Guiding Principle
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Third, there is the guiding principle to explain.
The guiding principle is the essential route for cultivating practice, the key link for understanding the essence [of our mind], the guiding framework for the myriad practices. When you hold up a net, the mesh opens up. When you lift the collar of a shirt, the breast and sleeves come too. Thus, after explaining the essence of the sutra, we must discern the guiding principle.
The essential principle for cultivation in this sutra is to develop faith and vows and to recite the Buddha-name. Without faith, we are not sufficiently equipped to take vows. Without vows, we are not sufficiently equipped to guide our practice. Without the wondrous practice of reciting the Buddha-name, we are not sufficiently equipped to fulfill our vows and to bring our faith to fruition.
The sutra first sets forth the pure environment of the Land and the exhalted bodies of its inhabitants in order to engender faith in us. Next it urges us to take vows to give guidance to our practice. Then it teaches the practice of reciting the Buddha-name as the route of direct ascent with no falling back (non-retrogression).
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Faith means having faith in oneself and faith in others (Buddha and Bodhisattvas). It means being sure about cause and effect, about phenomena and inner truth (noumenon).
Vows mean feeling aversion to the mundane world and detaching from it. Vows mean gladly seeking the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.
Practice means persisting in the practice of reciting the Buddha-name singelmindedly and without confusion (with one-pointedness of mind).
[Faith]. Believing in ourselves means believing that the True Mind is not a physical manifestation, and not the reflection of entangling objects, that it extends through time without any before or after and through space without any boundaries. Though it follows causal conditions all day long, it never changes.
All of space in the Ten Directions and all the worlds countless as atoms are originally things created by this Mind of ours. Although we are deluded and confused, if for a single moment we return to this Mind, we are sure to be born in the Land of Ultimate Bliss originally inherent in our own mind, and be troubled no more by worry and doubt. This is called "believing in ourselves".
Believing in others means having faith that the Tathagata Sakyamuni certainly did not lie, and that the World Honored One Amitabha certainly did not take his vows in vain. It means being certain that all the Buddhas of all the directions never equivocated, and it means following the true teachings of all the enlightened ones. It means establishing our will to seek birth in the Pure Land, and being prey no more to doubt and confusion. This is called "believing in others".
Believing in the casual basis means having faith that even Buddha-name invocation carried out in a scattered confused state of mind is still a seed of enlightenment, and that this is even more true of invoking the Buddha-name singlemindedly and without confusion. [If we sincerely and singlemindedly invoke the name of Amitabha Buddha], how can we fail to be born in the Pure Land? This is called "believing in the causal basis", i.e., that recitation is the cause of enlightenment.
Believing in the result means having deep faith that all the spiritually superior beings assembled in the Pure Land have practiced the Buddha Remembrance Samadhi, the meditative concentration that comes from reciting the Buddha-name. When you plant melon seeds you get melons, and when you plant beans you get beans. [Effect follows causes] like a shadow follows a physical shape, like an echo responds to a sound. Nothing is sown in vain. This is called "believing in the result".
​Believing factual phenomena means having deep faith that although this mind of ours is ephemeral, the worlds of the Ten Directions based on it are inexhaustible. The Land of Ultimate Bliss really does exist ten billion Buddha-lands away, adorned with ultimate pure adornments. This is not some fable from Chuang-tzu. This is called "believing factual phenomena".
Believing in inner truth (noumenon) means having deep faith that the ten billions Buddha-lands (worlds) are in reality not outside our Mind. Since there is really nothing outside of this Mind, we have deep certainty that the whole assembly of beings and surroundings in the Western Paradise is a set of reflections appearing in our mind. All phenomena are merged with inner truth, all falsity is merged with truth. All practices are merged with True Nature. All others are merged with oneself. Our own inherent mind is all-pervasive, and the true nature of the minds of sentient beings is also all pervasive. It is like a thousand lamps in one room, each of whose lights shines on all the others and merges with the other lights without any obstruction. This is called "believing in inner truth" (Noumenon).
[Vows]. Once we have these forms of faith, then we must understand that the mundane world is the defilement brought about by our own minds, and we must detach from it; the Pure Land is the purity brought about by our own minds, and we must joyously seek it. We must renounce defilement utterly, until there is nothing that can be renounced, and we must grasp purity utterly, until there is nothing that can be grasped.
Therefore the commentary Miao-tsung said:
If you take grasping and rejecting to the limit, they are not in a different groove than not grasping and not rejecting. If you do not engage in grasping and rejecting , and only value not grasping and not rejecting, this is a form of clinging to inner truth and abandoning phenomena. If you neglect the phenomenal level, then you are not complete at the inner truth level. If you arrive at the point where all phenomena are merged with inner truth, then both grasping and rejecting are also merged with inner truth. Sometimes grasping, sometimes rejecting, nothing is not the Realm of Reality.
[Practice]. When we speak of concentrating on the Buddha-name singlemindedly, we are referring to recitation with a mind that is unified and not chaotic. To invoke the Buddha-name is to invoke the qualities of Buddhahood. Since the qualities of Buddhahood are inconceivable, the Buddha-name itself is also inconceivable. Thus, even if we recite the Buddha-name in a scattered state of mind, it is still a seed of enlightenment, while those who recite singlemindedly immediately ascend toward enlightenment without falling back.
Many sutras teach Pure Land practices of various kinds: contemplating the image of Buddha, contemplating the concept of Buddha, doing prostrations, making offerings, practicing the five forms of repentance and the six forms of mindfulness, and so on. If you consummate any of these practices, and dedicate the merits toward rebirth in the Pure Land, you will be born there.
The method of reciting the Buddha-name is the one that is all-inclusive, embracing people of all mentalities and the one that is easiest to practice. This is why the compassionate one, Sakyamuni Buddha, explained it to Shariputra without being asked. Reciting the Buddha-name can be called the number one expedient among all the expedient methods, the supreme complete truth among all the complete truths, the most perfect of all the perfect teachings.
There is a saying: "If a purifying pearl is put into dirty water, the dirty water cannot but be purified. If the Buddha-name is put into a chaotic mind, even that chaotic mind cannot fail to become enlightened." Reciting the Buddha-name with faith and vows is a true cause for the Supreme Vehicle. The Four Pure Lands [the Land Where Saints and Ordinary Beings Dwell Together, the Land of Expedient Liberation, the Land of Real Reward, and the Land of Eternally Quiescent Light] are the wondrous fruits of the Supreme Vehicle. If you have the causal basis, then the result is sure to follow.
Therefore, faith, vows and reciting the Buddha-name are the true guiding principles of the Amitabha Sutra.
The characteristics of the four Pure Lands are describe in detail in the Miao-tsung commentary and in the book An explanation of the Brahma Net Sutra, and I will not explain them in full here. Later on I will give a brief account of them as I explicate the text.
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