BUDDHA’S TEACHINGS, translated from the Pali by Juan Mascaro, published by Penguin, 1995,
verse 178, p. 35.
Nirvana is described as the goal of all Buddhist practice, to end the cycle of rebirth with its concomitant suffering. Nirvana brings total spiritual liberation and complete enlightenment. It has also been described as the ultimate dimension of reality.
16.3.2002 2355
Ibid., verses 102-105, p. 21.
King Priyadarsi of Magadha, better known as Asoka (reign c.a. 272-232 B.C.), India’s greatest
emperor and probably the world’s greatest philosopher-king, inscribed on one of the rock-carved
records (Rock Edict XIII): “…Immediately after the Kalingas had been conquered (including 100,000
slain and 150,000 taken captive), King Priyadarsi became intensely devoted to the study of Dharma, to
the love of Dharma, and to the inculcation of Dharma.
“King Priyadarsi considers moral conquest (Dharmavijaya) the most important conquest. He has
achieved this moral conquest repeatedly both here and among the people living beyond the borders of
his kingdom, even as far away as six hundred yojanas (3,000 miles)…” (Quoted by Robert Thurman,
THE PATH OF COMPASSION, published by Parallax Press, Berkeley, California, 1985, 1988, pp.
111-112.)
Emperor Asoka became a Buddhist in about 262 B.C., a few years after the bloody war to suppress the
rebellious Kalingas on the east coast (modern Bihar). He practiced the Dharma faithfully and
diligently, and elevated Buddhism to the official state religion. He’s a model dharma king (dharma
raja). 20.4.2002
This phrase appears in many sutras, according to Andrew Skilton (born 1957), an English monk
ordained in 1979 with the Buddhist name of Sthiramati, in A CONCISE HISTORY OF BUDDHISM, published by Windhorse Publications, Birmingham, 1994, p. 27.
In a commentary published in BUDDHISM IN PRACTICE (published by Princeton University
Press, 1995, p. 107), Luis Gomez writes “that all things reflect each other perfectly, so that every thing in the universe may be said to contain in itself the whole universe, and consequently, that the ultimate reality and the wisdom of a buddha are present in each and every being.”
These two themes of universal oneness/wholeness and all-pervasive wisdom are inherent in the all-embracing Mahayana concept of buddhahood.
In What I Am Trying to Do (published 1976), a 3,000-word statement in one unpunctuated sentence, Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) touched on the “omni-interaccommodative” nature of “eternally regenerative Universe”.
In another versified essay on “A Definition of Evolution” published at the same time, Fuller referred to “the omni-intertransformative nature of macro-micro Universe”. Was this internationally-renowned 20th century American inventor and designer, architect and engineer, talking about the same thing as the Buddha Shakyamuni? Probably so. The Buddha has spoken of the billion-world universe existing in each and every atom or particle of dust. All in one, and one in all. Everything is one and the same.
Commenting on the Tathagatagarbha Sutra (BUDDHISM IN PRACTICE, pp. 92-106), William
Grosnick writes that this sutra, which was probably composed around the middle of the third century C.E., introduced into the Mahayanist tradition the belief that all beings have all the latent virtues of a buddha (tathagatha) which are however hidden by a cover (garbha) of impurities. The message is that buddhahood will be revealed when these defilements are eradicated or removed completely.
Matthieu Ricard (born 1945), a French scientist turned Buddhist monk in the Tibetan lineage, has explained that “the essential perfection of the Buddha-nature is inherently present within each living being in the same way that there’s oil inherently present within sesame seeds. In fact, it’s the very nature of living beings. That perfection may be hidden from sight, but needs only to be revealed and expressed as we rid ourselves of what hides it, the obscuring layers of ignorance and the negative emotions that form under ignorance’s influence…” (The Monk and the Philosopher, published by Schoeken Books, New York, 1999, p. 176) 17.3.2002 0111
Quoted in BUDDHISM’S ESSENTIAL PRINCIPLES, published by Buddhist Text Translation Society, San Francisco, for free distribution, p. 1.
In “The Prayer of Great Power”, the original Buddha Samantabhadra (known in Tibetan as
Kuntuzangpo, the “Omnibeneficient”), declares:
“For all the sentient beings of the three realms
Are equal to me, the Buddha of the universal ground.
Forgetful, they’ve drifted down to bewilderment’s ground,
And so now are engaged in meaningless deeds…
By my aspiration as the omnibeneficient,
May all sentient beings, none excepted,
Become buddhas in reality’s expanse!”
This Tibetan prayer, in the 19th chapter of The Tantra which Teaches the Great Perfection,
the Penetration of Samantabhadra’s Intention, teaches the powerlessness of sentient beings not to become buddhas when they recite this powerful prayer, which tens of thousands of Tibetans do daily.
The Nyingma school (Tibet’s oldest, founded by Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava in the late 8th century of the common era) teaches that “by coming to recognize the nature of awareness (rig-pa), and by resting in that recognition, the highest enlightenment may be effortlessly won”, to quote Matthew Kapstein of the Department of Religion in Columbia University ( BUDDHISM IN PRACTICE, p. 81).
Kapstein comments (p. 82): “Because this enlightenment is grounded in our essential nature, when it is indicated to us we become, in a sense, powerless not to become buddhas...”
In PURE LAND ZEN/ZEN PURE LAND (published by Sutra Translation Committee of the United States and Canada), the editors explain in the glossary (p. 235): “Amitabha Buddha at the highest or noumenon level represents the True Mind, the Self-Nature (Buddha Nature) common to the Buddhas and sentient beings – all-encompassing and all-inclusive…”
8. BUDDHISM: A Brief Introduction, by Venerable Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua, published by
Buddhist Text Translation Society, Burlingame, CA, 1996, and reprinted in Malaysia for free distribution, August 1998, p. 108.
9. Master Fu (497-569), a Ch’an Buddhist, attained enlightenment one day while he was farming. And he composed a poem on his experience, entitled The Mind King:
“… When you realize original mind,
The mind sees Buddha.
This mind is Buddha;
This Buddha is mind…”
Commenting on this poem in The Poetry of Enlightenment: Poems by Ancient Ch’an Masters (published by Dharma Drum Publications, New York, 1987, pp. 15-16), Master Sheng-Yen (born 1930), one of the foremost living masters in the Ch’an/Zen tradition, has written: “The Mind King describes the mind after enlightenment. It is not the rational mind of analysis or judgement; rather, this mind is the basis of all the Buddhas. If we can understand this mind then we can really see that we are also the Buddha.
“From the point of view of the Buddha, neither mind nor form exist, but from the discriminating
mind full of vexations, this mind is pure, and empty of desire and aversion. Although sentient
beings are attached to desire and aversion, they have never really departed from the pure mind.
As soon as we let go of our vexations, our pure mind will manifest, and it will be free and easy,
the same as the Buddha. Thus the mind of vexation and the pure mind are fundamentally one
and the same…” 18.3.2002 1725
.
10. “Anyone who devotes himself to cultivation will eventually become a Buddha,” Master Hua said,
echoing what Shakyamuni Buddha had declared two and a half millennia ago.
In 1948 Master Hua succeeded Elder Master Hsu Yun to become the Ninth Patriarch of the Wei Yang sect of the Ch’an (Zen) school, the 45th generation since the First Patriarch Mahakashyapa.
In 1962 Master Hua brought the Dharma to America and the West, where he lectured exclusively on the major works of the Mahayana Canon. He also established various institutions of religious studies and monasteries, including the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association, the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, the International Translation Institute, etc.
11. In TAMING THE MONKEY MIND: A Guide to Pure Land Practice by the Buddhist scholar
Cheng We-an (published by Sutra Translation Committee of the United States and Canada, February 2000, and reprinted for free distribution by Amida Fellowship, Kuala Lumpur, Vesak, May 2000), the author quotes the ancients (p. 17):
“Utter one fewer idle phrase;
Recite the Buddha’s name one more time;
How wonderful it is!”
The translator Elder Master Suddhisukha (Thich Tinh Lac) comments (p. 18): “…To replace sentient
beings’ thoughts with Buddha thoughts, while not necessarily a sublime method, is still a rare
expedient which can turn delusion into enlightenment.” Rare in the sense of being highly valuable and
extraordinary, but not uncommon since reciting the Buddha’s name is the key practice of Pure Landers.
The famous Chinese poet Su Tung-p’o (1036-1101) is quoted (pp. 19-20):
“Recite the Buddha’s name while walking;
Recite the Buddha’s name while seated.
Even when busy as an arrow,
Always recite the Buddha’s name…”
Cheng Wei-an comments (p. 20): “The ancients practiced Buddha Recitation with such eagerness
indeed! Truly, they should be emulated.” 17.3.2002 1700
The Tibetan tantric teachings say that “whoever has stable faith with a simple mind” is close to attaining siddhi (spiritual accomplishment). The supreme accomplishment is complete and perfect enlightenment.
A Pictorial Biography of Sakyamuni Buddha, published by Fo Guan Publications, Petaling Jaya, October 1999, p. 234.
Pure Land Patriarch Tao-ch’o (562-645) referred to the Contemplation (Meditation) Sutra to show that the Buddha Shakyamuni taught his father the Buddha Recitation Samadhi to attain salvation in the Pure Land.
Ibid., p. 305.
14. Quoted in Lectures on Three Buddhist Sutras by Venerable Master Hsing Yun, delivered at the
National Art Centre in Taipei on October 1978, and published by Fo Kuang Publisher, Taiwan,
1987, 1992, p. 54.
15. Commented Master Hsuan Hua: “…In a single thought you can be reborn in the Land of Ultimate
Bliss. Hundreds of thousands of millions of Buddhalands are not beyond that one single thought.”
And, he added: “We now recite: “Namo Amitabha Buddha” and there is nothing more important
than this (spiritual) work…” (Buddha Root Farm, published by the Sino-American Buddhist
Association, Buddhist Text Translation Society, San Francisco, February 1976, p.8).
Cultivation of the Dharma is to achieve spiritual liberation, the highest and the only truly ever-lasting form of liberation for a human being. And the supreme enlightenment of Buddhahood is the ultimate goal of the Buddhist spiritual quest.
In Contemplating Mind, Han Shan Te Ch’ing (1546-1623), the great Ch’an master, scholar and
writer, has composed:
“…The Pure Land or the Heavens
Can be traveled to at will…”
Commenting on this poem on the mind after enlightenment, Master Sheng-Yen has written in The Poetry of Enlightenment (p. 89): “…Most of the poem discusses the method of contemplating the emptiness, yet completeness of the mind… But then Han Shan says that this method itself must be discarded as soon as the mind is purified, or enlightened. At this point one will realize the great powers and perfection inherent in the mind, which is nothing other than the Buddha...”
Following the two lines quoted above, Han Shan has written:
“You need not seek the real,
Mind originally is Buddha…”
And, to quote from an ancient gatha:
“There is a Buddha in every mind.
In the Dharma ending age
Among the people there is little faith.
They look for the Buddha Dharma
Outside the mind, not knowing
That every mind is a Buddha…”
A present-day Pure Lander living in the third millennium has written (19.7.2000 1119):
“The essence of the “non-I”
of the I-llusory “I”
is but one drop
in the vast ocean
of illuminating wisdom.
Yet the whole universe
is in the core
of this single drop
of pure consciousness.
And the boundless ocean of light
is Amitabha.”
Sogyal Rinpoche has written that Amitabha “is the primordial Buddha of the Lotus or Padma family, which is the buddha family to which human beings belong; he represents our pure nature, and symbolizes the transmutation of desire, the predominant emotion of the human realm. More intrinsically, Amitabha is the limitless, luminous nature of our mind…” (The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, published by Rupa, Calcutta, 1997, p. 232)
In Dharma Drum: The life and heart of Ch’an practice (published by Dharma Drum Publications, New York, 1996), Master Sheng-yen (who experienced his initial enlightenment at the age of 19, in 1949, while speaking to Ch’an Master Ling-yuan) has written (p.183): “Amitabha means limitless life and infinite light. Life refers to time and light refers to space. Being able to surpass time and be free of its limits is called “limitless life.” “Infinite light” indicates the universally shining light of wisdom, the great strength that is limitless in depth, distance, and width. It pervades space and surpasses the limits of space. When birth and death are transcended, limitless life and infinite light appear.” This, it may be added, is the infinite bliss of total spiritual liberation as well as the omniscience of fully enlightened consciousness and transcendent wisdom..
Master Shen-yen has also advised (p.200): “If your method of practice is to recite the Buddha’s name, then you only need to sincerely and whole-heartedly recite Amitabha Buddha’s name to be born in the Western Pure Land….” And in doing so, you will attain your spiritual liberation.
Buddhist Reflections, published by Samuel Weiser, Inc., Maine, 1991, p. 177.
Amitabha has also been described as “the celestial reflex” of Shakyamuni, according to Ernest Eitel (HANDBOOK OF CHINESE BUDDHISM: a Sanskrit-Chinese dictionary, originally published in 1870).
In Dharma Drum (p. 150). Master Sheng-yen has written:
“A person may generate the mind for practice late in life, but attain Buddhahood sooner than a
person who started practicing early on.
“Those who have faith, confidence and a willingness to truly practice are closest to
Buddhahoo.d..”
NAMO AMITABHA
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