Is the Land of Bliss (Sukhāvatī) in the Western Direction Within the Three Realms?

To understand this question, one must first ponder three questions: What are the three realms? What are the characteristics of each of the three realms? What lies outside the three realms? Then one must consider what characteristics the Land of Bliss possesses, and match them against each of the three realms one by one; only through comparison can a correct conclusion finally be drawn. This order of thinking stays closely tied to the topic. Students who are good at composition in school know that essays must stay closely on topic—especially during exams: if you go off topic, no matter how well you write, you will fail and may even get zero points. 

When asked what the characteristics of the three realms are, you must consider the characteristics of the desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm, and then consider what the characteristics of the Western Land are. Compare them with the characteristics of the three realms, and through comparison you will know whether the Western Land is within the three realms or outside them. This is the line of thought for the question—very simple. Of course, this is knowing by inference. Although the result may be correct, even entirely correct, it is not known through direct observation and does not count as knowing through realization. Direct observation can know without comparing the two. Knowing by inference is knowing through comparison by the mind consciousness. Direct knowing involves not only the mind consciousness making present observation within meditative concentration, but also the manas observing along with the mind consciousness, or independently engaging in deep deliberation (manana), finally arriving at a conclusion that accords with the facts. Without meditative concentration, none of this can be discussed. 

What are the characteristics of the desire realm? First, the sentient beings in the desire realm possess the dharmas of the five aggregates and eighteen realms; there is material form—the inanimate world of mountains, rivers, and the great earth, and so on; there are mental dharmas—the eight consciousnesses; the consciousnesses have wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral (avyākṛta) mental factors; there is ignorance; there are greed, hatred, and delusion, with greed and desire predominant, craving all dharmas within the desire realm. What are the characteristics of the form realm? The sentient beings in the form realm possess the four dhyānas and eight samādhis, the most basic being the first dhyāna; there is material form—the physical body and the inanimate world; there are mental dharmas—eight consciousnesses, or seven, six, five, four, or three consciousnesses; the mental factors are of two kinds, wholesome and neutral; there are no unwholesome mental factors—unwholesome mental factors are subdued and suppressed, not necessarily eliminated; the concentration mental factors are prominent, as they constantly abide in concentration, with afflictions not manifesting. 

What are the characteristics of the formless realm? The formless realm, as the name implies, is without form: there is no inanimate world of palaces, mountains, rivers, or the great earth, nor any physical body; only the three consciousnesses—the sixth, seventh, and eighth—abide in the four formless samādhis; the mental factors are neither wholesome nor unwholesome; all afflictions have been subdued, though not necessarily eliminated; the concentration mental factors are even more prominent and evident. 

What characteristics does the Western Land of Bliss have? In the Land of Bliss, in the Land of the Coexistence of Saints and Ordinary Beings, there are bodhisattvas at all stages above and including avaivartika (non-retrogression), as well as ordinary sentient beings below avaivartika who have not seen their true mind nor realized any fruit. These sentient beings all possess the five aggregates and eighteen realms; there is material form—physical bodies, palaces, flowers, grass, trees, the great earth, rivers, ponds, and so on; there are mental dharmas—the eight consciousnesses; the mental factors are wholesome and neutral to varying degrees, with no unwholesome mental factors. As for the bodhisattvas' meditative concentration—even the ordinary sentient beings, because they have long dwelt in lotus palaces, have had their consciousness transformed: they no longer have unwholesomeness and are no longer distracted; they all possess meditative concentration, their minds abiding in concentration, single-mindedly contemplating the Buddha's Dharma. The bodhisattvas' greed and desire have of course all been subdued or eliminated; although the ordinary sentient beings' greed and desire cannot be eliminated, it has been subdued. 

Since this is so, the Land of Bliss has the characteristics of the form realm and also the characteristics of the desire-realm heavens, but not the characteristics of the formless realm. Therefore the Land of Bliss belongs to the dharmas within the three realms and is not outside the three realms. Only arhats after nirvāṇa without remainder are outside the three realms, not within the three realms. Even Buddhas and bodhisattvas are not outside the three realms; moreover, having made vows that sentient beings be inexhaustible in their deliverance, they will never leave the three realms nor enter nirvāṇa. Because outside the three realms there are no worldly dharmas at all: no material form, no mental dharmas of the seven consciousnesses—the five aggregates and eighteen realms and such dharmas have all ceased, with only the eighth consciousness not ceasing. How could the Buddhas and bodhisattvas extinguish their own five aggregates and eighteen realms and deliver sentient beings without a body of the five aggregates? Therefore the Land of Bliss and all Buddha-lands are within the three realms, and the Buddhas and bodhisattvas are also within the three realms, forever together with sentient beings of the five aggregates.