We have all had experiences like these: encountering a certain teacher, reading a particular scripture, or entering a Dharma center and immediately feeling a deep connection. Yet such experiences may reflect only personal or worldly affinities.

       In the Pure Land tradition, Master Shandao establishes a far more exacting standard. A teaching with which we have true affinity—a path that genuinely accords with our karmic capacity—is one that can ensure liberation from the cycle of birth and death in this very lifetime. However profound or inspiring a teaching may appear, if it cannot accomplish this, it remains impressive only on the surface and cannot resolve the ultimate matter of life and death.

       How, then, can we discern the path that truly accords with us?

       Those new to Buddhism naturally wish to explore its teachings widely. One may ask, “Why should I concentrate on reciting a single Buddha’s name when there are so many teachings to learn?” Such questioning is understandable.

       Discernment requires comparison. In Buddhism, this process is known as doctrinal classification: the careful evaluation of the Buddha’s teachings within a particular doctrinal framework.

       Within the Pure Land doctrinal framework, a path that genuinely accords with our karmic capacity must fulfill three conditions:

1. We must be capable of practicing it.
2. It must truly bring about liberation from birth and death.
3. It must lead to the attainment of Buddhahood.

       Any teaching that fails to meet all three conditions may still enable us to form a wholesome karmic connection with the Dharma. Yet it does not constitute the path of liberation for us.

       The sobering reality is that ordinary beings lack the wisdom to choose the decisive path of liberation on their own. Fortunately, the Buddhas of the ten directions have already made that choice for us. The one Dharma universally suited to beings of all capacities—the teaching with which all beings share a karmic affinity—is the recitation of Amitabha Buddha’s name: “Namo Amituofo”.

       This path excludes no one.

       Other teachings may correspond only to particular capacities. The Pure Land path, however, accords equally with bodhisattvas at the stage of equal enlightenment—the highest level below Buddhahood—and with ordinary beings burdened by the gravest karmic offenses, including the five heinous acts and the ten evils.

       Great bodhisattvas such as Manjushri, Samantabhadra, Avalokiteshvara, and Mahasthamaprapta all aspire to rebirth in Amitabha’s Pure Land through the recitation of Amitabha Buddha’s name.

       If such exalted figures seem distant from us, we may look instead to the Nine Grades of Rebirth. These grades reveal something extraordinary: even deeply flawed human beings—including those who have committed the most severe transgressions—possess an affinity with Amitabha Buddha and can attain rebirth in his Pure Land through the practice of Amitabha-recitation.

       This is not because our practice is powerful. It is because Amitabha’s vows serve as the strong transformative cause for liberation, ensuring rebirth for those who recite his name.

       The wisest course, therefore, is to follow the path already indicated by the Buddhas of the ten directions.

       Whether we encounter and accept this Dharma depends on our karmic conditions. As Shakyamuni Buddha states in the Infinite Life Sutra, “Many bodhisattvas wish to hear this sutra but are unable to do so.”

       Although Amitabha’s vows universally provide the decisive cause of liberation, many beings never encounter this teaching. Others encounter it but cannot bring themselves to believe it. Their karmic conditions have not yet ripened.

       If we hesitate, we may wander among other practices for many lifetimes—even for countless eons—before finally returning to this path. Some may never return.

       For those who have encountered Master Shandao’s exposition of this teaching and are able to accept it, the matter of birth and death is settled. Reciting Amitabha’s name ensures rebirth in the Pure Land, and rebirth there ensures the attainment of Buddhahood.

       This is the path that truly accords with the karmic affinity of all beings.

       Excerpted from Pure Land Academy’s Evening Reflections.

(Translated by the Pure Land School Translation Team;
edited by Householder Fojin)