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Birth in the Pure Land through the Gate of the Primal Vow means the
attainment of Buddhahood and acquiring the special transcendental qualities of
the Enlightened Ones, which cannot be found in our present samsaric minds and bodies[1].
Shakyamuni Buddha
said:
“However
hard you may practice in this life, it can only be for a short while. In the
life to come you will be born in the land of Amitayus (Amida) and enjoy endless
bliss there. Being forever in accord with the Way, you will no longer be
subject to birth and death and be free of the afflictions caused by greed,
anger and ignorance.”[2]
Honen
Shonin said:
“When they lay aside their present lives,
they will enter into the dwelling of the Buddhas, the Pure Land”.[3]
Shinran Shonin said:
"At the end of your life you will
enter the family of the Buddhas, that is, the Pure Land".[4]
"At the moment our karmic bonds to this saha
world run out and helplessly we die, we shall go to that land."[5]
“We read in the commentary of the Master of
Kuang-ming Temple:
‘[…]We should sincerely devote ourselves to
this teaching until the end of our life and, after abandoning our defiled
bodies, realize the eternal bliss of Dharma-nature.’”[6]
„Those
who have been born first [in the Pure Land] guide those who come later, and
those who are born later join those who were born before. This is so that the
boundless ocean of birth and death be exhausted”.[7]
“When ordinary beings reach the Western
Land,
Their karmic evils, countless as particles,
from long past
kalpas will perish.
Endowed with the six supernatural powers,
they attain
unrestricted freedom in action;
Forever freed of old age and sickness, they
are liberated from impermanence.”[8]
[1] Please reffer to the chapter "A collection of passages on the true meaning of birth in the Pure Land of Amida Buddha", from my book against wrong
views - The True Teaching on Amida Buddha
and His Pure Land, Dharma Lion Publications, Craiova
[2] Shakyamuni Buddha, The Larger Sutra, The Three Pure Land Sutras,
translated by Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with Harold Stewart, revised
second edition, Numata Center for
Buddhist Translation and Research, Berkeley, California, 2003, p. 53
[3] Honen’s Senchakushu – Passages on the Selection of the
Nembutsu in the Original Vow (Senchaku Hongan Nembutsu Shu), translated and
edited by Senchakushu English Translation Project, Kuroda Institute, University
of Hawai’i Press, Honolulu and Sogo Bukkyo Kenkujo, Taisho University, Tokyo,
p.121
[4] Kyogyoshinsho – On Teaching, Practice, Faith,
and Enlightenment, translated
by Hisao Inagaki, Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto,
2003, p.
132.
[5] Shinran Shonin, Tannisho, chapter 9, The Collected Works of
Shinran, Shin Buddhism Translation Series, Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha,
Kyoto, 1997, p. 666.
[6] Shinran Shonin, Kyogyoshinsho, chapter
IV, Kyogyoshinsho – On Teaching, Practice, Faith, and Enlightenment,
translated by Hisao Inagaki, Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and
Research, Kyoto, 2003, p. 175.
[7] Shinran Shonin, Kyogyoshinsho,
chapter VI, The Collected Works of Shinran, Shin Buddhism Translation
Series, Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha, Kyoto, 1997, p.291
[8] The hymns by
Fa-chao, based on the Sutra in Praise of the Pure Land (Sukhavativyuha), quoted
by Shinran in his Kyogyoshinsho,
chapter II, Kyogyoshinsho – On Teaching, Practice,
Faith, and Enlightenment, translated by Hisao Inagaki, Numata Center for
Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003, Idem, p. 41-41.
