Today we are practicing the Amitabha Buddha Dharma and simultaneously performing a merit-making ceremony. We haven’t been able to hold a gathering for a long time due to the pandemic; everyone is quite anxious, and gatherings are not appropriate under these circumstances. For everyone’s peace of mind, safety, and health, and because each place has its own rules and regulations, we haven’t been able to hold a gathering for almost four or five months.
We hold a Dharma assembly in July every year. This place has been established for 20 years, and every July we hold various Dharma assemblies, including regional, district-wide, small-scale assemblies held by certain temples, and individual assemblies. There are also merit-making assemblies. July is the month of filial piety, a time to repay the kindness of parents and all sentient beings. We hold these assemblies with a kind heart and a desire to benefit others.
When we hold a merit-making ceremony, the main question is whether we have the ability to perform the merit-making ceremony. This is a very difficult thing, a very high threshold. We hold several virtuous assemblies every year to dedicate merit, commemorate, and repay the debts owed to our family members, ancestors, and karmic creditors, cultivating our own goodness. We have unwavering faith in the Three Jewels. The blessings of the Dharma are inconceivable and will surely benefit all sentient beings.
There are many Amitabha Buddha Dharma practices. The Amitabha Buddha Dharma practice we are currently practicing is a Vajrayana practice. This is the Dharma practiced by the lineage masters of the past, the transmission of the Kadampa Desha lineage. These past masters all practiced the Amitabha Buddha Dharma. Several of the masters we are familiar with ultimately attained rebirth in the Pure Land, and they transmitted this Dharma to benefit future generations.
This Dharma practice is very special to me personally because I have had immense faith in the Kadampa Desha lineage since childhood. In this life, I have received many of his Dharma implements and treasures through his compassionate blessings, such as his skull, Dharma texts, Dharma images, and other keepsakes. These treasures were received unintentionally, not through deliberate seeking, but naturally, as if descended from heaven.
My former teachers, Shakya Rinpoche and Ongzhu Rinpoche, both practiced this Dharma. They often mentioned, “The patriarchs are all in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, and the closest patriarchs will welcome sentient beings with karmic connections in the future.” They recited this Dharma for a long time. Before passing away at Larung Gar Buddhist Academy, my teacher, Shechen Ongzhu Rinpoche, instructed some teachers, such as Longde Rinpoche, to bestow Amitabha Buddha empowerment upon them. After the empowerment, he told them they would go to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, and then passed away with the sound of “Phat.”
Thus, many familiar family members, who may have committed many sins in the past, later developed a repentant heart and generated firm faith and prayers to Amitabha Buddha. Before their passing, they saw Amitabha Buddha or dreamed of Amitabha Buddha. We have heard of and witnessed many such events, and there have been many special occurrences around us. Therefore, we have special faith in this Dharma, and we all know that Padmasambhava is the manifestation of Amitabha Buddha and Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva united.
Amitabha Buddha, Amitayus Buddha, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, Tara, and Padmasambhava are all manifestations of Amitabha Buddha. One can attain Amitabha Buddha’s Pure Land simply by practicing the corresponding deity. Within all the exoteric Buddhist teachings, regardless of one’s capacity or the circumstances, the Amitabha Buddha teachings are arguably the easiest to practice and achieve.
Although when one has unwavering faith in any Buddha or Bodhisattva, the pure realm is singular and without distinction, in the eyes of sentient beings with discriminating minds, the deities they perceive as having a special connection to them are all related to the Lotus Family teachings. Within Vajrayana, there are the Five Dhyani Buddhas, and the Lotus Family teachings within them have a special affinity for sentient beings in the desire realm, making them the easiest to practice and achieve.
I. Conditions for Rebirth in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss
What conditions are needed to go to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss? There are two, three, or four conditions that everyone can understand and achieve. The specific conditions vary from sutra to sutra, but they can be summarized into four conditions.
The first condition is the need for faith, and the cultivation of one’s own faith.
To this end, one should frequently contemplate the virtues of Amitabha Buddha, read Mahayana scriptures such as the Amitabha Sutra, or associate with virtuous teachers to cultivate faith over a long period. Faith is the key to achievement, regardless of the Vajrayana practice.
Faith is a distinctive feature of Buddhism. In all religions, the connection to, or correspondence with the Buddha or deities is the most crucial element; everyone needs faith. Every lineage master emphasizes that faith is paramount. Without faith, any practice is merely a superficial imitation of Buddhism—moving one’s mouth and walking in that direction may plant good seeds, but it doesn’t guarantee achieving the goal. Therefore, unwavering faith is essential for success.
The second condition is to frequently visualize the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.
If one doesn’t understand visualization, simply think of the most beautiful world as the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, the world of Amitabha Buddha. Amitabha Buddha vowed countless eons ago to practice the Bodhisattva path for three asamkhya kalpas, accumulating merit and wisdom for the sake of all sentient beings. This is the Pure Land, the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, created by his vows. The Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss is described in detail in scriptures such as the Amitabha Sutra. All the good things you desire exist in that world; simply think of it this way. Think of the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, think of Amitabha Buddha, and his eight great bodhisattvas, etc., every day! When you think of it frequently, the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss is imprinted in your alaya consciousness. Your consciousness will be free of other impure thoughts, only the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. Each time you contemplate it, you purify your sins, habitual tendencies, and afflictions.
By frequently contemplating in this state, impure concepts and attachments to people and things will not arise at this stage. At this time, only the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss exists; it has appeared in your consciousness. You can visualize the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, Amitabha Buddha, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, Padmasambhava, and other Buddhas and bodhisattvas you are familiar with, like most, and desire most, all residing in the Pure Land. By continuously meditating in this way, your consciousness will receive the blessings of the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, the vows of Amitabha Buddha, and the power of your own faith. Gradually, impure thoughts will be eliminated one by one, revealing a pure state.
Through continuous visualization, and through the power of meditation or the power of long-term right understanding, the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss can appear in your subconscious mind—what your eyes see and your ears hear. It’s best if we can see the Pure Land before we die; don’t wait for the future. Upon entering meditation, it should clearly appear, like turning on a television screen, clearly and distinctly presented in your conscious mind. This is ideal. If this isn’t possible, then consider it “existent.” Why can’t it appear? Because karmic obstacles are deep and blessings are insufficient!
The third condition is cultivating blessings, repenting, and generating Bodhicitta (the aspiration for enlightenment).
When your own heart is not large enough, the Pure Land cannot accommodate you, even if you have a heart large enough to help all sentient beings attain Bodhi. The larger your heart, the more you can connect with the Pure Land. If your heart is too small and narrow, you cannot generate Bodhicitta for all sentient beings. If your heart is closed, the door to the Pure Land cannot be opened. You want to go to the Pure Land, but there’s no door at all—it’s like this!
Therefore, one should open one’s heart, bless all sentient beings, generate Bodhicitta for all sentient beings, cultivate merit and virtue for all sentient beings, and repent for all sentient beings. Based on this compassion for all sentient beings, one should practice the Amitabha Buddha Dharma! The Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss is Mahayana Buddhism, not the Śrāvakayāna path. The sole and most fundamental condition for Mahayana Buddhism is generating Bodhicitta.
Whether one can reach the Pure Land without generating Bodhicitta is unclear. Perhaps it is possible? Because there are also Śrāvakayāna and Bodhisattvayāna followers in the Pure Land. These Śrāvakayāna followers, due to insufficient Bodhicitta, can still reach the Pure Land. However, some say these are Bodhisattvas manifesting as Śrāvakayāna. There are also ordinary people who reach the Pure Land through the power of vows and faith; Arhats also exist among these ordinary people.
The Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss also has nine grades of lotus flowers, etc. Therefore, with firm faith, one can reach it. Constantly contemplating Amitabha Buddha, the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, and the holy name of Amitabha Buddha, in a pure state of mind, one can also reach a lower grade of the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. Reaching the Pure Land is already quite good; generating Bodhicitta there is also acceptable. Regardless of whether you reach the lower or upper level of the Pure Land, avoiding hell and the cycle of rebirth is already a significant achievement.
Upon reaching the Pure Land, it doesn’t matter whether you reach the lower, middle, or upper level! Therefore, simply generating Bodhicitta isn’t enough; whether you can reach it is uncertain! However, if you have Bodhicitta, the desire to benefit all sentient beings, practicing the Pure Land Dharma for the sake of all sentient beings, cultivating merit for the sake of all sentient beings, and repenting for the sake of all sentient beings—on this foundation, even without a firm Bodhicitta, you can still reach the Pure Land!
Therefore, to go to the Pure Land, you must constantly think of Amitabha Buddha and the Pure Land. The most important condition is faith, coupled with generating Bodhicitta, cultivating merit, repenting, and finally dedicating all virtuous deeds! The power of all virtuous deeds is concentrated, with the ultimate goal of wishing all sentient beings to be reborn in the Pure Land. Dedicating merit for this purpose, and never forgetting to do so, encompasses everything.
When there is no faith in the Dharma, dedication and Bodhicitta will not arise. Based on Bodhicitta, this has become a Mahayana Dharma gate. Following the vows of the Eight Great Bodhisattvas is already generating Bodhicitta. Through the power of dedication, karmic obstacles can be eliminated, good karma can be preserved, and vows can be guaranteed, thus enabling one to reach the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss!
Thus, through visualizing the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss with faith, generating vast Bodhicitta, practicing merit and repentance, and dedicating merit—when these four conditions are met, one can already reach the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. We should constantly examine and reflect on ourselves: Can we reach the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss? Have we met the necessary conditions? We should think about this constantly.
All the Dharma gates we currently practice are related to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. All Buddhas are of one body; whatever Dharma gate you practice is related to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. Therefore, there is no need for too many complicated Dharma gates. However, within Vajrayana, there are many Dharma gates for purifying sentient beings’ habitual tendencies, afflictions, and impure attachments. Each has its own characteristics, directly and quickly purifying sentient beings’ habitual tendencies and afflictions.
II. The Purpose of Liberation
The purpose of participating in Dharma assemblies such as liberation ceremonies has both present-life and future-life purposes. In this life, to purify our sins, eliminate obstacles for ourselves and others—such as obstacles in our careers and lives, to remove all obstacles and calamities, and to ensure favorable conditions are met—whether in work, relationships, or spiritual practice—we hope these conditions will be harmonious and smooth. We cultivate for these reasons.
Originally, this is to repay the kindness of our parents, all sentient beings, and the Three Jewels. By establishing this auspicious Dharma connection through repaying this kindness, we ensure that we are never separated from the Three Jewels in future lives. This is extremely important for those who are not certain of attaining enlightenment in this lifetime. If one can attain enlightenment in this lifetime, then being inseparable from the Three Jewels in future lives is not so important.
So that we may encounter the Dharma again in the future, avoid going astray, and avoid confusion, even if we do not achieve enlightenment in this life, we can achieve it in the next life, or the life after that. In this way, within three or seven lifetimes, we can attain the state of Amitabha Buddha. For this reason, we are never separated from the Dharma in future lives, planting seeds of good karma.
Therefore, each time you participate in a Dharma assembly or group practice, be aware of your purpose. Our most precious and auspicious time is spent here. This one or two hours is a blessing. Although we experience some enjoyment in samsara, the stage where our six senses are purified and aligned with the Three Jewels is extremely rare. Generally speaking, the stage of practicing with only the Three Jewels in our hearts is very limited and rare in a lifetime. Therefore, cherish this time each time you practice.
Now, the time for Dharma practice is the most precious and rare. Making aspirations and practicing with the Three Jewels, with the Guru, and with pure fellow practitioners is the most rare and joyful moment. At the same time, while practicing, we are doing the greatest thing: repaying the kindness of the Buddha, our parents, and all sentient beings. Each time we practice, each recitation of a Buddha’s name or mantra is the most auspicious and precious thing in our consciousness; therefore, everyone should cherish it.
The important thing is that during practice, everyone’s visualization is pure, with pure vision, pure view, pure understanding, and pure actions. This influences each other, and everyone becomes pure. A person whose mind is impure, whose every sight, sound, and thought is negative, is contagious and affects the world, becoming a societal problem and the greatest obstacle in life.
When everything is filled with negative emotions and impure thoughts, this is a tremendous obstacle in life, polluting our pure soul, our consciousness, and our actions. There are countless impure beings in the cycle of rebirth, too many to count or even fully comprehend.
Initially, such thoughts are normal, but as we progress and elevate our soul and wisdom, as the original defilements become increasingly purified, we draw closer to the pure state of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. In Vajrayana, there are stages of near-practice (approaching the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas), practice (resonating with the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas), and accomplished practice (having experienced the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, with no problem benefiting oneself). In great accomplished practice, one can utilize the power of the Three Jewels’ vows, concentration, or the power of dependent origination to benefit others and all sentient beings.
Just like today’s deliverance, it is not entirely based on self-power, but on the power of others: the power of the vows of the Three Jewels, the power of mantras and rituals, and the power of the causal objects. We believe that these will definitely benefit sentient beings. This method is what the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have told us: to promise or pledge to send the souls of sentient beings in the intermediate state to the Pure Land and deliver them.
This is beyond the realm of a Bodhisattva who has attained the stage of insight; ordinary people lack this ability. How can someone who cannot even liberate themselves liberate others? However, we rely not on our own power, but on the power of the Three Jewels, our own vows, the power of dependent origination, and so on. We pray to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, borrowing their power to deliver us to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.
Why is it so easy to reach the Pure Land? This is the result of Amitabha Buddha’s vows, the accumulation of countless merits and virtues of realization and cessation over countless eons. Otherwise, it would be impossible to reach the Pure Land so easily. Similarly, we believe that these liberation rituals, through the vows of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, are without problem.
If there is doubt, a distinction between liberation and inability to liberate, then liberation is impossible because of doubts about oneself and the Dharma. Without these doubts, there is no way to liberate sentient beings, no way to liberate them, and no way to dedicate merit. Even when dedicating merit, is there the power? Will it be received? Doubts about oneself, doubts about others, whether others can truly feel one’s intention—this kind of doubt about faith, intention, and practice, even doubting the merits of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas—should lead to more repentance for now. Otherwise, there is no way to walk the Bodhisattva path.
Therefore, when we say that we must have unwavering faith when practicing Dharma, what is called “Buddha pride” in Vajrayana is not arrogance based on one’s race, appearance, ability, knowledge, or culture. Our pride comes from “believing in the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, believing in the power of our own meditation, and believing in the inconceivable power of dependent origination.” The fact that we can see each other now is a manifestation of the power of dependent origination; the ability to hear each other without distance is also a manifestation of dependent origination.
The power of dependent origination is the weakest of the three powers of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The highest is the power of concentration and meditation, the next is the power of mantras, and the lowest is the power of dependent origination. Because we can touch and achieve the lower powers, they are widespread and common. The power of mantras is of medium strength, possessed only by a few; the power of meditation is even rarer, like high technology, the highest of which was invented by only a very few, a handful of people. The power of mantras is also extremely rare. This is what Shakyamuni Buddha told us 2500 years ago: that we only need to utilize these powers.
But why didn’t the Buddha invent technology? It only brings suffering to sentient beings. Look at how many people are addicted to video games; parents are very worried about their children. Some parents are so engrossed in video games or computers that they neglect their children. This creates many such problems. Therefore, weighing the pros and cons, although it brings convenience, the harm to sentient beings is greater.
It’s like nuclear weapons: used for good, they bring convenience to sentient beings; used for bad, they destroy the world. Therefore, the Buddha didn’t invent these things. The Buddha sought liberation. Although he spoke of the power of dependent origination—the power of dependent origination that can resolve the suffering of sentient beings—the Buddha advocated “the power of mantras, the power of concentration, and the power of precepts, concentration, and wisdom to achieve liberation.”
Before we practice, we must know that “the Dharma we practice has power, it is not without power.” We have the power of the Buddha, the vows of generations of lineage masters and accomplished beings within us, and the blessings of all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions. When we practice pure Dharma on the pure path, we certainly have the ability to benefit sentient beings. We must practice with this kind of pride (i.e., Buddha-pride).