How Great Is the Merit of This 'Da'an'?

"All fears, I grant them great peace." Friends in the Dharma, can you grasp the vast merit of this "great peace" we discuss in the Amitayus Sutra?

We all know the Dharma is the path of pacifying the mind, and we have all heard the well-known dialogue between Patriarch Bodhidharma and the Second Patriarch, haven’t we? During the depths of winter, the Second Patriarch stood for a long time in snow that was deep and thick. Afterwards, Bodhidharma said to him, "Your diligence is still insufficient, and your aspiration is not yet fully ripe: This Dharma I transmit was arduously cultivated by the World-Honored One over countless eons, with great toil. Do you think you can attain it simply by standing or kneeling for a moment, without uttering a single word of genuine aspiration?" At this, Second Patriarch Huike cut off his own arm. This act embodies... a truth that we ordinary people today cannot fully grasp. By severing his arm, he also severed his karmic obstacles; he relinquished his physical body, as well as all his inner and outer wealth.

So what seemed like a mere act of severing one arm was in fact the immediate, simultaneous perfection of all Six Paramitas, do you all understand? He attained them all at once, in a single instant of sudden practice – that is why he is said to have completed the Six Paramitas in that very moment. Patriarch Bodhidharma then said to him, "Go on, what Dharma are you seeking?" He replied, "My mind is unsettled." Bodhidharma said, "Bring me your mind, and I will settle it for you." And just like that, his mind was settled. This is the famous teaching: "Bring me your mind, and I will settle it for you."

But all of you must understand: this "pacifying of the mind" is far inferior in quality to the "great peace" we are speaking of here. Why? As we often say, "cessation is bodhi" – the sudden cessation of the wild, deluded mind marks the full accomplishment of pacifying the mind, yet this can only be called "small peace". What do we mean by "small peace"? It can only settle the mind, but it cannot settle karmic tendencies, do you all understand? We are referring here to karmic tendencies, the ingrained habits formed by past karma.

So what is the "great peace" we speak of in this teaching? As we will explain shortly, this peace is intended to settle him where? It is meant to settle him in the Buddha’s Pure Land, as you all know. The earlier "peace" could only offer settlement within the three realms, where no true peace exists at all. The later "great peace", by contrast, provides settlement for those trapped in the nine realms (where no fundamental peace exists either), settling him, as we just mentioned, at the very farthest extreme of the abyss of samsara, in a comprehensive, systematic way. What does this mean? It means it can not only settle his mind, but also settle his karmic tendencies simultaneously.

You must all understand: this is not a situation where one suddenly awakens to the nature of mind and then abandons all practice, only to later begin cutting off afflictions and karmic habits through engaging with various conditions and confronting all kinds of circumstances in order to pacify one’s karmic tendencies. Rather, in this teaching, one’s karmic tendencies are already pacified at the exact same moment the mind opens – only then can it be called "great peace".