Recently, I was asked if I had noticed an improvement in certain abilities since I had been a nun for several years. Did my brothers perhaps have an increase in their abilities since they had been monastics for a longer time? For example, was I or my brothers better able to see auras?
Another recent question was how I would incorporate other practices into my Pure Land practice?
And a third was could someone (a Pure Land Buddhist) chant a certain mantra since it was said to reduce fear.
My response to all is "No.”
Whether it's trying to see auras or to develop other abilities, these would be distractions. And we become easily attached to our distractions. When I am chanting “Amituofo” or the Amitabha Sutra, I don't want to be distracted by any other practices. The best way to succeed on our path to enlightenment is exclusive pursuit. One goal—one practice.
Anything else takes time away from my first priority in this lifetime: rebirth in the Pure Land. Once there, I can develop other abilities and learn all the other methods the Buddha taught. There I'll have the best teachers: Amitabha Buddha and bodhisattvas who are further along the path than I.
All the methods to attain enlightenment taught by the Buddha are perfect. We just need to find the one that is suitable for us and then put all other methods and practices aside. Seeing auras and developing other abilities won't help me get to the Pure Land. So I set them aside.
Practices from other belief systems won't help me get to the Pure Land. So I set them aside.
For a Pure Land Buddhist, chanting a mantra from another method to reduce fear is not as effective as chanting “Amituofo.” First, for a mantra to be effective one must be focused on it from start to finish. So from a purely practical standpoint, the longer the mantra is, the greater are the chances of being distracted. I stand a much greater chance of remaining completely concentrated during “Amituofo” than during the recitation of a long mantra.
Even if I could focus perfectly during that mantra, for a Pure Land Buddhist, nothing surpasses becoming one with Amitabha Buddha. When my mind focuses solely on him, I become one with him. Being one with Buddha, how could I possibly feel fear? Why chant this mantra for one situation and that mantra for another? For them to work, I have to spend time perfecting my concentration in them. Why not devote my time to perfecting “Amituofo”?
Chanting mantras from other methods won't help me get to the Pure Land. So I set them aside.
It seems that as humans, we are always in a rush to acquire “more.” For many people that is more everyday stuff. But spiritual seekers take craving in a different direction. We’re like spiritual Oliver Twists. We too are asking “Please sir, more?”
Don’t seek more in a broader sense. Strive for it in a narrower sense. Instead of trying to pick up all the stones you see and lugging them around with you, pick one and keep polishing it until it shines with clarity and reflects perfectly.
Exclusive pursuit—pick one practice and perfect it.