Casper and Dave lead a Buddhist practice centered on the Amida Sutra, including readings from Karen Mack's translation, chanting of Amitabha, and guided meditation. The commentary explores Pure Land teachings, the six realms, and how to cultivate compassion and awareness.
Chapters
Good morning everybody, welcome. As you can see, I'm being assisted by Dave this morning.
Thank you.
As well as doing the offerings. And reading the reading. Dave's also going to lead us in the precepts and refuges later on, but we will begin with the reading this week from the Smaller Pure Land Sutra, or the Amida Sutra, purported to be the words of Shakyamuni Buddha some people think was composed later, certainly written down much later than when he was arrived, and describing a vision of the Pure Land. So sort of, um, well, I'll say more about it later, but you can imagine this description of the Pure Land comes from Shakyamuni Buddha's deep, deep experience of meditation and connection to Amitabha.
Thank you.
As Casper said, it's an extract from the Smaller Pure Land Sutra, and this has been translated by Karen Mack. Then the Buddha Shakyamuni explained to the elder Shariputra, to the far west of this world of delusion, beyond as many as 10 trillion Buddha worlds, there's another world called Ultimate Bliss with a Buddha whose name is Amitabha, who is there even now teaching the Dharma. Shariputra, do you know why that Buddha world is called Ultimate Bliss? It is because the people who live there never experience suffering. They are mantled in multitude forms of happiness. For that reason it is called ultimate bliss. Also, Shariputra, the world is adorned with 7 railings, with 7 rows of gauze curtains, with little bells, and surrounded by 7 rows of trees. All are set with 4 kinds of jewels which adorn the world throughout. For that reason, this world is called ultimate bliss. Again, Shariputra, in that world there are lotus ponds whose shores are decorated with 7 kinds of jewels. Ponds brim with waters of 8 good qualities, and the floor of the ponds are lined with sand of gold. The ponds are surrounded by steps of their 4 sides made of gold, silver, lapis lazuli, and crystal. Above are pavilions lavishly adorned with the seven jewels of gold, silver, lapis lazuli, crystal, coral, red pearls, and agate. There are lotuses blooming in the ponds, and their flowers are as large as the wheel of a cart. The blue flowers emit a blue light. The yellow flowers emit a yellow light. The red flowers emit a red light. And the white flowers emit a white light. Each of the lotus flowers glows, weaving a harmonic scene while emitting a subtle fragrance. Shariputra, this land of ultimate bliss is an ideal environment so that whatever one lays eyes upon will bring about awakening. Also, Shariputra, in Amida Buddha's land of ultimate bliss, there is always heavenly music playing. Moreover, the ground is made of gold and the flower petals float down from the skies 6 times every day. Early morning, the people there gather the petals into their flower baskets and travel to 10 trillion Buddha worlds to offer them in worship to the Buddhas. Having become mealtime during this activity, they return in an instant to ultimate bliss. Take their meal, and then practice mindfulness by walking. Shariputra, the land of ultimate bliss is an ideal environment to follow the Buddha path and awaken to enlightenment. Furthermore, Shariputra, the land of ultimate bliss— in the land of ultimate bliss, there are various birds of brilliant coloring such as white egrets, peacocks, parrots, sharikas, Kalavinkas and Jivanjivakas. The birds sing 6 times a day in exquisite voices. Their very singing expresses Amitabha's teaching, such as the 5 roots of goodness, the 5 powers, the 7 factors of enlightenment, and the Noble Eightfold Path. Where the people of the land of ultimate bliss hear the birds' voices, All of their thoughts are dedicated to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.
Going into silent meditation together, perhaps beginning by anchoring awareness on the breath, noticing the quality of your inhalation, your exhalation, a pause between breaths. And if you find that your mind is peaceful or the images from the text we just heard spontaneously appear, or just a feeling of being in a place where everything is softly glowing and speaking the Dharma, allowing your mind to settle into that peace. Otherwise, returning to the breath.
Amitabh, Amitabh, Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh.
Amitabh.
Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Amitabh. Ame sa pa. Ame sa pa. Ame.
For refuge I go to the Buddha.
For refuge I go to the Buddha.
The one who is awake and full of love.
The one who is awake and full of love.
Namo Buddha.
Namo Buddha.
For refuge I go to the Dharma.
For refuge I go to the Dharma.
All that guides us to wisdom and compassion.
All that guides us to wisdom and compassion.
Namo Dhamma.
Namo Dhamma.
For refuge I go to the Sangha.
For refuge I go to the Sangha, those who live in the Buddha's light. Those who live in the Buddha's light.
Namo Sanghaya.
Namo Sanghaya.
With faith in the Three Jewels.
With faith in the Three Jewels.
And in light of my human tendencies.
And in light of my human tendencies.
I pray that I may become aware.
I pray that I may become aware.
I pray that I may become aware—
I pray that I may become aware of when I fall into wrong speech— of when I fall into wrong speech.
I praise—
I may become aware— I pray that I may become aware of when I become intoxicated— of when I become intoxicated. No blame, no blame. Be kind, be kind. Love everything, love everything.
Innumerable are sentient beings.
We vow to save them all.
Inexhaustible are deluded passions.
We vow to transform them all.
Immeasurable are the Dharma teachings. We bow to Master Dae Won. Infinite is the Buddha's way.
We bow to fulfill completely. Thank you, everyone. In Buddhist thinking, in ancient Buddhist thinking, there's a difference between heaven and a pure land. And this isn't a commentary on Christian heaven because ancient Buddhist thinkers didn't know about Christian heaven. But is there possibly a comment on the way they saw the other religions that were around at the time. So what we sort of call Hinduism today. And I can't speak for how like the Brahmanic traditions view their own heavenly realms. But there is something useful about the difference that Buddhists saw between the difference between heaven and a pure land. So a heavenly realm is one of the six realms of samsara according to Buddhist thinking, and these are the places you go when you are, uh, reborn each lifetime. So we're in the human one right now. You might be reborn into the animal realm, the realm of hungry ghosts where you have strong desires but they can never be satisfied, into one of the hell realms where you just suffer loads, into the, into the realm of the warring gods, or into one of the, the realms of the heavenly one of the other heavenly realms, the heavenly realms of sensual pleasure, which is really like paradise. Everything you wish for, you receive. It's a realm of hedonism, really. The best food, the best company, the best drink, the best scenery. Very similar to Mulvan. And yet it's still part of this world of suffering because it's impermanent. At some point you have to come out of the heavenly realm, and then you will be disappointed. You have to lose all of those really lovely things. It doesn't last. Forever. Even the gods in those places, they live for a very long time, but they don't live forever, and then they are reborn into the animal world or the human world. The Pure Land, as we heard, and there's lots of different Pure Lands, but we'll just talk about the one that we focus on here. The Pure Land of Amitābha, as we heard in the reading, is full of giant lotuses and jewels and gauze and music and beautiful birdsong. Sort of gives me the feel of one of those, um, Monet paintings where everything is really soft and beautiful, which I think we now know is because he was going blind and like just everything was really soft in the way that he saw the world. But leaving that to one side, but whereas in the heavenly realm ultimately everything speaks to suffering because it's about greed, and, and then disappointment and impermanence. In a pure land, everything speaks to enlightenment, everything describes enlightenment, embodies enlightenment. So it speaks of loving kindness, of equanimity, of joyfulness and gladness, of compassion, rather than being moved to consume more and more and more, as you are in the heavenly realms. And then be disappointed when you fall out of them. In the Pure Land, you're moved to collect all of these beautiful flower petals and take them and offer them as gifts to other Buddhas and bodhisattvas, in the way that, you know, our shrine is decorated with flowers. Tradition has it that it's very auspicious for animals to come into a shrine room because they get to soak in the quality, good qualities. So this fly is like having a Amazing spiritual practice. And that's like us being reborn in the Pure Land. We just get to soak in all of those really great qualities. It's the perfect place to become enlightened, to let go of selfishness and become, yeah, become compassionate, to become kind, to become celebrate, to celebrate the successes and joys of other people. To become steady and grounded. And, you know, traditionally the Wheel of Life, which describes this movement between life and death and all these different realms, is, yeah, is describing something that happens across lifetimes, but it also describes something that happens within a lifetime. It's very clear that we can have a, a day, a month, a year where we feel like, oh, now I'm in the hell realms, everything is going wrong, I feel really— or I feel really badly about everything, I'm just really suffering. Or days when we feel like a hungry ghost, I just really want something, but actually every time I try and feed myself, either actual food or experiences, nothing really hits the mark. There's just this sort of emptiness in me that isn't being met by the world. But we can also have an experience where we fall into the Pure Land in this lifetime, and, and everything we see is lit up, is beautiful. Everything moves us to be kinder. Everyone, everything stirs compassion in us, moves us towards love. So they describe psychological states as much as they describe the movement of a— of our consciousness between lifetimes. And I think the important feature of this is, is not that we fall into one and then we fall into another one and then we fall into another one, but that as we move through that cycle All of these realms are present at the same time. They're all possible at the same time. The Pure Land is running alongside us throughout whatever we're experiencing, and these other six realms human realm, hungry ghosts, animal realm, which represents greed and lust, which I think does animals a disservice, but fine. The warrior gods, the hedonistic gods, they are— they represent delusional states of mind, ignorant states of mind, negative states of mind. None of them are real. They're all false ways of seeing the world. They're, they're all coping strategies, really. They're things we do to try and feel better about ourselves, but none of them really work. So those are the 6 realms of delusion. But we don't have to be deluded, um, or we maybe— maybe we don't have much choice about it. We, we are deluded sometimes, right? But there is also reality. There isn't just delusion, there is also reality. And reality is the Pure Land. Reality is being moved to love by the things that we see. Seeing the world as it truly is always generates curiosity, compassion, loving kindness. When we are able to let go of self-protection, of delusion, of coping strategies, what is revealed is the Pure Land. And the practice of Pure Land Buddhists really is simply remembering that possibility and trusting that that reality, the reality of loving kindness, is always present just beneath the surface. Of whatever we're actually experiencing in the moment. And everything we do, the flowers, the Golden Buddha, this kind of poetry of ancient Buddhism, are coded ways of helping us see that there is a different way of seeing the world. That we can— that, yeah, that reality exists and that reality is characterized by love and compassion. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
In gratitude, we offer this incense to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas throughout space and time.
Thank you, Shreya Maa Saraswati herself, reflecting our careful efforts.
Our heart in awareness, and the fruits of understanding.
And we and all beings be companions of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and we awaken from forgetfulness and realize the pure land. By Amitābha's life, may we care for all living things. I'm a hobbyist.
