|
Shakyamuni and Queen Vaidehi
(source of the photo) |
This is a fragment from my Commentary on
the
Contemplation Sutra. It is a work in
progress and
may be changed and improved as I advance with the
book.
The Contemplation
Sutra[1] was
taught in the context of a tragedy in the royal family of
Magadha[2].
Master
Shan-tao[3] who
wrote a commentary on this
sutra[4] gave a
detailed account of what happened. As there is no English
translation available of his commentary I quote Rev Hisao Inagaki’s
summary of Shan-tao’s explanation:
“Shakyamuni had a cousin, Devadatta, who was greedy for
fame and wealth. Seeing the Buddha receive many offerings from King
Bimbisara, he wanted to take over the leadership of the sangha. He
first learned supernatural power from Ananda, which he displayed to
PrinceAjatasatru; thus he won the respect of the prince and also
received sumptuous offerings from him. Devadatta then approached
Shakyamuni and suggested that the Buddha retire but was rebuked for
his stupidity. Angered by this, he next incited Ajatasatru to usurp
the throne.
Seeing that Ajatasatru
hesitated, Devadatta pointed at the prince’s broken little finger
and told him the following story.
A long time ago King Bimbisara was anxious to have an
heir. Having heard from a soothsayer that a certain hermit living
in the mountains would be reborn as his son three years later, the
king immediately sent a messenger to the hermit suggesting that he
terminate his own life, but the hermit refused to do so. The angry
king ordered the messenger to kill him if the hermit still refused
to commit suicide. On his death, the hermit vowed to take revenge.
Soon Queen Vaidehi became pregnant. The king rejoiced, but was
horrified to hear from the soothsayer that she would bear a boy who
would harm the king. So he told the queen to give birth to the baby
on the roof of the tower and let it drop to the ground. She did as
she was told, but the baby miraculously survived with only damage
to his little finger. Devadatta told Ajatasatru that the king had
thus tried to kill him a second time. Enraged to hear this, the
prince imprisoned the king and left him to
die.”[5]
Queen Vaidehi who was devoted to her husband brought him food
and drink secretly and the king asked Shakyamuni Buddha to send
Mahamaudgalyayana to give him the eight precepts.
“Then Mahamaudgalyayana flew as swiftly as a hawk to the
king. Day after day he came like this to give the king the eight
precepts. The World Honored One also sent Venerable Purṇa to the
palace to expound the Dharma to the king. Three weeks passed in
this way. Because he had eaten the flour paste and heard the
Dharma, he appeared peaceful and
contented.”[6]
When Ajatasatru asked if his father was still alive, the
guard confirmed and told him what happened.Then he became angry and
wanted to kill his mother for helping the king. However, due to the
intervention and threats of the ministers Candraprabha and Jivaka
he was prevented from doing this. Instead he locked her up in an
inner chamber from which she was not allowed to leave.
Being confined, the Queen was overcome with grief and despair
and she turned to the direction of Vulture Peak where Shakyamuni
was teaching the Lotus
Sutra[7],
praying to Him for help:
“Facing Vulture Peak, she worshiped the Buddha from afar
and said, ‘O Tathagata, World-honored One, you used to send Ananda
to comfort me. Now I am in deep sorrow and distress. Since there is
no way of my coming to look upon your august countenance,
World-honored One, I pray you send Venerable Mahamaudgalyayana and
Venerable Ananda here to see me.’
When she
had said these words, tears of sorrow streamed down her cheeks like
rain. Then she bowed toward the Buddha in the
distance.”[8]
Not only that Shakyamuni fulfilled her wish but He himself
appeared before her. Various gods who saw the Buddha going to
Vaidehi also followed Him so that they do not lose the chance to
listen to what He was about to teach:
“Even before she raised her head, the World-honored One,
who was then staying on Vulture Peak, knew Vaidehi’s thoughts and
immediately ordered Mahamaudgalyayana and Ananda to go to her
through the air; He himself disappeared from the mountain and
reappeared in the inner chamber of the royal palace.
After worshiping Him, Vaidehi raised her head and saw
Shakyamuni Buddha, the World-honored One. He was the color of
purple-gold and was seated upon a lotus flower of a hundred jewels.
He was attended by Mahamaudgalyayana on his left and Ananda on his
right. Sakra (Indra), Brahma, the guardian gods of the world, and
other devas were in the air about Him. Scattering heavenly blossoms
like rain, they paid homage to the
Buddha.”[9]
Like any ordinary person in the middle of a great suffering
she complaints and asks why she has to endure so much
pain:
“When she saw the World-honored One, Vaidehi tore off her
ornaments and prostrated herself on the ground. Weeping bitterly,
she said to the Buddha, “O World-honored One, what bad karma did I
commit in former lives that I have given birth to such an evil son?
I wonder, World- Honored One, what karmic relations could have made
you a relative of
Devadatta?”[10]
When we meet with great difficulties and suffering we have
the tendency to cry and complain: why me, why do I suffer so much,
why these kids don’t listen to me, why everybody is against me, and
so on. We do not stop to think that perhaps we are also at fault
and sometimes we refuse to remember the law of karma. However,
Vaidehi could not lie to herself about the karmic causes that
brought her to that situation. She knew what she and her husband
did. Her son was the reincarnation of the hermit killed by king
Bimbisara, the child she dropped from the roof when she gave birth
to him. The royal family of Magadha was indeed sick with evil. How
can somebody command a person to commit suicide, then kill him and
ask the mother to drop her newborn baby from the roof? How can a
mother actually do that? How can that child be sane and calm when
he finds the truth? Yes, Devadatta was using the whole situation to
his own advantage, but king Bimbisara and queen Vaidehi were not
innocent people.
If this was another sutra from the self-power Dharma gate,
the advice of Shakyamuni might had been to acknowledge the law of
karma, repent and do good deeds. However, this family tragedy was
especially used by Him to teach again about Amida’s unconditional
salvation. Vaidehi, which is the central character of this sutra,
is an ordinary woman without any spiritual capacities but who had
listened deeply to Shakyamuni’s teaching and accepted the law of
karma. She did not say, “please O World Honored One show me a path
to purify my karmic evil and attain Buddhahood here and now” or
“show me how to discover my inner Buddha nature and the emptiness
of all phenomena”, but desperately cried to Him: “help me get out
of this world and never be reborn again in a samsaric realm. No
more wicked people, no more suffering, no more samsara for me! I am
sick of it. Please oh Buddha, help me escape” – this is the essence
of the next words of Vaidehi:
“I beseech you, World-honored One, to reveal to me a land
of no sorrow and no affliction where I can be reborn. I do not wish
to live in this defiled and evil world of Jambudvipa where there
are hells, realms of hungry ghosts, animals, and many vile beings.
I wish that in the future I shall not hear evil words or see wicked
people. World-honored One, I now kneel down to repent and beg you
to take pity on me. I entreat you, O sunlike Buddha, to teach me
how to visualize a land of pure karmic
perfection.”[11]
So, she specifically asked for a Pure Land where she can be
reborn after death and for a practice to visualize it. The main
part of the Contemplation Sutra is formed of visualizations and
we’ll discuss them later. However, please pay attention to what I
am about to explain now. Vaidehi did NOT actually practice any
of the visualizations presented in the sutra, but was helped by
Shakyamuni to see Amida Buddha and His Pure Land.
“Then the World-honored One sent forth from between His
eyebrows a flood of light that was the color of gold and
illuminated the innumerable worlds in the ten directions. Returning
to the Buddha, the light settled on His head and transformed itself
into a golden platform resembling Mount Sumeru. On the platform
appeared the pure and resplendent lands of all the Buddhas in the
ten directions. Some of these lands were made of the seven kinds of
jewels, some solely of lotus flowers; some resembled the palace in
the Heaven of Free Enjoyment of Manifestations by
Others[12],
while some were like a crystal mirror in which all the lands in the
ten directions were reflected. Innumerable Buddha lands like these,
glorious and beautiful, were displayed to her.”
I always stop and wonder at the above image of Shakyamuni
Buddha displaying above His head all the myriads Pure Lands of
various Buddhas. What a wonderful sight and how fortunate was
Vaidehi to see all these! However, although she saw those lands,
she awakes aspiration for the specific Pure Land of Amida
Buddha:
“Vaidehi then said to the Buddha, ‘O World Honored One,
these Buddha lands are pure and free of defilement, and all of them
are resplendent. But I wish to be born in the Land of Utmost
Bliss of Amitayus (Amida).”
As she was still attached to her own self-power, she asked
for a practice to be born in the Pure Land:
“I beseech you, World Honored One, to teach me how to
contemplate that land and attain samadhi.’”
Although it appears that Shakyamuni is giving to Vaidehi a
practice based on self-power, there are many hints in the text
which suggests that actually He is supporting her and the king with
His Power so that they effortlessly achieve the result. For
example, right after Vaidehi is asking Him to teach her a
contemplation method for birth in the Pure Land, He is helping
Bimbisara to enter the stage of non-returner or non-retrogression
for birth in the Pure Land:
“The World Honored One smiled, and from His mouth came
five-colored rays of light, each shining on King Bimbisara’s head.
Although the old king was confined, with his unhindered mind’s eye
he saw the World-honored One in the distance. He knelt down in
homage to the Buddha and effortlessly made spiritual
progress until he reached the stage of
non-returner.”[13]
It is not by accident that right after Vaidehi made the
aspiration for birth in the Pure Land, Shakyamuni immediately emits
five colored rays of light for Bimbisara. What was king Bimbisara’s
reaction? “He knelt down in homage to the Buddha”. That is
the moment of king Bimbisara receiving faith in Amida Buddha with
the help of Shakyamuni! And what was the result of that faith? He
“effortlessly made spiritual progressuntil he reached the
stage of non-returner”, that is, he entered the stage of
non-retrogression for birth in the Pure Land. The sutra does not
enter into details, but when we are reading it with eyes influenced
by faith we clearly see the hints. Vaidehi made the aspiration for
birth in the Pure Land of Amida. Then Shakyamuni manifested light
and king Bimbisara kneeled down in homage, which is a gesture of
faith, and entered the stage of non-returner. It was like
Shakyamuni saying, “ok, I’ll show you how to reach the Pure Land of
Amida, but first I’ll help Bimbisara do the same”. Nothing is by
accident in the Contemplation Sutra and just like any sutra it has
many layers of meaning and it can be read in many ways, just like a
house with many doors. For us it takes a few seconds to read what
happened to Bimbisara, but I guess that Shakyamuni who is perfectly
mastering time transmitted to him all that was needed to know about
birth in the Pure Land, probably even showing Amida to him like He
will do with Vaidehi, thus helping him to attain faith.
After helping the king to enter the stage of
non-retrogression, Shakyamuni starts speaking about practices to
help “ordinary people in the future” that are attached to
their so-called virtues and merits to be born in the Pure Land.
Here “ordinary” is used in the sense that they are not actually
people who possess supramundane roots of
good[14], but
ordinary practitioners who are deluded into thinking they are good
and worthy for being born in the Pure Land. They might be better
than others but certainly they are not as good as those who are
beyond desire and have abandoned their ego:
“Then the World-honored One said to Vaidehi, ‘Do you know
that Amitayus is not far away? Fix your thoughts upon and
contemplate that Buddha land. Then you will accomplish the pure
acts. I shall describe it to you in detail with various
illustrations, so that all ordinary people in the future who
wish to practice pure karma may also be born in that Western Land
of
Utmost
Bliss.”[15]
Also, why people in the future? Because Vaidehi was
actually helped by Shakyamuni to see and entrust to Amida at the
time the Contemplation Sutra was taught. So, the next instructions
related with merits and visualization practices were not intended
for king Bimbisara and Vaidehi. The sutra is clear about this
fact:
[…]“Vaidehi said to the Buddha, “World-honored One,
through the Buddha’s power, even I have now been able
to see that
land’”.[16]
Thus, Vaidehi did not need to practice the specific
instructions of the sutra on how to accumulate good karma and do
the visualisations. Shakyamuni Buddha said to her:
“You are unenlightened and so your spiritual powers are
weak and obscured. Since you have not yet attained the divine
eye, you cannot see that which is distant. But the Buddha
Tathagatas have special ways to enable you to see
afar.”[17]
In another passage of the sutra we are told how Amida Buddha
appeared to queen Vaidehi:
“The Buddha said to Ananda and Vaidehi, ‘Listen carefully,
listen carefully and ponder deeply. I will expound for you the
method of removing suffering. Bear my words in mind and explain
them to the multitude of beings.’
When these
words were spoken, Amitayus (Amida) appeared in the air above,
attended on His left and right by the two
mahasattvas Avalokitesvara
and Mahasthamaprapta. So brilliant was
their radiance that it was impossible to see them in detail. They
could not be compared even with a hundred thousand nuggets of gold
from the Jambu River.
After she had this
vision of Amitayus, Vaidehi knelt down in worship at
Shakyamuni’s feet and said to Him, ‘World-honored One, through
your power I have been able to see Amitayus and the two
Bodhisattvas’”.[18]
Thus we can say that the moment queen Vaidehi entrusted
completely to Amida Buddha was when she saw Him in front of her
very eyes. The Contemplation Sutra does not insist on details
regarding Vaidehi entrusting to Amida Buddha because the explicit
goal of the sutra is to help followers of the 19th Vow, that is,
those who cling to their self-power and merits. However, the
implicit meaning is that Vaidehi became assured of birth in the
Pure Land through the Buddha centered Power which is what enabled
her to see and be convinced of Amida’s existence. Thus, Vaidehi
(and king Bimbisara too) represents the evil person incapable of
any spiritual evolution (“your spiritual powers are weak and
obscured”) who has no other chance than to rely entirely on the
power of the Buddha. We may come this conclusion because she was
helped by both Shakyamuni and Amida who appeared before her, to
receive the karmic merits for birth in the Pure Land. Actually,
“ordinary people in the future” are also ignorant but the
difference between them and Vaidehi is that they are not aware of
having weak and obscured spiritual powers while Vaidehi deeply
accepted this truth. This is why she could benefit from the
Buddha’s Power while “ordinary people in the future” who
cling to their so-called merits and fake virtues are guided to the
19thVow.
Queen Vaidehi asked a few times on how these “ordinary
people in the future” who follow the 19th Vow can see Amida and
His Pure Land:
“Vaidehi said to the Buddha, ‘World-honored One, through
the Buddha’s power, even I have now been able to see that land. But
after the Buddha’s passing sentient beings will become defiled and
evil and be oppressed by the five kinds of suffering. How then will
those beings be able to see the Land of Utmost Bliss of
Amitayus?’”[19]
“World-honored One, through your power I have been able to
see Amitāyus and the two bodhisattvas, but how can sentient beings
of the future see
them?”[20]
Some might say that things were easier for Vaidehi because
she was in the presence of Shakyamuni Buddha who, together with
Amida, helped her see the Pure Land. This is true, however, the
Buddhas and especially Amida, are never far, as Shakyamuni said:
“do you know that Amitayus is not far away?” There is
another fragment in the Contemplation Sutra which strengthen this
idea of Amida being always with us through in any time and
place:
“Amitayus (Amida), exercising supernatural powers at will,
can freely manifest His various forms in the lands of the ten
directions. At times He may appear as a large figure, filling the
whole sky; at other times as a smaller figure, only sixteen or
eight feet high. The figures that He manifests are all of the color
of pure
gold.”[21]
Amida Buddha is beyond any form in His Dharmakaya aspect,
dwells with His transcendent form (Sambhogakaya) in the Pure Land,
and in the same time He is everywhere with all beings in His
various Accomodated and Transformation Bodies (Nirmanakayas).
Wherever we are, in our room, on the street, alone or with friends
and family, Amida Buddha is always accompanying us. So, actually
Amida is in front of us every time, ready to help us enter the
stage of non-retrogression (non-returner) for birth in His Pure
Land but unfortunately, not all practitioners can receive His help
because they are blinded by ideas of self-power and personal
merits. No matter where these people live, in what time and age,
they cannot be fully supported by Amida’s Power due to their
clinging to self-power. It is not that Amida discriminates people
but some completely ignore Him or chose to rely partially on their
self-power and think that there is something in themselves that can
be added to Amida’s Power.
Thus, Amida is always present like the sun or moon, but we
are the ones who decide if we open or close ourselves towards Him.
Some chose to close totally while others become partially open. The
ones who open partially like the followers of the 19th and 20th
Vows receive partial benefit from Amida Buddha. Basically, the
Contemplation Sutra is explicitly about the followers of the 19th
Vow who still cling to their self-power and believe that their
so-called merits and virtues play an important role for their birth
in the Pure Land. They also rely on Amida’s help and Power but not
totally like the followers of the Primal Vow (18th Vow). For these
people Shakyamuni offered the instructions on accumulating good
karma and doing the various visualization practices that I will
refer to in the next chapter.
- to be continued -
[1] Sutra on
Visualisation of the Buddha of Infinite Life (Amitayurdhyana Sutra
in Skt./Bussetsu Kanmuryoju Kyo in Japan.). It is often called
Contemplation Sutra. This sutra was translated into Chinese during
the Liu-Sung dynasty (424-442 C.E.) by the Tripitaka Master
Kalayasas (Kyoryoyasha).
[2]
Magadha was a kingdom in north-east India.
[3]
Shan’tao (613–681) was the seven Patriarchs of Jodo Shinshu
according to Shinran Shonin.
[4]
Master Shan-tao’s Commentary on the Contemplation Sutra has
not yet been translated into English. I only had access to a few
fragments from the English edition of Shinran’s works.
[5]
The Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study and Translation from
Chinese by Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with Harold Stewart,
Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Centre for Buddhist Translation and
Research, Kyoto, 2003, p. xviii - xix
[6] The
Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study and Translation from Chinese by
Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with Harold Stewart, Bukkyo Dendo
Kyokai and Numata Centre for Buddhist Translation and Research,
Kyoto, 2003, p75
[7]
The Contemplation Sutra begins with the following
words:
“Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was staying on
Vulture Peak in Rajagṛha with a great assembly of twelve hundred
and fifty monks. He was also accompanied by thirty-two thousand
Bodhisattvas led by Manjusri, the Dharma Prince.”
According to Master Rennyo’s interpretation, the
Contemplation Sutra and the Lotus Sutra were taught
by Shakyamuni in the same time. I will explain this in more detail
at a later time in the commentary.
[8] The
Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study and Translation from Chinese by
Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with Harold Stewart, Bukkyo Dendo
Kyokai and Numata Centre for Buddhist Translation and Research,
Kyoto, 2003, p.76
[9] The
Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study and Translation from Chinese by
Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with Harold Stewart, Bukkyo Dendo
Kyokai and Numata Centre for Buddhist Translation and Research,
Kyoto, 2003, p.76-77
[10] The
Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study and Translation from Chinese by
Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with Harold Stewart, Bukkyo Dendo
Kyokai and Numata Centre for Buddhist Translation and Research,
Kyoto, 2003, p.77
[11] The
Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study and Translation from Chinese by
Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with Harold Stewart, Bukkyo Dendo
Kyokai and Numata Centre for Buddhist Translation and Research,
Kyoto, 2003, p.77
[12]
[13]
[14]It
is said that when the Great Master Bodhidharma came to China,
Emperor Wu called him and asked him: “I’ve built many temples and
I’ve offered many lands to the path of the Buddha; now please tell
me what merits have I gained? Bodhidharma’s answer came shocking
but true: “None, not one merit.”
In Buddhism we speak about two kinds of merits: mundane and
supramundane. The mundane good is the effect of every good deed
fulfilled with the purpose (conscious or unconscious) that there
will be positive consequences: happiness in this life or in the
next, a better rebirth, etc. This good deed doesn’t escape the
subtle or gross forms of greed, which is one of the “Three Poisons”
along with anger and ignorance (delusion). No matter how
spiritually advanced we think we are, any good we do while we still
identify ourselves with the false self, is a mundane good. As
Shinran said:
“Extremely difficult is it to put an end to our evil
nature;
The mind is like a venomous snake or
scorpion.
Our performance of good acts is also
poisoned;
Hence, it is called false and empty
practice.”
(Shozomatsu Wasan, 96)
Contrary to this, the supramundane good represents any kind
of action undertook without a personal goal or interest. It is
spontaneous and natural, aiming exclusively to the well being of
others and it has absolutely no trace of ego. Only this is the
materialization of true compassion and
may be considered as a genuine virtue leading not only to a better
life in one of the six forms of existence, but to perfect
Enlightenment. This kind of supramundane good was accumulated by
Bodhisattva Dharmakara during many kalpas of selfless practice and
dedication before He became Amida Buddha.
Emperor Wu is representative for all of us who have the
pretention that by our deeds we are clean and pure without even
realizing that the true virtues are very
far away from our tiny actions fulfilled under the influence of
ego. What the Emperor had accomplished represented mere mundane
merits: that is why Bodhidharma told him: “not one merit”. We, the
Jodo Shinshu followers, should never forget these meaningfull words
and never consider ourselves spiritually pure or superior. “Know
yourself to be a foolish being of karmic evil”, said Master
Shan-tao. Also Master Shinran said:
“With minds full of malice and cunning, like snakes or
scorpions,
We cannot accomplish good acts through
self-power;
And unless we entrust ourselves to Amida's directing of
virtue,
We will end without knowing shame or
self-reproach.”
(Shozomatsu Wasan 99)
As long as we identify with our false self any good we do is
poisoned and cannot generate true supramundane merits. Our actions
may lead us to rebirth in better states of samsaric existence but
cannot help us attain birth in the true fulfilled land of the Pure
Land (center of the Pure Land). For such a birth we need to receive
Amida’s transference of merits – “Amida's directing of
virtue”,which is possible only for people who entrusted
themselves totally to Him in accordance with the Primal
Vow.
[15]
The Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study
and Translation from Chinese by Hisao Inagaki in collaboration
with Harold Stewart, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Center for
Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003,
p.78
[16]The
Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study and
Translation from Chinese by Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with
Harold Stewart, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Center for Buddhist
Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003,
p.79.
[17]
The Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study
and Translation from Chinese by Hisao Inagaki in collaboration
with Harold Stewart, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Center for
Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003,
p.79
[18]The
Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study and
Translation from Chinese by Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with
Harold Stewart, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Center for Buddhist
Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003, p.
83-84
[19]
The Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study
and Translation from Chinese by Hisao Inagaki in collaboration
with Harold Stewart, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Center for
Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003,
p.79
[20]
The Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study
and Translation from Chinese by Hisao Inagaki in collaboration
with Harold Stewart, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Center for
Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003,
p.83-84
[21]
The Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study
and Translation from Chinese by Hisao Inagaki in collaboration
with Harold Stewart, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Center for
Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003,
p.91
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