| To start with I would like to explain
who I am, not that I am important but it just needs to be said. My name
is Jay Bemis, and I am an American who has lived in Taiwan for the past
11 years, much of that time has been spent in the study of Buddhism.
I said my name was Jay Bemis, but
it is not the only name I have; living in Taiwan it is necessary to have
a Chinese name, so I have been known by a different name other than my
given name for 11 years. Not only that but I have taken refuge with the
three jewels (the Buddha, Buddhism, and the members of the Buddhist community)
three times with three different masters, each time when someone takes
refuge they are given a Dharma name, so that makes three more names to
add to the list. Here most people speak Chinese but some only speak Taiwanese,
so add a Taiwanese name to that list. What's in a name? They are all impermanent,
changed from day to day, changed from place to place, changed from life
time to life time. And that is the whole point of the Pure Land School,
also known as the Land of Ultimate Bliss. And, just why is it called the
'Land of Ultimate Bliss' anyway? That was the question that Buddha put
forth to his disciples. He had long told them of Amitabha Buddha and the
Land of Ultimate Bliss, but at that time none of them asked why it is called
that. I too, have a question, many Westerners and Chinese alike, like the
martial art, Tai Chi Chuan, in English 'Grand Ultimate Fist', just why
is it called 'Grand Ultimate Fist'? Nobody asks these questions, they just
blindly learn what they're taught, and miss the true Teaching. 'Ultimate'
is an extremist word that breaks through all extremes, like fighting fire
with fire. Truth can be expressed but not experienced through words. Someone
looking at a finger that is pointing at the moon will be lost until he
gives up his wrong view. By giving up, one only gains.
THE MAHAYANA PURE LAND SCHOOL is based on one
Sutra (Buddhist Bible) by the name of THE BUDDHA SPEAKS OF AMITABHA SUTRA.
It is the most special of all the Buddha's Teachings, and why?
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(1) It belongs to a class of Surtras spoken without
formal request. You may say that is normal in this world, in other religions
the God or Gods command the people to listen and believe, and the believers
beg us to listen and believe; the Buddhas do not command and do not beg,
they practice the middle way of preaching on request. However THE BUDDHA
SPEAKS OF AMITABHA SUTRA was not requested, so why did the Buddha speak
of it? Of course I do not know, but maybe it has something to do with the
second reason that this is so special of Teaching.
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(2) When Buddhism becomes extinct in this world,
THE BUDDHA SPEAKS OF AMITABHA SUTRA will be the last to disappear. So,
what do you think, if the Buddha did not teach this Sutra the whole of
Buddhism would suffer a premature death. Every student of Buddhism should
honor and cherish this Sutra for the benefit of all schools of Buddhism.
(3) It is the easiest of all the practices of
Buddhism, in the sense that the results are guaranteed with very little
effort. If one were to recite the Buddha's name 'Amitabha' just ten times
in the last ten breaths preceding one's own death, or if he or she were
to recite his name for seven days without being distracted, that person
will be reborn in the in the LAND OF ULTIMATE BLISS.
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(4) Buddha gives us the location of the LAND OF ULTIMATE
BLISS, one needs to travel past hundreds of thousands of millions of Buddha
Worlds to the West before one gets to the LAND OF ULTIMATE BLISS. If you
were to take a spaceship of today, how many light years would that be?
Here we can see that this Teaching was for the Buddhism ending age, which
is now, and the Buddha understood that people in this time would take intelligence
over wisdom, and waste their time exploring the universe. Why do I say
it is a waste of time? The universe is one of the infinite, infinity is
just like the ultimate, it is non-duelistic. If you were to say the universe
is infinitely large, or infinitely small it is the same meaning. There
was once a Monk that had penetration vision, and was trying to see the
edge of the universe. He sat in meditation for two weeks, the further he
looked the further he saw. The Buddha saw him trying to see what does not
exist, and advised him to give up his fruitless investigation and to spend
his time and effort in becoming a Buddha instead. As we can see the Buddha
knew all about astrology, and knew which planets had life. Not only that,
but knew the difference between those that were Saha Worlds (like the Earth)
and which were Buddha worlds (that lower forms of beings do not exist).
The PURE LAND SCHOOL is a Teaching that is good for Western scientist that
are interested in space travel. To go from one world to another take long
periods of time, and once you get there as an earthling you would probably
not be equipped to live in such an environment. One can be born there instantaneously,
with a body that can survive in that place. Not only that but the people
there just before lunch time can travel to all the Buddha Lands to make
offerings to all the Buddhas of those Lands just by will power alone.
How does one get born in that place? As has already
been said, the universe is infinite without edge, so where is the center?
We could say that any given point in the universe is just as much the center
of the universe as any other. Where is your mind, that is the center of
the universe. If you have done many bad things and a lot of people are
out to get you; your mind is all a race, in a living hell. On death where
will you be reborn? In the hells, because that is where the center of your
concentration is. By the same token, if you do many good things and everyone
wants to help you and be your good friend; your mind is all at peace without
a worry in the world. At death where will you be born? In the heavens,
because that is where your mind is at. The LAND OF ULTIMATE BLISS is hundreds
of thousands of millions of Buddha Worlds away from here, that is because
you do not want to be reborn there, if your really wanted to be born there,
it is right here. Because if you really wanted to be born there, in every
thought of your mind, in every word that comes from your mouth and every
action of your body is all put into the effort of getting that rebirth
in that Buddha Land. So that far off Land is the center of your mind, or
maybe hell is the center. It is all up to you, it has to be your idea to
work, not mine.
Enough talk about what I think about the PURE
LAND SCHOOL, after all, I said that I was not important and your intellect
and wisdom is much greater than mine, so without further ado I will just
give you the Sutra and let you decide what is good, bad, right, wrong and
what transcends all the above. |
