one stick. The other stick is
emptiness. : The truth of emptiness, the complete lack of inherent existence
of any phenomena. The two sticks together, are the actual nature of reality.
This is true of everything, of all realities. Leave aside the pureland for a
moment and let us examine the realm in which we live. Our world is the same.
Our world is the product of non-dual union of clarity and emptiness, of appearance
and emptiness. Things appear in a completely unimpeded way, and yet they have
no essence. Their essence is empty. That means that all possibilities of experience
derive from the non-dual union of appearance and emptiness. Let us examine the
manifestation of our world or of the pureland. Everything is not a mere emptiness
because it appears, does it not? We can clearly see everything. Everything seems
to have existence and everything seems to have a material basis in our world.
That is the side of the equation indicating the clear manifestation of phenomena,
of experiences . However, that side could not be if it were not for emptiness.
If anything, at all, had solid substantial, material, inherent existence, nothing
could exist. It is because of emptiness that things can manifest as appearances.
Only because there is emptiness, can anything exist at all. Without emptiness,
there would only be one indissoluble monolithic blob. There would only be one
thing, if that. Nothing could possibly come into relative existence without
the ultimate grounding in emptiness. Therefore, it is because of emptiness that
our world exists. Because of emptiness, the Pureland of Great Bliss was established
through the power of the aspiration, the accumulation of merit, and the primordial
wisdom of the enlightened being Amitabha. This is quite difficult to understand
if you are new to Buddhism, I understand that, but it is only because there
is emptiness that there is appearance. Lets us now continue with our examination
of the particular qualities of the Pureland formulated by the aspiration of
Amitabha Buddha know as the Land of Dewachen. There are many other buddhafields,
as has been said, but in order to reach them, one must attain quite an exalted
status. For example to reach the pureland of another Buddha, it is necessary
to be a tenth stage bodhisattva, or approaching the portals of complete and
perfect enlightenment, and to have accumulated a great deal of merit. It is
very difficult for ordinary sentient beings to aspire to this. For us, Amitabha
Buddha formulated His great powerful prayers of aspiration. Although His Pureland
seems to be quite far from our world, it is relatively easy to reach for sentient
beings like us. This is due to the power of Amitabha Buddha’s prayers and
vows. As was said before, there exist many versions of the vows, prayers, and
aspirations of Amitabha Buddha. To briefly encompass them in a single statement,
it need be said that the essence of the vows, prayers, and aspirations are:
“May a Pureland be established that is reachable by ordinary sentient beings
of impure karma, beings of karmic evil, who have not abandoned non-virtue.”
When you reach the purelands of other Buddhas, because of exalted status before
going there, you become enlightened. In the case of Dewachen, you can get there,
but it does not mean you become enlightened. What happens is that you will not
revert to cyclic existence, rather, you will have, instead, all the positive
and auspicious conditions for the accumulation of merit and primordial wisdom.
You will be able to abandon all non-virtue there and practice to tame and train
your mind until such point you are ripe for enlightenment. That is then a general
introduction to the Land of Great Bliss.
Now I will give an explanation of prayer aspiring to be reborn in the Land of Dewachen composed by Karma Chagne Rag-Astrs Rinpoche. To begin with, I will start with a description of the topography of the Pureland itself. The earth is not like the earth on our world. It is not, rough, and covered with stones. It is completely smooth and completely even. It is composed of jewel dust. In the Pureland of Great Bliss, you always have a feeling of expansive view. It is very vast. There are no alterations of light and shade. A universal all-pervasive light derives from the physical form of the Buddha of Boundless Light, Amitabha. The entire realm is infused with the luminosity of the enlightened body of Buddha Amitabha. The ground is not hard. It is soft and if you fall on it, you would bounce. You would not stub your toe. Everything is very soft in Dewachen. As for the flora of Dewachen, trees, which are abundant, are wish fulfilling jewel trees, trees that grant you whatever you need. The branches are filled with birds of various kinds. They are all emanations of Amitabha Buddha. They have beautiful melodious voices. Rather than ordinary bird song, they sing Dharma teachings in such a way as to delight and pacify the mind. Everyone there who hears the melodious sound of the Dharma become peaceful, happy, and content. There are many rivers and streams, brooks and rivulets. The water is not ordinary water. It is perfume. There are pools where you can rest and have a dip in perfumed waters. The land is filled with gloriously scented lotus blossoms, which open and emanate, from the pollen heart of each lotus, an abundance of light rays. On the tip of each light ray, is a Buddha. The Buddhas all teach the Dharma. They teach the Dharma in such a way that the mind is completely stripped of any negative emotions. In the Land of Dewachen, there is no sickness, no poverty, no old age, and no death. There is no distinction between one being and another. All are equally beautiful. All are equally replete with all positive qualities. There are no faults, no lacks, no stains, no suffering of any kind, not even the word ‘suffering’ can be heard in the Pureland of Great Bliss.
The way to take birth in Dewachen is to formulate a great faith and aspiration concerning the Pureland, and have a desire to be born there. When you give birth there, you are not born through any ordinary process. In our world, we all arrive in pain and travail in sorrow. Birth is a painful process here. In Dewachen, you are not born through a womb, but rather you are magically born in the pollen heart of a lotus blossom. If you pray with single-pointed concentration and great fervent faith to be born there, you will be born there. If you harbor any doubt, you will still be born there, but you will be born inside a closed lotus blossom. You are bathed in the effulgent light of the Buddha but you cannot see all the qualities of the pureland and you cannot wander about at will. You are in the closed lotus blossom until the last vestiges of doubt and negativity are eliminated. Then the lotus blossom will open. If you have no doubt whatsoever you are born in an open lotus. This pertains to the type of aspiration you make to be reborn in the Pureland that you make at the moment of death. Keep in mind this very important distinction between the two different births in the Pureland. It is very important to formulate the proper aspiration of rebirth at the moment of death. Do this powerfully without any doubt. If you allow doubt to enter your mind, you will be born in the closed lotus blossom. If you formulate this powerful aspiration at the moment of death then, without any intervening experience, take birth in the pollen heart of an open lotus blossom in the presence of the Buddha of Boundless Light, Amitabha. One of the marvelous qualities of being reborn in the Pureland of Great Bliss is this: if you had read the ‘travel brochures’ for other purelands, you could go there immediately just wishing it. You can magically transport to any of the other purelands by simply formulating the wish to go there. From this world, you cannot immediately go to any other pureland, but from the Pureland of Great Bliss, you can. You have passport, visas, and all tickets necessary to go to any pureland of any Buddha, in any direction any time you wish.
When you take birth in the open lotus blossom, you are not perfect yet. You have eliminated all negativities from your mindstream, but you take birth in a form that possesses many positive qualities that are like those of a Buddha though you are not yet a Buddha. You are born with a resplendent golden body. You have telepathic and extrasensory powers. There are five types of extrasensory powers you enjoy. Another quality you possess as a neonate is all the things that you need to offer to the Buddhas you now perceive with your physical eyes are automatically manifested from your hands. Thereby you can easily accumulate merit and perfect it to accumulate wisdom. Furthermore, the accumulation of merit and wisdom results, ultimately in Buddhahood takes place very quickly in the Pureland of Great Bliss. As opposed to other purelands, the process of accumulating merit and wisdom is very rapid in Dewachen. Buddha Shakyamuni himself said: “Therefore to pray to be reborn in Dewachen accumulates as much merit as if you were to offer the seven types of jewels and other precious substances filling the three thousand fold world systems (mentioned earlier).” In general, we can say that any sentient being that hears the name of Amitabha Buddha (in accordance with Amitabha Buddha’s Great Vows) formulates the aspiration to be reborn in Dewachen and engages in that practice can be reborn in Dewachen. It is more difficult for those who have accumulated the negativity of the five inexpiable sins . Still, even for such great sinners, if they practice strongly, it is possible for them even to attain rebirth in Dewachen. In brief, concerning the teachings of the Buddha Amitabha and the Pureland of Great Bliss, in all Mahayana countries this practice is very prevalent. Why is this so? It is because of the nature of the vows of Amitabha Buddha. The practice of Amitabha Buddha and the Pureland is geared to ordinary people. Anyone can engage in the practice. You do not have to be a great exalted being who has abandoned all non-virtue. You do not have to be a superb practitioner. Depending upon the power of the vows of Amitabha Buddha, you can engage in this practice. This is a Sutrayana practice. Therefore, it is something that can work for anyone. It is very democratic and it is available to all.