When we deal with affairs, on occasions, we also ask for help from other people and blessings from our masters. Unlike Bhiksu Dharmakara, who is exceptionally intelligent and valiant, outstanding in the world, praying for instructions out of modesty, we pray for help because we really don’t know how to do it. If we know how to do it, will we expect for guidance and involvement from others? Can we still be patient enough to listen to others’ opinions? Those who think themselves elegant and cultured may be at the end of their forbearance when they hear that this is the wish of some beings to have gold as flooring stones and decorate walls with gemstones. They will say, “Isn’t it the poor taste of nouveaux riches?” But don’t you want them to feel happy and contented? Nouveaux riches prefer to live in such a house furnished in this way once they have made enough money in this world.
Although World Sovereign King Buddha knows about the abilities of his disciple who seeks advice from Himself out of humility, in response to his request, Buddha fully describes to him 210 koti Buddha Lands and also displays all lands coarse or fine, weather conditions, customs and manners, and the gods and humans there, good or evil, and their merits and reincarnations, etc. When the bhiksu hears of Buddha’s description of magnificent Pure Lands, he also beholds them all just like we see a movie today. It is somewhat like our current video teaching, and may even be a live broadcast of the lands of the Buddhas. But this kind of teaching does not rely on the facilities of the Internet, but the supernatural power of Buddha. 210 koti Buddha Lands represent the infinite worlds. Because the Pure Land is formed for sentient beings from the infinite worlds, it is necessary to satisfy the desires and habits of all of them. When we build a house on earth now, we prefer to decorate it in a way to our own satisfaction, because we are the only residents. However, the Pure Land must satisfy every sentient being who immigrates to this world, and even fulfill their wishes in many lifetimes in this world. Therefore, Bhikshu Dharmakara carefully contemplates the joys and sufferings of different beings in the infinite worlds.
Here, World Sovereign King Buddha treats Bhikshu Dharmakara the same way in which human parents treat their child who, under the careful parental nurturing, is having both ability and integrity. They know that the child has grown up and can shoulder heavy responsibilities alone. However, when the child gets ready to set off to follow the Bodhisattva path to benefit the sentient beings, parents will give careful instructions with unflagging patience, providing their own experiences and suggestions, and doing their best to help their child. It is fortunate for Bhikshu Dharmakara to meet such a mentor, and it is also a source of pride for World Sovereign King Buddha to have such a disciple.
After seeing innumerable lands displayed by World Sovereign King Buddha, Bhikshu Dharmakara further strengthens his conviction in forming a pure land. His vow is to enable all sentient beings who are reborn into this land to no longer see, hear, or perceive the sufferings that exist in the worlds in the ten directions, to no longer live in fear, and to quickly attain anuttara-samyak-sambodhi in peace and comfort. Once Bhikshu Dharmakara makes the supreme resolve to form a pure land, he aspires for nothing else.
We often make vows; for example, some practitioners say they are determined to meditate for two hours every day, but they often make an excuse for themselves by saying they are bothered by too many external disturbances. But on thinking it over, we find the true reason is these practitioners are reluctant to give up secular pursuits. They are preoccupied with watching TV series, dating, having delicious food, shopping, etc. These secular activities take too much time which shall be spent in practicing. Even successful men in this world spend their leisure time in pursuing the goal, let alone the practitioners who want to achieve the Buddha’s fruit, freeing themselves from and seeing through the illusion of reincarnations of many lives. If we cannot free up a few hours to stay away from distractions, how can we develop Shamatha and Samadhi and extricate ourselves from the internal and external illusions and attain enlightenment with complicated and busy mind activities?
In the Sutra, Bhikshu Dharmakara says in verse, “Even if he is in the midst of pains and malicious persecutions, he will persist in his energetic progress to fulfil his vows and endure without regrets from start to finish.”
We often see parents who deeply love their children in the world. If their children are lost or become unpardonably wicked villains who have committed great crimes, parents will spare no effort in searching for them, and they will go through all hardships without complaints or regrets. They are even willing to substitute for their children to take on sufferings and punishments. The only thing they look forward to is that their children are safe and sound. Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have infinite mercy and compassion for mortals, and regard all beings as their beloved sons. Therefore, they can persist in their original aspiration and harbor no complaints or regrets. Furthermore, they do not want all sentient beings to bear the sufferings they have gone through, including those who have intended and caused them harm.
When it comes to Amitabha Buddha’s maintaining His original intention to build a pure land for all sentient beings and His forbearance of pains and malicious persecutions, I have reflected on the issue whether the forming of the Pure Land will make those too wicked to be pardoned get reborn in the Pure Land easily and forever evade the comeuppance that they deserve. In human history, some people for a little bit of private interests even take perverted delight in maiming the innocent and have never repented or mended their ways. Such things often occur in movies and in real life. It will be fair and a great satisfaction for these evil people to personally experience the pain and fear they inflict on others. Some people, even if they go to hell, cannot help kind-hearted people heal their inner wounds. But Amitabha Buddha has formed a Pure Land equally for all sentient beings, except for those who have committed Five deadly sins and defamation of the Saddharma (the true, correct doctrines of the Buddha). I feel Amitabha Buddha is like a mother who dotes on all her children. No matter how bad they are, the West Pure Land will shelter them and give them wealth, supernatural powers, perfect physique, infinite lifespan, and so on. Now sentient beings from the worlds in ten directions are willing to be reborn in this world. Many of them wish to enjoy the peace and comfort there and to escape the sufferings of their worlds. This is the desire and habit of sentient beings to gain something without exertions, but Amitabha Buddha vows to satisfy these sentient beings with no stinginess.
As I practice Buddhism, I gradually understand all Buddhas’ compassion and their strong wills of deliverance. For a wicked person, moral education and persuasion may be of no avail. They are motivated by desires and personal profits and neither will they listen to moral education nor be moved. The punishment of worldly laws and purgatory of the hell may frighten them, but the evasion of punishment is what they are after instead of reflection and repentance. They may even go further to seek revenge against others and society. Letting a person see through the reality of life and all phenomena, and to see clearly their own nightmarish thoughts and behaviors throughout their many lifetimes, may be the most powerful and effective way of salvation for all beings. It is beyond the abilities and possibilities of the three woeful paths of transmigration of the hell beings, animals and hungry ghosts to practice and attain the Way and see through the reality of the universe. Amitabha Buddha forms a blissful world for all beings, absolutely with no vile creature or evil deeds in his heart. It is not just that, for there is even no such thing as forgiveness even though He is harmed by the evils of the world. Only when the power of fearlessness is obtained through practice can Bodhisattvas smile at and easily erase the traces of persecutions and sadness. But before they can perfect their power of fearlessness, all their forgiveness arises from wisdom and compassion.
I remember watching a movie about the crucifixion of Jesus, in which Jesus was lacerated and bruised all over but the angry people still won’t let him go and insist on nailing him to the cross. When being crucified, Jesus keeps on praying for all living beings, “God, please forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.” I am not a Christian, but at that moment, I burst into tears and how much I wish he could be released. But people yearn more for the fair Last Judgment and for bad people to be punished in hell than the redemption of heaven. The Bible says that Jesus redeems the sins of all living beings. If that’s the case, perhaps those outrageous people are unable to forgive their own sins and forgive others’, not the innocent Jesus. In fact, will a kind-hearted person be carried away by hatred to feel really happy when he sees his enemy receive everlasting punishment in hell? I think his smile will be mixed with tears and consolation will coexist with sadness after vengeance.
There is heavenly justice in this world: good deeds bring about good results, and bad deeds, bad results. Cause and effect have their corresponding relations. However, this happens to be the reason why we are not happy in this world, because no kind person actually likes to see ruthless hurting take place. To live beautifully is everyone’s wish rather than to be immersed in hatred and to seek revenge on others. The ideas of and the traces left by revenge, complaint, and resentment often make a person unable to enjoy the beauty of life but forever sinfully shrouded in darkness and the rays of the sun never reach him. In fact, it may not be the purpose for good people to punish and eliminate a being of their kind, but rather, to eradicate evil, deception and unfairness is the only thing they want to do. And how can we make this world to be a blissful place eternally free from hurting and being hurt? The only way out is to enable all sentient beings to be aware of and attain the ultimate reality of life. Only then can sentient beings grant a pardon in blood and tears and easily wipe out the traces of pain and sufferings of many lives. Jesus Christ makes atonement for the sins of all beings; however, the sinned cannot pardon themselves and others on the deepest level. Jesus Christ sacrifices himself, demonstrating his indiscriminative love to everyone just like the selfless maternal love. To some people, they believe He gives a fair trial. All Buddhas in the West Blissful world will lead living beings to enter into the Path of the knowledge and vision of the Buddhas and to awaken to the truth that the forms of things exist, but things have no reality in themselves. All living beings will have the power of fearlessness that alleviates the evils and harm done to them. They will feel as if they have only had a nightmare amidst all the harm, thus being totally relieved.
When we finish reading Amitabha Buddha’s 48 Great Vows made on the cause ground, we will know that Amitabha Buddha dotes on all beings, not only by satisfying their desires, but also giving them the ability and wisdom to know the reality of the universe. I often tell parents that it’s ok for them to dote on their child if they can give their child the transcendental abilities and wisdom to see the reality.
Ananda heard Shakyamuni Buddha said that for five kalpas, the bhiksu Dharmakara contemplated, formulated and collected the pure actions to adorn His Pure Land. Ananda asked the Buddha, “What is that World Sovereign King Buddha’s lifespan?” The Buddha replied, “That Buddha lives for forty-two kalpas.” Based on the calculation method, a small kalpa equals 16.798 million years, the forty-two kalpas are 705.516 million years. Shakyamuni Buddha resided in our world and entered Nirvana when he was over eighty years old. In “Mahaparinirvana-sutra”, Shakyamuni Buddha said that sentient beings should not contemplate about the lifespan of a Buddha being long or short. All phenomena are like illusions, from which the Tathagatas are detached. Tathagatas employ various expedient devices to guide beings to liberation. Therefore, the manifestation of a long or short lifespan of all Buddhas is just a method to take beings across in an appropriate manner. In “THE THUS COME ONE’S LIFE SPAN” section of “The Lotus Sutra”, Shakyamuni Buddha says that all gods, humans, and asuras in all worlds believe that it has not been long for Him to become a Buddha in the Saha world. In reality, He has become a Buddha hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of nayutas of asamkhyeyas of eons before. From that time on, He has been speaking the Dharma to teach and transform numerous beings and lead them to enter the Buddha Way. He also appears and announces that He is about to enter Nirvana, but it is just expediently said to deliver beings, for Buddhas do not enter Nirvana. He has always remained in the Saha World, proclaiming the Dharma to teach beings. The lifespan of all Buddhas is infinite and uncountable.
Let’s continue to look at the Scripture.