Upon What Do the Heavens of the Land of Bliss Rest?

Earlier we saw that the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss is composed of the seven treasures. It has no Mount Sumeru, no great oceans, no lesser seas, no streams or canals, no wells or valleys, and no turning of the four seasons.

Hearing this, Ānanda was moved to wonder. His question was one that any ordinary person, thinking on behalf of future generations, would naturally raise from within ordinary human understanding.

In our world, the geography always includes Mount Sumeru. The Heaven of the Four Heavenly Kings and the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven both rest upon it. Since the sutra says the Western Pure Land has ground, common sense would suggest that where there is ground there must also be heaven. Where, then, do those heavens abide? What do they rest upon?

The question took this shape: in our world, the Four Heavenly Kings dwell at Mount Sumeru's midsection, and the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven at its peak. The Western Pure Land should likewise have its heavens. But without Mount Sumeru for them to depend on, where do they dwell? That was the question.

The Buddha did not answer this directly. Instead He turned the question back to Ānanda, asking about the third heaven of the desire realm — the Yāma Heaven — and on up through the eighteen tiers of the form realm to the Akaniṣṭha Heaven. Above the Yāma Heaven lie the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, the Nirmāṇarati Heaven, the Paranirmitavaśavartin Heaven, and the eighteen heavens of the form realm, culminating in the Akaniṣṭha Heaven.

The Akaniṣṭha Heaven is the highest of the form realm, also known as the Summit of Form.

So upon what do these heavens rest? From the Yāma Heaven upward, they no longer dwell on the ground but abide in empty space. This was the thrust of His counter-question.

The counter-question is hypothetical, and we should note this carefully. The Buddha isn't saying the Western Pure Land contains these heavens from Yāma to Akaniṣṭha. Rather, using the three realms of our world as a reference, He points out that even these heavens in empty space have no Mount Sumeru to depend upon — so what do they rest upon? Wise Ānanda immediately understood: they abide in empty space.

Consider the earth-dwelling heavens of our world. Below them lies the earth wheel, supported by the water wheel. Beneath the water wheel is the wind wheel, whose dense wind holds up the water, which holds up the earth, which holds up Mount Sumeru and the heavens resting upon it.

From the Yāma Heaven upward, however, they rest not on the ground but in empty space, sustained by the dense wind wheel within that space. What is the underlying principle? Ānanda stated it plainly: the workings of karma and its fruits are inconceivable. Through the wholesome karmic causes of their ten good deeds, these beings — from the Yāma Heaven up to the Akaniṣṭha — attain the fruit of dwelling in empty space. This is the inconceivable power of karma.

The scriptures often speak of the inconceivable karmic power of sentient beings, the inconceivable nature of their deeds, and the inconceivable nature of the realms they inhabit.

Building on this, the Buddha told Ānanda: since the karmic deeds and fruits of beings in this Sahā world are already beyond conception, how much more so the worlds of the buddhas — and how much more inconceivable still the pure land that flows from Amitābha Buddha's great compassionate vows, upheld by His power after enlightenment?

The way the Western Pure Land is sustained lies beyond the three realms. Its inhabitants are reborn through their own meritorious and wholesome power — through keeping precepts and reciting the Buddha's name, through faith and aspiration, and through the virtue of the Threefold Pure Karma. They abide in a pure land forged by Amitābha Buddha's accumulated merit over countless kalpas.

This is the meeting of two inconceivables: the meritorious power of those who recite the Buddha's name, and the accomplished pure land of Amitābha Buddha. Such things arise naturally and spontaneously. Thus no Mount Sumeru is required, yet the world stands firm.