Quotations from Venerable Daan's Blog — The Sudden and Perfect Dharma

The Infinite Life Sutra tells us that because they failed to trust the Pure Land Dharma Door, as many as a hundred million practitioners of the common great vehicle path turned back from their pursuit of anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. Why did they turn back? It is because the demonic forces in this world are overwhelmingly powerful. Relying on self-power, they cannot sever the views and afflictions, nor do they have the faith and vows needed to rely on the Buddha's power and be reborn with their karmic obstructions. Thus they are bound to remain within the three realms. Unable to escape the three realms through their own efforts, the work of benefiting others is out of the question. When the winds of circumstance rage fiercely and one's footing is unsteady, the bodhicitta one has generated easily retreats.

The Lotus Sutra states: If a person with a scattered and distracted mind enters a stupa or temple and but once utters "Namo Buddha," that person has already entered the path to Buddhahood. Even a scattered mind that recites a single "Namo Buddha" is certain to attain Buddhahood. This is the true, perfect, and sudden Dharma meaning revealed in the great vehicle scriptures.

Viewed from the perspective of the common path of Buddhist teachings, one cultivates the six paramitas, which constitute the foundation for progressing toward anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. Viewed from the Pure Land Dharma Door, this practice of faith, vows, and recitation of the name—this samadhi of single practice—is itself a practice of the one dharma realm. It embodies the principle of the perfect teaching, whereby one dharma realm contains all dharmas and one dharma accomplishes all dharmas, serving as the wondrous cause for attaining the Buddha fruit.

Manjushri Bodhisattva, in numerous prajna-class scriptures, declares that the Dharma Door he has chosen is the samadhi of single practice, which means facing west and exclusively reciting Amitabha Buddha's name. Reciting one Buddha equals reciting all Buddhas. This "practice" does not refer to a single method of cultivation but rather to the "practice of the one dharma realm." The Dharma Door of reciting the Buddha's name is the wondrous practice of the dharma realm.

The "fragrance and light adornment" spoken of by Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva uses the fragrance of Amitabha Buddha's fivefold dharma body and the light of the Buddha's prajna wisdom to adorn the very mind-nature of our present thought. We, being karmic ordinary beings, are saturated with karmic force and afflictions. The Dharma Door of reciting the Buddha's name takes the Buddha's enlightenment of the fruit-ground as the mind of the cause-ground. Through faith, vows, and recitation, it completely takes in the Buddha's merits and virtues as one's own merits and virtues. This is the actual meaning of fragrance and light adornment.

Because sentient beings possess the eighty-four thousand afflictions, eighty-four thousand Dharma Doors must be established. Dharma Doors are medicinal remedies that counteract afflictions. Since sentient beings' faculties differ in countless ways, various Dharma Doors must be established to suit their capacities, but in the end all must ultimately be guided back to the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss. All Dharma Doors flow forth from this dharma realm, and all practices return to this dharma realm.

Among the "Twenty Essential Rules of the Sangha," one rule states: "Among practices, reciting the Buddha's name is the most reliable." This means: if you wish to cultivate, which Dharma Door should you choose? Only the Dharma Door of reciting the Buddha's name is reliable. It will not lead to going astray or falling into demonic states, nor will it involve various risks. This is because reciting the Buddha's name invokes the empowerment of the Buddha's power.

Zen Master Tianru Weize said that a person who has attained awakening and seeks rebirth in the Pure Land cannot be turned back even by ten thousand oxen. A person who has truly attained awakening possesses a mental force in seeking rebirth in the Pure Land that ten thousand oxen could not reverse. If someone has attained awakening yet looks down on the Pure Land and does not seek rebirth, that alone proves that he has not yet attained awakening.

What is meant by the Pure Land Dharma Door? Generally speaking, "pure" means purity, and "land" means realm. Throughout the ten directions there are countless pure lands, but the Pure Land discussed here refers specifically to the Dharma Door of reciting the Buddha's name to seek rebirth in Amitabha Buddha's Pure Land.

The Pure Land Dharma Door is the perfect and sudden Dharma of the great vehicle. To encounter this Pure Land Dharma Door and generate faith in it means one already possesses the seed-nature of the great vehicle. Those with the seed-nature of the small vehicle cannot encounter this Pure Land Dharma Door; even if they hear it, they will not generate faith.

The core meaning of Amitabha Buddha is limitless life and limitless light. Limitless life is the quiescent essence inherent in sentient beings that transcends time; limitless light is the wondrous function of prajna wisdom that transcends space. This tranquil illumination that transcends time and space is the Buddha-nature inherent in sentient beings. Limitless light is also inherent in sentient beings, but concealed by discrimination, attachment, and afflictions, it cannot shine forth. Therefore, by taking Amitabha Buddha's fruit-ground name as a strong condition, as the noumenal object, we arouse within us the phenomenal image of our inner limitless light.

The Pure Land Dharma Door takes the enlightenment of the fruit-ground as the mind of the cause-ground. Amitabha Buddha has fully realized the prototype of the entire Buddha-dharma realm. Then, condensing the merits and virtues of the fruit-ground into the six-character great name, using it as the noumenal object, He activates the phenomenal image in sentient beings. A characteristic of the Pure Land Dharma Door is called "relying on His environment and adornment to reveal our own nature." This means that by relying on the adornment of the environment and persons in the Land of Ultimate Bliss, we bring forth the inherent virtue of limitless life and light in ourselves.

From the perspective of the perfect teaching, Amitabha Buddha's name is called the name of ten thousand virtues. Amitabha is the King among Buddhas; Amitabha is the dharma-body treasury of the dharma realm. Therefore, the merit of reciting Amitabha Buddha's single name equals the merit of reciting the names of all Buddhas.

By merely reciting this name, we can summon the entirety of Amitabha Buddha's merits and virtues and transform them into the merits and virtues of ordinary beings like ourselves. Amitabha Buddha has long completed all practices for our sake. We need only have faith, make vows, and hold the name, and we can readily receive them. There is no need to seek any other expedient means. This is the wondrous function of the perfect and sudden nature of the Dharma Door of reciting the Buddha's name.

With regard to the object upon which cultivation depends, the Pure Land Dharma Door is extraordinarily ultimate. It is directly connected to the Buddha's dharma realm: the One True Dharma Realm. Therefore, its transcendence is not merely transcendence of the three evil paths, not merely transcendence of the six realms, but even an abrupt transcendence of the three dharma realms of sravakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas.

No practitioner of the five vehicles in this world can attain rebirth through their own efforts. Not only can ordinary beings like us not be reborn through our own power, but even arhats who have severed the views and afflictions cannot attain rebirth through their own efforts.

In the Dharma Door of reciting the Buddha's name, at least insofar as rebirth is concerned, it depends entirely on the compassionate vows and power of Amitabha Buddha. In this sense, it relies wholly on the Buddha's power. However, there must be faith, vows, and practice—one must believe, make vows, and recite the Buddha's name—and in this there is also the element of self-power.

Within what is equal and undifferentiated, to draw a distinction between self-power and other-power—is that not being contentious? Moreover, it cannot be done. Therefore, in terms of the ultimate meaning of the Pure Land Dharma Door, it all lies in "the other is precisely the self." Understanding thoroughly that the entirety of other-power is the power of one's own nature is sufficient.

The characteristic of the Pure Land Dharma Door is taking the enlightenment of the fruit-ground as the mind of the cause-ground, meaning Amitabha Buddha bestows upon sentient beings the merits and virtues of the fruit-ground. In the practice of the cause-ground, sentient beings completely take in Amitabha Buddha's merits and virtues as their own, so the Dharma Door of reciting the Buddha's name is naturally perfect, sudden, and swift.

The Pure Land Dharma Door is a state within the Buddha-dharma realm that we could not even dream of. It lies beyond the cognitive range of ordinary beings like us, so naturally there will be doubt. Within the scope of common sense, people regard what they know as truth. It is difficult to believe in things outside common sense, yet there are simply too many inconceivable things in this world. We should not hastily draw conclusions.

The Pure Land Dharma Door is the perfect, sudden, and direct great vehicle Dharma, possessing many transcendent, profound, and wondrous principles and realms of meaning that are indeed hard to believe. This is because we all dwell within a cognitive framework of worldly common sense. Regarding such transcendent existence—that there is Amitabha Buddha within the dharma realm, that there is a Land of Ultimate Bliss beyond the Saha world—we often feel relatively unfamiliar, unable to fathom it. It seems half-real, half-unreal, and our faith is difficult to arouse.

The great vehicle scriptures repeatedly state that there are countless layers of worlds, all within a single point. Yet sentient beings can only perceive the time and space corresponding to their own karmic force. The dharma realm of ants is relatively close to ours; they belong to the animal realm, and we belong to the human realm. Yet if you tell an ant about the phenomena of the human dharma realm, it will find it hard to believe. What Shakyamuni Buddha expounds for us are phenomena of the Buddha-dharma realm. Because it is so transcendent, it is normal for us to find it difficult to accept.

Explaining the circumstances of the Buddha-dharma realm to sentient beings of the human dharma realm is truly difficult. It is like proclaiming the culture of etiquette to a barbaric tribe, or like explaining three-dimensional space to a two-dimensional being. These are very difficult tasks. Why is the Pure Land said to be the most difficult thing for all worlds to believe in? It is because the Buddha's realm lies outside the cognitive range of karmic ordinary beings like us, possessing an extremely high transcendence and ultimacy.

Where do we begin with the Pure Land Dharma Door? We begin with reverent faith. Because the Pure Land Dharma Door is entirely the Buddha's realm of fruit-enlightenment, the Buddha's wisdom cannot be fathomed by the two vehicles or bodhisattvas, let alone understood by karmic ordinary beings like us. This is a Dharma Door "that only Buddhas and Buddhas can fully comprehend; sentient beings of the nine dharma realms cannot understand it through self-power." Therefore, we must become humble, follow the teachings in practice, and surely attain great benefit.

Prajna wisdom contemplates the empty nature of all dharmas. This emptiness is an emptiness that contains existence. The emptiness that contains existence is true emptiness, and the existence that contains emptiness is wondrous existence. The prajna-class scriptures speak of true emptiness, while the Pure Land speaks of wondrous existence. The two are precisely two aspects of one whole, complementing each other perfectly. Therefore, those who cultivate the empty nature of prajna will mostly believe in the wondrous existence of the Pure Land. The emptier, the more existent; the more existent, the emptier. Emptiness and existence are non-dual; emptiness and existence are one.

The characteristic of the Pure Land Dharma Door is to point to a specific direction, establish a particular form, and abide in that form to realize the fruit. Unlike the Chan school, which enters through the gate of emptiness and seeks to sweep away all forms, insisting on non-abiding in forms, the Pure Land Dharma Door enters through wondrous existence and abides in forms. Which form does it abide in? Reciting this name is a form—the form of the sound of the name. Contemplating a Buddha image is also a form. Yet these forms are pure forms, forms that awaken us. Entering formless from form, entering non-thought from thought—using one wedge to extract another, using an army to stop an army—such wondrous virtue is beyond conception.

Do not look down on the Dharma Door of reciting the Buddha's name or think it is simple. In terms of doctrinal principle, the Dharma Door of reciting the Buddha's name is "the utmost perfect and sudden among the perfect and sudden, the first definitive meaning among the definitive meanings." Generally, people consider discussions of the empty nature in prajna to be very profound scriptures, but they do not realize that scriptures discussing wondrous existence born from emptiness are even more profound. Scriptures revealing true emptiness, wondrous existence, and the wondrous realm-appearance of the ultimate truth—such scriptures are extremely profound, filled with the mysterious gate of non-obstruction between events within the dharma realm, and are a display of the definitive meaning of the middle way.

This Buddha-name seems very simple; even ignorant women and men can recite it, even three-year-old children can recite it. Yet the Lotus School is built upon a special Dharma Door established on the Buddha's fruit-ground, and the mechanisms and principles within it are exceedingly profound and vast. Therefore, Master Ouyi asserted: the Dharma Door of reciting the Buddha's name for rebirth is something that only Buddhas and Buddhas can fully comprehend; sentient beings of the nine dharma realms cannot believe or understand it through their own merits, virtue, and wisdom.

The deeper, broader, and more steadfast one's faith in Amitabha Buddha's vow-power through this name, the greater the dharma benefit one will obtain. The benefit received by a Buddha-reciter is directly proportional to the depth of his or her faith.

When one is mindful of the Buddha's name, at that very moment, this mind corresponds to the entire dharma realm and to the entirety of Amitabha Buddha's fruit-ground merits and virtues. The merits of one Buddha are the merits of all Buddhas; the object of our mindful connection is the entire ocean of fruit-enlightenment of all Buddhas throughout the ten directions and three periods of time. When the mind that recites and the Buddha being recited merge completely into one, when "the whole mind is the Buddha, the whole Buddha is the mind, and mind and Buddha are one," then the very mind that recites is Amitabha Buddha.

The benefits of both the samadhi and the scattered practices ultimately converge upon Amitabha Buddha's vow-mind, meaning that the intent is for sentient beings to single-mindedly and exclusively recite Amitabha's name. This is the very purpose to which Shakyamuni Buddha points in thousands of sutras and treatises throughout—using the name to save sentient beings. Although there are four methods of reciting the Buddha's name, reciting the name is the most expedient, the most perfect, and the most sudden.

Anyone can recite the Buddha's name. This alone manifests Amitabha Buddha's spirit of equality and His highest wisdom. The simpler it is, the wiser it is; the more equal, the more compassionate. We must thoroughly appreciate the profound meaning of this Dharma Door.

Amitabha Buddha is the King among Buddhas, supremely compassionate. For sentient beings who have broken the fundamental precepts, He has especially opened a path of hope. As long as these precept-breaking sentient beings still have a sense of shame and repentance, and can have faith, make vows, and recite the Buddha's name to seek rebirth in the Pure Land, Amitabha Buddha will still receive them and enable them to be reborn in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss.

The perfect teaching of the great vehicle holds a view that one dharma contains all dharmas, and one practice contains all practices. In the Dharma Door of reciting the Buddha's name established by Amitabha Buddha, this six-character great name is called the name of ten thousand virtues. Merely reciting this name fulfills the six paramitas and myriad practices. The samadhi of Buddha-recitation is the king of all samadhis, and the single practice of Buddha-recitation can ultimately lead to the attainment of the Buddha fruit. Therefore, from ordinary being to sage, the single practice of Buddha-recitation possesses the function of progressing toward the Buddha fruit.

A karmic ordinary being, as long as he has faith, makes vows, and recites the Buddha's name, will resonate with the Buddha's power. At the moment of death, blessed by the Buddha's welcoming guidance, he can be reborn with his karmic obstructions in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss. Once arrived in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss, it is as if he has transcended the three realms horizontally, equivalent to severing the views and afflictions. Upon arriving in the Land of Ultimate Bliss, he will attain avaivartika non-retrogression, abide in the great vehicle's right concentration assembly, equivalent to the level of the initial abiding of the perfect teaching as spoken of in the common path of Buddhist teachings.

The Pure Land Dharma Door takes the enlightenment of the fruit-ground as the mind of the cause-ground, meaning Amitabha Buddha bestows the merits and virtues of the fruit-ground upon sentient beings. In the cause-ground, sentient beings completely take in Amitabha Buddha's merits and virtues as their own, and thus the path becomes perfect, sudden, and swift.

The Buddha-name itself is the true mark. By entrusting to the name of ten thousand virtues, we reveal our own nature. With single-pointed directness, through a mind of Buddha-recitation, one enters the patience of non-birth and opens the Buddha's wisdom. This is to thoroughly investigate and illuminate one's own mind.

The Lotus School, as a school within the great vehicle Dharma, shares commonalities with the Chan and doctrinal schools, but also has differences. The commonalities show that the Pure Land Dharma Door can perfectly encompass all Dharma Doors; the differences show that the Pure Land Dharma Door can perfectly transcend all Dharma Doors. This is an important characteristic of the Pure Land Dharma Door spoken of by Master Ouyi in his Essential Explanation of the Amitabha Sutra Spoken by the Buddha: it perfectly encompasses and perfectly transcends all Dharma Doors.

This name is a true-mark sound-symbol generated by Amitabha Buddha upon certifying the empty nature of all dharmas. Within Amitabha Buddha's name there are two core virtues: first, limitless life, expressing true emptiness; second, limitless light, displaying wondrous existence. Therefore, this name itself embodies the reality-principle of true emptiness and wondrous existence. Among definitive teachings, it is the unsurpassed definitive meaning.

Quotations from Venerable Daan's Blog — The Sudden and Perfect Dharma

To arouse faith is to enter into Amitabha Buddha's "unconditional great compassion and great compassion shared with all beings" — this vast compassionate heart. Such entry also encompasses the perfect and sudden teaching principle that "the mind, Buddha, and sentient beings are equally without distinction." Then there is another form of entry — the theoretical foundation of the Samadhi of Contemplating the Buddha and the Samadhi of Reciting the Buddha — namely, "This very mind makes the Buddha; this very mind is the Buddha."

When reciting "Namo Amitabha Buddha," one does not dwell on the five desires and six sense-objects. This Buddha-name is recited with single-pointed clarity — distinct and vivid, heard with equal clarity — and one can enter into the tranquil samadhi of Infinite Life, manifesting the illuminating function of Infinite Light. Although this method of recitation is extremely simple, it condenses the most essential cultivation, perfectly embodying calm and insight, concentration and wisdom, tranquility and illumination, Infinite Light and Infinite Life. Therefore, the method of reciting the Buddha's name cuts straight through, working directly on the very core of our mind-nature.

Ordinary beings burdened by karmic forces, supported by Amitabha Buddha's compassionate vow-power, can transcend horizontally to the Western Pure Land of Bliss, be born into the Land of Common Residence of Saints and Ordinary Beings, gather together with all the supreme virtuous ones, and behold Amitabha Buddha face to face. Therefore, being born into the Land of Common Residence of Saints and Ordinary Beings in the Western Pure Land of Bliss is equivalent to perfectly attaining birth in all three lands, walking hand in hand with Avalokitesvara and Mahasthamaprapta, swiftly perfecting the Buddha-fruit. This is the unique characteristic of the Western Pure Land of Bliss.

In his Recorded Sayings, Master Chewu pointed out that, compared with the Chan school's "illuminating the mind and seeing the nature, seeing the nature and becoming a Buddha," the Lotus School's "this mind makes the Buddha, this mind is the Buddha" — "the mind that makes and the mind that is" — is more direct, simpler, easier, and its effect more perfectly sudden.

Master Chewu has a verse: "A single phrase of Amitabha is the heart-essence of our Buddha, penetrating vertically through the five periods and encompassing horizontally the eight teachings." This phrase "Namo Amitabha Buddha" is the supreme heart-essence of Shakyamuni Buddha, the honored teacher of the Saha world, and Amitabha Buddha of the Land of Bliss. Within this "heart-essence" are contained the Buddha's great compassion, great wisdom, and great skillful means.

Through this Name, Amitabha Buddha bestows upon us sentient beings the merit accumulated through countless kalpas of cultivation. Merely upholding this sacred Name surpasses giving charity for a hundred years. This is the inconceivable principle of the perfect and sudden teaching — wholly taking in the Buddha's merit as one's own merit, transforming the merit bestowed by Amitabha into the practitioner's own merit. Therefore, reciting this Name is the highest form of cultivation.

With meditative concentration, one enters into the tranquil samadhi of Infinite Life; with wisdom, one manifests the illuminating function of Infinite Light, possessing the function of tranquility and illumination. Therefore, reciting a single "Namo Amitabha Buddha" condenses the most essential cultivation of both the Mahayana and Hinayana, perfectly embodying calm and insight, concentration and wisdom, tranquility and illumination, Infinite Light and Infinite Life. Thus the method of reciting the Buddha's name cuts straight through, directly applying the skill of meditation at the very core of our mind-nature.

The Western Pure Land of Bliss is the conditioned origination of the Dharma-realm, whereas the Saha world is the conditioned origination of sentient beings' ignorance and karmic consciousness. Since it is the conditioned origination of the Dharma-realm, it can become the most sublime and pure paradigm of the ten Dharma-realms, as well as the ultimate destination for all sentient beings of the nine realms. Therefore, the Pure Land teaching is often expressed as: "All Dharma-gates flow forth from this Dharma-realm; all practice-gates return to this Dharma-realm."

Sudhana (Shan Cai) developed fundamental wisdom under Manjushri Bodhisattva, and Manjushri then instructed him to extensively visit virtuous friends, successively consulting fifty-three spiritual mentors. The first was Bhikshu De Yun, who taught Sudhana the Samadhi of Reciting the Buddha. Finally, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, in accordance with his own nature, expounded the Ten Great Vows, urging Sudhana and the forty-one Dharma-body great beings of the Avatamsaka assembly to be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Bliss. The ultimate outcome of Sudhana's life-long path to Buddhahood was to go to the Land of Bliss to perfect the Buddha-fruit.

The Three Vehicles refer to Sravakas, Pratyekabuddhas, and Bodhisattvas; the Five Natures refer to the five categories of sentient beings' innate dispositions — the Sravaka-nature, Pratyekabuddha-nature, Bodhisattva-nature, Indeterminate-nature, and No-nature. Whether they belong to the Three Vehicles or to the five natures, as long as sentient beings have faith and vow and recite the Buddha's name, they can equally and together reach the Western Pure Land of Bliss, just as all rivers flowing into the sea share the same taste, and all can attain Buddhahood.

To benefit sentient beings broadly, one must propagate the Dharma of reciting the Buddha's name to seek rebirth in the Pure Land. This is the great teaching whereby Shakyamuni Buddha, in compassionate pity for sentient beings, came to the world of the five turbidities, fully expounded the original intent of all Buddhas, and bestowed upon sentient beings the true benefit.

The Pure Land method of reciting the Buddha's name relies on Amitabha Buddha's compassionate vow-power to achieve rebirth with one's karmic burden. It is best if one can sever the delusions of views and thoughts; if one cannot sever them, one can rely on faith, vow, and upholding the Name, resonating with Amitabha's vow-power to be reborn while carrying karma, and transcend horizontally beyond the three realms. This is the only path of liberation for sentient beings in the Dharma-ending age! Only by understanding the difficulty of relying on self-power cultivation can one more deeply cherish the ease of horizontal transcendence through the Buddha's power — this supreme, perfectly sudden Dharma-gate that resolves, in a single lifetime, the great matter of life and death that has been beyond our resolution for countless kalpas.

Master Yinguang often stated in his Writings: "If the Pure Land karma is accomplished, the Chan teachings are naturally attained." When one truly attains single-minded undistracted recitation or the Samadhi of Reciting the Buddha, then all the insights of the Chan school are naturally and completely understood.

The Sutra of the Visualization of the Buddha of Infinite Life (Contemplation Sutra), in the lower grade of the middle level, explains that reciting the Buddha's Name can transform the realm of hell into a Pure Land realm. Among the ten Dharma-realms, these two extremes represent a sudden transition from the lowest Dharma-realm to the highest, instantly transcending nine Dharma-realms. What other Dharma-gate, what other sound or Name, possesses such wondrous power?

The six great characters of "Namo Amitabha Buddha" are the encompassing dharani, the king of all Dharmas, hence called the "Great Sutra King of Six Characters." The patriarchs have repeatedly revealed to us one truth: all the Dharmas expounded by the Mahayana and Hinayana sutras are but annotations of these six characters. These six characters represent the supreme crystallization of all Buddhist teachings, the comprehensive essence. As long as one recites these six characters, it is equivalent to reciting all Dharmas.

For ordinary beings burdened by karmic forces, do not speak in such lofty terms. Beings burdened by karmic forces must begin through form. The Pure Land Dharma-gate sets up this form precisely to provide sentient beings like us with a way to begin cultivation. This is called skillful means. The Pure Land Dharma-gate is "the foremost of skillful means among skillful means."

In the Western Pure Land of Bliss, beneath Amitabha Buddha, there are countless Sravaka disciples. "Sravaka" refers to saints who attained enlightenment by hearing the teaching of the Four Noble Truths. In the complete teachings of the Buddha's lifetime, it is particularly emphasized that if Sravakas do not generate the Bodhicitta, they can never attain Buddhahood. Due to the vastness of Amitabha Buddha's ocean-like great compassionate vows, He does not abandon these Sravakas. After these Sravakas are reborn in the Western Pure Land, within Amitabha Buddha's Pure Land, they naturally generate the Bodhicitta.

"The ocean of all Buddhas' perfect and complete knowledge arises from the mind's thought." The ocean of Amitabha Buddha's all-knowing wisdom of the Dharma-realm is the attainment of the knowledge of all aspects. Ordinary beings like us also possess the knowledge of all aspects, but it is covered over by discriminative clinging. Through the wisdom contained in the Name, the wisdom originally inherent within us can be developed. Each recitation of the Buddha's Name manifests Amitabha Buddha's wisdom. To cultivate merit and wisdom, both are completely contained within this Name. Faith, vow, and upholding the Name are the supreme merit among merits, the supreme good among good deeds, the unsurpassed wisdom among all wisdoms.

The Pure Land Dharma-gate possesses the most metaphysical value. Such a short sequence of sound-symbols yet carries the merit of all Buddhas throughout the ten directions and the three periods of time.

The Pure Land Dharma-gate has a characteristic: it establishes forms. This Name is also a form; the adornments of the Pure Land are also a form. This form emerges from the Dharma-nature, expressing the three virtues of Amitabha Buddha's Nirvana and the four virtues of permanence, bliss, self, and purity. Therefore, by abiding in this form, one can attain the Buddha-fruit.

The Dharma-gate of reciting the Buddha's name for rebirth in the Pure Land is a perfectly sudden method that all beings of the nine realms find difficult to believe. Not only do evil persons find it hard to believe, even good persons find it hard to believe. Not only do good persons find it hard to believe, even the practitioners of the Two Vehicles cannot fully believe it. Not only do practitioners of the Two Vehicles fail to fully believe it, even Bodhisattvas of the three worthy stages may not believe it completely. Therefore, to expound this Dharma-gate among humans is "the most difficult of all difficult things — none surpasses this difficulty!"

"This mind makes the Buddha, this mind is the Buddha" — this statement can equally be said as: "This mind makes an animal, this mind is an animal; this mind makes a hungry ghost, this mind is a hungry ghost; this mind makes a human, this mind is a human; ... this mind makes a Buddha, this mind is the Buddha."

A single thought fully contains the ten Dharma-realms. Where the thought of this present moment falls is a matter of "making," determined by our values, behavior, and subjective choice. A single thought of ignorance, and the animal realm appears; a single thought of stinginess, and the hungry ghost realm appears; a single thought of upholding the five precepts and the five constants, and the human realm appears; a single thought of cultivating the Four Noble Truths, and the Sravaka realm appears; extensively practicing the six perfections, and the Bodhisattva realm appears; keeping mindful of Namo Amitabha Buddha, and the Buddha realm appears. Therefore, this "making" is exceedingly important.

"This mind is the Buddha" — because Amitabha Buddha's entire merit resides within our thoughts, we sleep each night with the Buddha, rise each morning with the Buddha; in movement, stillness, sitting, and lying down, we are never separated even for a moment.

In the present moment of utterly sincere recitation, one already possesses the thirty-two marks and eighty minor excellent characteristics. Why? Because "this mind makes the Buddha, this mind is the Buddha." Here a profoundly important principle of mind-nature is revealed — our mind completely contains the ten Dharma-realms, from the six ordinary realms to the four holy realms, all encompassed within a single mind.

This Name is calling us awake — while we are still soundly asleep, the Name of Amitabha Buddha resounds again and again, awakening the dreamer in the dream! When the awakening subject and the awakened object merge into one, then "the whole sky of frosty moonlight illuminates the secluded forest."

The Sutra of the Visualization of the Buddha of Infinite Life states: "The Tathagatas, the Thus Come Ones, are bodies of the Dharma-realm, entering into the thoughts of all sentient beings." This sentence reveals a secret of our mind's Dharma-realm nature — within this one thought of our mind, the entire merit of Amitabha Buddha is fully present!

The skillful means of the Pure Land Dharma-gate lies in beginning cultivation through phenomenal forms, not departing from the conditioned mind, using the conditioned mind to recite the Buddha's name. This Buddha-name is the expression of true suchness. As long as the mind does not depart from the Buddha, and the Buddha does not depart from the mind, each thought attached to this Buddha-name, remembering the Buddha and reciting the Buddha, in that very moment there is an interaction with true suchness and self-nature, which can subtly accord with the wondrous Dao and skillfully enter into non-arising.

The phenomena, principles, causes, and conditions of the Western Pure Land are beyond what the people of Earth can inquire about, fundamentally outside the cognitive range of ordinary beings like us. Shakyamuni Buddha, with His knowledge of all aspects, observing the faculties of the assembled beings, saw that those in the assembly should hear and believe the Pure Land Dharma-gate, gaining the great benefit of escaping the cycle of birth and death and perfectly attaining Buddhahood. He made clear that the benefit of this Dharma-gate in rescuing the turbid and evil sentient beings is the greatest and most urgent, and therefore expounded it without being asked.

Looking at the translations of the Sutra of the Buddha Speaking of Infinite Life, from the Han Dynasty to the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties, there were already ten translations. Why did these translators of the sutras focus on translating this particular sutra? First, these translators wished to translate the best and most practical sutra text. The one that best embodies the essence of Buddhism and the original intent of transcendence is the Pure Land Dharma-gate, and the Pure Land Dharma-gate is primarily contained in the Sutra of the Buddha Speaking of Infinite Life. Second, it shows that the supramundane good roots of the people of the Eastern lands had matured.

If sentient beings did not possess the inherent virtue of Infinite Light and Infinite Life, there would be no establishment of the Name of Amitabha Buddha. The premise for the establishment of Amitabha Buddha's Name is the inherent virtue of Infinite Light and Infinite Life within sentient beings. If there were no Name of Amitabha Buddha projected as the fruit-ground awakening into the cause-ground mind of sentient beings' practice, the inherent virtue of Infinite Light and Infinite Life within us could not appear or manifest. "Relying on that Name to reveal one's own nature" is an important characteristic of the Pure Land Dharma-gate.

In fact, the Western Pure Land of Bliss is right here in this very place. Why is it that when Amitabha Buddha comes to greet us at the moment of death, we arrive in the snap of a finger, in a single thought, in the time it takes to flex and extend one's arm? Why so quickly? By common sense, even traveling at the speed of light to a hundred thousand koṭis of great thousand world systems beyond would still require a period of time to arrive. Yet the Pure Land Dharma-gate is a realm of unimpeded interpenetration of phenomena, transcending time and transcending space. The power of the Name, Amitabha's vow-power, and the power of the reciting practitioner's self-nature merit — these three powers working in concert can manifest inconceivable wondrous effects.

For the family members and descendants of this world whom one cannot let go of, if one cannot be reborn in the Pure Land, once one transmigrates in the cycle of rebirth, one must let go whether one wishes to or not. Having reached the Western Pure Land of Bliss, with the heavenly eye one observes and immediately knows what one's family members are doing, and possessing the capacity to return, one can appear in various identities as appropriate to guide and transform them, thereby truly benefiting one's family members.