Commentaries on the Amitabha Sutra, part 3

Click here for part 1 and 2 of our commentaries on the Amitabha Sutra.

Let’s continue with part 3:

[4] For what reason, Shariputra, do you think that Buddha is called ‘Amida’? Shariputra, the Buddha’s light shines boundlessly and without hindrance over all the worlds of the ten quarters. It is for this reason that he is called ‘Amida’ (Amitabha). Again, Shariputra, the lives of the Buddha and the people of his land last for immeasurable, unlimited and incalculable kalpas. It is for this reason that the Buddha is called ‘Amida’ (Amitayus). Shariputra, ten kalpas have passed since Amida Buddha attained Enlightenment. Moreover, Shariputra, he has an immeasurable and unlimited number of shravaka disciples, all of them arhats, whose number cannot be reckoned by any means. His assembly of bodhisattvas is similarly vast. Shariputra, that Buddha-land is filled with such splendid adornments.

This section is really important and worth discussing in detail. Light is a very important symbol in Buddhism, and means many things:

• Light dispels ignorance. In Chinese Buddhism, there is a popular phrase about a cave that has been in darkness for 1000 years, but the light from a candle dispels it instantly. Here, no matter how ignorant one has been, wisdom can change all that in an instant.
• Light meaning wisdom. In Buddhist art, you often see Buddhas or Bodhisattvas with halos around their head, meaning how great their wisdom is.
• Light meaning compassion. Light can be warm and comforting (again, compared to darkness).

So, why is Amitabha Buddha infinite light? How can his light shine without hindrance? I think this is really important to explaining what Amitahba Buddha is. Here, I think Amitabha Buddha is, again, the embodiment of the Dharma, unhindered. Wherever you look, you can see the Dharma if you know how to look (mindfulness, wisdom, etc), so you can say that Amitabha’s Light shines wherever you look. If you see the Light, you see the Dharma.

What about the infinite lifespan? In Buddhist texts, lifespan symbolized purity. When the Dharma was alive and well in the world, and people had good moral conduct, it was thought people lived longer life-spans. When society broke down, and the Dharma was obscured people lived much shorter lifespans. In later Buddhism, this kind of relates to the idea of Dharma Decline as well. Neverthless moral conduct == long life span, so this implies that Amitabha is so pure, and his merit so great his lifespan is endless.

However, another interpretation is that Amitabha, being the embodiment of the Dharma, always exists, despite the story of enlightenment 10 kalpas, or 10 eons ago. The Dharma, the truth, exists as long ignorance exists, so Amitabha always exists.

[5] “Again, Shariputra, all sentient beings born in the Land of Utmost Bliss dwell in the Stage of Non-retrogression. Many of them are in the Stage of Becoming a Buddha after One More Life. Their number is so great that it is beyond reckoning; it can only be described as innumerable, unlimited and incalculable.

If one is reborn in the Pure Land, because it is such a conducive place to study the Dharma, they will quickly reach a point where they won’t fail, hence they won’t backslide. Another way of looking at this is that people who discover the teaching of the Pure Land are so inspired for Enlightenment, that they have crossed the threshold and won’t backslide. Of course, on a day to day basis, they might make mistakes, but in the longer-term, they are still making persistent progress on the path.

“Shariputra, those sentient beings who hear of that land should aspire to be born there. Why? Because they will be able to meet such sages of supreme virtue. Shariputra, one cannot attain birth in that land with few roots of goodness or a small stock of merit. Shariputra, if a good man or woman who hears of Amida Buddha holds fast to his Name even for one day, two days, three, four, five, six or seven days with a concentrated and undistracted mind, then, at the hour of death, Amida Buddha will appear before them with a host of holy ones. Consequently, when their life comes to an end, the aspirants’ minds will not fall into confusion and so they will be born immediately in the Land of Utmost Bliss of Amida Buddha. Shariputra, perceiving these benefits, I say: All sentient beings who hear this teaching should aspire to birth in that land.

Visualization is a popular method of meditation in Mahayana Buddhism. Ven. Yin-Shun wrote about visualization as an alternative to so-called “breath meditation”, where both achieve positive results, but visualization is more Mahayana while breath meditation is more general. In any case, the Contemplation of Amitabha Sutra also talks at length of visualization of the Pure Land, but also talks about reciting Amitabha’s name. In the Larger Sutra, yet another Pure Land text, visualization is not mentioned at all. Instead, that sutra emphasizes the nembutsu, reciting Amitabha’s name, as well as accumulating merit (see the last half of the sutra) on top of this.

So, why the seeming contradiction? In Japanese Pure Land Buddhism, this passage above is interpreted as being the same as reciting the name. If you recite the name, you are recalling Amitabha Buddha, so that is visualization in a way. The Chinese for nembutsu (or nian-fo in Chinese) is 念仏 where 念 means to call to mind. Ven. Yin-Shun, along with other commentaries, implies that in Chinese Pure Land Buddhism the approach is different, where visualization is held as a superior method than just reciting alone, but if both are done together, then that’s best of all.

So who’s right? I couldn’t say. From what I can read in the texts, it seems that rebirth in the Pure Land is not exclusively based on reciting the name, but also doesn’t exclude it either. My sense of this is that there are multiple ways to be reborn in the Pure Land, depending on one’s capacity. At minimum, one can recite the name sincerely. In the Larger Sutra, it implies that the Pure Land is very easy to reborn into, so perhaps reciting the name is enough, but the Buddha also implies that the more the merrier, so the more merit you can build up on top of visualization and reciting the name, the greater your rebirth in the Pure Land. Since that same merit helps you in the Pure Land progress even faster along the Path, why stop at just reciting the name. I guess this is why the Buddha mentioned here that one needs lots of merit, but then also says one can visualize the Buddha as much as 7 days straight, or as little as 1 day (or perhaps less). Implication is that while it might be easy to be reborn in the Pure Land, the extra effort one makes will be worth it in the long-run.

Methods for rebirth in the Pure Land vary from sect to sect, so this is not intended to be a definitive answer, but to help Buddhists who aspire to rebirth in the Pure Land to help understand the variety and methods.

Let’s continue with part 4 later.