Tibetan Pure Land

[Nicholas Weeks]

I did not realize that among Dzogchen folk there is a percentage (large or small?) that cultivate birth in Amita Buddha's realm. This 2005 book quoted below gives many delog stories in addition to chapters on Pure Land practice.

The main focus of the trainings described in this book is to take rebirth in the manifested form of the Blissful Pure Land. It is easier to take rebirth there than in any other pure land because of the powerful vows made by the Buddha of Infinite Light to bring all beings to his Blissful Pure Land and help them attain enlightenment.

Excerpt From: Tulku Thondup. Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth: A Tibetan Buddhist Guidebook, 186.

[MiphamFan]

There is a whole bunch of Tibetan practices centered on Sukhavati and Amitabha. Most phowa practices are aimed at Sukhavati. You can read Halkias' Luminous Bliss: a Religious History of Pure Land Literature in Tibet for a review of Sukhavati literature in Tibet. The other major Buddhaksetra is Zangdong Palri.

[Nicholas Weeks]

There is a whole bunch of Tibetan practices centered on Sukhavati and Amitabha. Most phowa practices are aimed at Sukhavati. You can read Halkias' Luminous Bliss: a Religious History of Pure Land Literature in Tibet for a review of Sukhavati literature in Tibet. The other major Buddhaksetra is Zangdong Palri.

Give a guesstimate of what percentage of 1) Dzogchen folk and 2) the rest of Tibetans' main practice is centered on Amita Sugata.

[MiphamFan]

I have no idea and don't really think it's important.

I do know that most practitioners aspire to get to a Buddhaksetra after death if they can't manage to get to Buddhahood in the bardo. This stuff is very much ingrained into Tibetan culture, read this: https://bodhiactivity.wordpress.com/201 ... -pureland/
Even if they chant Manis, they dedicate the merit to be reborn in Sukhavati, Amitabha is not a petty guy who insists you do only his practice.

In Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche's Autobiography, there's one part where IIRC Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche recalks DKR joking with his wife about whether they'd go to Zangdog Pakri or Sukhavati after death.

It's just part of the common worldview .

[Nicholas Weeks]

Just as the King of Mountains towers over all lesser peaks, so does Amitabha surpass all with his majestic presence. His body is pure and immaculate, adorned with the thirty-two signs and eighty marks of excellent beings. His body is pure and boundless like the sky. It blazes with inconceivable light, illuminating an infinite number of pure lands of the ten directions. His lights are the virtues, realizations, and wisdoms. This radiance, beautiful and pristine like crystalline light, ignites the body and mind of whomever it touches with bliss, wisdom, and supreme joy. Thus he is known as the Buddha of Infinite Light. Because his life span is immeasurable, he is also known as the Buddha of Infinite Life.

His speech brings forth constant melodies of Dharma. His enlightened mind is an ocean of vast, deep peace and wisdom. He knows all knowable subjects through his omniscient wisdom without limit. His mind is filled with love and compassion for all who suffer, like that of a mother for her only child. With great confidence, he delights the minds of all and fulfills their needs with the continuous flow of his inexhaustible ambrosia-like teachings. With ardent dedication he shares with everyone the nectar-like supreme attainment that he has realized.

Excerpt From: Tulku Thondup. Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth: A Tibetan Buddhist Guidebook, 191-92

[Nicholas Weeks]

Mipham fan:

I do know that most practitioners aspire to get to a Buddhaksetra after death if they can't manage to get to Buddhahood in the bardo. This stuff is very much ingrained into Tibetan culture...

A very good guesstimate; somehow that aspect was never emphasized much or I was just too superficial a student.

[sillyrabbit]

Amitabha's mantra in Tibetan Buddhism is OM AMI DEWA HRIH, and like MiphamFan mentioned, Tibetan Pure Land practice is not as exclusive as Japanese Pure Land practice is. Medicine Buddha practice is a path to Sukhavati as well.

[NguyenTueGang]

I translated this recently:

བདེ་བ་ཅན་དུ་སྐྱེ་བའི་རྒྱུ་བཞིའི་དོན་ཉམས་ལེན།
A Practice of the Meaning of the Four Causes for Rebirth in Sukhāvatī
(bde ba can du skye ba’i rgyu bzhi’i don nyams len)

by Ju Mipham Rinpoché, Jamyang Namgyel Gyamts’o

(‘ju mi pham rin poche, ‘jam dbyangs rnam rgyal rgya mtsho, 1846-1912)

Translated from the Tibetan by Erick Tsiknopoulos



https://buddha-nature.com/2017/05/07/a- ... l-gyamtso/

[Jingang]

Amitabha's mantra in Tibetan Buddhism is OM AMI DEWA HRIH, and like MiphamFan mentioned, Tibetan Pure Land practice is not as exclusive as Japanese Pure Land practice is. Medicine Buddha practice is a path to Sukhavati as well.

There is a recording of this mantra on Insight Timer, and as it is the only Pure Land type practice on the app, I have been listening to it regularly. I actually like it quite a bit more than the Japanese form of recitation as it's quite melodious. Jodo Shin-shu chanting can sound quite austere. Of course it's just a surface preference.

Interesting about the Medicine Buddha practice as I thought his mantra was orientated toward the lapis lazuli paradise. A different path. Do you have any references there?

[Nicholas Weeks]

I had forgotten that even Je Tsongkhapa, master of tantra and conceptual buddhadharma was also close to Amita Buddha. Kilty has translated in (Splendor of An Autumn Moon) three of Je Rinpoche's devotional poems to Amitabha. Here is how one begins:

Praise to Amitabha
Gateway to the Highest Buddha Realm

Homage to Guru Manjughosha!

Glorious conqueror, lord of Sukhavati, pure realm exalted by every buddha, Protector Amitayus, teacher of men and gods, grant with the power of the victorious Buddha the nectar of immortality to every living being.

[Schrödinger’s Yidam]

I just came across this.

H.H. Karmapa (O.T.) in Bodhgaya 2012 teaching on Pure Realms:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUJO8oB-cd4

I haven't watched it yet, so explore based on your own curiosity rather than my recommendation.

[sillyrabbit]

Amitabha's mantra in Tibetan Buddhism is OM AMI DEWA HRIH, and like MiphamFan mentioned, Tibetan Pure Land practice is not as exclusive as Japanese Pure Land practice is. Medicine Buddha practice is a path to Sukhavati as well.

Interesting about the Medicine Buddha practice as I thought his mantra was orientated toward the lapis lazuli paradise. A different path. Do you have any references there?

Sorry about the late reply

“Moreover, Manjusri, there are those in the fourfold assembly of bhiksus, bhiksunis, upasakas, and upasikas, as well as among other men and women of pure faith, who are able to uphold the Eight Precepts or other precepts and regulations, for one year or three months, dedicating these good roots toward rebirths in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss, so as to listen to the true Dharma from the Buddha of Infinite Life. However, if their rebirth in the pure land is still uncertain, and they hear the name of the World Honored Medicine Master Lapis Lazuli Light Tathagata, then, at the time of death, eight great bodhisattvas, namely: Bodhisattva Manjusri, Bodhisattva Guanyin, Bodhisattva Great Strength, Bodhisattva Inexhaustible Mind, Bodhisattva Precious Sandalwood Flower, Bodhisattva Medicine King, Bodhisattva Superior Medicine, and Bodhisattva Maitreya will descend from space and show them the way. Thereupon, they will be reborn through natural transformation among precious flowers of various colors in that Pure Land.

I don't remember where I found this translation of The Medicine Buddha Sutra, sorry!

[Nicholas Weeks]

Here is a longer text by Ju Mipham on Pure Land practice, with a commentary by Khenpo Sodargye:

http://www.khenposodargye.org/teachings ... -teaching/

Only the text is in English, the YouTube videos are not.

[Nicholas Weeks]

PRAYER FOR REBIRTH IN SUKHAVATI
by Manjushri via Je Tsongkhapa

Your deeds exalted, you grant endless splendor to all. Once remembered, you cast out all fear of the Lord of Death. With constant love, you look on all beings as your children. Amitayus, Teacher of Gods and Men, I bow before you!

Swayed by compassion, I write as best I can, a few prayerful words for birth in Sukhavati, land of bliss, often praised by the mighty Buddha as the highest of realms.

All knowledge of right and wrong befogged by ignorance, all future life in higher realms murdered by the weapons of anger, lying chained by craving in the prison of samsara, I am carried helplessly into the ocean of existence by rivers of karma. There I am tossed by endless storms of aging, sickness, and unwanted sorrows, then thrown again into the jaws of that savage monster, the Lord of Death.

Without protector and with anguished cries, I devoutly invoke, as witness to the yearnings of my mind, Amitabha, Leader, sole friend of the deprived. Also may powerful Bodhisattvas Avalokiteshvara and Vajrapani with their entourage, not forget their vows of supreme bodhicitta made over countless eons for our sakes. Like mighty Garudas swooping through the sky, they appear before me by their miraculous great compassion.

When the energies of this life are released, may I clearly behold Amitabha encircled by his vast entourage and may my mind be filled with faith and compassion. Once the bardo visions have appeared, may I be shown the path by the eight bodhisattvas, and be born in Sukhavati. By manifestation may I become a spiritual guide for those in impure realms.

[Nicholas Weeks]

Since I am reading again Tulku Thondup's wonderful Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth book, the delog stories are especially valuable:

To illumine what it is like to cross the threshold of death and what we may meet on the other side, I
have translated and retold some of the amazing stories in Tibetan Buddhist literature about meditators
who leave their physical bodies for days at a time to travel through the invisible world. These meditators,
known as delogs, or those who “return from death,” would then come back to their bodies and record
their extraordinary journeys, which could span the lowest rungs of hell and the sublime pure lands.

Pure lands are ineffably joyful and peaceful paradises that the buddhas, the enlightened ones,
manifested through their compassion so that devotees might take rebirth there without needing to be highly
realized. Being reborn in a pure land is not the same as attaining enlightenment. But once there, we will
make continuous progress toward enlightenment.

Some delogs tell of visits to pure lands, where they receive teachings from the buddhas. Other delogs
spend more time describing the bardo, with its court of judgment and the various realms where ordinary
beings may be reborn, such as realms of hungry ghosts or gods.

Delogs’ accounts are deeply moving. Most delogs are profoundly religious people and were sent back
to our world by enlightened beings to tell us about what lies ahead and how to prepare for it. Each tale is
a gift, for by opening a window into the vastness of our futures beyond this current life, delogs broaden
our perspective and inspire us to improve our lives.

Through delogs’ eyes we become privy to the sorts of things that will matter in determining where we
will be reborn. We witness the power of spiritual practices to cleanse negative deeds and thoughts. We
realize the power of prayer to help the dead secure better rebirths. We observe how devotion—which is
in reality a skillful way to open up our minds—allows the lamas and blessed ones to intercede on behalf
of beings in the bardo and lead them to pure lands.

From page 6

[Grigoris]

Generally, in Tibetan Buddhism Amitabha is the Dharmakaya aspect, Chenrezig the Sambhogakaya and Guru Rinpoche the Nirmanakaya.

[明安 Myoan]

...

Does the book have the stories of delogs in it, or just mention them?
I'm curious to read these accounts but I'm not sure where to look.

[Nicholas Weeks]

...

Does the book have the stories of delogs in it, or just mention them?
I'm curious to read these accounts but I'm not sure where to look.

Yes, twelve delog stories are included; also see Delog: Journey... by Padma Publishing.

https://tibetantreasures.com/collection ... oks?page=2

[明安 Myoan]