Universal Worthy's Conduct and Vows

Chapter Forty

 

 

Sutra:

“Further, when a person is on the verge of death, at the last instant of life, when all his faculties scatter and he departs from his relatives, when all power and status are lost and nothing survives, when his prime minister, great officials, his inner court and outer cities, his elephants, horses, carts, and treasuries of precious jewels can no longer accompany him, these kings of vows alone will stay with him.

At all times, they will guide him forward, and in a single instant he will be reborn in the Land of Ultimate Bliss. Arriving there, he will see Amita Buddha, Manjushri Bodhisattva, Universal Worthy Bodhisattva, the Bodhisattva Who Contemplates At Ease, Maitreya Bodhisattva, and others. The appearances of these Bodhisattvas will be upright and adorned, and their merit and virtue complete. Together, they will circumambulate him.

Commentary:

"Further, when a person who reads and recites Universal Worthy Bodhisattva's Ten Great Kings of Vows is on the verge of death, at the last instant of life, when all his faculties scatter--an instant is the shortest moment of time; and at the last instant of life, all of a person's faculties, his eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind, disperse. That is the moment when the faculties separate: the eyes can no longer see; the ears cannot hear; the tongue cannot taste; the nose can no longer detect smell; and the body loses the sense of touch. All the organs fail, and the dying person departs from his relatives. He leaves all his relatives and friends behind, because he has died.

At that time when all power and status are lost and nothing survives: when a person dies, all his awesome virtue, power, and influence are lost, including his prime minister and great officials. If you are a king, then you have a prime minister and all kinds of great ministers, as well as an inner court and outer cities, great palaces, and countries. "Inner court" refers to wives, and "cities" refers to all material wealth such as elephants, horses, carts, and treasuries of precious jewels. These things can no longer accompany him, even a king, when he dies. When you are on the verge of death, nothing will go along with you, nothing can accompany you, except these kings of vows. They alone will stay with him.

Universal Worthy Bodhisattva's Ten Great Kings of Vows will stay with you when you die because they are in your Eighth Consciousness; there is no way they can leave you. At all times they will guide you forward, and everywhere, at all times, they will be in front of you, so that in a single instant, you will be reborn in the Land of Ultimate Bliss. Arriving there, you will see Amita Buddha. After arriving in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss, one sees Amita Buddha.

The Land of Ultimate Bliss is one hundred billion Buddhalands away in the western direction. Amita Buddha presides over the Land of Ultimate Bliss. His name is Sanskrit for "limitless life" and "limitless light," because both his life and his light are infinite and unbounded; therefore he is called the Buddha of Limitless Light and Life.

Manjushri Bodhisattva's name means "wonderful virtues" and "wonderfully lucky." Universal Worthy Bodhisattva is the Bodhisattva who is the host for this Chapter on Universal Worthy's Conduct and Vows. The Bodhisattva Who Contemplates At Ease is thee Bodhisattva Who Contemplates the Sounds of the World (Kuan Yin). Maitreya Bodhisattva, and others. Maitreya Bodhisattva's name in Sanskrit means "belonging to a kind clan." He is also called Ajita, which means "invincible;" no one can defeat him. In the future, Ajita Bodhisattva, who is Maitreya, will be the next Buddha in our Saha world, the fifth Buddha of the Worthy Kalpa.

When will Maitreya Bodhisattva accomplish Buddhahood? A non-Buddhist religion says that he has already come into the world and accomplished Buddhahood, but in fact this is talk in a dream, because quite a long time must pass before he becomes a Buddha. Presently our world is in a period of decline. The characteristics of this decline are that every one hundred years the average lifespan of a human being decreases by one year, and the average height of a human being decreases by one inch. This continues until the average lifespan is ten years, and people are no more than a foot tall, about the size of today's dogs. Although they will be small, their evil thoughts will be large, because the smaller they become, the meaner they get.

When the kalpa declines to the point that the average human lifespan is ten years, a few days after people are born they will understand sexual desire and will engage in sexual activity just like dogs and pigs do now. At that time they will be able to kill one another with no more than a blade of grass, and they will do so: "I'll kill you, and you'll kill me." This mutual slaughter will occur because there will be too many people invading the world like an army of ants. If a person is not killed, he will die when he reaches the age of ten.

From this nadir, a period of increase will begin, and every one hundred years the average lifespan will increase by one year, and the average height will increase by one inch. When the average age reaches eighty-four thousand years, another period of decline will begin, and when the average age is eighty thousand years, Maitreya Bodhisattva will come into the world and become a Buddha.

The appearance of these Bodhisattva will be upright and adorned. When a person is reborn in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss, the bodies of all these Bodhisattvas that he sees will be upright, adorned, and inspiring, and their merit and virtue complete. These Bodhisattvas, with their perfect appearances and complete merit and virtue, will circumambulate him.

Sutra:  

“This person will see himself born from a lotus flower and will receive a prediction from the Buddha. In this way, he will pass through numberless hundreds of thousands of tens of thousands of millions of nayutas of kalpas, and with his power of wisdom, he will accord with the minds of living beings in order to benefit them everywhere throughout the ineffably ineffable worlds in the ten directions.  

“Before long, he will sit in a Bodhimanda, subdue the demonic armies, accomplish Equal and Proper Enlightenment and turn the wonderful Dharma Wheel. He will cause living beings in worlds as many as the fine motes of dust in Buddhalands to bring forth the Bodhi mind. According with their basic natures, he will teach, transform, and bring them to maturity. To the exhaustion of the seas of future kalpas, he will greatly benefit all living beings.  

Commentary:

This person born in the Land of Ultimate Bliss will see himself born from a Lotus Flower. A person who reads, recites, receives, and maintains, and writes out Universal Worthy Bodhisattva's Ten Great Kings of Vows will be born in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss in a lotus flower. He will receive a prediction from the Buddha. In the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss, there are only men, no women, and everyone is born by transformation from a lotus flower, not from the flesh of a father and mother. There is s saying about birth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss: "When the flower opens, one sees the Buddha." When one's lotus flower opens, one will see a Buddha manifest before one, seated in a lotus flower. Amita Buddha will then predict the time when one will become a Buddha.

In this way, he will pass through numberless hundreds of thousands of tens of thousands of millions of nayutas of kalpas, and with his power of wisdom, he will accord with the minds of living beings in order to benefit them everywhere throughout the ineffably ineffable worlds in the ten directions. He will follow living beings' minds and thoughts, understand their inclinations and propensities, and thereby be able to benefit them.

Before long he will sit in a Bodhimanda. After a short time he will sit in a Bodhimanda, which is another way of saying that he will become a Buddha. He will subdue the demonic armies, all the heavenly demons and externalists, and will accomplish Equal and Proper Enlightenment. Then he will turn the wonderful Dharma Wheel, which is another way of saying that he will teach and transform living beings by speaking the Dharma and taking them across. He will cause living beings in worlds as many as the fine motes of dust in Buddhalands to bring forth the Bodhi mind. According with their basic natures, he will teach, transform, and bring them to maturity. He will accord with living beings and use ingenious expedient methods to teach and transform them and bring their fundamental natures to maturity. To the exhaustion of the seas of future kalpas, he will greatly benefit all living beings. He will universally benefit all living beings for countless aeons, exhausting the limits of future time.

Sutra:  

“Good Man, the merit and virtue obtained by living beings through hearing and believing in these great kings of vows, through receiving, maintaining, reading and reciting them, and through extensively explaining them for others, can be known only by the Buddha, the World Honored One, and by no one else. Therefore, you who hear these kings of vows should harbor no doubts. Reverently accept them. After accepting them, you should be able to read them. After you can read them, you should be able to recite them aloud; and after you can recite them aloud, you should be able to maintain them, to the extent that you can write them out and extensively explain them for others. Then in a single thought, one’s conduct and vows will be accomplished.  

Commentary:

"Good Man! Universal Worthy Bodhisattva again calls to the person who cultivates good. The merit and virtue obtained by living beings through hearing and believing in these great kings of vows, through receiving, maintaining, reading and reciting them, and through extensively explaining them for others--this section of text describes people who receive, maintain, read, and recite the Chapter On the Practice and Vows of Universal Worthy. If you can receive them with your mind, maintain them with your body, read them from the text, recite them from memory, and explain these Ten Great Kings of Vows extensively for others, then the merit and virtue so obtained can be known only by the Buddha, the World Honored One, and by no one else. Only the Buddha can comprehend it. Only the Buddha, the World Honored One, knows how great this merit and virtue is. None of the other Bodhisattvas or Arhats can fathom the greatness of this merit and virtue.

Therefore, you who hear these kings of vows should harbor no doubts. Do not doubt. It is said, "The mind of a cultivator of the Way is without doubts. One who becomes doubtful loses his way." If you want to cultivate the Way, you cannot entertain doubts; if you do, you can easily go down the wrong path, and you will not obtain any benefit.

Reverently accept them. You should earnestly and honestly receive and maintain these Ten Great Kings of Vows. After accepting them, you should be able to read them. After you understand their meaning, you should read these Kings of Vows from the text; after you can read them, you should recite them aloud. Having read them, you should be able to recite them from memory without the aid of the text. And after you can recite them aloud, you should be able to maintain them. After you are able to recite them from memory, you should receive and maintain these Ten Great Kings of Vows, too the extend that you can write them out and extensively explain them for others. You should practice these Kings of Vows until you can constantly explain them for others.

Then in a single thought, in as short a period of time as one thought, one's conduct and vows will be accomplished. All one's cultivation and hopes will be accomplished, and one will perfect the merit and virtue of one's vows.

Sutra:

“The blessings one will obtain are measureless and boundless. One will be able to rescue living beings from the great sea of afflictions and suffering, causing them to make good their escape and to be reborn in Amita Buddha’s Land of Ultimate Bliss”  

Commentary:

Previously I explained that one who can read, recite, and write out the Ten Great Kings of Vows of Universal Worthy Bodhisattva and proclaim them extensively for others can perfect all his practices and vows in as short a time as a single though. Now the text says the blessings one will obtain are measureless and boundless. They cannot be calculated with numbers, nor can their limits be reached.

One will be able to rescue living beings from the great sea of afflictions and suffering. Those who bring forth the Bodhisattva's resolve to cultivate Universal Worthy's conduct can rescue people from the great sea of afflictions.

Although we common people have afflictions, we are not aware that we are suffering. If you have afflictions, you suffer, but if you are free from afflictions, then you suffer no longer. By cultivating the practices of Universal Worthy, one can take beings across the great sea of suffering and afflictions so that they leave suffering and obtain bliss, thus causing them to make good their escape. One can liberate all living beings from the sea of suffering, so that they reach the other shore of Nirvana. Where is that? Where will they go? They will be reborn in Amita Buddha's Land of Ultimate Bliss.

Although the name "Amita Buddha" consists of two words, the entire Buddhadharma is included within them. Shakyamuni Buddha spoke each Sutra because he was requested to do so. In the Vajra Sutra it was Subhuti who requested the Dharma, and Shariputra requested the Dharma in the Dharma Flower Sutra. No one, however, asked that the Amitabha Sutra be spoken. No one requested this Dharma, and so it was spoken without request. Why? Because no one understood this Dharma. The Pure Land Dharma door looks very simple from the outside, but actually the two words "Amita Buddha" encompass the Three Stores and the Twelve Divisions of the canon. Every Buddhist Sutra is contained within them. A few decades ago I wrote this verse:

Amitabha is the king of the ten thousand dharmas,
Which exhaustively contain the Five Periods and the Eight Teachings.
A cultivator need only hold and recite it singlemindedly
And he will certainly reach the still, bright unmoving field.

I had a response while reciting the Buddha's name a few decades ago, and so I wrote this verse. You may see "Amita Buddha" as being only a Buddha's name, but if you recite his name, you can understand all dharmas; and thus the verse says, "Amitabha is the king of the ten thousand dharmas." In the second line, "the Five Periods" are the

1. Flower Adornment Period

2. Agama Period

3. Vaipulya Period

4. Prajna Period

5. Dharma Flower-Nirvana Period

"The Eight Teachings" are the

1. Store

2. Pervasively

3. Special

4. Perfect

5. Sudden

6. Gradual

7. Secret

8. Unfixed

The two words "Amita Buddha" contain the Five Periods and the Eight Teachings; thus "A cultivator need only hold and recite it singlemindedly." All that cultivators of the Way have to do is recite Amita Buddha's name with a concentrated mind, and they "will certainly reach the still, bright, unmoving field."

Shakyamuni Buddha spoke about Amita Buddha without being asked. Some people think that reciting Amita Buddha's name is a practice for old ladies and that people with wisdom should not cultivate this method. This is a mistake! Whether you are wise or stupid, you can cultivate the practice of reciting Amita Buddha's name. This Dharma door benefits beings of all three levels of ability: superior ability, mediocre ability, and inferior ability. They all derive benefit, and so everyone can cultivate this method.

Why recite Amita Buddha's name? We in the Saha World have our closest affinities with the Bodhisattva Who Observes the Sounds of the World. Kuan Yin Bodhisattva manifests the Universal Door and has thirty-two response bodies. Amita Buddha has even great affinities with all living beings, because he is the teacher of Kuan Yin Bodhisattva and Great Strength Bodhisattva and is the founder of the Land of Ultimate Bliss.

How is it that we have conditions with Amita Buddha? In a past life, when he was cultivating on the causal ground before becoming a Buddha, Amita Buddha was a Bhikshu named Fa Tsang. Bhikshu Fa Tsang made his Forty-Eight Great Vows so that all of us living beings can go to the Land of Ultimate Bliss and become Buddhas.

The Bhikshu Fa Tsang vowed, "In the future, when I become a Buddha, there will be only men and no women in my Buddhaland." Everyone knows that without women there can be no men, and that without men, there can be no women; everyone must have a father and mother to be born. If there are only men in the Land of Ultimate Bliss, can they give birth to children? No. If not, where do the men in the Land of Ultimate Bliss come from?

The children are born from lotus flowers. Beings born there first enter a lotus bud. When we recite the name of Amita Buddha, our lotus bud grows. When we recite once, our flower grows a little, and when we recite again, it grows a little more. The more we recite, the larger the bud grows, until the lotus gets as big as a cartwheel. When we are on the verge of death, Amita Buddha manifests a body before us and takes us off to the Land of Ultimate Bliss, where he puts our spirit-nature into that lotus flower. When the lotus flower opens, your Dharma body manifests, and so the saying goes, "When the flower opens, one sees the Buddha." When the lotus flower opens, a Buddha is born. Since everyone who becomes a Buddha is a man and not a women, the Land of Ultimate Bliss has only men and no women.

Although the Land of Ultimate Bliss is one hundred billion Buddhalands away from here, still we can go there by transformation if we sincerely recite his name. Bhikshu Fa Tsang also said that after he became a Buddha, everyone in his land would be transformationally born from a lotus flower. There is a verse which reads:

Vow to be born in the Western Pure Land,
Where the nine grades of lotus flowers are one's true parents.

The "nine grades of lotus flowers" are the highest superior grade, the middle superior grade, the lowest superior grade; the highest medium grade, the middle medium grade, and the lowest medium grade; and the highest inferior grade, the middle inferior grade, and the lowest inferior grade. Each of these nine grades of lotus flowers is again divided into nine grades, which gives a total of eighty-one grades. Any living being who recites Amita Buddha's name can be born in the Land of Ultimate Bliss.

Another of Bhikshu Fa Tsang's Forty-Eight Great Vows is, "When I become a Buddha, any living being throughout the ten directions who calls out my name will be born in my land." He vowed that they all would be born in his land by transformation from a lotus flower and would perfect Anuttarasamkyaksambodhi, the Unsurpassed, Proper and Equal, Proper Enlightenment. Because Amita Buddha made this vow, if we of the Saha world recite "Namo Amita Buddha," he will come and extend his hand to us at the end of our lives. The image of Amita Buddha is often seen making the extended-hand mudra. He extends his hand to lead you to the Land of Ultimate Bliss, to pull you off to the Western Paradise. It is said,

Amitabha is foremost of the Buddhas of the ten directions and the three periods of time. In nine grades he takes living beings across. And his awesome virtue is inexhaustible. So do not take Amita Buddha too lightly.

In the future, in the Dharma Ending Age, the Dharma will be destroyed. Now the Sutras are printed in words, but in the future these words will be lost. Why? Because living beings will have insufficient blessings. Their offenses will be too extreme, and so they will not have the opportunity to read the Sutras. We need not discuss the future: even today, some people whose eyes are in perfect condition cannot see clearly when they read Sutras. They have obstructions and everything appears in disarray. These karmic obstructions represent the end of the Dharma; they have eyes but cannot read the Buddhadharma clearly. In the future, this will happen to everyone, and all the Buddhist Sutras will be lost.

Which Sutra will be lost first? The Shurangama Sutra will disappear first, and after it is lost, the other Sutras will disappear one by one until the only one left is the Amitabha Sutra. At that time this Sutra will exist for one hundred years, and it will save countless numbers of living beings. But after the one hundred years, it too will be lost, and all that will remain will be the words "Namo Amita Buddha," which will survive for another hundred years. The living beings who will then recite "Namo Amita Buddha" and will be taken across to the Land of Ultimate Bliss will be very many, measureless and boundless in number. After these one hundred years, the word "namo" will be lost, leaving only "Amita Buddha." At that time people who understand the Buddhadharma will recite "Amita Buddha, Amita Buddha," feverishly seeking for the Buddha to save their lives. After another hundred years, the words "Amita Buddha" will also disappear, at which time the Buddhadharma will be extinct.

Why did Shakyamuni Buddha explain the Amitabha Sutra without being asked. Because this Sutra is extremely important: it will be the last Sutra to remain when the Dharma vanishes. So those of us who study the Buddhadharma should not look lightly on the practice of reciting "Namo Amita Buddha."

In practicing meditation, for example, some people investigate "Who recites the Buddha's name?" If in the past one recited the name of the Buddha, then one can know who is investigating, and who is reciting the Buddha's name. If you have not recited the name of the Buddha before, but are investigating "Who recites the Buddha's name?" now, then who is it who recites? Who recites the Buddha's name? Who is mindful of the Buddha? Which one recites the Buddha's name? Basically you have not recited the Buddha's name, so how could you find out who is mindful of the Buddha? Therefore, because we look into the phrase, "Who recites the Buddha's name?" we know that in the past we have recited the name of the Buddha. However, some have recited a lot, and some have recited a little; some have recited sincerely, and some have recited in a scattered manner. Now that we have encountered this Dharma door, we should not take it lightly and forget it, but should practice this method which we have practiced in the past and continue to recite "Namo Amita Buddha." If you recite "Namo Amita Buddha," you can be reborn in the Land of Ultimate Bliss, where, as the Amitabha Sutra says, you will "endure none of the sufferings but enjoy every bliss."

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