Amitabha's Name Embodies the Two Core Merits of Infinite Light and Infinite Life

The name of Amitabha Buddha encapsulates two core merits: Infinite Light and Infinite Life. These form the structural foundation of His name.

Why do we say that reciting Amitabha Buddha's name is the unified practice of śamatha (stilling the mind) and vipaśyanā (insight)? In truth, this is directly related to the establishment of the merits of Infinite Light and Infinite Life. When you recite His name, the active function of the merit of Infinite Life gives rise to the practice of śamatha; simultaneously, the illuminating function of Infinite Light serves as vipaśyanā. Thus, the very act of reciting the Buddha's name inherently contains the consummate and sudden Mahayana practice of śamatha and vipaśyanā: their perfect union.

Where there is śamatha, there is inevitably concentration (samādhi); where there is vipaśyanā, there is inevitably wisdom (prajñā). This means concentration and wisdom are cultivated together. Through concentration and wisdom, concentration brings stillness, and wisdom brings light. Stillness entails illumination, and illumination entails stillness—the two are one. The pinnacle of stillness is Infinite Life, and the pinnacle of illumination is Infinite Light. In our spiritual practice, Amitabha Buddha has already designed the entire journey of our cultivation through the establishment of these two core merits of Infinite Light and Infinite Life.

This name is established upon the meritorious nature of the immediate, present-moment awareness of us ordinary beings. The essence of this present-moment awareness is true suchness (bhūtatathatā)—the fundamental, non-dual state of equality shared by ordinary beings and Buddhas alike. This lays the spiritual foundation for us, the practitioners who recite the Buddha's name, to achieve a profound resonance and communion with Amitabha Buddha.

Because this nature is equal and non-dual, this unified spiritual connection allows for a transformation to take place. What is this transformation? It empowers us—ordinary beings who uphold the name of Amitabha Buddha—to transform the Infinite Light and Infinite Life that He perfectly realized at the level of enlightenment into our own Infinite Light and Life. Ultimately, it enables us who recite the Buddha's name to possess a light and lifespan indistinguishable from Amitabha Buddha's—utterly equal and identical.