The Pure Land in Life and Death
...and moving from one to the other
Amida Buddha is a cosmic Buddha who exists out there as force for love that comes into the world and into our lives. Amida Buddha is the power of love that we have in our own hearts. Amida Buddha is the whole of reality.
The Pure Land is another realm that we go to at the point of death. It is another realm that we can visit in dreams and visions from this world. It is a way of looking at this world. It is this world. —Kaspa Thompson (They/Them) in their Substack
What I experienced last night has become a rarity. After a disturbing dream, I awoke and spent 10 stressed-out minutes struggling to regain equilibrium. I knew I needed to find my pure awareness—my nature of mind—and rest in it, but it took me 10 minutes to get there. It felt like 10, but it was probably less. I took that as a sign not to be overconfident.
I walk around (and sit and lie) close to 100% of the time in joyful equanimity and have for more than a year. That’s when I realized I live in a Pure Land. These words1 are part of my daily practice, and I mean them when I say them:
I feel most at home in the Vajrayana (Tibetan) Buddhist tradition, but Pure Land and Buddha Amitabha (Amida Buddha in Japanese, Amitabha in Sanskrit) are an essential part of my practice, and Kaspa Thompson’s quotation above inspired me to write more about them.
Here’s something I haven’t said aloud before: Although I’ve grown to love the Tibetan tradition, I’m not in love with the stories and iconography of the Tibetan deities. Revered figures like Padmasambhava are portrayed as fierce. It’s for understandable reasons. Eighth and Ninth Century Tibetans lived in a harsh and sometimes anti-Buddhist environment they believed was instigated by evil spirits.
Those early Tibetan Buddhists were grateful to the wrathful side of their deities for defeating the opponents of awakening. That’s great, but it doesn’t fit what I look for in a representation of Buddhahood today—my yidam. Thompson captured one reason why I gravitated toward Amitabha—“a cosmic Buddha who exists out there [and in here] as force for love.”
I’ve written about him before and will repeat here his origin story:
Many kalpas2 ago, he was a human king who renounced his throne to become a monk named Dharmakara. Deeply moved by the suffering of beings, Dharmakara made 48 vows before the Buddha of his kalpa. He vowed that he would only accept full Buddhahood once he had created a Pure Land welcoming to all who called out to him with a sincere heart.
It took Dharmakara countless lifetimes over additional kalpas to amass the positive karma he needed. Still, he finally became Amitabha Buddha and established the Western Pure Land, also known as Sukhavati—a realm free from suffering—where beings could be reborn and easily attain enlightenment. This is the land generally called the Pure Land. Buddhists will typically clarify when referring to another Pure Land created by another Buddha.
I thank Andrew Holecek and Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche for helping me integrate Amitabha and Pure Land into my Vajrayana practice. I had explored Pure Land Buddhism before, but Holecek’s book Preparing to Die and his Amitabha Pure Land Retreat gave me a framework for it within Vajrayana, as did Mingyur when he included the Pure Land as a viable goal in a retreat on the bardos.
In the Pure Land school of Buddhism, rebirth in the “Land of Bliss” is available to anyone who sincerely calls out to Amitabha. Because other practices are encouraged but not required, Pure Land appeals to spiritual seekers from all walks of life. In my Vajrayana practice, I merge the spirit of Amitabha into myself in my guru yoga, I do the same nightly as I go to sleep, and I include this Blissful Pure Land Aspiration Prayer, as translated by Lama Surya Das, in my daily practice:
EMAHO ~ Wondrous Buddha of Boundless Light, With the Lord of Great Compassion on your right, And the Bodhisattva Vajrapani on your left, Countless Enlightened Ones and Bodhisattvas surround you! May I, at the instant of passing away from this life, Be reborn, without interference by another migration, In Dewachen ― the pureland of infinite wonder and joy! Having been reborn there, may I behold the face of Amitabha! May all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in the ten directions Grant their blessings for the unhindered accomplishment Of the wishes expressed in my prayer! TAYATA ~ PENTSA DREEYA AHWA BODHANAYAY SOHA
However, recognizing the pure land in my current life is more important than any ritual. As long as I believe I live in a pure land, I will. Mind creates reality, so holding on to that belief to the moment of death will merely change my address from one pure land to another.
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From Tergar International Path of Liberation Daily Chants.
In Buddhism, just as people are reborn, so are worlds. Each world's life cycle is called a kalpa and lasts for billions of years.