34. Respectful Homage (Primary meaning of Amitabha Sutra)
Namo the Paradise Pure Land of Amitabha Association Measureless Brightness of Tathagata.
That means: to be able to enjoy eternally in peace the happiness in the paradise world of the Amitabha Buddha, we have to practice the dharma subject of Tathagata, which is the measureless one.
The measureless dharma subject is hearing- seeing-knowing all dharma. The strict observance of the Triple Canon in the scriptures of the Buddha is not measureless, but limited. Even the Triple Canon outside the world preached by the Blessed One during his 49 years of teaching the dharma is not explained completely. So we have to learn the Triple Canon right in the world in combination with the Triple canon of the Buddha to make it measureless. The believer needs to acquire only a smallest one to be ordained measureless.
Namo the Paradise Pure Land of Amitabha Association the Limitless Brightness of Tathagata.
To be able to enjoy eternally in peace the happiness in the paradise world of the Amitabha Buddha, we have to practice the dharma subject of Tathagata, which is the limitless one.
The limitless dharma subject is the practice without limit, in the temple, in the house, at work, all over, and you can recognize everywhere all dharma through hearing, seeing, and knowing, not necessarily by leaving home and entering the temple. That erroneous conception is the limited practice. The believer needs to acquire only a smallest surface to be ordained limitless.
Namo the Paradise Pure Land of Amitabha Association the No Objection Brightness of Tathagata.
To be able to enjoy eternally in peace the happiness in the paradise world of the Amitabha Buddha, we have to practice the dharma subject of Tathagata, which is that of no- objection. We must be joyful and detached in facing all dharma, by not allowing the objection to control and command the disciple.
The present mind is thus disengaged and free from sorrow. The objections hinder the true mind. The objections are false mind. The true mind was thus hidden in the false one. The false mind enveloped the true one. Once the clouds melt away, the sun would appear clearly. Without objections, the true mind naturally appears.
Namo the Paradise Pure Land of Amitabha Association, the Volcano King Brightness of Tathagata.
To be able to enjoy eternally in peace and happiness in the Paradise world of the Amitabha Buddha, we have to practice the dharma subject of the “Volcano King”.
Volcano King is the king of all volcanoes that means there is no mountain as high, as large, and as big as this. It is an insurmountable mountain. Furthermore, it explodes and releases extreme heat.
The dharma subject of Volcano King is the one by which the disciple has to cross that most dangerous volcano by using his mind and his body.
For example, a married couple is for a long time on a vegetarian diet, reciting sutra, praying to the Buddha and frequenting temples. One day, the wife suddenly notices that her husband is not following the practice as before. She notices that he is meditating, going to listen to the sermon and correcting his nature following another Buddhist monk, not those at the temple as before.
The wife gets angry, shouting and roaring noisily, obliging the husband to abandon his way of practice. The husband does not give in. He tries to explain that his way of practicing is in conformity with the Mahayana. It is based on one's own nature and is more advanced than the former. The wife becomes rebellious and leaves the family, no longer looking after their children. Their family is broken and in chaos.
The husband has realized that his wife, who does not understand the whole procedure, has becomes rebellious. The family obviously is at the downfall, extremely panicking, caused by the encumbrance of his karma consciousness; he gives up his practice. Eventually, his wife returned.
The obstruction of the mountain is so great; nothing can be compared with “Volcano King”. Once surmounting it, one would be clear-sighted. By convincing favorably one's wife, one could easily access the pure land. Otherwise, by just praying and supplicating in reciting, one could never enter the pure land of the Amitabha Buddha.
The Mahayana dharma subject is that of resolving all dharma, not sitting in stillness and supplicating. You must exert yourself to reach where you want to be. You must practice to make it clear. Thoroughly understanding dharma is the true faith. In the Buddhist sutra, the mountain of Meru is commonly used to represent the insurmountable obstacle for the disciple.
Namo the Paradise Pure Land of the Amitabha Association, the Fearless Brightness of Tathagata.
To be able to enjoy eternally in peace the happiness in the paradise world of the Amitabha Buddha, we have to practice the dharma subject of Tathagata, which is that of “no-fear”. No fear means entering fearful things to know them while the Mind remains intact without fear or sorrow. For the heresy of second vehicle, fearless meant destruction, avoiding hearing and seeing. Therefore, no- fear in this case did not help to know the dharma. The mind would be clear only when there is no more fearful dharma.
Namo the Paradise Pure Land of the Amitabha Association, the Purification Brightness of Tathagata.
To be able to enjoy eternally in peace the happiness in the paradise world of the Amitabha Buddha, we have to practice the dharma subject of Tathagata, which is that of purification.
It is by dissolving completely and seriously your own flower of dharma nature that you could have the purification. The dharma of no-birth and no-extinction know clearly that all dharma are exactly the dharma of purification. A stable spirit is precisely a joyful and peaceful place, the true happiness. That is the purification. The disciple with unstable thoughts could not have purification. How could you teach the purification to others while you do not have the purification in yourself? Only those who have acquired joy and peace could be clear sighted, he could then dissolve all dharma by absoluteness. No resolution could be equal to that of the one who has entered absolute dharma. Some people considered that as selfish. How could you authoritatively prescribe for a patient the suitable medication while you are not a doctor - Is that right? Besides, the patient feels more comfortable when a qualified doctor writes a prescription.
The disciples who live with their families, have to earn their living daily, are susceptible to be involved in conflict between themselves. The true disciple knows how to dissolve happiness and misery, joy and sadness, gain or loss, and have or have not, and would be comfortable in his life. That is the invaluable happy purification. Going further into all dharma with more profundity, with more activity you will attain the great purification. The purification thus has different levels according to more or less abilities and merits. There are some disciples who practice throughout their life without a minute of seeing or knowing false and obscure thoughts. They keep on wishing to be enlightened. Whichever the dharma subject would be, you must practice to reach the purification in order to attain enlightenment.
Namo the Paradise Pure Land of Amitabha Association the Joyful and Detached Brightness of Tathagata.
To be able to enjoy eternally in peace the happiness in the paradise world of the Amitabha Buddha, we have to practice the dharma subject of Tathagata, which is the joyful and detached one.
Joyful means the abundance of happiness, while detached means the detachment of all bitterness. The disciple who practices dissolution would be accustomed to enduring all dharma, neither would he be angry in presence of an unfavorable situation nor would he be hateful to those who have caused suffering to him. He would be at ease once the flower of dharma nature dissolved. Such disciples have conducted themselves well with morality and followed the path taken by bodhisattvas in the practicing of the sacred.
Namo the Paradise Pure Land of Amitabha Association the Brightness of Knowledge with wisdom of Tathagata.
To be able to enjoy eternally in peace the happiness in the paradise world of the Amitabha Buddha, we have to practice the dharma subject of Tathagata, which is that of knowledge with wisdom.
The dharma subject of knowledge with wisdom means the profound knowledge never known and heard before. The knowledge in the past is restricted with tiny limits that of today are much larger. The practice in the past is erroneous. Today, thanks to dharma school, the knowledge gradually acquired is called the knowledge with wisdom.
The dharma instruction given by the disciple varies with his knowledge to help living creatures accordingly. Neither very high nor very low is called the knowledge with wisdom. The disciple could find out clearly the universal knowledge, which is that of the Tathagata’s eye store.
Namo the Paradise Pure Land of Amitabha Association, the Brightness of Difficult Privacy of Tathagata.
To be able to enjoy eternally in peace the happiness in the paradise world of the Amitabha Buddha, we have to practice the dharma subject of Tathagata, which is that of difficult privacy.
Difficult means hard to solve. Privacy means something belonging to the personality. In the dharma door of difficult privacy, the disciple has to dissolve all difficult dharma from his privacy to be clear-sighted. That is the dharma of Tathagata. The enthusiastic and sincere disciple has to recognize exactly the way of practice, which dissolves all dharma through a thorny crisis, which obstructs his life. Otherwise, no matter how great his enthusiasm and sincerity may be, he could not obtain the result of knowledge. Those who practiced, only by praying, supplicating and severe vegetarian diet, even with enthusiasm and sincerity, would still not be able to dissolve the situation.
Namo the Paradise Pure Land of Amitabha Association, the Perpetual Brightness of Tathagata.
To be able to enjoy eternally in peace the happiness in the paradise world of the Amitabha Buddha, we have to practice the dharma subject of Tathagata, which is the perpetual one.
Perpetual means without interruption. In the presence of a difficult situation, if the disciple could not see clearly the value of that dharma, he would readily interrupt his practice. The discouragement would make the disciple interruptory, contradictory, and demolished. Overcoming it would bring about a clear-sightedness. That is the dharma of Tathagata.
With lack of material in his daily life, the disciple often has to engage himself in this secular life, seeking more materials for meeting the demands satisfactorily. In such situations, only the highly brave disciple would not abandon his practice. The ordinary disciple, not recognizing the value and the advantage of the way of practice, which saved us from sinking in the sea of sufferings, would never obtain a result even though a sacred guide accompanied him.
Namo the Paradise Pure Land of Amitabha Association, the Brightness of Non - Proclamation of Tathagata.
To be able to enjoy eternally in peace the happiness in the paradise world of the Amitabha Buddha, we have to practice the dharma subject of Tathagata, which is the non proclamation one.
Non proclamation meant not proclaiming oneself to be attained. It is non ego. Living creatures, attached to their selves, usually proclaim themselves in order to increase their importance. Such manner of practice is still erroneous and hidden by ignorance. The successful disciple, recognizing well the dharma of non ego, never proclaiming himself attained, is then reborn in the pure land.
When the Buddha has preached the dharma of non ego, He has implied that there is no self in this chaotic life. So that living creatures could base on it to practice without error. With non proclamation, they could find out the true self to be liberated through wisdom. Living creatures become greedy in the defense of their name and their form. From the greed, they are attached to the hatred, and being stupid. That is the very way of the cycle of birth and death. The appellation is originally false. Erroneously admitting the false ego as oneself is a false appellation. From the high virtuous, the venerable to the most venerable is all cultivating to recognize well in the practice of all dharma, which is ours. That is Tathagata's purpose.
For example, from the paddy we make the rice and from the rice we make the flour. From the flour, we make all kinds of cakes, each having its own appellation, but all are, in fact, paddy. It is transformed and bears a self-name, a self-form.
For example, the carpenters use wood to make table, chair, bookcase, bed, window and door. They are from the tree. The carpenter has sawed and carved the tree to produce them. It has been transformed and bore various self-names, self-forms, such as table, chair, bookcase, bed, window, and door. Each of them has different usage. The chair is used to sit on, the table to write on or store documents; the bed to lie on. It’s not natural to use the chair to store documents and the table to sit on. The purposed form must be used properly.
Everything bore its self-name, self-form. Therefore, to be clear, the true disciple never proclaims his appellation. That is the dharma subject of non-proclamation of the Tathagata. The self is usually altered, no more recognized falsely as the ego.
The disciple has to be subjectively non-proclaiming, that means showing his no-self and reducing his karma, no longer admitting the falsity as truth. That is the very dharma subject of the Mahayana believers who have practice for liberation through wisdom.
All living creatures are originally of the same constitution as the Tathagata of the Ten Directions, without difference.
Namo the Paradise Pure Land of Amitabha Association, the Brightness of Super Sun and Moon of Tathagata.
To be able to enjoy eternally in peace the happiness in the paradise world of the Amitabha Buddha, we have to practice the dharma subject of Tathagata, which is that of super sun and moon.
Super sun and moon meant that the day and the night are all bright and there is absolutely no obscurity. The disciple should continuously preserve his true nature, neither thinking too much of the quantity nor of the limit. He should not be rebellious in the presence of difficult and unfavorable situations, to be free from obscurity. Solving the super morality, keeping the mind in serenity, with all dharma cleared; attaining perfect communication, resulting in perfect salvation would lead you to the Paradise Pure Land of Amitabha Association.
The disciple must be respectful to his homage, ardently willing to be completely ordained. That is the sealed indication of the Sakyamuni Buddha.
The sincere and arduous disciple deprived of a release to dissolve all dharma, keeping on only supplicating supernatural power, would still discard the way followed by the bodhisattvas in the past and that followed by the bodhisattvas in the present. The essential purpose of the practice of the dharma is to carry out the 12 above vows that are the practice of following the true path in the direction of the bodhisattvas. Therefore, the disciple should not be preoccupied only with his long or short time of practice. He should precisely conform to the above spirit to be able to enter into the rank of bodhisattvas conduct.