One can cover all the distances outside of one'self but it all
in vain when that which is within us is oblivious or
unrecognized.
In case anyone may read this and misunderstand and think that
the Pureland practice grasps at the external... there is a good
section in the book "Buddhism of wisdom and
faith", which can clarify these doubts.
Anyone who feels that they can't really believe in the
"external" Pureland and Amitabha Buddha, or have been told this is
a practice for grandfathers and grandmothers who are illiterate
should read this book. It will help to establish the understanding
of the principles of Pureland practice. Have bolded some of the
important points in the passage below..
There are two aspects to Buddha Recitation -- essence and practice.
According to Elder Master Ou-I:
"Buddha Recitation-practice" means believing that there is a
Western Pure Land and a Lord Buddha named Amitabha, but not yet
realizing that "this Mind makes Buddha, this
Mind is Buddha." It consists of resolutely seeking rebirth in the
Pure Land and reciting as earnestly as a lost child longing for his
mother, never forgetting her for a single moment.
"Buddha
Recitation-essence," on the other hand, means believing and
understanding that Lord Amitabha Buddha of the West inherently
exists in full within our mind, is created by our mind, and making
this sacred name -- inherently existing in full within our mind and
created by our mind -- the focus of our recitation, without a
moment of neglect."
In other words, "Buddha Recitation-practice" is the method of those
who do not understand anything about meaning or essence, who just
believe that there is a Land of Ultimate Bliss and a Buddha named
Amitabha, and who fervently and earnestly recite the Buddha's name
seeking rebirth there.
"Buddha Recitation-essence" is the method of those who practice in
an identical manner, but who also deeply realize that the Pure Land
and Lord Amitabha Buddha are all in the True Mind, manifested by
the pure virtues of the True Mind.
This being so, is there a difference between Buddha
Recitation-practice and Buddha Recitation-essence? Of course there
is. Those who follow Buddha Recitation-practice see Amitabha Buddha
as outside the Mind; therefore, opposing marks
of subject-object still exist. Thus, such practice is not yet
all-encompassing and complete. Those who practice Buddha
Recitation-essence thoroughly understand the True Mind and
therefore sever all marks of subject-object -- to recite is Buddha,
to recite is Mind, reconciling Mind and Realm.
Let me relate an anecdote. One night, a Master who is a friend of
this author dreamed that a yellow-robed monk came to ask him, "You
practice Buddha Recitation, but what is
Buddha?" Answer "Buddha is Mind." The monk
continued, "How about explaining to me what you mean by Buddha is
Mind?" In his dream, the author's friend improvised the following
stanzas:
Each utterance of the Buddha's name following the rosary is
Mind,
Buddha is clearly Mind, why waste time searching for
Him?
The Buddha's sea of wisdom reconciles Mind and Realm!
Mind and Buddha are born equal.
To abandon Mind and follow the Buddha is to be still in
a dream,
To be attached to the Buddha as Mind is not yet perfect
comprehension;
Mind and Buddha are both originally illusory and
dreamlike,
To transcend both Buddha and Mind is to arrive at the perfect City
of Lights.
The Master understood the essence of Buddha Recitation, reconciling
the Buddha's name with the realm of the Mind.
There is one
erroneous idea, prevalent among those who lean toward the
subtle and the mysterious, which requires clarification. Many of
them, emphasizing theory over practice, tend to be attached to the
concept of "Amitabha as the Self-Nature, Pure Land as Mind-Only,"
and reject the existence of the Western Pure Land or rebirth
there. These individuals explain the sutra teachings on
Pure Land from the viewpoint of principle or essence, saying
"Amitabha is our Buddha Nature, the Pure Land is the pure realm of
the Mind, why seek it on the outside?" This is the great
mistake of those who emphasize mundane, conventional
reasoning.
They cling to theory (essence) while neglecting practice, prefer
essence to marks, and rely on Ultimate Truth to reject the
manifestations of mundane truth -- failing to realize that
the two are inseparable.
According to the Treatise on the
Awakening of the Faith, the True Mind has two aspects:
essence and marks. The aspect of essence is called the Door of True
Thusness, the aspect of marks is the Door of Birth and Death. True
Thusness is inseparable from Birth and Death; Birth and
Death areTrue Thusness. This is why the Patriarch
Asvaghosha called True Thusness the "truth-like Emptiness treasury"
and Birth and Death the "truth-like Non-Emptiness treasury." True
Thusness and Birth and death have the same truth-like nature.
Take the great ocean as an example. We cannot accept sea water but
not waves. If we were to do so, we would be wrong about the
manifestations of the ocean and fail to understand truly what the
ocean is. Therefore, when we abandon phenomena, noumenon cannot
stand by itself; when we reject marks, essence cannot remain
stable.
A great
many individuals, educated in mundane ways, become afflicted with
the disease of grasping at the "Truth of Emptiness" when they study
Mahayana sutras, particularly those that expound the Prajna
Paramita truth, which they do not fully understand. Thus, they
explain sutras which elucidate phenomena and marks, such as the
Pure Land Sutras or the Ksitigarbha (Earth Store
Bodhisattva) Sutra, from the viewpoint of noumenon and
principle. They mistake these "marks" sutras as expedients
to guide those of limited capacities. However, in truth, they are
the mistaken ones! In this connection, I will quote a few
passages from the sutras, to destroy this attachment to
Emptiness.
As stated
in the Heart Sutra:
There is no wisdom, and there is no attainment whatsoever.
Because there is nothing to be attained, a Bodhisattva relying on
Prajnaparamita has no obstruction in his mind. Because there is no
obstruction he has no fear, and he passes far beyond all confused
imaginations and reaches ultimate Nirvana. The Buddhas in the past,
present and future, also, by relying on the Prajnaparamita, "have"
attained Supreme Enlightenment. (Sutra Translation Committee of the
United States and Canada, The Buddhist
Liturgy p. 47)
At first, Buddha Sakyamuni, in accord with Ultimate Truth, said
"there is no attainment whatsoever." Then, in accord with
conventional truth, He said "the Buddhas in the past, present and
future have attained Supreme Enlightenment." Seeing "attainment" is
attachment to existence. Seeing "non-attainment" is to err in the
direction of attachment to emptiness. Therefore, cultivators should
thoroughly understand the deep meaning behind the sutras and enter
the Middle Way.
In
the Diamond Sutra, Sakyamuni Buddha stated:
Who sees Me by form,
Who seeks Me in sound,
Perverted are his footsteps upon the Way;
For he cannot perceive the Tathagata.
(A. F. Price, tr. "The Diamond Sutra," p. 65. In The
Diamond Sutra & The Sutra of Hui Neng.)
However, the Lord Buddha then continued:
Subhuti, do not think the opposite either that when the
Tathagata attained Supreme Enlightenment it was not by means of his
possession of the thirty-two marks of physical excellence. Do not
think that. Should you think that, then when you begin the practice
of seeking to attain supreme enlightenment you would think that all
systems of phenomena and all conceptions about phenomena are to be
cut off and rejected [thus falling into nihilism]. Do not think
that. And why? Because when a disciple practices seeking to attain
supreme enlightenment, he should neither grasp after such arbitrary
conceptions of phenomena nor reject them. (Wai-tao, tr., "The
Diamond Sutra," in Goddard, ea.,A Buddhist Bible, p.
103-4.)
First, Buddha Sakyamuni taught that we should not follow sounds,
forms and marks in seeking the Way. After that, he reminded us that
at the same time, we should not abandon sounds, forms and marks,
nor should we destroy all dharmas. Thus, we can see that the Way
belongs neither to "forms" nor to "emptiness." Clinging to either
aspect is misguided. A famous Zen
monk once said:
Thirty years ago, when this old monk had not yet entered the
Order, he perceived rivers as rivers and mountains as mountains.
After meeting good spiritual advisors who taught him how to
cultivate, he saw rivers as not-rivers and mountains as
not-mountains. Now that he has seen the Way and reached the state
of still emptiness, he realizes that rivers have always been rivers
and mountains have always been mountains.
A
Zen poet, Su Tung P'o, expressed the same idea:
The sound of the stream is the Buddhas' vast long
tongue,
The shape of the mountain is intrinsically the pure Dharma
body.
The meaning of the poem is that forms, marks and sounds are
intrinsically the Great Way. We should understand them with a
non-discriminating mind, neither clinging to them nor rejecting
them to seek Enlightenment in the realm of hollow emptiness [which
is contrary to True Emptiness]. Therefore, the phrase,
"Self-Nature Amitabha, Mind-Only Pure Land" is not a denial of the
Pure Land or Amitabha Buddha, but is rather an expression that
gathers marks toward essence, brings "function" toward nature, to
manifest the ultimate truth of the Void. In this ultimate
truth, even Buddhas do not exist, let alone other
dharmas.
The ancients have said:
Although theory can be understood in a flash, practice should be
carried out step by step.
Even in Zen, which is said to be a "direct method," as long as we
have to sit in meditation, or gather our mind, or meditate on a
koan or enter and exit samadhi, we are still within the sphere of
expedients. Moreover, in the metaphysical realm, there are many
levels of attainment. Not until we have reached the stage of
non-cultivation can we dispense with expedients and really proclaim
that all dharmas are empty. If
we have not reached that stage,
even a small thing like a mote of dust is real; we still feel warm
near a fire or cold in the midst of frost and we still feel pain
when a small thorn pricks our body -- how, then, can we say that
all dharmas are non-existent and void?
Therefore,
those who like to advance lofty and wonderful propositions, such as
"Amitabha is the Self-Nature, the Pure Land is Mind Only," and go
on to reject the actual practice of Buddha Recitation will find
themselves in the predicament of "destroying the boat before
stepping ashore." There is no way such persons can avoid drowning.
On the contrary, since ancient times, those who have thoroughly
understood essence have always paid particular attention to
practice -- because practice symbolizes essence.
The ancients have said:
Only those endowed with wisdom can reconcile the essence
and marks of Buddha Recitation and truly understand it in an
exhaustive manner. Otherwise, we had better grasp at marks in our
cultivation; the more we do so, the more effective our practice
will be.
This is because the more we cling to forms, the more
earnest is our determination to achieve rebirth in the Pure Land.
Once reborn there, we will surely be awakened to the True
Mark. The subject of phenomena and noumenon, essence and
marks can be discussed ad
infinitum .
However, if we can understand it, we understand everything. I
sincerely hope that fellow cultivators will skillfully reflect on
this question to avoid being misled while treading the
Way.
When the author had reached this point in the manuscript, a
visiting lay Buddhist asked, "I have heard a number of fairly
accomplished Zen Masters say, 'The intelligent should just
concentrate their minds and have pure thoughts, without wasting
their time and effort to follow the illusion of Buddha Recitation.
Let us leave the vehicle empty so that it can run light, not weigh
it down with excess baggage!' I have heard such reasoning but do
not know how to reply. I wish you could elucidate the matter."
Answer: The aim of Zen is True
Thusness Samadhi. The goal of Pure Land is the Buddha Recitation
Samadhi. True Thusness Samadhi is like gold bullion, while Buddha
Recitation Samadhi is similar to gold necklaces, bracelets, and
other pieces of jewelry. All contain the basic metal gold.
Therefore, when we have attained Buddha Recitation Samadhi, we have
attained True Thusness Samadhi as well. True Thusness Samadhi
centers on wisdom; Buddha Recitation Samadhi encompasses not only
wisdom but merit and virtue as well. This is because the Pure Land
practitioner not only bases himself on pure one-pointedness of
mind, he receives the virtues derived from reciting the Buddha's
name in addition. However, neither True Thusness Samadhi nor Buddha
Recitation Samadhi can be attained in one lifetime; they are the
results of many eons of continuous practice. This is particularly
true in this Dharma-Ending Age.
Thus, while Buddha Recitation Samadhi is the aim of the
Pure Land method, it is not the primary one. The principal and
essential goal is to achieve rebirth in the Pure Land within one
lifetime so as to reach the stage of
non-retrogression. This is what sets Pure
Land apart from other schools and gives it its
name.
This is precisely why many Zen Masters, having awakened to
the Way but realizing that Supreme Enlightenment is still far away,
change direction and adopt Buddha Recitation seeking rebirth in the
Pure Land. Although painstaking, reciting the Buddha's
name and bowing to images of the Buddhas bring additional merits
and virtues, a result of the cultivation of the two karmas of body
and speech.
Take the example of a truck returning to the capital from the
mountain town of Dalat. If, after discharging its cargo, the truck
returns empty, it will, of course, be lighter. However, if it can
load up with vegetables and other produce, the truck will not only
be back in the capital, its owners will, in addition, have a cargo
of produce. Earning additional merits and blessings through the
diligent and painstaking efforts of Buddha Recitation is a natural
cause and effect occurrence -- where is the loss? However, any
hardship, if it does occur, will only be felt in the beginning
stages of Buddha Recitation. When recitation has become second
nature, reaching the level of No-Mind, all hardship will have
vanished!