Amitabha and Pure Land
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whats that meanOriginally posted by An Eternal Now:agreed.. especially first line
With Dhyana and Pure Land,
one is like a tiger with horns
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Did any monks or lay followers, when still alive, went to Amitabha's Pureland Paradise and came back to Earth to tell the tale, how magnificient Pureland is and Amitabha Buddha is expounding the dhamma there.
If anyone did went there before, can describe if it is the same as described in the sutra? -
Did anyone went to Pureland and saw Guan Shi Yin Pusa and Da Shi Zhi Pusa as well?
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like heaven and hell, it's mind made(dream-like) realm too. but that does not mean it's unreal. like dream, pureland is neither real nor unreal.
thro deep meditations, yes, a master did went and came back and describe it exactly the same. Amitabha sutra is the blueprint or map for you to go there, anytime u want.
that say, if the mind is pure, the land is absolutely pure as the western pureland.
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even the human realm here is also mind-made and therefore dream-like right?Originally posted by sinweiy:like heaven and hell, it's mind made(dream-like) realm too. but that does not mean it's unreal. like dream it's pureland are neither real nor unreal.
thro deep meditations, yes, a master did went and came back and describe it exactly the same. Amitabha sutra is the blueprint or map for you to go there, anytime u want.
that say, if the mind is pure, the land is absolutely pure as the western pureland.
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means its superOriginally posted by Cenarious:whats that mean -
isn't it the same as "rabbit with horns - non-existing"?Originally posted by An Eternal Now:means its super -
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Originally posted by Cenarious:
hell and heavens would be more of a inmaterial or 'transformational' bodies(hua4 sheng1), while human had a physical meat body(rou4 sheng1).
even the human realm here is also mind-made and therefore dream-like right
even in a nightmare, we also think it's 'real', no?
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chinese and english different meaningOriginally posted by Cenarious:isn't it the same as "rabbit with horns - non-existing"? -
Yes.Originally posted by marcteng:Did anyone went to Pureland and saw Guan Shi Yin Pusa and Da Shi Zhi Pusa as well?anyone seen petas & devas before?
That was quite long ago so I don't remember the details. She din say whether male or female but i believe it was male. And yes, devas do wear costumes, but are called 'celestial clothings'. I don't think people asked her that much about how the deva looked like. But she was quite surprised by the tallness and I think she even had to looked up to see the whole figure.
But Guan Yin and Amitabha is even taller, especially in Sukhavati (Western Pure Land). Of course they can appear short to people but in Sukhavati especially, they appear extremely tall. My master saw Amitabha before and my Taiwanese teacher saw Guan Yin before.
My Taiwanese teacher was able to enter deeply into samadhi even before he knew about the teachings of Buddhism or attained enlightenment, and attained lots of supernatural powers. At his earlier days, he was saved by Guan Yin, when he foolishly used his powers to fight a few vengeful spirits but in return was attacked by a whole bunch of them. He fought the spirits to protect someone he knew and was reprimanded by my master for using spiritual powers in this way. My Taiwanese teacher later set a rule for his students not to seek any spiritual powers before gaining wisdom.
Anyway so my Taiwanese teacher died in the battle, and his consciousness left his body. He was very lost and didn't know what to do. Then when Guan Yin appeared to him, Guan Yin commented that he was pitiful and 'resurrected' him. When he looked around, all he could see is enormous toes... the toes itself is like the height of a human. Guan Yin was so tall that he didn't see the whole figure, and therefore couldn't recognise who was the one who saved him. It was only later that he confirmed with my master that it was indeed Guan Yin who appeared and saved him.
This reminds me that in Chapter 25 of the Lotus Sutra, the sutra states that Guan Yin will save those people who are in danger. It further states many many dangerous situations where through contemplating Guan Yin's power alone, one will be saved. That is why Guan Yin is known as 'Jiu4 Ku3 Jiu4 Nan4 Guan Shi Yin'. One of the things it stated is that when evil spirits of the entire universe is aiming at attacking you, you will be saved from them and they will not harm you if you would just contemplate the powers of Guan Yin, chant Guan yin.
Another 'big toes' story is about my master. He visited Sukhavati/Western Pure Land while he was alive. I'm going to post on that.
Disciple: Master, how do we witness Sukhavathi?
Master Shen Kai: That's easy. But Sukhavathi is very far away. How far? It's passing through hundreds of thousands of millions of Buddhalands. In between this hundreds of thousands of millions of Buddhalands are not Buddhalands but Hui Tu. Buddhalands are pure where Buddhas dwell. Sukhavathi is hence very very far away. Far does not mean we don't believe.
In the sutras, Buddha used to explain that it's very very near. So near that nobody believe it's true. There's no choice as sentient beings are too greedy, hence say it's very very far away and not easy to go or reach. So He expound the Amitabha Sutra, where Buddha spoke without people asking. If a person is not greedy, then Dharmakaya is very near as it encompass everything.
Since it's entire existence, it's so near to reach like space everywhere exist Dharmakaya. Without Dharmakaya, Earth cannot be in the space. Cars cannot works. Every thing is benefited by Dharmakaya.
When people do business, they need an initial funding, now Buddha say you don't need that initial funding, you believe in Amitabha and recite His name.
When one see people wearing a gold necklace, but it's just a piece of metal chain like the one you see in jail to chain prisioners. Then Buddha told sentient beings not to be obsess with gold, you just need to recite Amitabha and don't need any initial funding and you can reborn in a place where gold is use for building constructions.
So does Sukhavathi really exist? Yes. Don't think Buddha is lying. You can GO NOW and witness yourself and come back to tell people. Master tell you I been there before, you all might disbelieve. So I will describe it to you.
Sentient beings on Earth are very small, Bodhisattvas of Sukhavathi are really Big and tall. A person standing next to Amitabha only reach the height of Amitabha's toe! When I reached Sukhavathi, only wish to pay homage to Amitabha, and adore Amitabha.
Amitabha Buddha reply: What do you seek here in Sukhavathi?
Shen Kai: Honored One, i came to seek Dharma.
Amitabha Buddha ask: What kind of Dharma?
Shen Kai: i'm not sure. Seeing Amitabha's forehead is adorned with a curled hair. i wisk to seek that Dharma, Honorable One.
(Back to reality.) That's how I cultivate and got my curled hair, but this Dharma method cannot anyhow expound to people. It's is because you people have doubt in Sukhavathi. Thinking it doesn't exist. Hence I tell you my experience. Due to the busy schedule, the white hair is curled. When it grew longer to 3 inch, it will extend when i'm washing the face. That's the proof.
How did Ocean of suffering (ku hai wu bian) come about? Because beings of samsara cannot sever emotion, love and greed. Sentinet beings cry a lot. Separation from friend, family, love ones, people cry. Son is leaving, mother crys, so does the son. Mother is dying, sons also crys. When people want's to eat, the mouth starts to water. This is greed. People need to work, they swear. In a life them, people generate so many water. One person, say one bucket of water, 100 pax, 100 bucket form a pool of water. If millions of millions of people cannot sever emotion, love and greed, form an Ocean of water.
In our world there's male and female. Those who goes to jail, 99% are involve with female. But in Sukhavathi, there's not male nor female form.
(translated by Sinweiy)
Regarding this white curled hair, later I found this from the Amitabha Sutra or another sutra on Amitabha, that Amitabha's white curled hair between his eyebrow emits light that illuminates countless the worlds in the ten directions.
Also, I later found out that another Buddhist master from Vietnam by the name Khoan Tinh had a similar encounter, but his experience was even more spectacular. His account was much more detailed, he visited many places in Sukhavati and stayed there for quite some time before returning. He went missing for 6 and a half years and returned later to tell the story. He too reported that his height was on par with Amitabha's toes.
As for devas, they are also tall but are not as tall as Amitabha or Guan Yin. I don't think they are completely different from humans, but are probably much better looking. Just a guess. In fact Human race is according to Buddhism, descendents of the 2nd Jhana Light-Sound Heaven brahmas. Their looks should have some resemblance with us although of course due to degeneration of humanity we are probably much more uglier. -
like a tiger with horns mean ferocious and with strengthOriginally posted by An Eternal Now:agreed.. especially first line
With Dhyana and Pure Land,
one is like a tiger with horns
dhyana is for the seeing of one's nature and purify the mind
both will strengthen the person in the quest towards enlightenment -
Want to "See" Pureland?
Are you ready in your mind that the "Image" you "See" is not from your mind or imagine?
I would like to use the word "Base-less-ness" (Without origin from the mind). If you can do that "Baselessness", you will see much more Buddha Land (& "THE real world") with PureLand. There are much more Buddha Land.
For current "Time" Pureland is the aim. -
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