Hello,
She asked me : Is this true that one has to undergo punishment
for one's bad Karma before one can be reborn in Pureland
( Note: He/she has already been promised of a place in
Pureland but he/she has to endure the punishment for his/her bad
Karma ( in Hell for instances ) ?
I have often hear of this : Chanting Da Bei Mantra
and Heart Sutra at night is not advisable
as one tend to attract Ghost. I wonder if this
is a myth?
Hi,
Master Tan-luan, a major Pure Land Master in China, wrote quite
extensively about this question. Here's what he said:
Question: The Sutra on the Working of Karma states, "The working
of karma is like a scale; the heavier side is drawn down first and
foremost." The Sutra of Contemplation on the Buddha of Immeasurable
Life speaks of a person who has committed the five grave offenses
and the ten transgressions, and is possessed of all evils. He is to
fall into the evil courses and undergo incalculable pain for many
kalpas. At the point of death, he happens to be guided by a true
teacher and comes to say Namu-muryoju-butsu (Namu-amida-butsu).
When, in this way, he gives voice to it with a sincere mind without
interruption, completing ten utterances, he attains birth in the
Pure Land of happiness, immediately enters the truly settled of the
Mahayana, and ultimately attains nonretrogression. He becomes free
forever from all the pain of the three courses. How is this to be
understood in terms of the principle of "the heavier side is drawn
down first and foremost"?
Further, from distant kalpas in the past we have been committing
all manner of acts. These acts, being defiled dharmas, are bound to
the three realms. If, as you say, one immediately emerges from the
three realms by merely thinking on Amida Buddha with ten
utterances, how are we to understand the meaning of "binding karmic
acts"?
Answer: If, giving weight to the five grave offenses, the ten
transgressions, and other binding karmic acts, and considering the
ten utterances of the person of the lowest grade of the lowest rank
to be trivial, you say that drawn by karmic evil one should first
and foremost fall into hell or be bound to the three realms, then
we must consider lightness and heaviness here in terms of
principles. This is a matter of mind, of active condition, and of
settledness; it is not a matter of length of time or of
quantity.
What is meant by "matter of mind"? The person who commits such
karmic evil does so based on his own false and inverted views. The
ten utterances, however, arise when a true teacher, consoling him
by various means, makes him hear the dharma that is true reality.
The latter is real, the former is unreal. How can there be any
comparison?
Suppose there is a room that has been dark for a thousand years.
If light reaches it, however briefly, the room immediately becomes
bright. How can the darkness say that, having occupied the room for
a thousand years, it refuses to leave? This is termed "matter of
mind."
What is meant by "matter of active condition"? The person who
commits such evil does so based on his own mind of falsity,
depending on sentient beings who have come into existence from
blind passions and falsity. The ten utterances arise based on
supreme shinjin, depending on the Name embodying Amida Tathagata's
immeasurable, true, real, and pure virtues, which is the adornment
of compassionate means. Suppose there is a man who has been struck
by a poison arrow. At the point of entry, the flesh is torn and the
bone is broken. But if he hears a drum to which the dispelling
elixir has been applied, the arrow will immediately be extracted
and the poison expelled. It is like this [Note]. How can it be said
that, because the arrow is deep and the poison virulent, even
though the drumbeat is heard, it is impossible for the arrow to be
withdrawn or the venom removed? This is termed "matter or active
condition."
What is meant by "matter of settledness"? The person who commits
such evil does so based on thoughts of something coming after and
of other things interrupting. The ten utterances arise based on
thoughts of nothing coming after and nothing interrupting. This is
termed settledness.
When we consider these three matters, we see that the ten
utterances carry weight. What is heavy draws down first and
foremost and enables beings to depart from the three realms of
existence. The two sutra passages have a single meaning.
Gassho