Master Da'an's Blog Sayings Collection — Embracing All Three Capacities

The method employed for universal and impartial liberation is known as "embracing the three categories of faculties." These three categories refer to the three types of beings according to their faculties: those of superior, intermediate, and inferior capacity. Beings of the sharpest faculties awaken to a thousand truths upon hearing a single teaching; those of intermediate faculties learn through encountering difficulties; and those of dull faculties require prolonged cultivation before returning to the path. Although these three types of faculties differ, the Pure Land teaching universally embraces them all. Regardless of one's level of spiritual capacity, anyone who has faith in Amitabha's method of reciting his name will be embraced and received.

The Pure Land teaching's characteristic of universally encompassing the three categories of faculties originates from Amitabha Buddha's vows made during his causal ground. After the Bodhisattva Dharmakara renounced his throne as a great king and left home, the very first overarching vow he made was to liberate all beings throughout the nine dharma realms, especially those suffering and drowning in the six realms of rebirth and the three evil paths—he vowed to rescue these tormented beings.

When compared with the eighty-four thousand teachings expounded by the Buddha throughout his lifetime, the single method of rebirth in the Pure Land stands out distinctly. Its nature is one of lateral transcendence, its principle of taking the entirety of the other as the self, and its use of the Buddha's enlightened fruit-ground as one's own causal mind. The distinguishing feature of the Pure Land teaching is that it transcends the three realms laterally and attains birth in the four lands laterally. Rebirth in the Land of Common Manifestation is equivalent to lateral rebirth in the three higher lands as well. It universally embraces all three capacities and receives both the sharp and the dull alike—a teaching like the sky that covers all, like the earth that supports all equally.

Amitabha Buddha's aspiration is vast and impartial. The practice of reciting his name is an all-inclusive Dharma gate, designed to rescue beings of every type of capacity. This universal salvific function is the crystallization of Amitabha's great impartial mind and his immense power of wisdom.

The method of rebirth in the Pure Land is an all-inclusive path—not the only one available, for other practices can also lead to rebirth there. However, among all the methods of Pure Land rebirth, only the practice of reciting the name encompasses the widest range of faculties. It embraces not only the nine dharma realms of superior, intermediate, and inferior beings in this Saha world, but also the boundless beings throughout the countless lands in the ten directions. Hence it is said: "It embraces the widest range of capacities and is the easiest to undertake."

The Pure Land teaching's characteristic of universally encompassing the three categories of faculties originates from Amitabha Buddha's vows made during his causal ground. After the Bodhisattva Dharmakara renounced his throne as a great king and left home, the very first overarching vow he made was to liberate all beings throughout the nine dharma realms, especially to rescue those suffering and drowning in the six realms of rebirth and the three evil paths.

For Amitabha to universally embrace the three categories of faculties and receive both the sharp and the dull alike, ensuring the salvation of all beings, is no simple matter. Any method, even one slightly more complex, would inevitably shut out a portion of beings. But in using his name to liberate beings, regardless of whether one has the merit of meditative concentration, the virtue of observing precepts, the cultivation of merit and blessings, or any level of education—all one need do is recite "Namo Amitabha Buddha" and aspire to be reborn there. One will be received and guided by the Buddha and attain birth in the Pure Land while still carrying one's karmic burdens.

The practice embraces both the sharp and the dull alike. Whether one's faculties are keen or dull, all can be gathered into Amitabha's great ocean of compassionate vows. This is the universal teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha, Amitabha Buddha, and all the Buddhas throughout the ten directions and three periods of time, offered for the sake of all sentient beings—from the Bodhisattvas of Equal Enlightenment at the highest down to the most ordinary, drifting common folk at the lowest. All can be enabled to, in this very life, end birth and death and reach the farther shore of liberation.

Dharma gates are remedies prescribed to counter the myriad afflictions. Since beings have eighty-four thousand kinds of afflictions, the Dharma gates must correspondingly number eighty-four thousand. Beings' faculties vary infinitely, so the teachings must be tailored to match their capacities. Yet ultimately, all paths must converge on the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss. As the saying goes: "All Dharma gates flow forth from this Dharma realm, and all practices return ultimately to this Dharma realm."

The Buddha expounded the eighty-four thousand Dharma gates in accordance with the varied capacities of sentient beings. The Dharma itself has no inherent hierarchy of superior or inferior; any method that helps beings escape the cycle of rebirth and meets the needs of the practitioner is the best.

The purpose of learning the Buddha's teaching is to transcend birth and death and emerge from the cycle of rebirth. The Buddhist Dharma is a path leading beyond the world; divorced from this transcendent purpose, it would become merely an ordinary worldly virtue, losing its essential meaning. In terms of attaining the fruits of the path beyond the world, in an age such as ours, given the capacities of ordinary people, the Pure Land teaching is the sole magnificent and solemn way to liberation.

When Master Fazhao encountered Bodhisattvas Manjushri and Samantabhadra at the Great Sage Bamboo Grove Temple on Mount Wutai, he inquired: "The age of the sages is far removed, and in the Dharma-ending age, sentient beings have inferior faculties. What Dharma gate should they practice to attain liberation?" Bodhisattva Manjushri directly recommended the practice of reciting the Buddha's name, saying: "Now is precisely the time to cultivate the practice of reciting the Buddha's name—that is, to recite the name of Amitabha Buddha of the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss." Therefore, Master Fazhao devoted his entire life to cultivating the practice of reciting the Buddha's name and experienced numerous wondrous spiritual responses.

In the present age, sentient beings have inferior faculties, and good spiritual friends are scarce. It is difficult to resolve the great matter of transcending birth and death. To guide beings toward the bright path of leaving the cycle of rebirth and attaining complete liberation, we must specifically promote the single method of rebirth through reciting Amitabha's name, relying on Amitabha's great power of compassionate vows to transcend the three realms laterally.

Within the Pure Land teaching, even one who has committed the most grievous offenses that are ordinarily beyond expiation—the Five Heinous Sins—if such a person can repent, recite the Buddha's name, and seek rebirth, Amitabha will not abandon them. However, because the karmic weight of the Five Heinous Sins is so heavy, such a person must remain within the lotus for six kalpas, or even twelve great kalpas, before emerging. Yet once the lotus opens, they too will attain non-retrogression and share the same majestic adornments as the Buddha.

The Perfect Penetration through Buddha-Recitation taught by Bodhisattva Mahasthamaprapta is indeed a practice that universally embraces all three capacities and receives both the sharp and the dull alike. Especially when we consider the worldly karmic causes and effects, the supramundane karmic causes and effects of cultivating the path, and the phenomena of the fifty categories of subtle demons that arise during the path of cultivation as set forth in the Surangama Sutra, we can more deeply appreciate the immense importance of the "Chapter on the Perfect Penetration of Buddha-Recitation" for sentient beings in this Saha world, particularly for those living in the Dharma-ending age.

Solely upholding the name is the direct practice, the proper cause. At the same time, the Pure Land teaching is also an all-inclusive path that universally embraces every type of faculty. Therefore, those who can arouse the bodhi mind and cultivate the common path's six paramitas and myriad practices—including the Chan school's investigation of meditation topics and the Teaching school's practice of calming and insight—may, by dedicating the merit of these practices toward rebirth in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss, also attain rebirth.

Master Chewu initially attained awakening through Chan practice. Later, due to illness, he drew inspiration from Master Yongming Yanshou: since even Master Yongming Yanshou devoted himself exclusively to the Pure Land practice, how could he, living in such an age, fail to cultivate it as well? So Master Chewu set aside his Chan investigation and devoted himself entirely to reciting the Buddha's name, chanting one hundred thousand repetitions of the name each day.

The teaching that "those of the seed-nature of the Two Vehicles are not born there" is stated from the perspective of the Land of Ultimate Bliss. However, a person in this world who cultivates the precepts of the Two Vehicles, upon hearing and having faith in the Pure Land teaching and aspiring to rebirth, can also attain rebirth there. This should not be interpreted to mean that those of the Two Vehicles' nature are incapable of rebirth in the Western Land. Rather, it should be understood that the Land of Ultimate Bliss itself does not produce such beings. Among the Sixteen Contemplations in the Contemplation Sutra Spoken by the Buddha on Amitayus, the first thirteen contemplations are concentration-based virtues, expounded in response to Vaidehi's request: "Teach me to contemplate; teach me to properly receive [the Dharma]." The Three Virtues and Nine Grades are called scattered (non-concentration) virtues—the Buddha's unrequested teaching, given to accommodate the scattered minds of sentient beings, especially to rescue those in the Dharma-ending age.

Concentration-based contemplation is difficult to achieve; for minds that are scattered, it is very hard to visualize clearly. Shakyamuni Buddha understood this matter perfectly, and so he revealed the content of scattered virtues found in the Nine Grades of rebirth. Even without the skill of concentration-based visualization, one need only have faith, make the vow, and recite the name. Even amid a scattered mind, one can be embraced by Amitabha's compassion and attain rebirth while still carrying one's karmic burdens. For ordinary beings burdened by karmic forces in the evil world of the five turbidities, this is both a hope and a guarantee. This is entirely the result of Amitabha's compassionate vow-power of universal, impartial liberation!

The establishment of the Three Virtues of Pure Karma is not the ultimate goal but rather a method leading toward the destination of rebirth in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss. Therefore, the teaching's universal embrace of all three capacities holds profound significance, especially for scattered, restless beings in the Dharma-ending age.

Although certain actions we commit might, by conventional standards, destine us for the three evil paths, Amitabha's compassion is boundless. If only we have deep faith, sincere vows, recite the Buddha's name, and seek rebirth in the Western Pure Land, Amitabha will certainly welcome us to become a bodhisattva in the Pure Land. We should follow Amitabha's summons, maintain the certainty of being born there, and frequently contemplate ourselves as honored guests of the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss.

The Pure Land teaching cuts straight to the heart: simply uphold the name of Amitabha Buddha. Without resorting to other expedients, the mind naturally opens. Within the Pure Land teaching, it is certainly beneficial to understand the doctrinal principles. Yet for a practitioner of pure karma who lacks education, even without understanding the profound truth of True Emptiness and Subtle Existence or the deeper Buddhist philosophy, it is enough to feel: "Amitabha Buddha is compassionate; I wish to leave this turbid and evil suffering world." With such a simple and honest conviction, one can also attain rebirth by reciting the name.