The Pure Land is the fruition-ground ultimately realized and verified by all disciples of the Buddha. If one practices without realizing the Pure Land, it cannot be called accomplishment; hence the Western Pure Land belongs to the gate of accomplishment. All dharmas—whether dhyāna, the Esoteric Vehicle, Dharma Characteristics, precepts, or recitation of the name—are preliminary expedient means for cultivating pure karma, used to realize the Pure Land. When practice is accomplished, none of these dharmas has any further use.

Thus, the two words “Pure Land” designate the virtue of complete perfection at the fruition-ground. They do not belong to any particular dharma, and one cannot establish them as a separate gate and rank them as superior or inferior to other schools. Nor does it mean that only the West is pure and other directions defiled. Since every dharma returns to the Pure Land, the Pure Land is not another separate dharma; nor is it that only this dharma can lead one into purity while other dharmas cannot. Those who first established schools originally opened provisional expedient means suited to a particular time, yet later gave rise to views of superiority and inferiority. Some even mistakenly regard other schools as impure and become mutually opposed as fire and water. Could this have been the original aspiration of the patriarchs? Could it be the fundamental intent of the Pure Land?

“Pure” means ultimately pure; “land” means the ground of one’s original mind. Those born in the land of the West all possess the supreme virtue of purity in the mind-ground. I too must possess this pure mind before I can join the assembly of all the superior good people in one place. The three—good roots, merit and virtue, and causes and conditions—must all be fully present for there to be correspondence.

Now, if one stubbornly clings to a single gate as superior and says that dharmas are high or low, that is not the Pure Land. If one regards other schools with hostility as demonic or bizarre, one’s own mind has already entered the demonic and bizarre; that is not the Pure Land. Even without these two faults, if one covets the Pure Land Dharma gate because a Buddha comes to guide one at death, this still stems from the inferior tendency to crave convenience and dependence; that too is not the Pure Land. With such inverted views, what becomes of good roots and merit and virtue? Even if one has causes and conditions, one has already created obstacles for oneself. This self-deception arising from incorrect views is not accomplishment.

People of the highest, middling, and lowest capacities alike inherently possess the virtues of the Pure Land. Yet, regrettably, their power of vows differs; they have the essence but not its function. Hence comes the lament that some are not sentient beings, yet are not not sentient beings.

Only because causes and conditions differ does realization and entry likewise vary. The Buddha established this Dharma gate so that beginners could plant seeds at the causal stage and first form an excellent affinity with the West; people of middling capacity, having prior causes from the past, could rely on it to realize and enter, making it a supporting condition for rebirth; and people of the highest capacity, whose fruition-ground is nearly complete, could attain accomplishment as soon as they were guided. Therefore it is said to universally embrace practitioners of all three capacities.

Moreover, the nine grades are not first divided into nine grades after rebirth; before birth there are already countless grades. How could one say that everyone can attain accomplishment in this very life? Now, the claim that rebirth is so easy was originally intended as an expedient means of guidance. Yet, not understanding the inferior tendencies of sentient beings, those whose resolve is not deeply earnest will, even if there are further expedient methods, ultimately refuse to practice diligently. Instead, because it is described as too easy, they take the Dharma lightly, and the resulting harms multiply.

These include: first, thinking it too easy and therefore failing to arouse an earnest resolve; second, believing that the Buddha can guide them, yet remaining confused at death, not blaming themselves but faulting the Dharma, doubting the Dharma and slandering the Buddha, thus falling into hell; third, genuine practitioners who, after long practice, still lack assurance and consequently give rise to doubt and retreat; fourth, refusing the silver dais and insisting on awaiting the golden dais, whereby demons seize the opportunity through this greed; fifth, the sūtras say this is exceedingly difficult, yet it is instead said to be exceedingly easy, so ascetics will surely give rise to doubt and fear.

Any one of these is sufficient to obstruct faith, let alone so many! Therefore one must be careful in setting forth teachings. If one wishes to guide people skillfully, one need only first make them fear suffering and arouse an earnest resolve. Why must one stubbornly uphold this principle as a fixed conclusion?

If one wishes to cultivate the Pure Land, one must first establish right faith. What is right faith? It is not merely believing that the West is the Pure Land, but believing that Buddha lands exist throughout the ten directions; the Amitābha Sūtra has already said this. This is the first point. It is not merely believing that the Pure Land is that land; it also refers to the Pure Land of one’s own intrinsic nature.

The Western Pure Land, moreover, is established by the intrinsic purity of all the superior good people. Sharing the same equal original ground, principle and phenomena interpenetrate, and all attain Buddhahood. This is the second point. One must believe that Buddha lands have no fixed definition: in the Sahā world and in the hells, distinctions yield defilement and purity, but as the Buddha sees them, there is not one that is not a Pure Land.

Sentient beings themselves give rise to illusory, impure minds and create karma. If they transform this through the power of wisdom, that very moment is the Pure Land. This is the third point. The Buddha neither comes nor goes; Amitābha is present everywhere. Practitioners obstruct their own minds and therefore do not see him. This is the fourth point. Those who understand this meaning have right faith. This is the Dharma difficult to believe; I have already discussed it in my earlier Essential Teachings on Amitābha.

The purpose of the Pure Land Dharma gate is first to purify one’s intention. Thus one must cultivate one-pointedness of mind without distraction. Such one-pointedness of mind without distraction is the fruition attained after awakening, whereas holding the name and Buddha-recitation are methods of practice before realization. Buddha means awakening; Buddha-remembrance means that every thought abides in awakening. Whenever the mind has greed or anger, a single thought of awakening immediately turns it into purity.

This is the unsurpassed, perfect, sudden Dharma gate. Therefore, with one utterance of Amitābha, one suddenly transcends the grave offenses of birth and death accumulated over eighty billion kalpas. Yet although turning toward awakening is indeed swift, turning back toward delusion is also easy. Sentient beings have only an occasional single thought, rather than thought after thought; with one thought of Buddha, they then turn back to thoughts of greed and anger. Only when every thought is in the Buddha does one become continuous and undivided, leaving greed and anger no means to arise. When this matures over a long time, it is called accomplishment.

Moreover, sentient beings consist only of thought after thought, not of a single thought. Why is this so? Because their every thought concerns people, affairs, emotions, and views: if not greed, then anger; if not anger, then ignorance. These are what summon the evil causes of the three karmic activities. If such thoughts continue without interruption, there can be no hope of ever escaping the causes and conditions of the Sahā world. One must be like a practitioner who has realized and verified: possessing a single pure thought of faith that never retreats, even though habitual tendencies continually arise, one never loses awareness and illumination. When one’s strength is sufficient and one cannot be shaken, this is called one-pointedness of mind without distraction; only then can one correspond with the Buddha.

One-pointedness of mind without distraction is the ultimate standard of cultivation leading to the Pure Land of one’s intrinsic nature. But how can this be achieved? There are immeasurable Dharma gates, yet in sum they do not go beyond two approaches: primary and auxiliary.

The primary approach is called observing the mind: turning back to question oneself and maintaining earnest, vigilant awareness in all one’s actions. This is called practice—cultivating within conduct. The auxiliary approach is called adopting methods: borrowing dharmas as supporting conditions to purify the mind. When the mind is pure, they have no further use. Yet the causes and conditions of Dharma gates differ; one must value what suits the recipient. Some hold the Buddha’s name, some enter dhyāna, some explain principle to dispel illusory appearances, some arouse the three contemplations, and some use adverse people and circumstances for self-examination. All these are methods of Buddha-remembrance.

Even reading sūtras, paying homage to the Buddha, burning incense, making offerings, and cultivating every wholesome dharma are all Buddha-remembrance. They consist simply in having every thought accord with the Buddha’s mind and pure intention, without ever losing awareness and illumination. The holding of the name in the Amitābha Sūtra is one method among the Dharma gates of Buddha-remembrance; it is not a fixed method. If there were a fixed method, it would not be Buddhadharma.

Buddha-remembrance is not difficult; being honest is difficult. In recent times, “honest” has been understood to mean “doing one’s proper duty,” but that does not exhaust its meaning. For “old” means unmoving, and “real” means uncontrived: let this mind remain constantly so clear and tranquil that, when all external objects, thoughts, and appearances arise before it, one is not swept away by their flow.

Whether for one day or seven days, if there is not a single day when one is otherwise, and one becomes continuous and undivided, then one ordinarily achieves one-pointedness of mind without distraction, and at death the mind will naturally not be confused. Buddha-remembrance is not difficult; eliminating habitual tendencies is difficult.

If one does not eliminate habitual tendencies, how can one realize and enter the ground of awakening, with every thought abiding in awakening? In setting forth this discussion, I know well that those who hear it will surely regard eliminating habitual tendencies as arduous, and instead see Buddha-remembrance as a fearful path, perhaps even denouncing it as demonic talk. Yet true practitioners will certainly not dismiss these words as absurd. They will surely transform their former dependent minds and their habitual craving for ease, reversing their former conduct.

In worldly dharmas, they must strive to be loyal to the nation, filial toward their parents, friendly toward brothers, harmonious with spouses, and trustworthy with friends; they must fulfill the human way completely, taking this as Buddha-remembrance. In supramundane dharmas, they must strive to arouse great compassion, liberate sentient beings, clarify the mind-ground, penetrate original nature, realize external circumstances as empty, and sweep away accumulated habits; they must return to realizing the Pure Land, taking this as Buddha-remembrance. For the world includes both worldly and supramundane affairs, but the mind has neither this nor that, coming nor going.

Not thinking evil is Buddha-remembrance; not thinking awakening is thinking delusion. This refers to the activity of the mind and has nothing to do with oral chanting. Yet people now mistakenly take holding the Buddha’s name to be Buddha-remembrance, thereby losing its essential intent and reducing it to singing the Buddha’s name. They further take quantity as superiority, bringing on illnesses such as shortness of breath and chest pain. People then become weary, doubtful, and discouraged, and after a long time fail to gain correspondence. This is the error of an incorrect causal ground; it is lamentable indeed.

The Buddha liberates sentient beings by enabling sentient beings to liberate themselves—liberating only their own sentient beings. These sentient beings are a general term for afflictions. Afflictions are the result, while biased attachment is the cause; and the result of biased attachment, without one’s realizing it, becomes its cause in turn.

Thus, the essential intent lies first in clarifying the mind. When the mind is clear, attachment is broken. The Buddha himself did not acknowledge having taught any Dharma during forty-nine years, and further said that whoever claims the Tathāgata taught any Dharma thereby slanders the Buddha. He feared that people would cling rigidly to dharmas without knowing how to adapt, and would instead suffer their harm. Thus we know that all dharmas taught by the Buddha were provisional expedients responsive to circumstances at a particular time, not fixed methods that could never be adapted. Therefore, a dharma is ultimately not final; nor is non-contrivance itself nirvāṇa. Only those who understand this meaning can correspond with the Pure Land.

The meaning of the Amitābha Sūtra is profound and far-reaching, truly inconceivable. First, it speaks of the excellence of the people: in this assembly are all great arhats and all bodhisattvas.

In the Land of Ultimate Bliss, all are non-retrogressing, together with all the superior good people who are one lifetime away from Buddhahood. Second, it speaks of the excellence of the land: it is adorned with the seven treasures, unlike worldly treasures. Third, it speaks of the excellence of the environment: when the gentle breeze stirs, all is the flowing proclamation of Dharma sounds. Fourth, it speaks of the excellence of its essence: its light is immeasurable, illuminating the lands of the ten directions without obstruction; its life span is immeasurable, unlike worldly life spans; even the names of the evil realms cannot be found there. Fifth, it speaks of the excellence of its function: with wondrous flowers one makes offerings to all Buddhas of the ten directions; one need only take meals and walk in meditation. In sum, there are no sufferings, only every joy; hence it is called Ultimate Bliss.

Ultimate Bliss is without characteristics. This precisely reveals the essence of vajra prajñā: without the four characteristics and four views of self and person, giving rise to mind without abiding, and thoroughly understanding the non-self of persons and dharmas. It precisely reveals the wondrous functioning of Amitābha, all culminating in realization of the Pure Land. The fundamental emphasis of the Amitābha Sūtra is self-cultivation: “one should make vows” is the first point of entry; holding the name is a supporting condition for rebirth; and one-pointedness of mind without distraction is the final mind-seal.

The Buddha neither comes nor goes. If the mind does not accord with the seal, then even if the Buddha stands before one’s eyes, there is no meeting. What is this seal? It is simply this clear, tranquil Pure Land of mine. “Holding” means holding Amitābha’s sacred name thought after thought without losing it, as a child remembers its mother. Beginners must be encouraged by the two words “should make,” as in “one should make vows.” But for a child and its mother, there is no distinction between should and should not; one should say that it is only natural. To say that it is naturally so means that this need not apply only toward Amitābha; toward all Buddhas of the ten directions, it is equally and naturally so. This is what is meant by giving rise to a single pure thought of faith.

The flavor of the Amitābha Sūtra is like tasting a sweet spring. To discern the flavor even in plain water, and distinguish spring water from ordinary water—this is to truly know flavor. If one knows only of the adornments of the seven treasures in the Western Land, yet does not recognize the adornment of merit and virtue; or understands merit and virtue but has not comprehended the meaning of attainment, then it is as distant as ten billion Buddha lands. What the Sixth Patriarch said was directed at remedying people of partial attachment; that people in the West have sins is not the meaning of the sūtra.

Yet there is likewise no need to insist that those in the West are entirely without sin, for there are those who attain rebirth while carrying karma. Karma is itself sin, because they have not yet reached ultimate completion. The Western Land has not even the name of the evil realms, much less their actuality. Nevertheless, for those newly reborn there, karmic force has not yet been purified. They still possess seeds of sin and evil, but lack the causes and conditions for these to become actual sins and evils; this is not an absolute absence of sin. Therefore, after rebirth in the Western Land, they must still undertake additional practice and cultivation.

Rebirth while carrying karma does not mean that those who possess sins and evils may be reborn there. It means that habitual tendencies remain, the seeds for wrongdoing have not yet been purified, yet the causes and conditions for rebirth have ripened. Once reborn, one is constantly in the company of all the supremely good people, and naturally, when the flower opens, one sees the Buddha. This Buddha refers to the Pure Land of one’s own nature. The flower is the flower of one’s own wisdom-mind, expressing in the strongest terms a thorough awakening to one’s intrinsic nature. If this Buddha still referred to Amitābha, then the Buddha who came to guide one at the time of rebirth would already have been seen; why wait until the flower opens?

Phrases in the Amitābha Sūtra such as “those already reborn, now being reborn, or to be reborn” mean that the mind yearns for it; rebirth need not necessarily occur after death. The sincerity of one’s aspiration during life is itself rebirth. Since mind neither comes nor goes—and is not not coming and going—it goes according to one’s vows; there is no distinction between before death and after death.

The Sahā world of the five turbidities arises fundamentally from the turbidity of views. Yet having views does not necessarily mean turbidity; this is called the Buddha’s knowledge and vision. Turbidity, however, never departs from views; hence it is called the turbidity of views. Where the turbidity of views is impure, it cannot be called a Pure Land.

The Esoteric Buddhist method of Buddha-recitation has, in brief, four meanings.

First, in its superficial sense, Amitābha refers to the bhikṣu Dharmākara, who made forty-eight vows before the Buddha Lokeśvararāja and thereby brought about the present Land of Ultimate Bliss. Second, in its profound and secret sense, Amitābha means immeasurable life and immeasurable light. Third, in the secret within the secret, Amitābha is Vairocana; thus, the single gate and the universal gate are no different. Fourth, in the profound secret within the secret, Amitābha refers to inherent virtues.

These inherent virtues are possessed equally by all sentient beings. Because sentient beings have not realized the essential nature of Vairocana, they cannot give rise to the wondrous contemplation of Amitābha. For “A” is the dharmakāya, signifying original non-arising and non-ceasing; “mi” is the sambhogakāya, signifying my great sovereignty; and “tuo” is the nirmāṇakāya, signifying suchness, unmoving. That Buddha is called Amitābha because he possesses these supreme virtues and is honored for them. All sentient beings equally possess this Pure Land; how could they abandon and belittle themselves, content to remain in the inferior and lesser?

The meaning of the Pure Land has been fully explained above, so that practitioners may first understand it clearly for themselves. But how, then, should one cultivate and realize it? In recent times, the Pure Land gate has had the greatest number of students. Because it is convenient and reliable, it accords with the desire of sentient beings in the Sahā world for convenience and ease; consequently, many have taken it up without realizing it.

I have often examined the reasons carefully. First, their faith and resolve are incomplete, and they regard themselves as too inferior. Second, because it is easy and requires little effort, their hearts lack earnest urgency. Third, their methods of practice are too disorderly, and results are very slow to appear. Fourth, when results are slow, the practice may seem tasteless; they act according to human sentiments and do not cultivate with true earnestness. Fifth, they do not understand the primary and auxiliary practices of the Pure Land, and act in an inverted manner, so that the deluded mind cannot be subdued. Thus Buddha-recitation and conduct in daily life are

cut into two separate matters and cannot function together. Sixth, most practitioners of the Pure Land enter its gate midway. They have not yet thoroughly understood the causal ground, follow what others say, and allow preconceived ideas to dominate them. Thus they establish sectarian boundaries and slander other traditions, though this is not the original intent of the teaching.

In the past, there were those who doubted and slandered Esoteric Buddhism, showing it in both their words and expressions. Then someone questioned them about the causes and conditions of the rebirth mantra and the Great Compassion Mantra. Ashamed, they awakened and no longer dared to slander it. This is an example of the same kind. Therefore, in cultivating and realizing the Pure Land, one should take the primary cause as foremost. There are also three kinds of practice. First are the Dharma causes at the causal ground: one begins through understanding, as in the various points discussed above, so that one comprehends the teaching as a whole and will not become doubtful and retreat midway.

Second are additional practices that provide supportive conditions, taking practical cultivation as their basis. For example, one should emphasize the method of reciting the name, while also practicing Chan meditation and, after leaving the meditation cushion, training in wondrous functioning amid human affairs. One may also adopt other Dharma gates as aids. Then realization through practice may come more quickly; in ordinary life one will not become lax or lament practicing for a single day and then abandoning it for ten. At the time of death, one may perhaps have a sure grasp, and attain accomplishment in this very life.

Third is complete fulfillment at the fruition ground, taking the verification of the mind-ground as primary. There are mutual verification and self-verification: mutual verification means examining one another’s gains and losses; self-verification means knowing for oneself, as one knows whether water is cold or warm. Outwardly, it is verified in phenomena; inwardly, it accords with principle; and between these, it is confirmed in one another’s minds.

These three kinds of practice must be transmitted face-to-face. A period should be set for a certain number of days; a small group of disciples should gather, choose a place to reside peacefully, and practice there. There will certainly be some point of actual realization. The former method of Buddha-recitation should appropriately be modified somewhat as follows: 1. Do not recite loudly. If there are many people, they may be divided into groups that recite in rotation; while one group recites, another group may listen.

2. It is unnecessary to hold prayer beads throughout; one may form the Amitābha mind-seal, which makes it easier to enter samādhi. 3. There is no need to circumambulate the Buddha while reciting. The practice of circumambulating the Buddha is used in the Chan school after prolonged sitting to dispel drowsiness; here, it only increases distraction and is quite needless. Therefore, rather than reciting with a large assembly, it is better for a small number of people to recite together. The more people there are, the less benefit is gained.