After the demise of the historical Buddha, His teachings spread in two main directions, southward (Theravada tradition) and eastward into China, Vietnam, Korea, Japan (Mahayana tradition). In East Asia, these teachings developed into ten different schools, several of which remained important to this day: Zen, Tantric and Pure Land. Pure Land is by far the most widespread form of Buddhism in East Asia.(1)
All these schools teach the same basic truth: “Do not what is evil, do what is good, keep the mind pure.”(2) True to this spirit, the Pure Land approach is simple and straightforward. Through mindfulness of the Buddha (3)(i.e. Buddha Recitation), the practitioner can calm his mind and achieve samadhi and wisdom.(4) Thus reborn
in the Pure Land (i.e., in his pure Mind), he will eventually attain Buddhahood.(5) This is also the core teaching, the very essence, of Zen and all other Mahayana schools.(6) As D.T. Suzuki has pointed out, “the psychological effects of the repetition of the holy name are close to the effects of Zen meditation.”(7)
This notwithstanding, the main emphasis of the Pure Land school lies elsewhere. Pure Land provides a safety net, a refuge of last resort for everyone, through the compassion of Amitabha Buddha – through His Vows. Taken together, these two concepts of the Pure Land – as Mind and as a transcendental land – “effectively brought ... within the reach of all men the deliverance taught by Sakyamuni” (Allan A. Andrews).
But why do we have to purify the mind and seek deliverance? It is because in the wasteland of Birth and Death, subject to the three poisons of greed, anger and delusion, we all undergo suffering (8)– the ultimate suffering being, of course, death. Echoing this conclusion, a well-known American professor made this observation
about the motivation of Western Buddhists:
Probably the majority of non-Orientals who become practicing Buddhists do so because of an overriding need for relief from suffering. Sometimes the suffering is physical, but more often it is emotional and often psychosomatic. The individual practicing meditation, chanting, or any kind of Buddhist “self-cultivation” is motivated by a need for symptomatic relief, mitigation of anxiety and depression, reduction of hostility ... (Emma McCloy Layman, Buddhism in America, p. 269)
This is precisely why Buddha Sakyamuni, when preaching the Four Noble Truths to Kaundinya and his friends, taught them first the Truth of Suffering. The letters of Master Yin Kuang address this issue squarely. If you are suffering and if you realistically discover that you have only average motivation, fortitude and self-discipline, then Pure Land is for you. Pure Land is about suffering and the liberation from suffering.
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This book consists of excerpts of selected letters by the Patriarch Yin Kuang with notes and Glossary prepared by the Van Hien Study Group. Each letter can be considered a unit in itself and important explanatory notes are repeated for the convenience of the reader. Please note that in this text, the expressions “Buddha Recitation” and “Buddha’s name” refer specifically to Amitabha Buddha. Note also that the spelling of Sanskrit terms may differ somewhat between the main text and quotation. Finally, we have appended a chapter of the Avatamsaka Sutra, "The Practices and Vows of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra," as Master Yin Kuang frequently lectured on this text to foster Pure Land practice.
Here, then, are the letters of the Patriarch Yin Kuang. We hope the Western reader will enjoy and benefit from them, as several generations of Eastern readers have. As a Zen Master has written in another context, “read them once, read them twice and look for the same thing that Bodhidharma brought to China: look for the print of the Mind.”(9)
Van Hien Study Group
Festival of Samantabhadra
New York: 1992
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(1) ”The Pure Land School is presently the school of Buddhism in China and Japan that has the most followers.” (The Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen, p.174) According to Rev. Jean Eracle, Pure Land has more than a hundred million adherents worldwide. (Trois Soutras et un Traite sur la Terre Pure, p7)
(2) See the Dhammapada Sutra, verse 183.
(3) See Introduction to this book (sect. E) and the following advice from the eminent 16th century Zen Master Chu Hung to a lay disciple:
This [Pure Land] Path is the most primal and the most subtle and wondrous. It is also the simplest. Because it is simple, those of high intelligence overlook it. Birth and death are not apart from a single moment of mindfulness. Consequently all the myriad worldly and world-transcending teachings and methods are not apart from a single moment of mindfulness. Right now take this moment of mindfulness, and be mindful of Buddha, remember Buddha, recite the Buddha-name. How close and cutting! What pure essential energy, so solid and real! If you see through where this mindfulness arises, this is the Amitabha of our inherent nature. This is the meaning of patriarch coming from the West [the meaning of Zen]. (J.C. Cleary, Pure Land, Pure Mind, unpub. manuscript.)
(4) The relationship between samadhi and wisdom (or between samatha and vipasyana) is a crucial point in Buddhism. In the Theravada tradition, the differences between them are emphasized; samadhis and wisdom are considered separate facets of cultivation, to be achieved one after another. In the Mahayana tradition (Zen, Avatamsaka Pure Land), however, samadhi and wisdom are indivisible; true samadhi necessarily includes wisdom and true wisdom is inseparable from samadhi. Moreover, wisdom is not something external to be “obtained” through practice; it is inherent in all sentient beings. It is as though we have lost a pearl at the bottom of a lake. When there is no wind and the water is calm, the pearl naturally becomes visible. To recover the wisdom-pearl, the practitioner need only calm the turbid waters of his mind. Thus, in Mahayana teaching, to cultivate samadhi is to attain wisdom or Enlightenment. This relationship is clearly seen in the expression “three non-outflow (unconditioned) studies,” linking precepts, samadhi and wisdom.
(5) See the following quote from D.T. Suzuki:
Some of our readers may be led to think that the sole object of the Pure Land devotees is to be born in Amida’s Land of Bliss and Purity … but the fact that the birth itself … is not the object, but to attain enlightenment in the country of Amida where conditions are such as to ensure a ready realization of the true Buddhist life … If we can say so, to be born in the Pure Land is the means to the end; for Buddhism in whatever form is the religion of enlightenment and emancipation. (The Eastern Buddhist, Vol. 3, No. 4, p. 321.)
Please note an important point: the Pure Land is a projection of the mind, a mental construct but it is also real - to the same extent that our world and everything around it are real. See also Introduction, Note 10.
(6) At the ultimate level, Zen and Pure Land lead to the same goal, Buddhahood. However, at the common, everyday level, an important difference lies in the “issue” of rebirth in the Pure Land. Although both Zen and Pure Land cultivators recite the Buddha’s name in their daily practice, Zen followers do not seek rebirth in the Western pure Land. (See, for example, Chan Newsletter, no. 1992, p.5.) This apparent difference is, however, easily reconciled when we understand the truth of Self-Nature Amitabha, Mid-Only Pure Land. As the Vimalakirti Sutra states: ”When the mind is pure, the Buddha land is pure.” Rebirth in the Pure Land is, ultimately, rebirth in our pure mind.
(7) Quoted from Heinrich Dumoulin, Zen Buddhism, p. 286. See also the following passages:
Dr. Suzuki is generally associated with the Zen school, so it is often a matter of surprise to hear that he translated many Pure Land Buddhist texts into English and nourished a belief that Pure Land rather than Zen might be the form of Buddhism most suitable for Westerners. (John Snelling, The Buddhist Handbook, p. 216.)
Most Buddhists in the world, by far the vast majority, practice a Faith or devotional form of worship. Dr. D.T. Suzuki strongly believed that the direction American Buddhism would take was towards Shin Buddhism [Pure Land] and its practice of Faith. It may turn out at this time that most Westerners, originally seeking personal enlightenment, will find themselves choosing a devotional path. (Ryushin Sarah Grayson in Butsumon, Fall 1989.)
(8) See Glossary, “Eight Sufferings.” To illustrate the point that suffering is an inevitable part of our world, consider the example, adapted from the sutras, of worms feeding on rotten apples. The worms are running hither and yon among the apples, each worm “elbowing” the others for a better spot, a larger piece of the rotten matter. They all feel their actions necessary and desirable. They all seem very busy and very happy. To us humans, however, theirs is indeed a pitiable lot. The human condition is the same from the viewpoint of celestials, Bodhisattvas and Buddhas – such a pitiful sight indeed, whether of beggars or presidential hopefuls!
(9) Red Pine, The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma, p. xvii.
related post: Introduction
Source Of Information:
《Letters From Patriarch Yin Kuang, Pure-Land Zen Zen Pure-Land》, translated by Master Thich Thien Tam, et al
consulting editor: Forrest G. Smith, reprinted and donated for free distribution by: The Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation, (11F, 55, Hang Chow South Road, Sec 1, Taipei, Taiwan), second edition 1993
*** The information provided above does not contain personal opinion of this blog.
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