Why Do We Study the Amitabha Sutra?

Question: There are so many sutras. Why study the Amitabha Sutra?

Response: The purpose of learning and practicing the Amitabha Sutra is to attain rebirth in the Western Pure Land—to be close to Amitabha and to study and practice there. What is wrong with studying and practicing in this world?

This world does not provide a good learning environment nor does it provide good teachers or fellow practitioners. The human life span is short, too short for learning. Amitabha Buddha provides us with the best learning environment. And if we want to go, we can. Sakyamuni Buddha told us that when we go to that environment, all Buddhas will be our teachers, and people of supreme virtue will be our fellow practitioners.

In the Pure Land there is no cause for our greed, anger, and ignorance to arise. Why? Because whatever we need will appear before us, so we have no cause to become greedy. Everyone in the Western Pure Land is a good person. Nobody has any bad thoughts or bad intentions. Nobody uses harsh language. We have no cause to become angry. In other words, there is no condition for us to become angry.

What our senses touch is the Dharma, the sages' teachings. We will not be ignorant. In other words, we do not have to end or do anything about our greed, anger, and ignorance. When we live there long enough, our greed, anger, and ignorance will naturally be uprooted.

~ Based on Ven. Master Chin Kung's 2003 lecture series on the Amitabha Sutra

Releasing Animals

In the past in Asia, Buddhists often bought and released captured animals they found in local markets. This was obviously good because the animal would otherwise have been killed. Since the animal—often a fish or bird—was captured in the wild, it would be able to survive since it had gone back to its natural environment.

Today, many Buddhists still follow this tradition. But as with everything we do, we need to use wisdom in releasing animals.

1. Buying animals, like fish, encourages those who caught the fish to catch even more. Thus, more animals are at risk of capture. Also, when the animals are released on a special date, those who catch them will catch even more in anticipation of increased demand.
2. Those who release the animals must know they will be able to live in the wild. Domestically raised animals do not have the survival skills that wild animals do. Releasing domestic animals can endanger their lives.
3. The animals need to be released in their natural environment. Introducing them into an environment that is unsuitable for them will endanger them as well as upset the natural balance of that environment.

Times change. A kind act wisely performed in one situation may turn out to be neither kind nor wise in another.

As Ven. Master Chin Kung has said on releasing animals, “We need to understand thoroughly the situation so in our attempts to be kind, we do not unintentionally cause harm instead.”

Let the Buddha's Name Flow

 

When practicing Buddha-name chanting,
the most important thing is to keep our minds
continuously focused and without distraction.
It is not necessary to chant rapidly.
Chant comfortably—neither too slowly nor too quickly.
Continuously and clearly,
let the Buddha’s name flow through our minds.

If we can mindfully chant the Buddha’s name in this way,
even during our daily activities,
then we will be zealous in Buddha name chanting.

~ Master Shin Cheh

Reborn as a Fox

Venerable Master Chin Kung often tells the story of Master Baizhang of the Tang dynasty and a fox.

Once a monastic said something wrong and his karmic result was to be reborn as a fox for five hundred lifetimes. Someone had asked the master “Is an accomplished practitioner still governed by the law of cause and effect, causality?” The master mistakenly responded, “No, an accomplished practitioner is not governed by the law of cause and effect.”

His wrong answer brought a negative karmic result because he misled that person. Therefore, he was reborn as a fox.

The fox was diligent in its cultivation and succeeded in gaining extraordinary abilities, so it could show itself in human form. It knew the karmic cause of its being a fox but could do nothing to change the karmic result. It met Master Baizhang, an awakened monastic, and came to listen to his lecture every day by turning itself into an old practitioner.

People at the cultivation center got to know this old practitioner, not realizing that he was a fox. Only Master Baizhang knew the truth.

One day, the fox told the master its story and asked the master to help it. The master told the fox to come the next day and ask the same question the fox was asked. The next day, the fox asked him, “Is an accomplished practitioner still governed by the law of cause and effect?” Master Baizhang answered, “An accomplished practitioner is not ignorant of the law of cause and effect.”

With the answer changed from “not governed by” to “not ignorant of,” the fox was able to end its life as a fox and died the next day. Master Baizhang told some people that a fox had died in the mountain and took them there to bury it. When they saw the body of the fox, Master Baizhang told them its story.

Teacher tells this story often to remind us of the seriousness of giving a wrong answer. If we are not certain of the answer, it is best to reply honestly that we do not know.

Buddhas in Disguise

As you continue to meditate on compassion, when you see someone suffer, your first response becomes not mere pity but deep compassion. You feel for that person respect and even gratitude, because you now know that whoever prompts you to develop compassion by his or her suffering is in fact giving you one of the greatest gifts of all, as you are being helped to develop that very quality you need most in your progress toward enlightenment.

That is why we say in Tibet that the beggar who is asking you for money, or the sick, old woman wringing your heart, may be the buddhas in disguise, manifesting on your path to help you grow in compassion and so move toward buddhahood.

~ Sogyal Rinpoche