Master Ouyi Expounds the Nianfo Method
The Buddha-recitation practice has nothing extraordinary about it. All it requires is deep faith and sustained, earnest effort—this is the most essential point.
The Buddha-recitation practice has nothing extraordinary about it. All it requires is deep faith and sustained, earnest effort—this is the most essential point.
The Buddha Shakyamuni said:
"If a person simply recites the name of Amitabha Buddha, this is what we call the supreme, profound, and wondrous Chan."
Master Zhizhe of the Tiantai school said:
"The four forms of samadhi are all known as Buddha-recitation samadhi, and this Buddha-recitation samadhi is the king of all samadhis."
Master Lianchi of Yunqi said:
"This single phrase ‘Amitabha Buddha’ spans the Five Periods and Eight Teachings, and fully embraces the Five Houses of Chan."
It’s a shame that people these days dismiss Buddha-recitation as a trivial practice, fit only for simple, uneducated folk. As a result, their faith is shallow, their practice half-hearted, and they drift through their days in idle distraction, never managing to complete the work of the Pure Land.
If someone has the skill to practice skillfully and wants to deeply understand this Buddha-recitation samadhi, they immediately jump to taking the koan “who is it that recites the Buddha?” as the ultimate practice. They don’t realize that the present-moment mind doing the reciting is already beyond the four extremes and free of a hundred false views. There is no need to make deliberate effort to transcend these errors and distorted ways of thinking. The very Buddha being recited in the present moment is likewise already beyond emotional attachment and free of discrimination—why tire yourselves out with empty talk of mystery and profundity?
Buddha-recitation only asks that you trust it fully and hold to it steadily. Take a single phrase of “Amitabha Buddha” and recite straight through—whether that’s a hundred thousand repetitions a day, or fifty, thirty, or even three thousand—holding to the standard that you absolutely never miss a single count. Stick with this for your entire life, vowing never to abandon it. If you cannot be reborn in the Land of Ultimate Bliss after this, then all Buddhas of the three times are liars who deceive sentient beings. Once reborn in the Western Pure Land, you will never fall back from supreme enlightenment. All the various other Dharma gates will then be fully present and realized for you.
Don’t jump between practices at whim: one day you’re following Master Zhang’s method, the next Master Li’s. When you meet scriptural scholars, you want to pore over sutras and copy out passages. When you meet Chan practitioners, you want to investigate koans and engage in question and answer. When you meet precept-holders, you want to don the monastic robes and take up the alms bowl. In the end, you’ll have no clear path at all, your practice a tangled, muddled mess. Don’t you know that once you have mastered the recitation of Amitabha Buddha, the ultimate principles of the entire Tripitaka are all contained within Buddha-recitation? The inner workings of the seventeen hundred koans, the gateway to the direct path, are also in Buddha-recitation. The three thousand modes of conduct, the eighty thousand subtle practices, even the Bodhisattva’s threefold pure precepts—all are found in Buddha-recitation.
If you can truly recite the Buddha, letting go of all attachment to your body, mind, and the world around you, this is great generosity. If you can truly recite the Buddha, no longer giving rise to greed, hatred, or delusion, this is great morality. If you can truly recite the Buddha, no longer clinging to ideas of self and other, this is great patience. If you can truly recite the Buddha, without a single moment’s break or mixing in of other distracting thoughts, this is great diligence. If you can truly recite the Buddha, no longer letting scattered, deluded thoughts race after objects of attachment and craving, this is great samadhi. If you can truly recite the Buddha, not deluded by other divergent paths of practice, this is great wisdom.
Take a moment to look honestly at yourself. If you still haven’t let go of attachment to your body, mind, and the world; if thoughts of greed, hatred, and delusion still arise unbidden; if concerns about right and wrong, self and other, still fill your mind without pause; if interrupting and mixed thoughts have not yet been cleared away; if scattered, deluded thoughts still race after objects of craving; if all sorts of other divergent practices can still pull your mind and intention astray—then you cannot be called a true practitioner of Buddha-recitation.
If you want to attain the state of one-pointed mind, free of confusion, there is no other path. When you first start practicing, you should use prayer beads, keep a clear count of your recitations, and set a daily quota that you never fall below. After practicing this way for a long time, when Buddha-recitation becomes second nature, you will find yourself reciting even without trying to. At that point, it makes no difference whether you keep count or not. But if from the very start you want to spout fancy words, pretend to be unattached, or act like you’re already free and at ease, this always stems from faith that is too shallow and practice that is too half-hearted. Even if you can lecture on the entire Tripitaka, or turn the phrases of seventeen hundred koans, these are still just matters on the shore of birth and death; when the moment of death comes, you will have no use for them at all. Treasure this carefully!
—Translated from the vernacular Chinese of Dharma Master Faxuan