The Buddha-land as Presented
in the Vimalakirtinirdesa-sutra*
Most
Ven.Prof. Tue Sy
I. THE NOTION OF A BUDDHA-LAND
Rarely does genesis have significance
in the teachings of the Buddha, although it was challenged more than
once by His disciples. Buddha refused to reveal the proplem since it is
of no use for leading to the ultimate aim, and partly because of the
shortness of human knowledge unable to cover the infinity of time and
space . Nevertheless, whenever the question of the origin of castes and
social inequity arose, the revelation of Buddha is unambiguous. Variety
in the world is caused by the very deeds of sentient beings. Human life
is but a stage in the endless evolutions and revolutions of living. Up
to a definite point of time, individuals come to recognize the presence
of others not only in their physical existence but also with their
emotions and thoughts. This gives rise to the consciousness of rivalry.
Struggle for life took place among members of the primordial community
who accidentally lived together in a limited geographic area sharing a
common identity, facing the scarcity of external materials on which the
satisfaction of their wants and needs depended. People were then aware
of the fact that one man’s gain is the loss of others. Fight for
gathering natural resources was getting more and more intense as the
population was growing thicker and thicker. Social conflict had to be
dealt with and the primitive government was constituted under the
arbitration of a Mahasammato. Land was then distributed by hypothetical
social contract or taken by force. New classes gradually emerged firstly
with land-owners or ksatriya and eventually with the oppressed ones.
Conflict within and without communities
in the struggle for life, in fighting for the possession of land, is the
premise of the notion of nation . Conventionally the term nation
denotes a large community of people, usually sharing a common history,
culture and language, and living in a particular territory under a
single sovereign government. Substantially it also implies the notion of
social harmony which developed into the idea of a prosperous Kingdom
ruled over by a Cakkavattin in which people live accordance with dhamma
and ten categories of good deeds are universally practiced.
Overall, the highest ideal nation is
the one that is presided by an Enlightened One not as a Monarch who is
the absolute sovereign ruling over and served by its people but as a
Supreme Leader who leads people to lofty aspirations for wisdom and
liberation. The notion of a Buddhaksetra, or Buddha-land, was thus
conceived.
It is, however, with this conception,
Buddha-land can be by no means visualized in common sense. That means it
is unessential to suggest that the notion of Buddha-land should imply
the principles of territory, people, and government, in spite of the
fact that such a land is generally believed by Buddhist followers to be
reigned by a Buddha. According to traditions in Buddhism, especially in
its later development, there have been existing numerous Buddha-lands in
infinite space. This gives rise the idea that a Buddha-land must be
confined in a boundary so as to be differentiated from the others.
It is much arguable over the fact that
Buddha very often refused to reply the question whether the world is
finite or infinite. Yet, in their philosophical treatments of the
Buddha’s teachings, Buddhist scholars did not hesitate to work it out at
a speculative manipulation to discard the only universe that was ever
created and reigned over by a Supreme God or Absolute Brahma. In the
infinity of time and space-there existed, will exist, and is existing-a
countless number of Enlightened Ones. Notwithstanding that there would
be never the appearance of two Buddhas in the world, i.e.in the same
time.
What is, then, the formation of the
world implied in the conception of the Buddha-land?
The Sanskrit/ Pali equivalent of the
word world is loka which in Buddhist cosmology signifies
both the world of living beings (Skt. sattvaloka)and the
receptacle-world (bhajanaloka) , or a sphere comprised of air,
sun, moon, stars, oceans, continents, and so on, in brief, a system of
world, in which sentient beings are born, grown up, dissolved and
reborn, in accordance with levels of consciousness and karmic
retributions. A thousand worlds as such form a small chiliocosm ; and a
thousand small chiliocosms form a medium chiliocosm; and a thousand
medium chiliocosms form a great chiliocosm or
trisahasra-mahasahasra-lokadhatu, which thus consist of
1,000,000,000 small worlds or systems of world. A great chiliocosm is a
Buddha-world in which the physical world is governed by a universal law
and sentient beings can be led to wisdom and liberation under a
universal doctrine of a Buddha. Each Buddha-world has its own principles
of origination and operation. In our present world namely
Saha-lokadhatu enlightened by Buddha Sakyamuni, for instance,
all of his teachings have been spread and practiced by means of sound;
whereas in the Buddha-world of Fragrance as taught in the
Vimalakirtinirdesa the way of spreading Buddha
Gandhottamakuta’s teachings is by fragrance. Moreover, all sentient
beings in the Saha-lokadhatu live on four kinds of food, of which
the first one is digested in stomach; but fragrance is the only “food”
for sentient beings in the Fragrance-world.
In this connection, a Buddha-world
should be considered to be a land with its own attributes in regard to
physical conditions, even a territory with its boundaries, forms of
beings, various states of suffering and happiness, and so on.
II. THE CONSTITUTION OF A BUDDHA-LAND
In its earlier development when
Buddhism was essentially impressed with the monastic life, the Buddhist
ideal world was embodied in the image of a vast Kingdom, reigned over by
the Cakkavattin, extending from end to end of the earth, conquered not
by sword but by righteousness. Later, as the Mahayana developed,
the Cakkavattin’s Kingdom was replaced by the ideal of Buddha-land. The
replacement can be conceived as the transition from the ideal of the
good monarchism to a democracy at a time when lay Buddhists claimed
their attainment of the highest goal in their very worldly life. The
term democracy used in this context should not be understood to mean a
form of government ruled by people. In its broadest sense, it implies a
non-state nation, a Buddha-land, presided over but not ruled by a
Buddha, the Enlightened One, in the sense that every sentient beings, or
more substantially, all its citizens, are blessed with favorable
conditions to practice the Way that leads to the final deliverance, and
endowed with the possibility of attaining enlightenment.
However, Buddha-land is not taken for
granted as an act of providence or a wonderful world wrought out by the
grace of Buddha. It is the perfection of the great resolute vows
devoting oneself to the happiness and welfare of others, after a long
process through myriads of aeons of the purification of mind.
1. Purification of Sentient Beings and Their
Environment
As stated in the
Vimalakirtinirdesa-sutra, when entreated by Ratnakara
to elucidate the constitution of a Buddha-land, the Buddha is supposed
to give a definitive answer that “The sentient beings’ world is the
Buddha-land of a Bodhisattva.” (Skt. sattvaksetram kulaputra
bodhisattvasya.) As has been said, a world is treated by
Buddhist scholars to be composed of two spheres: sattvaloka and
bhajanaloka or the world of living beings and their
environment. It is from this view that commentators on the Sutra
have presented the significance of a Buddha-land.
In his commentary K’uei-chi, a Chinese
scholar, describes two types of Buddha-lands, (a) Secular Land,
consisting of sattvas and bhajanaloka ; and
(b) Sacred Land, consisting of Bodhisattvas and their Prodigious Realm.
In his words, “No separated land exists apart from sentient beings. As
sentient come into existence their environment is present. As sentient
beings become Bodhisattvas, their land is transformed into a Prodigious
Realm. A bodhisattva’s original vow is to lead sentient beings to the
transcendental world. It is not that the receptacle-world is directly
converted into the pure land.” (Taisho 38n1782,p.1023b1.)
Thus, a bodhisattva’s pure land is in
its essence the very land of sentient beings. Yet, whether the land is
pure or is pure or impure depends totally on the characteristies of
sentient beings living in it. As a corollary, the object of a
realization is the conerete world consisting of sentient beings and
their environment. That is to say, he must try his best to provide them
with any possible conditions for practicing Buddha-dharma and developing
their good qualities (kusala-mula) into a firm foundation
of true happiness. In reality, unless a Bodhisattva can help sentient
beings purify their minds, he fails to purify their environment; and
unless he improves their living conditions, he cannot help them purify
their minds. This mutual relation is essentially beyond the reach of
thinking. For this cannot exist without that, and vice-versa.
In order to help sentient beings
transform their minds such that they can attain to a pure Buddha-land, a
Bodhisattva carries out his vow in two ways, based upon the development
and benefit of sentient beings, and the arising of their pure qualities.
In a Chinese translation of the Sutra by Hsuan-tsang these ways are
determined; but they are combined into one in Kumarajiva’s translation:
“The Buddha-land that a Bodhisattva vows to establish depends on the
type of sentient beings instructed ” (Taisho 38n1782,p.1023b7.)
In order to improve sentient beings’
environment, a Bodhisattva establishes a Buddha-land according to three
standards: (1) land suitable for sentient beings to control themselves,
that is, training their minds easily; (2) land suitable for them to
penetrate Buddha-wisdom; (3) land suitable for them either to develop
their Bodhisattva qualities, as in Kumarajiva’s translation, or to
perform their noble conducts, as in Hsuan-tsang’s translation.
2. Qualities of a Buddha-land
Compassion and wisdom, vows and
practices are the virtues of a Bodhisattva in the course of cultivating
and spreading his ideal. With wisdom (prajnaparamita) he can
penetrate into the essential of Being, source of suffering and
happiness, so that he can easily sympathize with sentient beings’
various states of mind. With compassion (karuna) he makes his
greatest efforts to bring about the benefit and happiness for sentient
beings. Accordingly, his resolute vow (pranidhana) is to set forth a
form of Buddha-land suitable for various capabilities and tendencies of
different types of sentient beings. And from this very vow he plans out
his conducts (carya) elaborately, Thus, vows and conducts may be
regarded as causal conditions, taken to be the guiding principle of a
Bodhisattva’s noble mission.
In Kumarajiva’s translation the
seventeen conducts a Bodhisattva should perform are three minds (citta),
six perfections (paramitas), four boundless states of mind
(apramana-citta), and four principles of harmonization (samgraha-vastu).
In Hsuan-tsang’s translation there are eighteen conducts. The difference
is in that the three minds mentioned in the former translation are
replaced by the four categories of land.
a. Three Minds and four categories of land
Regarding the three minds Kumarajiva’s
translation says, “(1) ‘Righteous mind’ is a Bodhisattva’s pure land.
When a Bodhisattva gets perfectly enlightened, those sentient beings who
have abandoned flattery will be born there. (2) ‘Profound mind’ is a
Bodhisattva’s pure land. When a Bodhisattva gets perfectly enlightened,
those beings who are possessed of virtues will be born there. 3) Bodhi-mind
is a Boghisattva’s pure land. When a Bodhisattva gets perfectly
enlightened, those beings that are practicing Mahayana teaching
will be born there”.
The implications and
mutual relations of these minds are explained by Ji-zang as follows:
“Sentient being are attached to being (bhava); Sravakayana and
Pratyekabuddhayana incline towards non-being (bhava). All of their minds
are ‘crooked’. Bodhisattvas, who concentrate their mind on ringh
insight, are called ‘righteous’… To arouse bodhi-mind is the
starting-point; that is, beginning with right insight. When right
insight. Becomes much more penetrating, it is called ‘profound mind’;
that is to say, it is too deep and firm to be moved. … In order to set
foot on a large way it is necessary for a Bodhisattva to keep his mind
righteous. Then he can carry out his conducts. Once he is capable of
performing his conducts perfectly, he can move everything towards the
site of enlightenment, which is the very meaning of Bodhi-mind” (Taisho
38n1781,p.928b19)
In Hsuan-tsang’s
translation the minds just cited are presented in terms of the four
lands: (1) Land of Bodhi-mind: the one in which all beings arouse the
mind towards enlightenment. (2) Land of Noble intention: the one formed
by the pure noble intention of a Bodhisattva. When he realized the
perfect enlightenment, those beings that are honest and innocent will be
born in this land. This corresponds with ‘Righteous mind” above. (3)
Land of Good Application: the one formed due to the efforts to cultivate
good qualities that have never been known or possessed before. (This is
not mentioned in the former translation.) (4) Land of Transcendent
Intention: corresponding with “Profound mind” mentioned above. When a
Bodhisattva gets perfectly awakened, sentient beings possessed of good
virtues will be born there.
b.
Six Perfections (Paramitas): charity or generosity (dana), morality (sila),
endurance (ksanti), energy (virya), meditation ( dhyana), wisdom
(prajna). According to K’uei-chi the function of all the six paramitas
is to help a Bodhisattva develop his “dwelling in tranquility” or
calming the mind (samatha), and abandon all hindrances to attain to
perfection.
c. Four Boundless States of Mind (apramanaitta):
boundless loving-kindness ( maitri ), boundless compassion ( karuna),
boundless joy (mudita), boundless equanimity (upeksa).
d.
Four Principles of hasmonization (sangraha-vastu):
(1) dana or generosity; (2) priyavadita or kindly speech; (3) arthacarya
or conduct for the benfit of other; (4) samanarthata, equality with
himself or impartiality.
e.
Other Conducts:
skillfu means (upaya), thirty- seven members leading to the attainment
of enlightenmet (bodhipaksika-dharma), four boundless states of mind,
and four principles of harmonization, all belong to by the same category
called “the statement of starting points.” (According to K’uei-chi’s
commentary)
f. Three Conducts:
preaching the release from eight unfavorable condition in which it is
difficult to practice the Buddha-dharma (astav aksanah), observing
disciplinary rules, and the ten good deeds (dasa-kusalakarmapatha), all
belong to the category called “Tranquility.” (Also byK’uei-chi)
It should be noticed that all the
conducts mentioned in Hsuan-tsang’s translation point to varied forms of
Buddha-land established by the above-mentioned conducts of a
Bodhisattva, not to those in the ordinary sense of the term.
May 15, 2007
Most Ven. Prof. Tue Sy, former editor of Thought, a
renowned Buddhist magazine published by Van Hanh University, now know as
Vietnam Buddhist University. He is a Buddhist philosopher, the most
well-known among Vietnamese community worldwide. He has translated The
Agamas into Vietnamese and authored more than 20 scholarly books on
Mahayana philosophy and Vinaya.
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