Miscellaneous Discussions on Buddhism (Part One)

Chapter One: The Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss

1. The Buddha spoke in the Sutra on the Contemplation of Amitayus of the three grades and nine levels of rebirth. The World-Honored One expounded in this sutra that rebirth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss has three grades: superior, middle, and inferior, each further divided into three levels, making nine levels in total. Among these, superior-grade rebirth is for those who resolve to cultivate the Mahayana path, tread the great Bodhi way, vow to realize the original mind and perceive the true nature, and broadly benefit immeasurable sentient beings. Middle-grade rebirth is for those with the aspiration of the Hinayana, seeking only personal liberation from the suffering of birth and death. Inferior-grade rebirth is for those who have committed grave evil karma, but whose wholesome roots manifest at the end of life, ensuring rebirth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss.

Superior-grade superior-level rebirth: Upon rebirth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss, one does not reside within a lotus but directly beholds Amitabha Buddha and hears the Buddha expound the Dharma. This is because such a person, while in the Saha World, has already realized the original mind and perceived the true nature, having eradicated beginningless ignorance and the view of self, thus not needing to be cultivated within a lotus palace in the Mahayana. When seeing the Buddha, they can understand the profound Mahayana Dharma expounded by Amitabha Buddha and immediately attain the patience of non-arising dharmas, entering the Tathagata's family, becoming a Bodhisattva of the stages (bhumi), possessing vast and profound wisdom. Then, they manifest bodies in the ten directions to make offerings to the Buddhas of the ten directions at will and liberate beings in the ten directions according to conditions.

Superior-grade middle-level rebirth: Those reborn at this level have not realized the original mind and perceived the true nature but can recite the extensive Mahayana sutras. In the time it takes to snap the fingers, they arrive in the Land of Ultimate Bliss but must reside within a lotus for one night in the Pure Land, which equals half a great kalpa in the Saha World. After emerging from the lotus, they see the Buddha and hear the Dharma seven days later in the Pure Land, awaken to become non-retrogressing Bodhisattvas, and then after one small kalpa in the Pure Land, become first-stage Bodhisattvas, entering the Tathagata's family. One day in the Land of Ultimate Bliss equals one great kalpa in the Saha World, which is the length of 16.8 million years multiplied by 80.

Superior-grade inferior-level rebirth: They reside within a lotus for one day and one night in the Pure Land, which is one great kalpa in the Saha World. After emerging from the lotus, they see the Buddha seven days later in the Pure Land but cannot see the Buddha's form clearly. After another twenty-one days in the Pure Land, hearing the Buddha expound the Dharma, they awaken to realize the mind. Then, after three small kalpas in the Pure Land, they become first-stage Bodhisattvas, entering the Tathagata's family.

Middle-grade rebirth: Generally, these are people with Hinayana roots who have not generated the great Bodhi mind of Mahayana and do not need to recite Mahayana sutras. Middle-grade superior-level rebirth: Upon reaching the Pure Land, they directly see the Buddha, hear the Dharma, and immediately become great Arhats with the three insights and six supernatural powers, equal in rank to Sariputra and Mahamaudgalyayana. Middle-grade middle-level rebirth: They reside within a lotus for seven days in the Pure Land. After emerging from the lotus, they attain the fruit of Stream-enterer (Srotapanna). Then, after half a kalpa in the Pure Land, they become Arhats of the fourth fruit. Middle-grade inferior-level rebirth: They reside within a lotus for twenty-one days in the Pure Land. After emerging, hearing the Dharma, they attain the fruit of Stream-enterer. Then, after one small kalpa in the Pure Land, they attain the fruit of Arhat. Empowered by the Buddha's power, they never enter the remainderless Nirvana but turn their minds back to cultivate the Mahayana Dharma.

Inferior-grade rebirth: These are all those who committed grave evil karma, residing within lotuses in the Land of Ultimate Bliss for an extremely long time.

2. The World-Honored One said in the Amitabha Sutra that after sentient beings are reborn in the Land of Ultimate Bliss, within the lotuses, they hear the Dharma of suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self, and the Four Noble Truths of suffering, its origin, cessation, and the path. The flowers, birds, and trees all simultaneously proclaim suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self. Why must one also learn the Four Noble Truths in the Land of Ultimate Bliss? Is it the same content as the Four Noble Truths taught by Sakyamuni Buddha in our Saha World? Of course, it is the same, because the path of all Buddhas is the same, and all Dharmas are non-dual. The Four Noble Truths are the most fundamental teaching in the Buddha Dharma, the entry-level method. All Buddhist practitioners must cultivate and realize them to subdue the self, eradicate the view of self and self-attachment.

Within the lotuses in the Land of Ultimate Bliss, it is not very easy for sentient beings to perceive the suffering inherent in the five aggregates through contemplating the Truth of Suffering, because the Land of Ultimate Bliss is entirely blissful; it is too enjoyable, making it very difficult to experience the suffering of the five aggregates. In the Saha World, suffering and happiness are mixed, yet sentient beings still cannot perceive suffering and generate the mind to transcend the cycle of birth and death. How much harder is it then, in the Land of Ultimate Bliss, while contemplating the Truth of Suffering and the Dharma of suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self, to feel suffering and give rise to the mind seeking liberation? Therefore, they reside within the lotus for a very, very long time, gradually contemplating. Only when the contemplation succeeds, when there are signs of warmth (the first stage of the path of application), when the afflictions and obstructions of the mind are somewhat subdued, and they no longer create evil karma, can they emerge from the lotus to hear the Dharma expounded by the Buddha, or Bodhisattvas, or manifested Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and afterwards awaken and attain the fruits.

One day in the Land of Ultimate Bliss equals one great kalpa in the Saha World. Those of middle-grade middle-level rebirth reside for seven days and cannot go outside the lotus; they cannot freely go everywhere to see the Dharma and Bodhisattvas. Why are they not allowed to move freely? Because the reciters of the Buddha's name from the Saha World have not yet subdued their afflictions and obstructions. If they were allowed to move freely in the Land of Ultimate Bliss, they would create evil karma everywhere, and soon make the Land of Ultimate Bliss resemble the Saha World, which would be disastrous. Therefore, those who have not subdued their afflictions cannot move freely; they reside within the lotus palace contemplating the Four Noble Truths. Only after afflictions are subdued can they emerge to make offerings to the Buddhas of the ten directions throughout the ten directions.

Subduing afflictions requires seven to twenty-one days in the Land of Ultimate Bliss, or even twelve great kalpas. When one day passes in the Pure Land, the Saha World has already completed one cycle of formation, abiding, decline, and emptiness. Only after emerging from the lotus and hearing the Dharma expounded by Amitabha Buddha or his manifestations can they attain the Hinayana fruits from Stream-enterer to Arhat. As for us in the Saha World, if we diligently study the Four Noble Truths, we can attain the fruits within a few years; subduing afflictions is also very fast. If one merely recites the Buddha's name without learning any other Dharma, going to the Land of Ultimate Bliss to learn later, how long will it take to learn well? Cultivating the Six Paramitas of the Bodhisattva in the Saha World, even if it takes thirty years, once the conditions are fulfilled, one can realize the original mind and perceive the true nature. Then, going to the Land of Ultimate Bliss, one becomes a great Bodhisattva of the stages (bhumi). Afterwards, without leaving the Ultimate Bliss, one returns to the Saha World.

Cultivating the Buddha Dharma in different worlds has both advantages and disadvantages. Kalpas are long in blissful worlds and short in suffering worlds. In the Saha World, if one has not subdued afflictions, a single moment of carelessness can lead to creating karma and falling into the three evil paths to suffer. However, if we study the correct Buddha Dharma, understanding the principles is very fast. Once we understand the principles, it becomes easy to subdue afflictions. When afflictions are subdued, we become relaxed and at ease, free and unhindered wherever we go. Faith in and acceptance of cause and effect are very important. Every moment, our bodily, verbal, and mental actions are simultaneously stored by the eighth consciousness (alaya-vijnana). In the future, the law of cause and effect will be realized, and there will be karmic retribution. Understanding cause and effect, having concentration power, subduing afflictions – cultivation can then proceed very quickly. And studying the correct Mahayana Dharma, especially the method to realize the original mind and perceive the true nature, enables one to understand causes and comprehend effects, not daring to create evil actions again. Therefore, we should diligently study the Dharma. After realizing the original mind and perceiving the true nature, we can be reborn freely in the ten directions!

3. Rebirth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss might be more difficult than attaining the Hinayana fruit of Stream-enterer. Because rebirth has conditions: one must possess the three provisions of deep faith, vow, and practice; have sufficient merit and virtue; have conditions fulfilled; accomplish the three meritorious deeds of purity; and at the time of death, have an undistracted and non-inverted mind. Accomplishing these points is truly not easy. Sentient beings in the Dharma-ending age have little merit, shallow concentration, heavy afflictions, habits, karmic defilements, and distracted minds. In modern society, the five desires are extremely intense; sentient beings' mental faculties cling too heavily to worldly dharmas. No matter how much they recite the Buddha's name, their minds do not leave defilements. Normally, the mind while reciting is distracted; how much more so at the time of death when the four elements (earth, water, fire, wind) decompose, like peeling the shell off a live turtle – such pain! Even those who foresee the time of death, just as Amitabha Buddha is about to receive them, might suddenly have a thought of the Saha World; then the mind is locked in the Saha World, and the Land of Ultimate Bliss is out of reach.

For example, there was a female lay practitioner who foresaw her time of death. In her fifties, the Buddha told her he would come to receive her at noon on a certain day. Knowing this, she informed the temple master that she would pass away at the temple to manifest this Dharma for sentient beings, enabling them to believe and accept. On the day of her passing, many lay practitioners came to the temple to witness her rebirth. Everyone recited the Buddha's name to assist her rebirth. However, because she wanted to manifest the Dharma, her mind was distracted and scattered; she was not single-mindedly reciting the Buddha's name. As a result, at noon, the Buddha did not come. They continued reciting for a long time, but the Buddha still did not come to receive her. So she had to pack her things and go home to continue reciting the Buddha's name and cultivating in the Saha World. This is a true story, absolutely not fictional.

Therefore, being able to have single-minded concentration at the time of death, letting go of worldly matters, is very difficult for those who have not attained the third fruit (Anagamin) and severed greed and love. Then, if one only recites the Buddha's name normally, without knowing the emptiness and falsity of the five aggregates, without knowing the emptiness and falsity of all dharmas, without subduing afflictions, with the mind still full of intense greed and love, with many unresolved attachments, then at the time of death, it becomes even harder to let go of the conditions of the Saha World and single-mindedly seek rebirth. We see many reciters of the Buddha's name who, the older they get, the more they cling to family, relatives, and possessions, even when seriously ill. If you tell them: "Let go and seek rebirth!" they say, "I haven't cultivated well enough yet; wait until I'm ready, then I'll seek rebirth"; or "I still have unfinished business; after I finish handling it, then I'll seek rebirth" – there are all kinds of excuses. If this is the case, at the time of death, the mind is full of the Saha World; how is rebirth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss possible?

Whereas in the Saha World, studying the Agama sutras and cultivating the Four Noble Truths to sever the view of self and become a Hinayana Stream-enterer is relatively easier. Because attaining the Hinayana fruit of Arhat does not require much merit and virtue; concentration power only needs to be at the level of the "undistracted concentration" (anagamya-samadhi) or even shallower. Maintaining the Five Precepts well, one also does not need to sever greed and love; one only needs to generate aversion towards the five aggregates and contemplate the emptiness, impermanence, and non-self nature of the five aggregates and eighteen elements (dhatus). A few years are enough; twenty years at most is sufficient. After attaining the fruit of Stream-enterer, rebirth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss is at the middle-grade superior level. Upon reaching the Pure Land, one directly sees the Buddha, not wrapped within a lotus palace, immediately becoming a great Arhat of the fourth fruit with the three insights and six supernatural powers, equal to Sariputra and Mahamaudgalyayana. Then, empowered by the Buddha, one never enters Nirvana but cultivates the Mahayana, freely travels throughout the ten directions, makes offerings to the Buddhas of the ten directions, and cultivates the Buddha Dharma with the Buddhas of the ten directions.

Therefore, when we study and cultivate the Buddha Dharma, we must look at what the Buddha taught while in the world and specifically how he instructed us to cultivate. Do not listen only to one person's views; do not look only at one sutra. Synthesize them comprehensively to see how the Buddha ultimately wants us to cultivate. The Tripitaka and the twelve divisions of scriptures left to us by the World-Honored One are suitable for the capacities of sentient beings during the 12,000 years of the Saha World. Through effort, we can cultivate well. We should have confidence in ourselves and confidence in the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha). Cultivate the threefold training of precepts, concentration, and wisdom; accumulate the provisions of merit and virtue; diligently cultivate according to the Four Great Vows; do not violate the vows; extensively practice immeasurable wholesome dharmas; benefit oneself and others. With the supreme merit of cultivation and pure great vows, be reborn in the Land of Ultimate Bliss at a high level. Then, without leaving the Ultimate Bliss, return to the Saha World to liberate sentient beings broadly, and together achieve Buddhahood soon.

4. In the Dharma-ending age, if one cultivates according to the contemplations in the Sutra on the Contemplation of Amitayus, the achievement is very fast and secure. If there is a relatively detailed treasure map of the Land of Ultimate Bliss as a guide for visualization, we all can contemplate from the first contemplation up to the sixteenth contemplation. Achieving the third contemplation guarantees rebirth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss; it is much more reliable and secure than foreseeing the time of death. Moreover, the concentration (samadhi) attained will never be lost, and the Buddha's power will always bless one. When the third contemplation is achieved, the samadhi is very profound; the karma for the three evil paths is eliminated, so one will not fall into the three evil paths due to karmic obstacles. The samadhi will also not regress; therefore, rebirth is assured.

Achieving the seventh contemplation guarantees realization of the mind (enlightenment). With the Buddha's power blessing, it is impossible to have mere intellectual understanding (解悟); it can only be realization (证悟). The karmic reward upon reaching the Land of Ultimate Bliss is supremely excellent. The samadhi cultivated by oneself, due to karmic forces and ignorance, can regress when encountering conditions. Samadhi blessed by the Buddha's power never regresses. This is the case after the third contemplation.

5. What is the lifestyle and mode of work like in a Buddha's Pure Land or the Land of Ultimate Bliss?

In a pure land similar to the Land of Ultimate Bliss, if there is still daily life, if there is still work, then it would be like the worldly land of householders in the Saha World; it would not be a pure land. Sentient beings would inevitably have afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion; they would necessarily be divided into two major parts: monastics and laypeople, no different from the Saha World.

Because in a pure Buddha land, everything arises through transformation; there is no need for labor, no need for life and work. Only then can the minds of beings be pure and undefiled, without selfish desires, without males or females, without families, incomparably pure, and thus no distinction between monastic and lay; all are practitioners. Only in worlds similar to the Saha World, with distinctions between male and female, the burden of family life, and the need for work and livelihood, is there a distinction between monastic and lay. Therefore, the Buddha established that in the Saha World, the monastic Sangha is primary, leading the assembly in cultivating the Buddha Dharma. Buddhism is upheld by the monastic Sangha; the Buddha Dharma is propagated by the monastic Sangha. When the Buddha was nearing Nirvana, the great Bodhisattvas who were householders requested to inherit the treasury of the Buddha Dharma and propagate the Dharma on behalf of the Buddha. The Buddha did not permit it, instructing the monastic Sangha to propagate the Dharma on behalf of the Buddha and protect the Tripitaka and the twelve divisions of the Buddha Dharma.

In pure Buddha lands and the heavenly realms, sentient beings have no distinction between male and female, nor do they have families; therefore, all are monastic practitioners, with no need to leave home again. Without a home, how can one talk about leaving home? Sentient beings in pure lands and all the great Bodhisattvas, up to the stage of Equal Enlightenment (等觉菩萨), have no homes. The forms they manifest are not distinguished as male or female; therefore, they do not need to leave home, do not manifest the appearance of monastics, yet are all monastic Sangha, and moreover, Bodhisattva Sangha. Therefore, they do not need to shave their heads, do not need to wear monastic robes, and do not need to receive and uphold the monastic precepts.

6. Normally, if the mind is not subdued, thoughts of greed do not cease, thoughts of hatred do not end, is it possible that at the time of death one can relinquish everything, not stained by a single thread, not taking away a single piece, clean and pure, without attachment or hindrance, and be reborn in the Land of Ultimate Bliss?

To tell the truth: Rebirth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss is more difficult than severing the view of self. At the time of death, one thought of the Saha World, one thought of attachment, one thought of unwillingness to let go, one thought of resentment – the cultivation of this entire lifetime merely plants a wholesome root; do not think about the Land of Ultimate Bliss. One continues to revolve in birth and death in the Saha World; even continuing to revolve within the human realm is difficult. Is the mind of a being in the Heaven of Neither Perception Nor Non-Perception (非想非非想天) not pure? At the time of death, when evil karma ripens, they still fall into hell. How much more so for humans in the desire realm, where there are so many evil conditions? At the time of death, much is determined by karmic conditions and karmic forces, not by one's usual subjective thoughts. Even those who foresee the time of death still remain in the Saha World – and that is due to a single thought for sentient beings, to manifest the Dharma, not for oneself. How much more so for other situations? Karmic creditors and debtors entangle one another in various ways, impossible to sever or sort out clearly; both wholesome and unwholesome conditions appear – who can extricate themselves?

When it is said that rebirth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss is not easy, some people are unconvinced. Look at how people today recite the Buddha's name, with what mind they recite, what vows they have in their hearts, and for what purpose they go to the Land of Ultimate Bliss, and you will understand whether present-day reciters of the Buddha's name can reach the Pure Land at life's end. Open the "Records of Pure Land Saints and Sages" (净土圣贤录) and see how the ancients recited the Buddha's name. Compare them, and you will know whether present-day reciters of the Buddha's name can be reborn in the Land of Ultimate Bliss. Do not say that those seeking rebirth in the Pure Land have inferior capacities; even those who meditate seeking to realize the mind and attain enlightenment – what capacities do they have? Maintaining the Five Precepts is already so difficult; wanting to be vegetarian is impossible due to circumstances – other things need not even be discussed.

If everyone relies solely on Amitabha Buddha to receive them, wouldn't things be much simpler? One Buddha could deliver all sentient beings in the world; there would be no need for the Buddhas of the ten directions. Is there such an easy thing? Recite one Buddha's name and go to the Land of Ultimate Bliss, then wait to become a Buddha? At life's end, holding the hand of Amitabha Buddha of the Land of Ultimate Bliss with one hand while dragging the karmic creditors and debtors of the Saha World with the other – and just become a Buddha like that? This is impossible.