All Three Great Hurdles Are Settled for Us Within This Single Thought

Let us look at the Eleventh Vow, the Vow that Right Samadhi Will Definitely Lead to Nirvana: "If, when I attain Buddhahood, the humans and devas in my land do not abide in the right samadhi group and do not ultimately reach nirvana, may I not attain perfect enlightenment."

This means: when I become a Buddha, if any human or deva reborn in my Western Pure Land cannot enter the great-vehicle right samadhi group and ultimately attain great-vehicle nirvana—then I shall not become a Buddha.

Now Dharmākara Bodhisattva has already become a Buddha, so the moment we are reborn there, we are certain to enter the great-vehicle right samadhi group and ultimately fulfill the great-vehicle Buddha fruit. This vow gathers beings toward an ultimate goal, and within it shines forth compassion. What is the purpose of our practice? We practice in order to become Buddhas—not for anything else. Yet becoming a Buddha in this world is exceedingly hard: afflictions are too many, and the temptations of the environment too strong. So we must change to a different environment to continue our cultivation. This is precisely why Amitābha Buddha established the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss—to give us a supreme bodhimanda where we can carry our practice forward.

What this framework offers is a three-stage path to Buddhahood—it is not accomplished all at once.

The first stage: through the power of his vow, we are gathered first to the Western Pure Land, leaving behind the perilous conditions of this Sahā world.

The second stage: the moment we arrive, we enter the great-vehicle right samadhi group. The right samadhi group stands in contrast to the wrong samadhi group and the uncertain samadhi group—it means non-retrogression. In the Āmitābha Sūtra, non-retrogression is called avaivartika, a non-retreating bodhisattva. Everyone should note: the first goal of our practice as ordinary beings is to attain avaivartika. Without it, we will keep advancing and retreating, advancing and retreating. We need to reach a baseline where we no longer fall back.

This non-retrogression is further divided into three kinds:

The first is non-retrogression of position—entering the ranks of sages and no longer falling back into the state of ordinary beings. The second is non-retrogression of practice—the great-vehicle bodhisattva practice does not retreat; we will not fall back to the Hīnayāna path of the self-liberated śrāvaka. The third is non-retrogression of thought—every moment accords with all-encompassing wisdom; every moment flows into the ocean of sarvajña. These three stages are no small matter. For non-retrogression of position, at the very least in the Tripiṭaka teaching one must be a first-stage sage—a stream-enterer (śrotāpanna); in the Perfect teaching, it corresponds to the first stage of faith. For non-retrogression of practice, one must have broken through at least one portion of ignorance; in the Perfect teaching, this is the first abiding bodhisattva. And to attain non-retrogression of thought—truly attaining it, every moment flowing into the ocean of sarvajña, every moment a spontaneous wondrous activity—that is the level of the eighth-ground bodhisattva.

Consider this: we ordinary beings, through the power of Amitābha's vow, are reborn and immediately arrive at avaivartika—a truly breathtaking prospect! Tell me, though—we have not cut off a single portion of afflictions, so how can we become avaivartika? From the standpoint of conventional Dharma, this is simply inexplicable. Yet in the Western Pure Land, through the inconceivable power of Amitābha's vow, the inconceivable merit of our own mind-nature, and the inconceivable merit of Amitābha's name, this very thing comes about. If you say we avaivartika are sages—yet we have not severed a single portion of afflictions; we remain ordinary beings. If you say we are ordinary beings—yet we truly enjoy the blessings of the three non-retrogressions. Neither ordinary nor sage, yet both ordinary and sage—this already lies beyond what ordinary doctrinal theory can conceive or articulate.

So having entered the great-vehicle right samadhi group, we head directly toward great-vehicle nirvana—ultimately becoming a Buddha. In each of these three stages, if we tried to walk the path through conventional self-power methods, all three hurdles would be nearly impossible to pass.

The first hurdle is rebirth itself—it is hard. To leave the Land Where Sages and Ordinary Beings Dwell Together, one must break through view-delusions and thought-delusions. Our world is indeed such a land, but an impure one, summoned into being by our karmic forces. The Western Land is also such a dwelling-place, but the one in Amitābha's Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss is a pure land manifested through the power of his vow. To leave the impure dwelling-place through one's own effort—in this age, we have no way of accomplishing that. So we rely on Amitābha's vow-power to effect a horizontal transcendence—from the impure land where sages and ordinary beings dwell together to the pure one—passing through this hurdle.

The second hurdle is attaining the right samadhi group. It requires reaching the ten stages of faith and breaking through one portion of ignorance. Before entering the right samadhi group, those in the uncertain and wrong samadhi groups are all "light-feather bodhisattvas"—advancing one step and retreating nine.

When Śāriputra was cultivating in the causal ground, at the sixth stage of faith he suddenly made a resolve: "I will practice the bodhisattva path." Practicing the bodhisattva path means helping beings, so he went into the marketplace to do so. There he encountered a young man at a crossroads begging for help: his mother was ill, and a certain medicine required a particular ingredient. What was it? Hearing this, Śāriputra thought, "I have just resolved to practice the bodhisattva path—and here is the very chance. I will practice it through this person." He said generously, "Whatever help you need, I will give it." The young man said, "I need the ingredient." "What is it?" The ingredient had to be a human eye—a living eye. Now this was hard to give up, but thinking of his bodhisattva vow, he took a knife and gouged out his own eye, handing it over. He gave one eye. The young man looked at it and said, "Why are you so hasty! I needed your right eye—why did you give me the left one!" Too hasty, indeed. But thinking he should see it through to the end, he gouged out the other eye as well and handed that over. The young man took it, smelled it, and cried, "Ugh! This eye reeks! This won't do!" He threw it on the ground and trampled it underfoot. At this, Śāriputra could bear it no longer. What a wretched soul—truly terrible!

"The bodhisattva path is too difficult. Better to go back." And so he returned to the śrāvaka stage, circling there for sixty small kalpas. Practicing the bodhisattva path is truly not easy. To enter the right samadhi group, to hold a mind that remains utterly unmoved while practicing the bodhisattva path—one needs a compassion grounded in a genuine realization of emptiness before one can possibly withstand such trials.

Consider Śākyamuni Buddha in his causal ground, cultivating the bodhisattva path with a sincere heart. In a past life, he was King Śibi, who governed the realm with benevolence, cherished his people, loved the Dharma, and vowed to save all beings universally. At that time, Śakra Devānām Indra wondered whether anyone in the world truly practiced. His minister Viśvakarman replied that there was a great practitioner in Jambudvīpa. Śakra was skeptical: "Practitioners are everywhere these days—all show, all fakes." Viśvakarman insisted, "This one is genuine. Let us put him to the test." So Viśvakarman transformed into a dove, and Śakra into a hawk. The hawk pursued the dove, which fled to King Śibi and begged for protection. The king, naturally compassionate, took the dove into his arms. The hawk demanded, "That dove is my food—hand it over." The king refused: "I cannot give it to you. It is a living being—you must not harm it." The hawk replied, "If I cannot harm it, I will starve! By letting me starve, are you not also causing harm?" The king considered this: "Then let it be so—I will cut flesh from my own body to feed you in the dove's stead." The hawk agreed, but on one condition: the flesh cut must weigh the same as the dove. A scale was brought. Strangely, the king cut flesh from his thigh, then from his arm, but the scale would not balance. He cut flesh from his entire body, and still it would not equal the dove's weight. Finally, gathering an immensely powerful resolve to save the dove, he offered his very life—nothing left but bones—and flung his whole body onto the scale. The earth quaked. Śakra, lord of the Trāyastriṃśa heaven, revealed himself and praised the king: "He is a true practitioner!" Because the king pursued the Buddha Way with a genuine and sincere heart, his flesh was ultimately fully restored. He had passed the test.

To attain such a right samadhi group at our ordinary level—even Śāriputra's attainment would already be exceedingly rare for us. Nowadays, some people—not to mention gouging out two eyes—would smack down a mosquito the instant it draws a drop of blood. It is not easy! The body-view is fierce; one instinctively and uncontrollably strikes. So entering the right samadhi group is hard. But if we reach the Western Pure Land, Amitābha blesses us to attain it. Even within the right samadhi group, there is yet another hurdle: after realizing self-emptiness, one may grasp at attaining nirvana. Many bodhisattvas, many śrāvakas, seize upon nirvana as fixed-nature śrāvakas and fall into the pit of the unconditioned, drink the wine of samādhi—becoming scorched sprouts and rotten seeds, forever unable to become Buddhas.

So Amitābha blesses us so that we do not fall into such traps, guiding us directly toward the great-vehicle Buddha fruit! All three great hurdles are settled for us within this single thought! Only then can we feel a deep, heartfelt gratitude to Amitābha for his all-encompassing blessing throughout the entire course of our bodhisattva path, which alone enables us to attain Buddhahood swiftly. If even one of these three hurdles remained impassable, we would be stalled for countless kalpas. This is the Vow that Right Samadhi Will Definitely Lead to Nirvana.