At the core of the Pure Land teachings lies three prerequisites, or guiding principles, for our rebirth into the Western Pure Land: faith, vow, and practice. Faith is to have complete trust or confidence in someone or something. Vow is the vow to be reborn in the Western Pure Land. Practice is reciting the Buddha-name as well as living a moral life.
As Great Master Ouyi wrote in his commentary on the Amitabha Sutra, “Without faith, we are not sufficiently equipped to take vows. Without vows, we are not sufficiently equipped to guide our practice. Without the wondrous practice of reciting the Buddha-name, we are not sufficiently equipped to fulfill our vows and to bring our faith to fruition.”
With faith, vow, and the recitation of the name of Amitabha Buddha, we will be able to be reborn in the Pure Land and never again fall back in our practice. Up until now we have made progress in one lifetime only to fall back for lifetimes after that. This constant progression and retrogression is why it is taking us so long to attain enlightenment.
But once we are in the Pure Land, we will never again fall back, so we will attain our goal much more quickly. And as we are progressing, we will learn the infinite ways in which we can help all those we have vowed to help be liberated from suffering as well.