The purpose of learning and practicing Buddhism
Why do people want to know, learn, and practice Buddhism? What benefits do they expect from the Buddhist teachings? The answers vary because people have different views and encounter different problems. In addition, people usually do not know what they want as they frequently change their minds under various circumstances.
However, Shakyamuni Buddha is the wisest, kindest, most benevolent and compassionate person among all living beings in history. Shakyamuni Buddha knows us much better than we know ourselves because we are ignorant about right and wrong, happiness and suffering, good and evil, life and death, and the reality of the universe.
Thus, it is better to know why Shakyamuni Buddha set forth the Buddhist teachings about 2,500 years ago. Shakyamuni Buddha stated his original intent for appearing in the world on two occasions near his death, before he entered nirvana: one in the Lotus Sutra and the other in the Infinite Life Sutra.
Why did Shakyamuni Buddha set forth the Buddhist teachings about 2,500 years ago?
In the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha tells his disciples, both sravakas (those seeking self-liberation) and bodhisattvas (those seeking to liberate others), that he came to reveal and expound the right views of a buddha, and further that he wishes to enable all beings to become enlightened and grasp the Buddha’s right views and enter the Buddha’s realm, which is unspeakable and inconceivable.
Sravakas and bodhisattvas are sagely and sacred beings who pursue wisdom and enlightenment to become arhats and buddhas, respectively. Strictly speaking, it is impossible for us to grasp their profound and subtle understanding of the Dharma. Our status is that of ordinary beings subjected to reincarnation within the Six Realms.
Let us look at the Infinite Life Sutra. Shakyamuni Buddha says: “With infinite great compassion, the Tathagata commiserates with living beings of the Three Domains. Therefore, he appears in the world to disseminate the teaching of the Way, wishing to save the multitudes by endowing them with real benefits.”
The Buddha’s original intent does not make sense to us because we are living beings in the Three Domains and Six Realms. In our ignorance, we are compelled to endlessly take rebirth as heavenly beings, human beings, asuras, animals, hungry ghosts, and hell beings.* In order to end this cycle of suffering, the Tathagata (Thus Gone or Thus Come, another title for the Buddha) Shakyamuni wishes to endow us with real benefits.
What are real benefits? Shakyamuni Buddha, in his great compassion, made it clear: eternal, nirvanic peace and joy. The Buddhadharma is the teaching that cuts off suffering at its root. It can improve the quality of our present life, but the most important thing is to exit the cycle of birth and death forever. This is why Shakyamuni Buddha set forth Buddhist practice in the world.
Four differences in each Buddhist sutra spoken by Shakyamuni Buddha
It is important to note that Shakyamuni Buddha speaks of 84,000 different teachings in the Buddhadharma. These differ in terms of time, place, audience (especially their capacities and aptitudes), and the benefits bestowed by the teaching. These classifications were established by Master Shandao in his Commentary on the Contemplation Sutra.
Moreover, each Buddhist sutra basically talks about two things: one is the aim and the other is the method. In reading a sutra, we should ask whether our aim aligns with that of the sutra and, more importantly, whether the suggested method to achieve the aim is within our capacity to practice.
Last, but not least, it is important to understand that Shakyamuni Buddha usually tackles the root cause of our problems rather than providing solutions that offer only temporary relief. Such would be like pouring hot water onto a field of ice. Although it helps to melt the ice, the hot water itself will soon turn into ice.
Shakyamuni Buddha would rather extinguish the burning wood under the pot with hot water than pour cold water into the pot to cool it down. The real benefits endowed by the Buddha generally refer to definitive and ultimate solutions that sever the root of our suffering.
The three Pure Land sutras have one common aim and method
It is interesting to note that all three Pure Land sutras have a common aim and method, so they are considered one sutra. The aim of the three Pure Land sutras is to attain rebirth in Amitabha’s Pure Land, and the method to attain rebirth is to recite Amitabha’s Name.
In other words, if you wish to attain rebirth in Amitabha’s Pure Land, called the Land of Bliss, you can start reading the three Pure Land sutras. Regarding the method to attain rebirth, Amitabha-recitation is so easy that all of us can do it and practice it under any circumstance.
In the three Pure Land sutras, Shakyamuni Buddha urges us to dedicate our merit and virtues and aspire to be reborn in Amitabha’s Land of Bliss. Alternatively, if we wish to be totally assured of our rebirth, we can recite Amitabha’s Name exclusively and thereby end the fundamental suffering of the cycle of birth and death within the Six Realms.
The Pure Land scriptures are suitable for the aptitude and needs of all beings
With ignorant, ordinary beings as the target audience, the teaching spoken by Shakyamuni Buddha in the Three Pure Land Sutras (The Infinite Life Sutra, the Contemplation Sutra, and the Amitabha Sutra) presents us with facts, rather than profound and abstract concepts.
In the Amitabha Sutra, for example, the Buddha introduces Amitabha Buddha and his Pure Land and says:
If you travel westward from here, passing a hundred thousand kotis of buddha-lands, you come to the land called “Bliss,” where there is a Buddha named “Amitabha.” He is living there now, teaching Dharma.
It is simple and straightforward, showing the existence of Amitabha Buddha and his Land of Bliss in the framework of time and space with which we are familiar. Conversely, many other sutras are spoken for sravakas and bodhisattvas who seek merit through the self-powered practices of meditative and non-meditative virtues. These teachings are beyond the abilities of ordinary beings to comprehend.
Many sutras, such as the Heart Sutra, the Diamond Sutra, the Lotus Sutra, the Shurangama Sutra, and the Avatamsaka Sutra, are famous and popular; however, these sutras are subtle and were not spoken for the benefit of ordinary beings.
Moreover, Shakyamuni Buddha says in the Lotus Sutra that the teachings for sravakas and bodhisattvas are “expedient.” Expedient teachings are a means, not an end. They are meant to lead sagely and sacred practitioners to the real teaching of the One Buddha and so enter the Buddha’s realm, which is unspeakable and inconceivable.
So the Pure Land teaching is not just for ordinary beings, but also for the sagely and sacred beings who wish to be reborn in Amitabha’s Land of Bliss and attain the “real” benefits endowed by the Buddha for ultimate liberation.
* The Three Wretched Realms are hells, hungry ghosts and animals. Adding the Asura, human and heavenly beings, it forms the Six Realms in the Three Domains of this great trichiliocosm called the Saha World.
Related features from BDG
Is Pure Land the Teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha or Amitabha Buddha, or Both?
Queen Vaidehi’s Sight of Two Buddhas Emitting Light in the Contemplation Sutra
Additional Benefits of Attaining Rebirth Through Amitabha-Recitation: the Perseverance of No-Birth by “Seeing” the Buddha
