In worldly marketing, promoters emphasize their products’ quality to attract buyers. Similarly, Shakyamuni Buddha spent considerable time describing the magnificent adornments and merits of the Land of Ultimate Bliss (also known as the Pure Land), aiming to inspire sentient beings to seek rebirth there.

       The appeal of bliss resonates with everyone, Buddhist and non-Buddhist alike. While fewer people today are willing to undergo austere practices, all are naturally drawn to what benefits them.

       Amitabha Buddha calls from the Land of Ultimate Bliss, while Shakyamuni Buddha, in the Saha world, dispatches us towards that Land; and Buddhas throughout the universes verify the truth of this path from their respective Buddhalands. This is a united effort of all Buddhas to guide sentient beings toward rebirth to the Pure Land.

       Thus, this rebirth of ours is truly a grand and significant event, supported by all Buddhas. If I could draw an analogy: Its importance surpasses even that of a rural student becoming a top scholar and being admitted to university - an achievement that, twenty or thirty years ago, would have prompted the entire village to celebrate with a banquet. The Infinite Life Sutra shows that Buddhas from all directions are rejoicing at the rebirth of sentient beings.

       Amitabha Buddha manifests the transcendent attributes and glorious adornments of his Land of Ultimate Bliss, while Shakyamuni Buddha tells us about the sufferings of the Saha World. Through this contrast between joy and suffering, they inspire sentient beings to seek rebirth in that Land, encouraging all of us to abhor our defiled world and yearn for the blissfulness of the Pure Land.

       The Sacred Path, however, advocates that joy and suffering are one and the same, or ultimately non-existent. As the Heart Sutra states, “no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body or mind; no form, sound, smell, taste, touch, mind-object, or realm of the eye, until we come to no realm of  consciousness….. there is even no decay and death, and so no extinction of decay and death.” It teaches that nothing truly exists - neither suffering, the Saha World, nor the Pure Land. This approach aims to help practitioners to let go of all attachments by realizing the inherent empty nature of all things.

       The Sacred Path emphasizes that when the mind is pure, your world becomes pure, and the mind is seen as the source of attaining enlightenment. However, abstract concepts of emptiness, while profound, are too difficult for ordinary beings to grasp and practice. In contrast, the Pure Land teaching, highlighting the dichotomy between suffering and blissfulness, offers practitioners a clear and easy to follow path. 

       For example, the Amitabha Sutra begins distinctively: “If you travel westward from here, passing ten trillion Buddha lands, there exists a world called Ultimate Bliss, where there is a Buddha named Amitabha.” The emphasis is on “there exists” and “there is” which marks the Pure Land path’s unique approach. It points in the western direction toward the Pure Land, and presents Amitabha Buddha as a tangible figure residing there. The purpose of indicating the direction in space and establishing the phenomenal form is to give sentient beings clear targets to settle their minds on the objective manifestations. These concepts are explicitly discussed in The Commentary on the Contemplation Sutra by Master Shandao.

       Why did Master Shandao not propagate the practice “to cultivate the mind until it is devoid of thoughts and form?” Because ordinary beings struggle even to focus their minds on specific objects, let alone transcend form entirely. The Pure Land teaching recognizes ordinary beings’ natural attachment to form and thus establishes a concrete vision of a magnificently adorned Western Land of Bliss to help focus their minds.

       While other Dharma paths aim to break attachments, the Pure Land path skillfully works with them. Since sentient beings seek happiness, it offers ultimate bliss; since they are drawn to supreme and wondrous forms, it presents the splendor of Amitabha’s immeasurable merits. It uses the Pure Land’s magnificent adornments to fulfill sentient beings’ aspiration, truly “satisfying all that sentient beings long for.”

       The Pure Land teaching works through affirmation of existence, as only through this approach can sentient beings develop the aspiration for rebirth. As ancient masters observed: “Without seeing hell’s intense suffering, one’s resolve to practice with vigor is lacklustre; without seeing the Pure Land’s supreme joy, one’s aspiration for rebirth remains dormant.

       People rarely feel the repulsion of the Saha World when committing wrongdoings, totally ignoring the consequences of their acts. Only when facing painful retribution do they begin to reflect. This is why Shakyamuni Buddha teaches about karmic causation through the “Five Evil Acts”, showing how they lead to “Five Forms of Sufferings[ during one’s life],” which ultimately results in the “Five Searing Pains [in the wretched realms after death]” to awaken our desire for liberation. Working in harmony with this, Amitabha Buddha, through displaying the Pure Land’s supreme adornments, inspires our admiration and longing to return there. This interplay of revulsion and attraction forms a crucial teaching point within the discourse on the Five Evil Acts, Five Sufferings and Five Searing Pains.

       Master Shandao composed many verses encouraging the Pure Land practice. His “Return Home” Gatha captures the essence of Shakyamuni Buddha’s teaching on the “Five Evil Acts”, “Five Sufferings” and “Five Searing Pains”:

Let us return home! In Saha’s defiled world we must not stay;
Countless eons past, all six samsaric realms we’ve wandered through;
Here no true joy exists, only sorrowful laments resound;
When this life comes to end, the Nirvana realm shall we arrive.

       We all dwell in this land of defilements, mistakenly believing it holds many pleasures. Yet, from the Buddhist perspective, “no true joy exists here - only echoes of sorrowful sighs.” This may be less apparent within the monastic communities, but in workplaces, society and families, we hear constant laments of distress and daily worries. These sufferings of the Saha World become the catalyst for our desire to leave it behind. The Dharma teaches us to learn from suffering, making it our impetus for liberation.

       Ancient sages identified two aspects of aspiration: aversion to this world and yearning for the Pure Land. The aversion manifests as the wish to renounce this world, while yearning draws us toward rebirth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss.

       Those who believe that we are all iniquitous ordinary beings subject to endless cycles of rebirth understand that, since time immemorial, we have resisted renouncing the Saha World, resulting in immense karmic retribution. They also recognize that they lack the capability to free themselves from this cycle without relying on Amitabha Buddha. From this deep faith naturally arise both the wish to leave this world and the aspiration for rebirth in the Pure Land.

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