There is a lot of suffering in the world. That's the fact of it. The world isn't itself synonymous with suffering. The whole cycle of life is a neutral expression of the Ultimate -- that which some might call 'divine' but as a Pure Land Buddhist I would call 'dharmakaya,' or Amida Buddha, that non-conceptual Ultimate Reality.
Life contains suffering, or rather our wrong view of this reality makes Samsara out of it.
This is what the Buddha discovered, that we suffer because of our attachments to the impermanent phenomena (dharmas) that constitute this conventional existence. Nothing in this universe lasts; everything is transitory. But we are angered by this, frustrated that all things must pass away. So attached are we to the idea that the forms of this reality are more concrete and lasting than they actually are that we apply the same logic to our own selves. We are convinced that the person we identify as 'I' is a fixed and eternal being. The fact is that what we consider our 'self' is nothing more than a persona built of experiences, bigotries, fears, names and other assorted labels. It's a facade, a bunch of words that says nothing about who we really are.
Try a little exercise. Ask yourself who you are, but ditch the name, job title, marital status, gender, even the tag 'human' etc. View yourself outside of the confines of this heap of information. Who are you?
Interesting exercise, eh? But what this little test teaches us is just how much we understand ourselves and this reality in terms of nouns and ideas. This in itself is not a problem. The problems arise when we cling dogmatically to our views of the world or our own self and imagine them to be one and the same thing. Concrete conceptions do not float well in the shifting seas of a universe that is inherent flux.
The Buddha realised the reality of suffering and communicated it in what are called the Four Noble Truths. These truths are:
* we suffer because of our attachments
* there is a solution to suffering
* the solution is to follow the Eightfold Path
And the Eightfold Path is:
In the Four Noble Truths we are presented with a diagnosis of our human condition, and in the Eightfold Path we are given the remedy. Only by living mindfully, acting without reacting, becoming aware of our wrong views and adjusting our mindsets accordingly can we be freed from suffering and realise our true latent Buddha nature, which is a nature of unconditional compassion and wisdom.
In the Pure Land tradition, the ultimate act of mindfulness is to recite or chant the Nembutsu, that is the Name of Amida Buddha -- "Namu Amida Butsu." In the Larger Sutra of Infinite Life we read of Amida's resolve to liberate all sentient beings, vowing that all who entrust themselves to him and say his Name will be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.
What is this Pure Land? The sutra is replete with fantastical imagery and colourful descriptions of an ornate Land, bejewelled and filled with unimaginable wonders, where Enlightenment and Buddhahood is assured. Where the ignorance and craving that cause our suffering is done away with and does not exist. Some accept the sutra description at face value and say that the Pure Land exists as described 'out there' far beyond a trillion galaxies. But the real Pure Land is not so far. It is closer than ones heartbeat, for to be reborn in the Pure Land of Bliss is simply a euphemism for the realisation of our own buddhahood. Some will argue that this makes the Pure Land and Amida 'unreal'. But on the contrary, this actually makes both more real than we can imagine.
As we said at the outset, Amida Buddha is the face of the Ultimate Reality, and to realise our own buddha-nature is to realise our own Oneness with this, the dharmakaya. It is as though Amida has fallen asleep in us and by chanting his name, we rouse this our true self to awakening.
In future posts we will examine the Pure Land dharma in more detail. But for now, I will leave you with Amida Buddha's promise as recorded in the Larger Sutra bearing his name:
"If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings in the lands of the ten quarters who sincerely and joyfully entrust themselves to me, desire to be born in my land, and call my Name, even ten times, should not be born there, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment."
