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| Shakyamuni and Queen Vaidehi (source of the photo) |
The Contemplation Sutra[1] was taught in the context of a tragedy in the royal family of Magadha[2]. Master Shan-tao[3] who also wrote a commentary on this sutra, gave a detailed account of what happened. As I don’t have access to a good/useful English translation of his commentary, I quote Rev Hisao Inagaki’s summary of Shan-tao’s explanation:
“Shakyamuni had a
cousin, Devadatta, who was greedy for fame and wealth. Seeing the Buddha
receive many offerings from King Bimbisara, he wanted to take over the
leadership of the sangha. He first learned supernatural power from Ananda,
which he displayed to Prince Ajatasatru;
thus he won the respect of the prince and also received sumptuous offerings
from him. Devadatta then approached Shakyamuni and suggested that the Buddha
retire but was rebuked for his stupidity. Angered by this, he next incited
Ajatasatru to usurp the throne.
Seeing that Ajatasatru hesitated, Devadatta pointed at the prince’s broken little finger and told him the following story.
A long time ago King Bimbisara was anxious to have an heir. Having heard from a soothsayer that a certain hermit living in the mountains would be reborn as his son three years later, the king immediately sent a messenger to the hermit suggesting that he terminate his own life, but the hermit refused to do so. The angry king ordered the messenger to kill him if the hermit still refused to commit suicide. On his death, the hermit vowed to take revenge. Soon Queen Vaidehi became pregnant. The king rejoiced, but was horrified to hear from the soothsayer that she would bear a boy who would harm the king. So he told the queen to give birth to the baby on the roof of the tower and let it drop to the ground. She did as she was told, but the baby miraculously survived with only damage to his little finger. Devadatta told Ajatasatru that the king had thus tried to kill him a second time. Enraged to hear this, the prince imprisoned the king and left him to die.”[4]
Queen Vaidehi who was devoted to her husband brought him food and drink secretly and the king asked Shakyamuni Buddha to send Mahamaudgalyayana to give him the eight precepts.
“Then Mahamaudgalyayana flew as swiftly as a hawk to the king. Day after day he came like this to give the king the eight precepts. The World Honored One also sent Venerable Purṇa to the palace to expound the Dharma to the king. Three weeks passed in this way. Because he had eaten the flour paste and heard the Dharma, he appeared peaceful and contented.”[5]
When
Ajatasatru asked if his father was still alive, the guard confirmed and told
him what happened. Then he became angry
and wanted to kill his mother for helping the king. However, due to the
intervention and threats of the ministers Candraprabha and Jivaka he was
prevented from doing this. Instead he locked her up in an inner chamber from
which she was not allowed to leave.
Being confined, the Queen was overcome with grief and despair and she turned to the direction of Vulture Peak where Shakyamuni was teaching the Lotus Sutra[6], praying to Him for help:
“Facing Vulture
Peak, she worshiped the Buddha from afar and said, ‘O Tathagata, World-honored
One, you used to send Ananda to comfort me. Now I am in deep sorrow and
distress. Since there is no way of my coming to look upon your august
countenance, World-honored One, I pray you send Venerable Mahamaudgalyayana and
Venerable Ananda here to see me.’
When she had said these words, tears of sorrow streamed down her cheeks like rain. Then she bowed toward the Buddha in the distance.”[7]
Not only that Shakyamuni fulfilled her wish but He himself appeared before her. Various gods who saw the Buddha going to Vaidehi also followed Him so that they do not lose the chance to listen to what He was about to teach:
“Even before she
raised her head, the World-honored One, who was then staying on Vulture Peak,
knew Vaidehi’s thoughts and immediately ordered Mahamaudgalyayana and Ananda to
go to her through the air; He himself disappeared from the mountain and
reappeared in the inner chamber of the royal palace.
After worshiping
Him, Vaidehi raised her head and saw Shakyamuni Buddha, the World-honored One.
He was the color of purple-gold and was seated upon a lotus flower of a hundred
jewels. He was attended by Mahamaudgalyayana on His left and Ananda on His
right. Sakra (Indra), Brahma, the guardian gods of the world, and other devas
were in the air about Him. Scattering heavenly blossoms like rain, they paid
homage to the Buddha.”[8]
As any ordinary person would do in the middle of a great suffering she complaints and asks why she has to endure so much pain:
“When she saw the
World-honored One, Vaidehi tore off her ornaments and prostrated herself on the
ground. Weeping bitterly, she said to the Buddha, “O World-honored One, what
bad karma did I commit in former lives that I have given birth to such an evil
son? I wonder, World- Honored One, what karmic relations could have made you a
relative of Devadatta?”[9]
When we meet with great difficulties and suffering we have the tendency to cry and complain: why me, why do I suffer so much, why these kids don’t listen to me, why everybody is against me, and so on. We do not stop to think that perhaps we are also at fault and sometimes we refuse to remember the law of karma. However, Vaidehi could not lie to herself about the karmic causes that brought her to that situation. She knew what she and her husband did. Her son was the reincarnation of the hermit killed by king Bimbisara - the very child she dropped from the roof when she gave birth to him. The royal family of Magadha was indeed sick with evil. How can somebody command a person to commit suicide, then kill him and ask the mother to drop her newborn baby from the roof? How can a mother actually do that? How can that child be sane and calm when he finds the truth? Yes, Devadatta was using the whole situation to his own advantage, but king Bimbisara and queen Vaidehi were not innocent people.
If this was another sutra from the self-power Dharma gate, the advice of Shakyamuni might had been to acknowledge the law of karma, repent and do good deeds. However, this family tragedy was especially used by Him to teach again about Amida’s unconditional salvation. Vaidehi, which is the central character of this sutra, is an ordinary woman without any spiritual capacities but who had listened deeply to Shakyamuni’s teaching and accepted the law of karma. She did not say, “please O World Honored One show me a path to purify my karmic evil and attain Buddhahood here and now” or “show me how to discover my inner Buddha nature and understand the emptiness of all phenomena”, but desperately cried to Him: “help me get out of this world and never be reborn again in a samsaric realm! No more wicked people, no more suffering, no more samsara for me! I am sick of it. Please oh Buddha, help me escape” – this is the essence of the next words of Vaidehi:
“I beseech you, World-honored One, to reveal to me a land of no sorrow and no affliction where I can be reborn. I do not wish to live in this defiled and evil world of Jambudvipa where there are hells, realms of hungry ghosts, animals, and many vile beings. I wish that in the future I shall not hear evil words or see wicked people. World-honored One, I now kneel down to repent and beg you to take pity on me. I entreat you, O sunlike Buddha, to teach me how to visualize a land of pure karmic perfection.”[10]
So, she specifically asked for a Pure Land where she can be reborn after death and for a practice to visualize it. The main part of the Contemplation Sutra is formed of visualizations and we’ll discuss them later. However, please pay attention to what I am about to explain now. Vaidehi did NOT actually practice any of the visualizations presented in the sutra, but was helped by Shakyamuni to see Amida Buddha and His Pure Land.
“Then the World-honored One sent forth from between His eyebrows a flood of light that was the color of gold and illuminated the innumerable worlds in the ten directions. Returning to the Buddha, the light settled on His head and transformed itself into a golden platform resembling Mount Sumeru. On the platform appeared the pure and resplendent lands of all the Buddhas in the ten directions. Some of these lands were made of the seven kinds of jewels, some solely of lotus flowers; some resembled the palace in the Heaven of Free Enjoyment of Manifestations by Others, while some were like a crystal mirror in which all the lands in the ten directions were reflected. Innumerable Buddha lands like these, glorious and beautiful, were displayed to her.”
I always stop and wonder at the above image of Shakyamuni Buddha displaying above His head all the myriad Pure Lands of various Buddhas. What a wonderful sight and how fortunate was Vaidehi to see all these! However, although she saw those lands, she awoke aspiration for the specific Pure Land of Amida Buddha:
“Vaidehi then said to the Buddha, ‘O World Honored One, these Buddha lands are pure and free of defilement, and all of them are resplendent. But I wish to be born in the Land of Utmost Bliss of Amitayus (Amida).”
As she was still attached to her own self-power, she asked for a practice to be born in the Pure Land:
“I beseech you, World Honored One, to teach me how to contemplate that land and attain samadhi.’”
Although it appears that Shakyamuni is giving to Vaidehi a practice based on self-power, there are many hints in the text which suggests that actually He is supporting her and the king with His Power so that they effortlessly achieve the result. For example, right after Vaidehi is asking Him to teach her a contemplation method for birth in the Pure Land, He is helping Bimbisara to enter the stage of non-returner or non-retrogression for birth in the Pure Land:
“The World Honored One smiled, and from His mouth came five-colored rays of light, each shining on King Bimbisara’s head. Although the old king was confined, with his unhindered mind’s eye he saw the World-honored One in the distance. He knelt down in homage to the Buddha and effortlessly made spiritual progress until he reached the stage of non-returner.”[11]
It is not by accident that right after Vaidehi made the aspiration for birth in the Pure Land, Shakyamuni immediately emits five colored rays of light for Bimbisara. What was king Bimbisara’s reaction? “He knelt down in homage to the Buddha”. That is the moment of king Bimbisara receiving faith in Amida Buddha with the help of Shakyamuni! And what was the result of that faith? He “effortlessly made spiritual progress until he reached the stage of non-returner”, that is, he entered the stageof non-retrogression for birth in the Pure Land. The sutra does not enter into details, but when we are reading it with eyes illuminated by faith we clearly see the hints. Vaidehi made the aspiration for birth in the Pure Land of Amida. Then Shakyamuni manifested light and king Bimbisara kneeled down in homage, which is a gesture of faith, and entered the stage of non-returner. It was like Shakyamuni saying, “ok, I’ll show you how to reach the Pure Land of Amida, but first I’ll help Bimbisara do the same”. Nothing is by accident in the Contemplation Sutra and like any sutra it has many layers of meaning and it can be read in many ways, just like a house with many doors. For us it takes a few seconds to read what happened to Bimbisara, but Shakyamuni who is perfectly mastering time transmitted to him all that was needed to know about birth in the Pure Land, probably even showing Amida to him like He will do with Vaidehi, thus helping him to attain faith.
After helping the king enter the stage of non-retrogression, Shakyamuni started to speak about practices to help “ordinary people in the future” that are attached to their so-called virtues and merits to be born in the Pure Land. Here “ordinary” is used in the sense that they are not people who possess supramundane roots of good[12], but ordinary practitioners who are deluded into thinking they are good and worthy for being born in the Pure Land. They might be better than others but certainly they are not as good as those who are beyond desire and have abandoned their ego:
“Then the World-honored One said to Vaidehi, ‘Do you know that Amitayus is not far away? Fix your thoughts upon and contemplate that Buddha land. Then you will accomplish the pure acts. I shall describe it to you in detail with various illustrations, so that all ordinary people in the future who wish to practice pure karma may also be born in that Western Land of Utmost Bliss.”[13]
Also, why people in the future when Vaidehi was actually helped by Shakyamuni to see and entrust to Amida at the time the Contemplation Sutra was taught? This is an important hint that the next instructions related with merits and visualization practices were not intended for king Bimbisara and Vaidehi. The sutra is clear about this fact,
[…]“Vaidehi said to the Buddha, “World-honored One, through the Buddha’s power, even I have now been able to see that land’”.[14]
So, Vaidehi did not need to practice the specific instructions of the sutra on how to accumulate good karma and do the visualization!. Shakyamuni Buddha said to her:
“You are unenlightened and so your spiritual powers are weak and obscured. Since you have not yet attained the divine eye, you cannot see that which is distant. But the Buddha Tathagatas have special ways to enable you to see afar.”[15]
In another passage of the sutra we are told how Amida Buddha appeared to queen Vaidehi:
“The Buddha said to Ananda and Vaidehi,
‘Listen carefully, listen carefully and ponder deeply. I will expound for you
the method of removing suffering. Bear my words in mind and explain them to the
multitude of beings.’
When these words
were spoken, Amitayus (Amida) appeared in the air above, attended on His
left and right by the two mahasattvas
Avalokitesvara and Mahasthamaprapta. So
brilliant was their radiance that it was impossible to see them in detail. They
could not be compared even with a hundred thousand nuggets of gold from the
Jambu River.
After she had this vision of Amitayus, Vaidehi knelt down in worship at Shakyamuni’s feet and said to Him, ‘World-honored One, through your power I have been able to see Amitayus and the two Bodhisattvas’”.[16]
Thus we can say that the moment queen Vaidehi entrusted completely to Amida Buddha was when she saw Him in front of her very eyes. The Contemplation Sutra does not insist on details regarding Vaidehi entrusting to Amida Buddha because the explicit goal of the sutra is to help followers of the 19th Vow, that is, those who cling to their self-power and merits. However, the implicit meaning is that Vaidehi became assured of birth in the Pure Land through the Buddha centered Power which is what enabled her to see and be convinced of Amida’s existence. Thus, Vaidehi (and king Bimbisara too) represents the evil person incapable of any spiritual evolution (“your spiritual powers are weak and obscured”) who has no other chance than to rely entirely on the power of the Buddha. We can come to this conclusion because she was helped by both Shakyamuni and Amida who appeared before her, to receive the karmic merits for birth in the Pure Land. Actually, “ordinary people in the future” are also ignorant but the difference between them and Vaidehi is that they are not aware of having weak and obscured spiritual powers while Vaidehi deeply accepted this truth. This is why she could benefit from the Buddha’s Power while “ordinary people in the future” who cling to their so-called merits and fake virtues are guided to the 19th Vow.
Queen Vaidehi asked a few times on how these “ordinary people in the future” who follow the 19th Vow can see Amida and His Pure Land:
“Vaidehi said to the Buddha, ‘World-honored One, through the Buddha’s power, even I have now been able to see that land. But after the Buddha’s passing sentient beings will become defiled and evil and be oppressed by the five kinds of suffering. How then will those beings be able to see the Land of Utmost Bliss of Amitayus?’”[17]
“World-honored One, through your power I have been able to see Amitāyus and the two bodhisattvas, but how can sentient beings of the future see them?”[18]
Some might say that things were easier for Vaidehi because she was in the presence of Shakyamuni Buddha who, together with Amida, helped her see the Pure Land. This is true, however, the Buddhas and especially Amida, are never far, as Shakyamuni said: “do you know that Amitayus is not far away?” There is another fragment in the Contemplation Sutra which strengthens this idea of Amida being always with us in any time and place:
“Amitayus (Amida),
exercising supernatural powers at will, can freely manifest His various forms
in the lands of the ten directions. At times He may appear as a large figure,
filling the whole sky; at other times as a smaller figure, only sixteen or
eight feet high. The figures that He manifests are all of the color of pure
gold.”[19]
Amida Buddha is beyond any form in His Dharmakaya aspect, dwells with His transcendent form (Sambhogakaya) in the Pure Land, and in the same time He is everywhere with all beings in His various Accomodated and Transformation Bodies (Nirmanakayas). Wherever we are, in our room, on the street, alone or with friends and family, Amida Buddha is always accompanying us.
Amida is in front of us every time, ready to help us enter the stage of non-retrogression (non-returner) for birth in His Pure Land but unfortunately, not all practitioners can receive His help because they are blinded by ideas of self-power and personal merits. No matter where these people live, in what time and age, they cannot be fully supported by Amida’s Power due to their clinging to self-power. It is not that Amida discriminates people but some completely ignore Him or chose to rely partially on their self-power and think that there is something in themselves that can be added to Amida’s Power.
Thus,
Amida is always present like the sun or moon, but we are the ones who decide if
we open or close ourselves to Him. Some chose to close totally while others
become partially open. The ones who open partially like the followers of the 19th
and 20th Vows receive partial benefit from Amida Buddha. Basically,
the Contemplation Sutra is explicitly about the followers of the 19th
Vow who still cling to their self-power and believe that their so-called merits
and virtues play an important role for their birth in the Pure Land. They also
rely on Amida’s help and Power but not totally like the followers of the Primal Vow (18th Vow). For these people (followers of the 19th
Vow) Shakyamuni offered the instructions on accumulating good karma and doing
the various visualization practices that I will refer to in the next pages.
[5] The Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study and Translation from Chinese by Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with Harold Stewart, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Centre for Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003, p75
[6] The Contemplation Sutra begins with the following words:
According to Master Rennyo’s interpretation, the Contemplation Sutra and the Lotus Sutra were taught by Shakyamuni in the same time.
[7] The Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study and Translation from Chinese by Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with Harold Stewart, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Centre for Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003, p.76
[8] The Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study and Translation from Chinese by Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with Harold Stewart, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Centre for Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003, p.76-77
[9] The Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study and Translation from Chinese by Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with Harold Stewart, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Centre for Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003, p.77
[10] The Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study and Translation from Chinese by Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with Harold Stewart, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Centre for Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003, p.77
[11] The Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study and Translation from Chinese by Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with Harold Stewart, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Centre for Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003, p.78
[12] It is said that when the Great Master Bodhidharma came to China, Emperor Wu called him and asked him: “I’ve built many temples and I’ve offered many lands to the path of the Buddha; now please tell me what merits have I gained? Bodhidharma’s answer came shocking but true: “None, not one merit.”
“Extremely difficult is it to put an end to our evil nature;
The mind is like a venomous snake or scorpion.
Our performance of good acts is also poisoned;
Hence, it is called false and empty practice.”
(Shozomatsu Wasan, 96)
Contrary to this, the supramundane good represents any kind of action undertook without a personal goal or interest. It is spontaneous and natural, aiming exclusively to the well being of others and it has absolutely no trace of ego. Only this is the materialization of true compassion and may be considered as a genuine virtue leading not only to a better life in one of the six forms of existence, but to perfect Enlightenment. This kind of supramundane good was accumulated by Bodhisattva Dharmakara during many kalpas of selfless practice and dedication before He became Amida Buddha.
We cannot accomplish good acts through self-power;
And unless we entrust ourselves to Amida's directing of virtue,
We will end without knowing shame or self-reproach.”
(Shozomatsu Wasan 99)
As long as we identify with our false self any good we do is poisoned and cannot generate true supramundane merits. Our actions may lead us to rebirth in better states of samsaric existence but cannot help us attain birth in the true fulfilled land of the Pure Land (center of the Pure Land). For such a birth we need to receive Amida’s transference of merits – “Amida's directing of virtue”, which is possible only for people who entrusted themselves totally to Him in accordance with the Primal Vow.
[13] The Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study and Translation from Chinese by Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with Harold Stewart, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003, p.78
[14] The Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study and Translation from Chinese by Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with Harold Stewart, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003, p.79.
[15] The Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study and Translation from Chinese by Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with Harold Stewart, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003, p.79
[16] The Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study and Translation from Chinese by Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with Harold Stewart, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003, p. 83-84
[17] The Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study and Translation from Chinese by Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with Harold Stewart, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003, p.79
[18] The Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study and Translation from Chinese by Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with Harold Stewart, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003, p.83-84
[19] The Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study and Translation from Chinese by Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with Harold Stewart, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003, p.91
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