“Then Ananda rose from his seat, stepped forward, and
said to the Buddha, ‘World-honoured One, what should we call this sutra and how
should we receive and retain the essentials of its teaching?’
The Buddha answered, ‘Ananda, this sutra is called the
‘Visualization of the Land of Utmost Bliss of Buddha Amitayus and of
Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara and Bodhisattva Mahasthamaprapta.’ It is also called
the ‘Purification and Elimination of Karmic Hindrances for Attaining Birth in
the Presence of All Buddhas.’ Hold fast to this sutra and do not forget it.
Those who practice this samadhi will be able to see, during their lifetime,
Buddha Amitayus and the two Mahasattvas. If good men or women simply hear the Name
of this Buddha or the names of those two Bodhisattvas, the evil karma that
would bind them to birth and death for innumerable kalpas will be extinguished.
And so, how much more merit will they acquire if they
concentrate on them! You should know that all who are mindful of that Buddha
are like white lotus flowers among humankind; Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara
and Bodhisattva Mahasthamaprapta become their good friends. They will sit in
the seat of Enlightenment and be born into the family of the Buddhas.’
The Buddha further said to Ananda, ‘Bear these words
well in mind. To bear these words in mind means to hold fast to the Name of
Buddha Amitayus (Amida).”
When the Buddha had spoken thus, Venerable Mahamaudgalyayana,
Venerable Ananda, Vaidehi, and all the others greatly rejoiced to hear the Buddha’s
discourse.”[1]
This section, like the whole sutra itself, has many
layers of interpretation and refers to both the explicit and implicit meaning of the Contemplation Sutra whose official names are “Visualization of the
Land of Utmost Bliss of Buddha Amitayus and of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara and
Bodhisattva Mahasthamaprapta” and “The Purification and Elimination of
Karmic Hindrances for Attaining Birth in the Presence of All Buddhas.’”
It is a sutra through which you can practice visualization of the Pure Land, Amida and the two Bodhisattvas. The purification and elimination of karmic hindrances happen for both categories of practitioners, those destined to the border land and those who will be born in the centre (fulfilled land). However, birth in the presence of all Buddhas may happen either in the border land where one may perceive various transformation aspects of the Buddhas or in the centre of the Pure Land where one enters the ocean of the ultimate Reality of the Dharmakaya which is shared by all Buddhas and has access to their glorious Sambhogakaya aspects with which they dwell in their own Pure Lands or in the Pure Land of Amida like Avalokitesvara and Mahasthamaprapta.
Those who practice this sutra and attain the spiritual
realisations mentioned in it will also have visions with the Nirmanakaya (transformation/adaptation)
bodies of Amida, Avalokitesvara and Mahasthamaprapta during their present life
in samsara – “those who practice this samadhi will be able to see, during
their lifetime, Buddha Amitayus and the two Mahasattvas.”
Also, if “good men or women”, that is, faithful disciples of the Buddha, “hear the Name of this Buddha or the names of those two Bodhisattvas, the evil karma that would bind them to birth and death for innumerable kalpas will be extinguished.” This might have two meanings:
1)
those who hear the Name of Amida and recite it in
self-power will escape samsara forever and spend some time in the border land
(once birth in the border land is attained there is no falling back in samsara
again!) until they abandon clinging to their so-called merits and advance to
the centre of the Pure Land
2) those who hear the Name of Amida and say it with total faith in His Power. These are followers who hear with faith. They not only escape samsara but immediately become Buddhas in the centre of the Pure Land.
The next passages focus on the followers in the second category:
“And so, how much more merit will they acquire if they
concentrate on them! You should know that all who are mindful of that Buddha
are like white lotus flowers among humankind; Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara
and Bodhisattva Mahasthamaprapta become their good friends. They will sit in
the seat of Enlightenment and be born into the family of the Buddhas.’”
The words “how much more merit will they acquire if they concentrate on them” refer to the merit transference from Amida to those who entrust themselves to Him. This merit is not the limited kind of merit that one can attain by practicing visualization with a samsaric mind, but the supramundane merit of Amida himself. Here to be concentrated means exclusivity, that is, to have exclusive faith in Amida without any clinging to ideas of personal merits or any form of self-power and to exclusively say His Name in faith without mixing it with any other practice.
Mindfulness (“mindful of that Buddha” as Shakyamuni
said in the passage above) is a term that is very much used nowadays but we
must understand it in the sense that was explained by Shinran Shonin. For him, mindfulness
always referred to faith and to Amida Buddha. This is why he said that
mindfulness is Nembutsu and that Nembutsu is Namo Amida Butsu,
“Saying the Name is in itself mindfulness;
mindfulness is Nembutsu;
Nembutsu is Namo Amida Butsu”.[2]
What does Namo Amida Butsu mean? It means “I take refuge in Amida Buddha/Homage
to Amida Buddha”. What does Nembutsu represent? What do we, followers of the
Primal Vow, express by saying Namo Amida Butsu (Namo Amida Bu/Namo Amituofo,
etc)? We express faith, so Namo Amida Butsu or Nembutsu is the expression of faith. It is faith because there can be no faith separate from the genuine Nembutsu
(the Nembutsu based on Amida’s Power/the Nembutsu of the Primal Vow) and no
genuine Nembutsu separate from faith. Shinran Shonin said:
"Although the one moment of
shinjin and the one moment of Nembutsu are two, there is no Nembutsu
separate from shinjin (faith), nor is the one moment of shinjin separate from
the one moment of Nembutsu.”[3]
Rennyo Shonin also said:
"'Namo' means 'to take refuge in'; it means to
entrust yourself to Amida with the assurance of your salvation.”[4]
So, according to Shinran, mindfulness is faith and the Nembutsu of faith. It
means to be mindful or aware of Amida Buddha’s Primal Vow and of His
indiscriminative salvation. It means to have the twofold profound
convictions according to which 1) we know that we are people of deep
karmic limitations, incapable of attaining Buddhahood through our own power and
2) that only Amida Buddha can save us through His Vow Power without asking
anything from us. This is the mindfulness of the Jodo Shinshu Path – to entrust
to Amida Buddha, to be aware of His indiscriminative salvation and of our
karmic limitations, to know that only Amida Buddha can save us. A person who
says the Nembutsu of faith is aware of all these.
Shinran Shonin also said in Shoshinge:
“When a thought of mindfulness of Amida’s Primal Vow arises,
At that instant we spontaneously enter the stage of definite assurance.
Always reciting only the Name of the Tathagata,
We should seek to repay our indebtedness to His Great Compassion”.[5]
The stage of definite assurance is the same stage in
which the 500 attendants of Vaidehi entered by entrusting themselves to Amida –
“the World-honored One gave them all assurances that they would be born there (in the Pure Land of Amida)”.
To repay indebtedness means to say thank you to Amida Buddha.
In chapter III of his Kyogyoshinsho, Shinran also said:
“Deep mind is deep faith. Deep faith is steadfast deep faith. Steadfast deep
faith is decisive mind. Decisive mind is supreme mind (because this is the
Bodhi Mind). Supreme mind is true faith. True faith is enduring mind. Enduring
mind is sincere mind. Sincere mind is mindfulness. Mindfulness is
the true One Mind. The true One Mind is great joy (relief at
knowing the burden of liberation is taken from your shoulders by Amida)[6]. Great Joy is the
true entrusting heart. The true entrusting heart is adamantine faith.
Adamantine faith is the aspiration for Buddhahood. The aspiration for
Buddhahood is the desire to save sentient beings. The desire to save sentient
beings is the desire to embrace sentient beings and bring them to the Pure Land
of Peace and Bliss. This desire is the Great Bodhi Mind. This mind is the Great
Compassion, for it arises from the wisdom of Infinite Light.”[7]
In the Hymns in Praise of Amida Buddha, Master T’an-luan said[8]:
“His Light shines everywhere at all times.
For this reason, the Buddha is also called “Unceasing Light”.
By accepting in faith the Power of His Light, with continuous mindfulness,
We all attain Birth. Hence, I prostrate myself and worship Him.”[9]
Here again there is this connection between faith and continuous mindfulness.
What does “continuous mindfulness” mean? It means that one who
has faith will always have the twofold profound conviction of faith: he will
always know that he is a person of deep karmic limitations, incapable of
attaining Buddhahood through his own power and that only Amida Buddha can save
him through His Vow Power without asking anything from him. There
are many other passages in Shinran’s works which show that for him, mindfulness
always meant faith (“mindful of that Buddha” as Shakyamuni said in the
Contemplation Sutra), and this is how we should also interpret it.
Then Shakyamuni entrusted this Nembutsu of faith to Ananda:
“The Buddha further said to Ananda, ‘Bear these words
well in mind. To bear these words in mind means to hold fast to the Name of
Buddha Amitayus (Amida)’. When the Buddha had spoken thus, Venerable Mahamaudgalyayana,
Venerable Ananda, Vaidehi, and all the others greatly rejoiced to hear the Buddha’s
discourse.”
“The Contemplation Sutra passage beginning, ‘The
Buddha said to Ananda, ‘Hold well to these words (‘Bear these words well in mind’),” reveals
precisely that Sakyamuni entrusted Amida’s Name to Ananda so that it would be
passed down to distant generations. Although the advantages of the two gateways
of meditative and nonmeditative practices (explicit meaning of the sutra) have
been taught up to this point, in view of the intent of the Buddha’s Primal Vow
(implicit meaning of the sutra), this is to bring sentient beings solely to
wholehearted utterance of the Name of Amida Buddha.”[10]
To hold fast to this sutra and do not forget it
applies to future generations, too. Any sutra, and especially this one should
be accepted as it is, without denying its content or authenticity.
To hear and receive any teaching of the Buddha is a
joyous event for those who are truly interested in attaining liberation:
“When the Buddha had spoken thus, Venerable Mahamaudgalyayana, Venerable Ananda, Vaidehi, and all the others greatly rejoiced to hear the Buddha’s discourse”.
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