The Amitabha Sutra

The world honoured one, the greatest teacher of men and gods to have walked the earth, the unsurpassed Shakyamuni Buddha, taught that all the countless buddhas in all directions praise Amitabha’s pureland as the very best of all.

Subsequently, amongst the masters of masters in our world, all unversally restate the incomparible Shakyamuni Buddha’s words – the Western Purelands of Ultimate Bliss are the very best place of all to go to, and that is Amitabha Buddha’s purelands.

These vital teachings were first revealed by Shakyamuni Buddha in what would become known as the Amitabha Sutra, and this teaching has gone on to become a cornerstone of the Buddhist path.

When it is time for me to die,
Let all that obscures me fade away,
So I look on Amitabha, there in person,
And go at once to his pure land of Sukhavati.

In that pure land, may I actualize every single one
Of all these aspirations!
May I fulfil them, each and every one,
And bring help to beings for as long as the universe remains!

Someone once asked me (Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng-yen Lu), ''In your life, you have practiced Taoism, Sutrayana, and Vajrayana. What is your goal?''

I answered, ''The Western Pure Land.''

''Why the Western Pure Land?''

''Among all the buddhas, Amitabha has the greatest vows of compassion, and the vows I've made are just the same as the buddha's vows to save sentient beings.''

The four causes of rebirth in the Western Purelands of Sukhavati are:

Generating bodhichitta
Accumulating merit in many ways
Repeatedly bringing the buddha field to mind
Dedicating all one's sources of merit as causes for rebirth in that pure realm

Once, someone asked Norlha Rinpoche, ''What is Vajrayana's supreme Dharma?''

He replied, ''Vajrayana's supreme Dharma is the Great Dharma of Amitabha.''

Twenty five hundred years ago, a great Sage came to our world and attained Bodhi, he was the Honorable Original Patriarch, Shakyamuni Buddha. He revealed to us the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss, the Buddha-land of Amitabha. A land composed exclusively of the seven treasures, and whose purity and augustness surpasses that of the heavens by a myriadfold.

The Sutras state that all who rise to the Land of Ultimate Bliss are endowed with infinite life, infinite radiance, boundless divine powers, omniscience and immortality. In this land, food and clothes appear in response to only a wish; residences, raiments and nourishments all arise naturally. Whenever meals are to be taken, golden alms-bowls, silver chalices, jade ramekins and jadeite platters manifest in perfect display. Each filled with rare delicacies and myriad dishes — divine foods replete with a hundred gourmet flavors — that arise in response to only a thought. The food never decreases and is spontaneously replenished in tandem with consumption. Once the meal is finished, the bowls, platters and chalices disappear by themselves, leaving nothing to be washed or cleaned.

Moreover, myriad raiments of rich and radiant colors manifest, in perfect size as if tailored, on the body in response to mere wish. As for the abodes of the Land of Ultimate Bliss, they all have gold beams, jade ceilings, bejeweled balustrades, walls of silver or cameo glass, lapis lazuli floors, pearl gates and carnelian windows. Vividly resplendent and crafted solely from the seven treasures, they are of indescribable wonder.

It is a land tailored to one’s wishes. Now that we know how wondrous the Land of Ultimate Bliss is, how could we not yearn for it?