Hello Everyone
Amitabha
In today's video I am very happy to share with you
The story of Amitābha Buddha of the Western Pureland of the Ultimate Bliss (Sukhavati), on how he made vows before becoming a buddha.
We often hear this saying:
"Amitābha (lives) in every family; Avalokiteśvara / Guan Shi Yin (lives) in every home."
So Amitābha has a deep affinity with the sentient beings
of our Sahā World.
In the Buddhist sutra "The Infinite Life Sutra",
there is a chapter called "Lokeśvararāja Buddha and Dharmākara"
It records
how the Amitābha Buddha took his vows.
In the past, an ancient Buddha was born
by the name of Lokeśvararāja
This is an ancient Buddha,
the Lokeśvararāja Buddha.
At that time and in his world, he constantly preached
the Bodhisattva Path and the Bodhicitta
In that country
there was a great king called King Shirao
He was a great king who presided over the country
gathering power and wealth
He listened to the ancient Buddha's preaching: "Everything
in the world is illusory and impermanent.
The only thing that matters is to develop the bodhi mind and practice the Bodhisattva way,
then one can attain the ultimate fruition of complete enlightenment
and truly benefit sentient beings.
So he felt that as a king
he could only benefit a limited amount of people.
Thus he rejoiced in his heart and awakened aspiration for the highest, perfect Enlightenment
upon hearing the Buddha's teaching.
He renounced his kingdom
and the throne,
and became a Bhiksu,
that is, a practitioner, a monk,
under the seat of this Buddha.
He was called Dharmākara.
He had a very brave
and compassionate heart.
When he heard the Buddha's exposition of the Dharma,
he renounced his kingdom and the throne.
that is,
he handed his throne to others.
He didn't want to do it anymore.
He would rather study and practice by following the Lokeśvararāja Buddha .
Then he said to the Buddha:
"Now that I have made awakened aspiration
for supreme enlightenment,
I resolve to become a Buddha."
He said: "I have now made the aspiration for supreme enlightenment,
I hope ultimately to attain Buddhahood.
I beseech you, Buddha, to explain the Dharma to me fully,
and I promise to respect, uphold
and practice the Dharma correctly.
I will remove the fundamental sufferings of life and death of all kinds of beings in the six realms.
I will also enable them to quickly achieve the
supreme enlightenment of the Buddha.
So at that time, the Bhiksu Dharmākara made a vow to the Buddha:
"I should practice according to the Dharma,
remove the roots of afflictions of birth and death from all suffering beings
and swiftly attain supreme enlightenment."
And Bhiksu Dharmakara further vowed:
"When I become a Buddha,
I will attain wisdom and luminosity.
My land, my teachings, and my name
will all be known in the ten directions.
All beings -- heavenly beings, humans, animals insects and so on --
when reborn in my country, they will all become Bodhisattvas.
What this means is that the strength of this vow is enormous,
with great compassion and aspiration.
He wished that when he attained Buddhahood,
and established his Pure Land,
all sentient beings, not only human beings,
but also all sentient beings of different realms, as long as karmic conditions were there,
as long as they could raise a yearning heart
for Amitābha's Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss
they could all be reborn in the Western Pure Land
and continue to study and practice Buddhism.
We all know that the basic
(entry) conditions of the Pure Land are: Faith, Vows and Practice
Faith is to believe that there really is a Pure Land
where the Amitābha Buddha can lead us
Then you make a vow
because this wish is a seed
you must plant it in your Eight Kinds of Consciousness fields.
plant it into your heart
you should always aspire
to enter in the Pure Land. (Last is) Practice. According to the Amitābha Sutra,
one can not be lose good root, good causes and conditions to enter into the Pure Land
these are the basic conditions
you still have vow to Bodhicitta / aspiration to enlightenment and maintain the Bodhisattva practices
In this world you have to do all
the possible things that could benefit all sentient beings
then there will be sufficient good roots to
reborn in the Pure Land
But Amitābha also has a great compassionate heart
He made many wishes
a total of 48 great vows
And one of them is quite special -
As long as a sentient being can continuously recite his holy
name and holy epithet for seven days and nights
and continuously devote himself into
the aspiration that
he can be reborn in the Pure Land
then he can still be born in the (Amitābha's) Kingdom
So this is a very special vow
As a matter of fact
Amitabha Buddha had already attained the Buddha's throne from a long time ago
He was in return
and continued to follow the Lokeśvararāja Buddha
in practicing
along the Bodhisattva path
When all the karmas were matured
he achieved Buddhahood and created the Pure Land of the Ultimate Bliss
At that time he asked the Lokeśvararāja Buddha:
"Do you think it's
a little unrealistic for me to make such vow?
But the Buddha told Bhiksu Dharmākara:
"If, for example, one keeps on bailing water out of a great ocean with a pint-measure,
one will be able to reach the bottom after many kalpas
Likewise, if one sincerely, diligently and unceasingly seeks the Way
one will be able to reach one's destination.
What vow is there which cannot be fulfilled?'
Therefore
the Lokeśvararāja Buddha encouraged him:
"Such vow is not erroneous
it's very compassionate."
He said metaphorically:
"If one wants to measure the water of the sea drop by drop
it can eventually be achieved
through relentless work
If you set your mind to seek the Way diligently and unceasingly
and make ceaseless progress
you will certainly achieve your cultivation or fruition in the Dharma practice and be able to benefit all sentient beings
and you will certainly be able to achieve your ultimate vow
In this section we have learned about
the causes and conditions of the Amitābha Buddha
and how he vowed to benefit all living beings
We should start to learn
about the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas
how they have originally vowed in the causal ground to benefit all sentient beings
Amitabha Buddha was once a prince
and a great power in his past life
But he is also just a human being
He gave up everything
left home to follow the path of cultivation and practice
he was away from ordinary household in order to achieve the greater mission
Based on this
we can see that one shall not underestimate the potential
We should know that once we have learned the Buddhism
we should make a vow from the present moment
because this vow is a seed
if we do not have such an aspiration or wish
we can not attend the Buddhahood in the future
because this would just be a empty talk
Now we know how
the Amitābha Buddha has made great vow
We should learn from him well
and also aspire to make a such vow similar to
the 48 great vows that the Amitābha Buddha
has made while he was a Buddhist monk
to achieve his Pure Land / Sukhāvatī
Hereafter
he can benefit countless sentient beings
Next time I wish
I can share with you more stories of the Buddhas
and the Bodhisattvas who made their vows according to the original initiations
Thank you!