QUESTION
Hello Robina,
I’ve been listening to you for years, and I’m a great admirer of yours. I have a question in regard to practice, your opinion on the tradition that I’m trying to follow, and about my overall situation.
My journey with Buddhism hasn’t been rooted in one single tradition, I’ve just been trying to understand the mechanics of it for years, via people like yourself, from various traditions, and applying them to my own direct experience.
Now I have found some small measure of peace in Pure Land Buddhism via Amitabha’s 18th primal vow.
I’m wondering is it possible and so easily done, as to be able to be reborn in his pure land after death via faith alone, by the single-minded recitation of his name Namo Amituofo?
Which leads me to the next part of my question, my approach to all this. I asked Guan Yin, via divination, which I’m not sure whether or not you’re familiar with in your tradition, but in other traditions people ask her for guidance via divination.
To which her reply to me, was that she would take me under her wing, guide, protect, and provide, provided I practice Buddhism to the best of my ability. In other words, based on that method and reply from her, she and I have a mutual understanding.
I’m wondering from your perspective is this the correct approach? Is it possible to be brought under a bodhisattva’s wing, and to be cared for and guided via a mutual agreement between you and them? Is it possible to be reborn in a pure land via the way I described above? Or am I going about this all wrong?
I’m very grateful to have found you and your teachings in this life, they have been a guiding force for me on this journey, and it would mean very much to me if I could get your opinion on all of this, to see if my approach is correct, if such a way is possible from your perspective, if bodhisattvas like Guan Yin/Avalokiteshvara truly do such things, and if so why doesn’t everyone simply chant his name then?
Thank you for everything, I wish you a long and healthy, happy life. Take care.
Sincerely,
B
ANSWER
I’m happy to hear from you, dearest B!
I rejoice you’ve found a Buddhist approach that suits you – so important.
Yes, I think it’s possible to achieve realizations from the approach you describe: faith in Amitabha Buddha and Guan Yin. From the teachings I’ve received, there are many, many stories of people who’ve done so – our Tibetan teachers love to tell such stories!
And, for sure, to be reborn in a pure land. In a teaching of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s in his book How to Face Death Without Fear, Rinpoche says: “In order to achieve enlightenment quickly for sentient beings – not for yourself, for sentient beings – we need to make sure we go to a pure land after we die. Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava mentions this. And in many of his teachings Lama Tsongkhapa says we should pray to be born especially in Amitabha’s pure land, the Blissful Realm (Tibetan: Dewachen; Sanskrit: Sukhavati), because it is easy for us ordinary people, those with delusions, to be born there. I was surprised by that.”
Rinpoche also says, “There are several causes of birth in Amitabha’s pure land.
“First, always pray to be born there: this is a main cause. Without praying to be born there, it’s not definite that you will be. There’s a saying, “Everything exists on the tip of the wish.” Whatever happens depends upon your intention. Whatever prayer, whatever wish, you make from the heart will be successful.
“Second, think about the beauty of Amitabha’s pure land, how fantastic it is there, how much better than the ordinary world: this makes you desire to be born there. There you will hear teachings directly from Amitabha Buddha, who is surrounded by Chenrezig, Vajrapani, and innumerable buddhas and bodhisattvas. It is incredibly joyful there, and there are unlimited qualities.
“Third, practice bodhichitta, so then you will be born there as a Mahayana practitioner. Shakyamuni Buddha’s holy mouth mentioned that if, upon hearing Amitabha Buddha’s name, you put your palms together and generate devotion for him and his pure land for just one second, you create much, much more merit than making charity to sentient beings of a great thousand of three thousand world systems filled with jewels.”
My teacher Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s mother is a good example. A Sherpa, she had total faith in the Buddha of Compassion. She couldn’t read or write but spent her life in devotion, taking care of the monastery of Rinpoche, whom she saw as Avalokiteshvara, and always the mantra om mani padme hum was on her lips. She had a very peaceful, blissful death.
If we analyze it, it’s logical, not mystical: faith in someone, confidence in them, in anyone, opens our heart and causes us to feel close to that person and easily able to benefit from the relationship — and that’s just ordinary people.
So, feeling that for Buddha Amitabha and Guan Yin: wow! The results are evident.
But it seems to me it’s not either we have faith and go that way, as you describe; or we take the approach that suits me, which is to study and learn the words and through that find the meaning in my heart. I could study for eons and nothing will happen unless I have faith!
Look at the root of the word “confidence”: con fide: with faith, trust.
So: I am so delighted that you are under the care of Guan Yin! Amazing, so special.
Why doesn’t everyone take this approach? Simply because we all have different minds, different ways of seeing things. And, crucially, this is because we come into life with different types of karma. For example, for some people, because they’ve practiced so much in a past life, merely having faith in this life can help ripen the results of that past practice very easily: it’s like fertilizer on the seeds already there: they understand the teachings and get realizations quickly.
I’m not saying that anyone having faith can bring this result; it’s dependent upon many factors, like everything. But it certainly can be.
Here’s a short prayer – Rinpoche says this was a favorite of his mother’s and she’d recite it every day.
Em ah ho! Marvelous Buddha Amitabha, / With Great Compassionate Lord on your right, / And Great Powerful Bodhisattva on your left, / You are surrounded by a retinue of innumerable buddhas and bodhisattvas / In the pure land called Blissful, / A place of wonderful and infinite happiness and joy. // As soon as I pass away from this life, / Without another birth intervening, / May I be born there and behold Amitabha’s holy face. / Please bless this fervent prayer of mine / To be accomplished without any hindrance / By all the buddhas and bodhisattvas in the ten directions
An interesting point is why we would want to be reborn there. If it’s simply because it’s peaceful, beyond suffering, then that’s pretty much the same approach that the Christians take in wanting to go to Heaven. They think it’s the end result, but from the Buddhist perspective the karma will run out and they’ll be born again in the suffering world.
But from the Mahayana perspective, the only reason to want to be there is so we get enlightened quickly and then manifest in bodies throughout the universe to help others.
What do you think?
Love to you, and much rejoicing!
Robina