Editors' Glossary

Amitabha (Amida, Amita, Amitayus). 
Amitabha is the most commonly used name for the Buddha of Infinite Light and Infinite Life. A transhistorical Buddha venerated by all Mahayana schools (Tien T'ai, Esoteric, Zen ..) and, particularly, Pure Land. Presides over the Western Pure Land (Land of Ultimate Bliss), where anyone can be reborn with ten utterly sincere recitations of His name at the time of death.

Amitabha Buddha at the highest or noumenon level represents the Mind of the Buddhas and sentient beings, all-encompassing and all-inclusive. This deeper understanding provides the rationale for the harmonization of Zen and Pure Land, two popular schools of Mahayana Buddhism.

Avatamsaka Sutra. 
The basic text of the Avatamsaka School. It is one of the longest sutras in the Buddhist Canon and records the highest teaching of Buddha Sakyamuni, immediately after Enlightenment. It is traditionally believed that the Sutra was taught to the Bodhisattvas and other high spiritual beings while the Buddha was in samadhi. The Sutra has been described as the epitome of Buddhist thought, Buddhist sentiment and Buddhist experience and is quoted by all schools of Mahayana Buddhism, in particular, Pure Land and Zen.

Awakening of the Faith (Treatise). 
A major commentary by the Patriarch Asvaghosha (1st/2nd cent.), which presents the fundamental principles of Mahayana Buddhism. Several translations exist in English.

The text deals with the doctrine of One Mind ... and the idea of the two aspects of One Mind: the absolute, or noumenal, and the relative, or phenomenal. (Sung-peng Hsu.)

Buddha Recitation. 
General term for a number of practices, such as oral recitation of Amitabha Buddha's name and visualization or contemplation of His auspicious marks and those of the Pure Land. When used in a broad sense, it also includes such sundry practices as cultivating the Ten Great Vows of Samantabhadra, building temples and reciting sutras.

Reciting the buddha-name proceeds from the mind. The mind remembers Buddha and does not forget. That's why it is called buddha remembrance, or reciting the buddha-name mindfully. (Cited in J.C.Cleary, Pure Land, Pure Mind.)

Conditioned (compounded). 
Describes all the various phenomena in the world -- made up of separate, discrete elements, with no intrinsic nature of their own. Conditioned merits and virtues, for example, are subject to Birth and Death, whereas unconditioned merits and virtues are beyond Birth and Death. See also "Unconditioned."

Demons. 
Evil influences which hinder cultivation. These can take an infinite number of forms, including evil beings or hallucinations. The three poisons of greed, anger and delusion are also equated to demons, as they disturb the mind. See the following passage:

Thus, when you are practicing Zen, all thoughts other than the method [koan] should be considered as demons, even if it feels like you have entered a “heavenly’ state. Some people, as they are sitting, may suddenly enter a completely new world which is very beautiful and comfortable. Afterwards, they want to return to it in each meditation. They may be able to get into that state again, but nonetheless it is an attachment. There are also other states that are terrifying. Such visions, good and bad, are generally manifestations of our own mental realms. (Master Sheng-Yen.)

The Self-Nature has been described in Mahayana sutras as a house full of gold and jewelry. To preserve the riches, i.e., to keep the mind calm, empty and still, we should shut the doors to the three thieves of greed, anger and delusion. Letting the mind move opens the house to "demons," that is, hallucinations and harm. Thus, Zen practitioners are taught that, while in meditation, “Encountering demons, kill the demons, encountering Buddhas, kill the Buddhas.” Both demons and Buddhas are mind-made, Mind-Only.

Even if a buddha or bodhisattva should suddenly appear before you, there's no need for reverence. This mind of ours is empty and contains no such form. Those who hold onto appearances are devils. They fall from the path. Why worship illusions born of the mind? Those who worship don't know, and those who know don't worship. By worshipping you come under the spell of devils ... At the appearance of spirits, demons, or divine beings, conceive neither respect nor fear. Your mind is basically empty. All appearances are illusions. Don't hold on to appearances. (The Patriarch Bodhidharma.)

For a detailed discussion of demons, see Master Thich Thién Tam, Buddhism of Wisdom and Faith, sect. 51, p.204ff.

Dharma. 
a) Duty, law, doctrinc. 
b) Things, events, phenomena, everything.
c) The teachings of the Buddhas (generally capitalized in English).

Dharma-Ending Age, Degenerate Age. 
The present spiritually degenerate era.

The concept of decline, dissension and schism within the Dharma after the passing of Buddha Sakyamuni is a general teaching of Buddhism and a corollary to the Truth of impermanence. See, for example, the Diamond Sutra (sect. 6 in the translation by A.F. Price and Wong Mou-lam).

The modern reader, unfamiliar with the concept of the Dharma-Ending Age may wish to recall the famous story of Hui K'o, the second Chinese Patriarch of Zen, who, according to tradition, knelt in the snow behind Bodhidharma for a whole night before being accepted as a disciple. Contrast this with the contemporary situation when even the holiest of all Buddhist holidays, Vesak (Birthday of Sakyamuni Buddha), must be held on the week-end to ensure adequate attendance.

Dharma Realm (Cosmos, Dharmadhatu, realm of reality, realm of truth). 
The term has several meanings in the sutras: 
i) the nature or essence of all things, 
ii) the infinite universe, consisting of worlds upon worlds ad infinitum; 
iii) the Mind.


Emptiness (Void, Sunyata). 
Connotes “first, Void in the sense of antithesis of being; second, the state of being ‘devoid’ of specific character, third, Void in the highest sense, or Transcendental Void, 1e., all oppositions synthesized ...; and fourth, the Absolute Void or the Unconditioned." (Vergilius Ferm, ed. An Encyclopedia of Religion).

Contrasted with "hollow emptiness," or "stubborn emptiness,” which is one-sided and leads to nihilism (the belief that nothing exists after death). Thus, we have the Mahayana expression, "True Emptiness, Wonderful Existence." True Emptiness is not empty!

Evil Paths. 
Hells, hungry ghosts, animality.

Expedient means (Skillful means, Skill-in-means).
Refers to strategies, methods, devices, targetted to the capacities, circumstances, likes and dislikes of each sentient being, so as to rescue him and lead him to enlightenment. "Thus, all particular formulations of the Teaching are just provisional expedients to communicate the Truth (Dharma) in specific contexts." (J.C. Cleary). "The Buddha's words were medicines for a given sickness at a given time,” always infinitely adaptable to the conditions of the audience.

Good Spiritual Advisor. 
Guru, virtuous friend, wise person, Bodhisattva, Buddha -- anyone who can help the practitioner progress along the path to Enlightenment. This notwithstanding, wisdom should be the primary factor in the selection of such an advisor: the advisor must have wisdom, and both advisor and practitioner must exercise wisdom in selecting one another.

Lotus Grades. 
Refer allegorically to nine possible degrees of rebirth in the Pure Land. The more merits and virtues the practitioner accumulates, the higher the grade. The highest grade is achieved by cultivators who have attained samadhi.

Lotus Sutra. 
A major Buddhist text and one of the most widely read sutras in the present day.

One of the earliest and most richly descriptive of the Mahayana sutras of Indian origin. It became important for the shaping of the Buddhist tradition in East Asia, in particular because of its teaching of the One Vehicle under which is subsumed the usual Hinayana [Theravada] and Mahayana divisions. It is the main text of the Tendai [T'ien T'ai] school. (Joji Okazaki).

This School has a historically close relationship with the Pure Land School, so much so that Elder Master T'ai Hsu taught that the Lotus Sutra is the Longer Amitabha Sutra in expanded form, while the Longer Amitabha Sutra is a summary of the Lotus Sutra.

Mahasthamaprapta
One of the Three Pure Land Sages, along with Amitabha Buddha and the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (Kuan Yin). Literally, “one who has gained great power.”

Maitreya
The future Buddha of this Saha World. One of the few transhistorical Buddhas (i.c., Buddhas with no basis in human history) recognized by the Theravada School.

Manjusri
The Bodhisattva who represents the Ultimate Wisdom of the Buddhas. (The Elder Sariputra exemplifies the wisdom of the Arhats.) See also "Sariputra."


Meditation Sutra
See "Three Pure Land Sutras" and "Vaidehi.”

Middle Way (Madhyamika)
The way between and above all extremes, such as hedonism or ascetism, existence or emptiness, eternalism or nihilism, samsara or Nirvana, etc. The Middle Way is a basic tenet of Buddhism. See also “Nagarjuna.”

Mind
Key concept in all Buddhist teaching.

Frequent term in Zen, used in two senses: (1) the mind-ground, the One Mind ... the buddha-mind, the mind of thusness ... (2) false mind, the ordinary mind dominated by conditioning, desire, aversion, ignorance, and false sense of self, the mind of delusion ... (J.C. Cleary, A Buddha from Korea.)

The ordinary, deluded mind (thought) includes feelings, impressions, conceptions, consciousness, etc. The Self-Nature True Mind is the fundamental nature, the Original Face, reality, etc. As an example, the Self-Nature True Mind is to mind what water is to waves -- the two cannot be dissociated. They are the same but they are also different.

Nagarjuna (2nd/3rd cent.) 
“One of the most important philosophers of Buddhism and the founder of the Madhyamika school. Nagarjuna's major accomplishment was his systematization ... of the teaching presented in the Prajnaparamita Sutras. Nagarjuna's methodological approach of rejecting all opposites is the basis of the Middle Way ..." (Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen.) See also "Middle Way."

Nihilism
The belief that everything disappears upon death. Nothing remains, not body or mind, good or bad karma, and there is no rebirth.

Pure Land 
Generic term for the realms of the Buddhas. In this text it denotes the Land of Ultimate Bliss or Western Land of Amitabha Buddha, It is “a paradise realm of the spirit world" (Raoul Birnbaum), an ideal place of cultivation, beyond the Triple Realm and samsara, where those who are reborn are no longer subject to retrogression. This is the key distinction between the Western Pure Land and such realms as the Tusita Heaven. There are two conceptions of the Pure Land: as different and apart from the Saha World and as one with and the same as the Saha World. When the mind is pure and undefiled, any land or environment becomes a pure land (Vimalakirti, Lotus, Avatamsaka Sutras ...). At the noumenal level, everything, the Pure Land included, is Mind-Only, a product of the mind. See also "Triple Realm."

Pure Land Sutras
See "Three Pure Land Sutras."

Saha World
World of Endurance. Refers to this world of ours, filled with suffering and afflictions, yet gladly endured by its inhabitants.

Samadhi
Meditative absorption. "Usually denotes the particular final stage of pure concentration." There are many degrees and types of samadhi (Buddha Remembrance, Ocean Seal ...)

Samantabhadra
Also called Universal Worthy or, in Japanese, Fugen. A major Bodhisattva, who personifies the transcendental practices and vows of the Buddhas (as compared to the Bodhisattva Manjusri, who represents transcendental wisdom). Usually depicted seated on an elephant with six tusks (six paramitas). Best known for his "Ten Great Vows."

Sudhana
The main protagonist in the next-to-last and longest chapter of the Avatamsaka Sutra. Seeking Enlightenment, he visited and studied with fifty-three spiritual advisors and became the equal of the Buddhas in one lifetime. When he was born, myriad treasures suddenly appeared in his father's home. Thus the name "Sudhana" or "Good Wealth."

Ten Great Vows
The famous vows of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra in the Avatamsaka Sutra. These vows represent the quintessence of this Sutra and are the basis of all Mahayana practice. Studying the Vows and putting them into practice is tantamount to studying the Avatamsaka Sutra and practicing its teachings. See also "Samantabhadra."

Third Lifetime
In the first lifetime, the practitioner engages in mundane good deeds which bring ephemeral worldly blessings (wealth, power, authority, etc.) in the second lifetime. Since power tends to corrupt, he is likely to create evil karma, resulting in retribution in the third lifetime. Thus, good deeds in the first lifetime are potential "enemies" of the third lifetime.

To ensure that mundane good deeds do not become "enemies," the practitioner should dedicate all merits to a transcendental goal, i.e., to become Bodhisattvas or Buddhas or, in popular Pure Land teaching, to achieve rebirth in the Pure Land -- a Buddha land beyond Birth and Death.

Three Pure Land Sutras
Pure Land Buddhism is based on three basic texts:
a) Amitabha Sutra (or Shorter Amitabha Sutra, or Smaller Sukhavati-Vyuha, or the Sutra of Amida);
b) Longer Amitabha Sutra (or Larger Sukhavati-Vyuha, or the Teaching of Infinite Life);
c) Meditation Sutra (or the Meditation on the Buddha of Infinite Life, or the Amitayur Dyana Sutra).

Sometimes the last chapter of the Avatamsaka Sutra ("The Practices and Vows of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra") is considered the fourth basic sutra of the Pure Land tradition.

Triple Realm (Three Realms, Three Worlds). 
The realms of desire (our world), form (realms of the lesser deities) and formlessness (realms of the higher deities). The Western Pure Land is outside the Triple Realm, beyond samsara and retrogression. See also "Pure Land."

Unconditioned (Transcendental)
Anything free of the three marks of greed, anger and delusion. See also "Conditioned."

Vaidehi
The Queen of King Bimbisara of Magadha. It was in response to her entreaties that Buddha Sakyamuni preached the Meditation Sutra, which teaches a series of sixteen visualizations (of Amitabha Buddha, the Pure Land ...) leading to rebirth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss.

Yung Ming
A well-known Sung Dynasty Zen Master (904-975). He was most influential in fostering the harmonization of Zen and Pure Land practice.

Source Of Information:
《Pure Land of The Patriarchs》, Zen Master Han-Shan Te-Ch'ing, translated by Dharma Master Lok To,  March 2001 edition, distributed by: Persatuan Penganut Agama Buddha Amitabha Malaysia, 90 & 92, Jalan Pahang, Gombak, 53000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.)
*** The information provided above does not contain personal opinion of this blog.