(A)
Budhha’s Message to All Human Beings: You can, and will become
Buddhas!
“When a son of
the Buddha (anyone who has strong faith in the Buddha) has fulfilled
his course (of spiritual cultivation),” the
Buddha Shakyamuni said to His leading disciple Shariputra in the Lotus Sutra, “in a world to come he
becomes a Buddha…” (1)
Although the Lotus Sutra
makes the definitive statement in Mahayana literature that everyone can become
a Buddha, the same message has been delivered implicitly in the vastly profound
Avatamsaka Sutra which is believed
by Mahayanists to have been given by the historical Buddha when in deep
meditative concentration (samadhi) soon after gaining the Supreme, Perfect
Enlightenment of Buddhahood.
“There is not a single sentient being who is not fully endowed with the
knowledge of Buddha; it is just that because of deluded notions, erroneous
thinking, and attachments, they are unable to realize,” the Bodhisattva
Universally Good (Samantabhadra) spoke on behalf of the Buddha in the Avatamsaka Sutra.
“If they would get rid of deluded notions, then universal knowledge
(omniscience), spontaneous knowledge, and unobstructed knowledge would become
manifest…” (2)
In the Surangama Sutra,
another major discourse and text in Mahayana Buddhism, the Buddha taught
Ananda, His cousin and a leading disciple, about the two kinds of human mind.
As translated by Buddhist scholar David Rounds, one is “the ordinary quotidian
mind of which we are aware and which is entangled, lifetime after lifetime, in
the snare of illusory perceptions and random thoughts…”
The day-to-day mind, mired in “worldly dusts” of the five senses and
mundane consciousness. What we have in the perishable three-pound brain with
100 billion neurons.
The other is “the everlasting true mind, which is our real nature, and
which is the state of the Buddha…” (3) The originally enlightened consciousness
of Buddha Nature, is it. And its realization is the omniscient wisdom of Buddhahood.
The spiritual mind of inherent enlightenment, the Buddha taught Ananda,
“is the original and pure essence of nirvana…”
To quote further: “It is the original understanding, the real nature of
consciousness. All conditional phenomena arise from it, and yet it is among
those phenomena that beings lose track of it.
“They have lost track of this
fundamental understanding, though it is active in them all day long, and
because they remain unaware of it,
they make the mistake of entering the various destinies (countless lifetimes of
ignorance-bound suffering in the
various realms of Samsara)…”
(B)
Buddha’s Vow to Enlighten Everyone
Spiritual
liberation and enlightenment, this is the Buddha’s Primal Vow. The timeless,
eternal, and irrevocable vow of all the
Buddhas of the past, the present and the future.
In the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni
spoke in verse:
“The original vow of the Buddhas
Was to cause all sentient beings to universally
Attain the very same Buddha path
That I have practiced…” (4)
The Buddha then reiterated:
“From a great many kalpas (eons) ago,
I have always taught like this:
I have praised and illuminated
The teaching of Nirvana,
Saying it ends the sufferings
Of birth and death…” (5)
Concluding His teaching in the Lotus Sutra on the various expedient
and skillful means to attain Buddhahood, Shakyamuni exhorted His disciples in
the highly distinguished assembly of 1,200 bodhisattvas and arhats:
“Let great joy arise in your hearts
And know that you will all become Buddhas!”
(C) Buddha’s Mission: Buddhahood of All Human
Beings
“The Buddhas appear in this
world to cause sentient beings to aspire toward purity and the wisdom and
insight of the Buddhas,” Shakyamuni said to Shariputra in the Lotus Sutra.
“They appear in this world to manifest the wisdom and insight of the
Buddhas to sentient beings.
“They appear in this world to cause sentient beings to attain the wisdom
and insight of a Buddha’s enlightenment.
“They appear in this world to cause sentient beings to enter the path of
the wisdom and insight of a Buddha.
“ O Shariputra! For this one
great reason alone the Buddhas have appeared in this world…”
Buddha’s mission is for all human beings to obtain the omniscience and
wisdom of
Buddhahood, and to make all sentient beings
His equal.
To quote Buddha:
“I will lead and inspire all sentient beings
And cause them to enter the path of the Buddhas…” (7)
They will all become the equal of the Buddha Shakyamuni, with the eventual
and ultimate fulfillment of their intrinsic Buddha Nature.
(D) The
Buddha’s Teaching of Expedients and Skillful Means
In the Lotus Sutra, the
Buddha spoke in verse:
“The Dharma obtained by the Buddhas
Is
spoken for living beings
Through the power of limitless expedients…” (8)
To recap, the Buddha then said:
“I
have established these expedients
To
cause them (sentients) to enter the Buddha’s wisdom…”
On practicing in accord with Skillful Means, Shramana Chih-i (538-597), the
Patriarch of the Lotus Sutra-based T’ien-t’ai School, taught practicing with
five dharmas of zeal, vigor, mindfulness, discerning wisdom, and
single-mindedness, determination and perseverance to the end of the Way of Full
Enlightenment. (9)
The Buddha has also given the assurance to all
those who have great faith in the Dharma:
“Of
those who hear the Law
Not
one fails to become a Buddha…” (10)
In
the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha also
teaches the Dharma of faith and devotion.
Being
completely antithetical and contrary to faith, doubt has no place in Mahayana
practice. The Great Master Chih-I has taught that all doubtfulness must be cast
off.
“Because doubt covers the mind, one is unable to develop faith in any
dharma. Because one has no mind of faith, one encounters the Buddha’s Dharma in
vain and gains nothing whatsoever from it,” Chih-i taught.
“With respect to the Dharma of the Buddha, faith constitutes the means
whereby one can enter…”
In the Avatamsaka Sutra, the
Bodhisattva Chief in Goodness versifies:
“Faith is
generous, the mind not grudging;
Faith can
joyfully enter the Buddha’s teaching;
Faith can
increase knowledge and virtue;
Faith can assure
arrival at enlightenment…” (12)
Of the myriad expedient means to
Buddhahood, including those cited in the Lotus
Sutra, the Buddha said:
“Those who, even
with distracted minds,
Entered a stupa
compound
And chanted but
once, ‘Homage to the Buddha!’
Have certainly
attained the path of the Buddhas…” (13)
The invocation of the Buddha has become the number one skillful
cultivation in Mahayana practice. In Pure Land Buddhism, it has evolved into
the full-time signature practice of mindfulness of the Buddha.
E.
The Quintessential Practice of Mindfulness of the Buddha
The practice of mindfulness through reciting
the Buddha’s Name has been perfected and propagated by the Bodhisattva
Mahasthamaprapta, Boundless Light and Power of Buddha-Wisdom.
In the Surangama Sutra, the
lead teaching text of the Chan/Zen School, Mahasthama said he was taught by the
“Buddha Whose Light Surpasses that of the Sun (Great Compassion) and Moon
(Supreme Enlightenment) in the remotest of eons “how to realize Samadhi
(profound meditative concentration and equanimity) by thinking exclusively of (Amitabha) Buddha”.
Having mastered and perfected this fundamental practice of mindfulness
of the Buddha, Mahasthama added: “I help all living beings of this world to
control their thoughts (their minds) by
repeating the Buddha’s Name so that
they reach the Pure Land (where they can attain their spiritual liberation and
perfection)…” (14)
The eminent Buddhist master and philosopher Chih-i has taught: “Ordinary
people with no power can only concentrate
on reciting the Name of Amitabha Buddha until they achieve samadhi, stable
concentration. When this work is completed, then when they die they can gather
in their thoughts (concentrate in calm mindfulness) and attain birth in the
Pure Land and definitely get to see Amitabha Buddha…”
The T’ien-t’ai patriarch was himself deeply devoted to Amitabha Buddha,
and faithfully recited the Buddha’s Name. His advice: “you should concentrate on cultivating Pure Land
practice, and vow to be born there…”
(15)
With the power of your concentration/samadhi and your karmic stock of
merit, you can further call and draw on the ever-sustaining power or grace (adhisthana) of the Buddha Amitabha.
“Invoking Amitabha’s (Name) is equivalent to invoking (the Names of) all
the Buddhas,” Master Chih-i has taught, “so in this case we simply focus on Amitabha as the essential gate of
access to Dharma…” (16)
In the year 770 AD the Bodhisattva
Manjushri appeared before Master Fa-chao (747-821?) who was then in deep
meditative concentration at a temple on the legendary Mount Wu-tai in
Hang-chou.
During this extraordinary appearance, the Dharma Prince taught the young
monk to constantly recite Amitabha Buddha’s Name, to be born in the Pure Land
with the certainty of attaining the Supreme Enlightenment.
“All the phenomena of enlightenment, from the perfection of wisdom, to
meditative concentration, to Buddhahood, are all born from reciting the Buddha’s Name,” the Bodhisattva of Wisdom taught
Fa-chao.
“Thus we know that reciting the
Buddha’s Name (Amitabha) is the king of all the Dharmas…” (17)
Master Fa-chao himself subsequently taught the practice of mindfulness
of the Buddha Amitabha and incessantly reciting the Buddha’s Name as the
supreme method of meditation and cultivation of Samadhi.
The illustrious 20th century Chan/Zen Patriarch Hsuan Hua
(1918-1995) has taught his American disciples:
“To become a Buddha, all you need
to do is to recite the Buddha’s Name…” (18)
NAMO
AMITABHA BUDDHA
Notes.
1.
THE THREEFOLD LOTUS SUTRA, translated by
Bunno Kato, Chapter Two: Tactfulness, p. 41 rk-world.org
2.
The Flower Ornament Scripture, A
Translation of the Avatamsaka Sutra
by Dr. Thomas Cleary, published by Shambhala, Boston, 1993, Book Thirty-six:
The Practice of Universal Good, p. 1002
3.
David Rounds, Rescuing Ananda – An Overview of the
Surangama Sutra, Religion East and West Issue 7 October 2007 p. 81
4.
Translation by Tsugunari Kubo
and Akira Yuyama bdk.america.org p.
40
5.
Ibid., p. 44
6.
THE LOTUS SUTRA translated by Tsugunari
Kubo and Akira Yuyama, Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research,
Berkeley, California, 2007 Chapter II Skillful Means bdk.org.jp/pdf p.46
7.
Ibid., p. 52
8.
The Wonderful Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra
Chapter 2 Expedient Devices THE SAGELY CITY OF TEN THOUSAND BUDDHAS cttbusa.org
9.
The Dharma Essentials… translated by
Dharmamitra 1915 Chapter Five todian.net
10. The Sutra of the Lotus
Flower of the Wonderful Law translated by Bunno
Kato Chapter Two: Tactfulness rk-world.org
pdf p. 43
11. The Dharma Essentials…Chapter Three, on doubting oneself, one’s guru, and the Dharma todian.net
12. Flower Ornament Scripture, translated by Dr. Thomas Cleary, Book Twelve, p. 331
13. THE LOTUS SUTRA translated by Tsugunari Kubo and Akira Yuyama Chapter II Skillful
Means bdk.org pdf p. 55
14. THE SURANGAMA SUTRA, translated by Upasaka Lu K’uan Yu (Charles Luk), p. 81
15. DIRECT POINTING TO THE
SOURCE, by 16th century Chan/Zen Master
Tsung-pen, collated in PURE LAND, PURE
MIND, translated by Dr. J.C. Cleary, reprinted November 2003 for free
distribution by The Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation,
Taiwan, pp. 149-150
66. Daniel Stevenson, Samadhi in
Early T’ien-t’ai Buddhism, collated in TRADITIONS
OF MEDITATION IN CHINESE BUDDHISM, edited by Peter N. Gregory, University
of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822 1986 pp. 60-61
17. PURE LAND, PURE MIND, p. 184
Master Fa-chao
became a patriarch of the Pure Land.
18. BUDDHA ROOT FARM, Buddhist Text Translation Society, San Francisco
February 1976 p.
56
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