Question 13 （Doubts and Questions about Pure Land）

by Elder Zen Master T'ien Ju

Question 13

There are countless Buddhas in the ten directions. All right-minded sentient beings can approach and study with them. Why has Amitabha Buddha been singled out among all Buddhas?

Answer

There are three reasons:

1. Because Amitabha Buddha has made forty-eight profound, all-encompassing vows;

2. Because sentient beings in this world have great affinities [causes and conditions] with Him;

3. Because the teachings of Buddha Sakyamuni in the Saha World and Buddha Amitabha in the West are interrelated.

1) Concerning the first reason, the Longer Amitabha Sutra states that in the causal stage (previous lifetimes), Amitabha Buddha made many lofty, all-encompassing vows. The general tenor of these vows is best exemplified in the eighteenth and eleventh vows:

   [Eighteenth Vow] “If, after my obtaining Buddhahood, all beings in the ten quarters should desire in sincerity and trustfulness to be born in my country, and if they should not be born by only thinking of me ten times …, may I not attain the highest enlightenment.” (Joji Okazaki, Pure Land Buddhist Painting, tr. by Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1977, p.15.)

    [Eleventh Vow] “I shall not attain supreme enlightenment if any sentient being in my land [would still be subject to retrogression and] not certainly achieve supreme enlightenment and realize great nirvana.” (Garma C.C. Chang, A Treasury of Mahayana Sutras, University Park, Pa: Pennsylvania State University Press, p.342.)

Thus, it is stated in the Avatamsaka Treatise:

   “Buddha Amitabha has made profound and lofty vows — vowing to welcome and guide sentient beings of the Saha World.”

2) With regard to the second reason, when Sakyamuni Buddha was still alive, a great many sentient beings, listening to His compassionate teaching, directed their Minds toward Amitabha Buddha. Since Sakyamuni Buddha entered Nirvana, many persons, whether clergy or layman, man or woman, rich or poor, upper or lower class, familiar with the Dharma or not, have recited the name of Amitabha Buddha … In the Longer Amitabha Sutra, Buddha Sakyamuni stated:

     “In the days to come, the paths of the sutras will come to extinction. I, with compassion and mercy, will purposely make this sutra survive for a hundred years. Anybody who encounters this sutra will, according to his wish, surely attain enlightenment.”[Quoted in Shozomatsu Wason: Shinran’s Hymns on the Last Age. Kyoto: Ryukoku University Press, p.xv.]

The Longer Amitabha Sutra added further:

     “After this sutra is no longer in existence, the Buddha Dharma will entirely disappear from the world. Only the words ‘Amitabha Buddha’ will remain to rescue sentient beings. Those who disbelieve this and vilify the Buddha’s words will sink into the hells and endure all kinds of suffering.”

For this reason, the founder of the T’ien T’ai School, the Patriarch Chih I, has said,

     “We should know that Amitabha Buddha has great affinities (causes and conditions) with this depraved world.”

3) With regard to the third reason, the ancients have said,

     “Sakyamuni Buddha manifests himself in the impure world and subdues sentient beings through such conditions as filth, suffering, impermanence and obstacles, creating in them a sense of abhorrence so that they will follow the right path. Buddha Amitabha, on the other hand, manifests himself in the Pure Land, gathers sentient beings in through such conditions as purity, happiness, permanence and non-retrogression, creating in them the desire to return to the source of truth. In this way, the two Buddhas employ the dual method of subduing and gathering in to propagate the correct Dharma. Their activities of teaching and transformation are thus related.(86)
        
   “Moreover, while preaching the Three Vehicles, Buddha Sakyamuni specially added the Pure Land method, so that, through the help of Amitabha Buddha, those sentient beings who were still left out could be rescued. Therefore, in Mahayana sutras, Buddha Sakyamuni compassionately recommended and constantly extolled rebirth in the Pure Land.”

It is for these three reasons that Buddha Amitabha has been specially singled out among the Buddhas of the ten directions.
_________________________________________

86. This is a manifestation of expedient means (skill-in means or upaya).

   “They [Bodhisattvas] play with illusory manifestations / In order to develop living beings, / Showing themselves to be old or sick, / And even manifesting their own deaths.
        
   “They demonstrate the burning of the earth/In the consuming flames of the world’s end,/In order to demonstrate impermanence/To living beings with the notion of permanence.” (Robert Thurman, The Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti, p.69). 

related post:  Question 14 （Doubts and Questions about Pure Land）

Source Of Information:
《Pure Land Buddhism (Dialogues with Ancient Masters)》, by Elder Zen Master T'ien Ju, translated with annotations by Master Thich Thien Tam, printed and donated for free distribution by: The Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation (11F, 55, Hang Chow South Road Sec 1, Taipei, Taiwan), printed in February 2023.
*** The information provided above does not contain personal opinion of this blog.