Now Let's Talk About the Pure Land
More about the place where I reside and plan to stay
Sprinkling the earth with perfume and strewing it with flowers, Adorning it with Mount Meru, the four continents, the sun and moon: I imagine this as a buddha realm and offer it So all beings may enjoy this pure realm.
The lines above are the Mandala Offering in the Tergar International daily chant booklet. Before discussing that quatrain further, let’s consider how we think about religion, deities, and other sacred figures. Here are four options:
A single deity is separate from us, has its own agency, created us, and maintains absolute or partial control over us. Often, other figures (saints, for example) share the deity’s realm and may also have some influence on our world.
Deities are beings in another realm who are separate from us and have their own agency. While these gods have different roles in relation to our world, sometimes one of them is the creator. Generally, none of these deities has absolute power.
Deities are archetypes we pray to and otherwise address to strengthen qualities in ourselves, but we still regard them as separate from and independent of ourselves.
Deities are archetypes we pray to and otherwise address to strengthen qualities in ourselves, but we regard them as existing within ourselves. We may also think of them as outside ourselves, but they exist only in relation to us. They would not exist if we didn’t.
You might take a moment to reflect on how your beliefs align with any of those bullets, or whether I’ve missed one or more.
Here’s the weird thing: We can believe more than one of those — even all of them. Maybe you or someone you know attends an Episcopalian church on Sunday and earnestly recites the Nicene Creed and other prayers. Later, in discussion, he or she explains that the words are figurative and the stories in the Christian Bible are allegories.
My beliefs fall primarily into the last bulleted category. As far as I know, every school of Buddhism acknowledges the Buddha within each of us, but in the practice of Vajrayana, which is my Buddhist home, that pure internal Buddha Nature is the core. We believe we can actualize that Buddha within one lifetime. Similarly, additional icons of Buddhism — bodhisattvas and other “celestial” beings — are aspects of our own pure mind. Venerating the external form strengthens the desired characteristics in ourselves.
Do those beings have independent agency apart from us? I, for one, don’t think so. I believe that mind creates reality. Nothing exists outside of mind. When enough of us share a perception in common, that becomes what we think of as reality. The 2022 Nobel Prize in physicists went to three scientists who showed that objects don’t have definite qualities independent of observation. As I have before, I’ll also point to the work of philosopher/scientist Bernardo Kastrup as one model for how the world might work in a secular sense.
I believe what is “real” is a shared perception. As I continue about the Pure Land, I present a perception I offer you to share if you like.
I’ve said a lot above, so why don’t we pause with a photo of how we imagine the Buddha who lived 2,600 years ago? This one is from my backyard. He’s sitting with an offering to him and the birds in the neighborhood.
That being was born as Prince Siddhartha Gautama, left the palace on a quest to end suffering, sat under the bodhi tree, reached enlightenment at age 35, and became known as the Buddha. He is widely considered “the Buddha.” But we all have a Buddha Nature and can become enlightened, and there are other “celestial” buddhas.
I won’t get into the ontology of the various buddhas and bodhisattvas, but let’s turn to the Buddha Amitabha.
Amitabha is the Buddha of Infinite Light or the Buddha of Infinite Life. In Buddhist mythology, he existed in the human realm long before the current eon, became enlightened, and kept returning to human form because he wanted to amass enough good karma to create a Pure Land open to all who had lived good lives and sincerely wished to enter it upon their deaths. The Pure Land he created is also known as Sukhavati.
Pure Land Buddhism, widely practiced in China, Japan, and Korea, centers around Amitabha and reaching Sukhavati. Vajrayana Buddhism also incorporates the Sukhavati Pure Land. It’s described as a beautiful place (maybe not an actual “place” but more of a condition) populated by buddhas and bodhisattvas who will help guide newcomers to full enlightenment and eternal existence.
Now, let’s return to the Mandala Offering that we opened with:
Sprinkling the earth with perfume and strewing it with flowers, Adorning it with Mount Meru, the four continents, the sun and moon: I imagine this as a buddha realm and offer it So all beings can enjoy this pure realm.
I say that as part of my daily practice. It brings a smile to my lips because I’m not just imagining that I’ve created a pure realm. I know that the mind creates reality and I do live in my own Pure Land. And living in the Pure Land now means, in my belief system, continuing to live in it after the death of my body.
Understandably, you’ll ask me how I can say I live in a Pure Land when there is so much tragedy. I’m certain that I would not be able to believe as I do if I were living in, for example, South Sudan.
I don’t live in South Sudan, and I’m too old and frail (more about that in a future post) to go there and be of service.1 I also know that, even though it’s hard to witness, the world is perfect as it is. It’s perfect because it could not be otherwise. It is what it is because of the accumulation of karma, but here’s a plainer way to say that:
People's accumulated intentions and their actions, along with the evolution of what we call nature, have brought us to where we are today. If I want the world to be a better place, what I can do now is to live as close as I can get to my inherent pure Buddha Nature and encourage others to join me. That’s why I’m writing this blog.
You don’t have to be a Buddhist. Translate what I’ve said to your belief system. But do join me in what I call the Pure Land.
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The musical selection today is the beautiful Chinese Pure Land chant “Namo Amituofo.” Namo means “honor to.” Amituofo is Amitabha in Chinese. And don’t worry, I won’t tell Amitabha if you don’t listen for the full 28 minutes and 40 seconds.
Of course, I contribute to worthy causes, vote, write letters to the editor, etc., and encourage others to do so. But real change will come only when something like pure Buddha Nature, or you might call it pure love, pervades our world