Let’s talk again about “The Buddha Speaks of Amitabha Sutra.”
This passage explains the true nature of Amitabha Buddha’s name. The Buddha asked Shariputra, “What do you think of the name Amitabha Buddha?”
His answer was:
Just now we talked about light, here it explains the three meanings embodied by Amitabha Buddha himself.
The first meaning is “light”, the light of Amitabha Buddha is measureless.
What does it mean that light is measureless?
This immeasurable light is like being able to merge into the entire void, only at this level can it be called immeasurable light. When you all meditate and enter samadhi, because your body generates light, this light merges with the light of the universe, you yourself transform the light of the universe, only this way can light possibly be immeasurable. When Grandmaster visited the Maha Twin Lotus Pond in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, I saw lotus children, each of them was radiating light.
Thinking back today, what did those lights resemble?
They seem to be this kind of light. The light that the eye sees is coming straight at you, and the naked eye can’t open wide enough to see it. Wow! It’s practically an ocean of light, boundless and inexhaustible. It says here, “Amitabha Buddha is immeasurable light.”
Someone asked, “How can this light be immeasurable?”
The light we usually see also isn’t immeasurable, sometimes there’s light only in one place, other places still do not have light.
But let’s think about it – how big are the rings around Saturn?
How big is the universe?
Do you know how many light-years it takes our spaceship to orbit the solar system?
Compared to a person’s lifespan, to orbit the entire solar system or the universe it would take several generations of our descendants to completely orbit for light-years and return!
In fact, we all know that the universe is immeasurable. Who can measure the brightness of the sun’s light?
The sun’s light alone is immeasurable. By this analogy, the “immeasurable light” of Amitabha Buddha himself can be explained.
The second is “immeasurable lifespan.”
Think about it, since light is immeasurable, His lifespan is naturally immeasurable as well. The time it takes for the universe to form can be called a light-year. Since light is immeasurable, then his lifespan is also immeasurable.
The third is “immeasurable disciples.”
Amitabha Buddha’s devotees are immeasurable. Just the disciples in the Maha Twin Lotus Pond of the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss alone are immeasurable. There are eighteen large lotus children, each with five hundred medium lotus children beside them, each medium lotus child with five hundred small lotus children beside them, and each small lotus child with five hundred tiny lotus children beside them.
Thinking about it this way, it’s truly immeasurable. I don’t know how to calculate it! I asked them to calculate it today, and they spent a long time trying and still couldn’t add it all up.
Actually, this immeasurable concept is the same as the concept of a grain of sand hiding a great chiliocosm, a drop of water hiding a small chiliocosm. Scientists say that the tiny point at the tip of a needle has billions upon billions of atomic nuclei, protons, neutrons, and electrons. This immeasurable concept encompasses up to the whole universe, down to the smallest needle eye, there are so many elements in them, therefore immeasurable is explained this way.
The explanation here is:
Just now I talked to everyone about Amitabha Buddha’s immeasurable light.
Each of us, in our meditation practice, can also manifest immeasurable light if we can achieve “selflessness.”
The meaning of this sentence is, don’t remember yourself, don’t think about the people you love, also don’t think about the people you hate, don’t get angry, don’t get jealous, neither sadness or happiness in the heart. Only in this very balanced state can you concentrate your mind and achieve selflessness. At this time, you will feel your body is very light, as if floating. Your mind, already concentrated, is then transformed into emptiness, then expanded into light in all ten directions.
First concentrate it into a single point of light, then expand the single point, then radiate light in all ten directions from your pores.
Since you have achieved selflessness, the physical body ceases to exist.
At this time, the external light and the light within your body merge into one, becoming universe light, you are then Amitabha Buddha. Entering the Samadhi of Amitabha Buddha through practice allows you to transform into light in all ten directions, inner and outer merging into one.
At this moment, universe light draws you in, giving you a pull, and you ascend to the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. I’ll be frank with you all, this is entirely due to the power of meditation, relying on one’s own power to directly ascend to the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.
In general, those practicing Exoteric Buddhism, because they themselves cannot emit light to fly out yet, can only rely on the light of Amitabha Buddha to shine upon them, drawing in the very tiny bit of candlelight that they have on their body. That’s essentially how cultivation works.
That’s all for today.
Om Mani Padme Hum