Dharma Talk on
Aug.17│Aug.18│Aug.19│Aug.20│Aug.21│Aus.22│Aug.23│Aug.24

Editor’s Introduction

In the summer of 1975 Bill Brevoort, owner of Buddha Root Farm on the Smith River, near Reedsport, Oregon, decided he wanted to host an outdoors Buddha Recitation Session on his land. He requested the Venerable Master Hua and the fourfold assembly of Gold Mountain Monastery to join in the session. The Venerable Master assented, and in August 1975 a group of over fifty cultivators from all over the U.S. gathered at the farm to attend a week-long session of reciting the Buddha’s name.

This was the first time that a traditional Buddha Recitation Session was held in the open air, in the mountains. A large main tent was set up to provide shelter from the hot afternoon sun and occasional downpours of rain. Beside the tent a circular path was cleared for members of the assembly to use during walking recitation. Beside the winding river, the yellow grasses, and the wild flowers the assembly recited the Buddha’s name, attended ceremonies, and listened to instructional talks. 

The participants worked on quieting the mind; some attained the state of “light ease” or gained the flavor of Buddha Recitation. Ultimately, reciting the Buddha’s name can result in the Buddha Recitation Samadhi, a concentrated state where, as the classical Chinese poet Su Dong-Po wrote: 

Of the colors of the mountains,
none are not his vast long tongue;
In the sparkling streams and the forests green
his compassionate song is sung... 

At the end of the week 17 people took refuge with the Triple Jewel and bowed to the Venerable Master as their teacher. 

During the session Venerable Master gave talks twice daily, one in the afternoon and another in the evening. He brought the Pure Land Dharma-door alive, explaining the fundamentals of practice and revealing the fruits of cultivation. He spoke so simply that even absolute beginners could comprehend the principles, and yet his words awakened more experienced cultivators to the profundities of the Buddhadharma. The Venerable Master’s words provided inspiration and instruction for all assembled at Buddha Root Farm, and they serve as a wealth of Dharma for cultivators of the future.

Vajra Bodhi Sea will be printing the instructional talks given by the Venerable Master during that Recitation Session along with photographs, hoping to give our readers an idea of how the Master guided Westerners in the first outdoor Buddha Recitation Session and to remind them of the Master’s painstaking toil in bringing the Buddhadharma to the West. May this inspire everyone to take up the mission of the Thus Come One and carry on the Master’s wishes, thereby saving themselves as well as others.

As the third anniversary of the Master’s Nirvana approaches, this series is being published as a form of commemoration.

Sunday, August 17, 1975 (evening)

Homage to the Eternally Dwelling Buddhas of the Ten Directions
Homage to the Eternally Dwelling Dharma of the Ten Directions
Homage to Our Teacher, Shakyamuni Buddha
Homage to the Shurangama from the Buddha’s Crown
Homage to the Bodhisattva Who Observes the World’s Sounds
Homage to the Vajra Treasury Bodhisattvas

How are you? This Dharma Assembly is wonderful! Despite the rain, so many people have gathered here deep in the mountains to blaze trails through the wilderness. We are here to plant the seeds of Bodhi so that in the future we may harvest the fruit of Buddhahood.

What is meant by “planting the seeds of Bodhi”? Upasaka Bill has named this place “Buddha Root Farm.” At Buddha Root Farm one should plant Bodhi seeds. First you plant a Bodhi seed, then you send down the Buddha Root, and in the future you will reap the Buddha fruit. So your coming here is an extremely important first step.

Why do I say that it is important? Because if you recite the Buddha’s name you can end birth and death, and then, like the Buddha, you can teach and transform living beings. From limitless eons past till now, each one of us has been born and then died, has died and been born, passed through birth upon birth－death after death: Who knows how many times we’ve turned on the wheel? We have not yet encountered the Dharma-door of Buddha-recitation, and so we have not ended birth and death. 

Now, having learned the method of Buddha-recitation, we can be reborn in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss. This is extremely important! Buddha-recitation is a serious matter because it can cause all living beings to end birth and death, gain release from the revolving wheel, separate from suffering, and attain bliss. Since it is so important, all of us participating here should be sincere and recite with a true heart.

There’s a way to determine if you are reciting with a true heart. If you are sincere, the mosquitoes will not bite you. If you are insincere, the mosquitoes will bite you. If you recite with a true heart, you won’t be bothered by the rain. No matter how it pours, it won’t dampen the mind which recites the Buddha’s name. Recite until the wind blows, but doesn’t touch you; the rain pours, but doesn’t fall on you.

If your only thoughts are to chant the Buddha’s name, then it won’t rain. The weather will be fine, that’s certain. The mosquitoes won’t bite you and the rain won’t fall. These are some responses that come from sincere recitation of the Buddha’s name. If you are simply pretending, then it will rain, the mosquitoes will bite, and you’ll be miserable sitting there. If you recite well, however, even when the mosquitoes bite you’ll pay no attention to them, and so it will be as if they hadn’t bitten.

You should think, “I will endure the pain of being bitten. My only thought is to recite the Buddha’s name. If the mosquitoes bite, I won’t even know it.” If you don’t feel the bugs bite and if you don’t know it’s raining, that’s being true-hearted. If your heart is sincere you will certainly have a special response. You may see Amitabha Buddha coming to rub you on the crown of your head or you may see him bathing you in light. Amitabha Buddha may appear and cover you with his sash. These are all responses:

His hand rubs my head, 
His sash covers me…

Amitabha Buddha may respond in these ways.

So if you don’t fear that the mosquitoes will bite, if you are unmoved by the rain, and if you’re not afraid to walk the rugged path back and forth, then your heart is true. If your heart is true, even when mosquitoes bite, you won’t feel it. That’s why I say they won’t bite. They won’t bite because you won’t know that you have been bitten! If, as soon as a bug flies near you, you think, “Oh no! Here comes a mosquito!” and try to brush it away, then you’ve forgotten about reciting.

This is not a joke. It’s a very serious matter. When Guo Yu said to me today that a mosquito had bitten him, I said, “You haven’t been mindful and that’s why the mosquito bit you.” The mosquitoes are just acting on the principle that 

Everything’s a test,
To see what you will do;
If you don’t recognize what’s before your eyes,
You have to start anew!

If you can’t even deal with the demonic obstacle of a mosquito, then you’ve really chanted the Buddha’s name in vain.

That’s all for today. I hope you all sleep well, and the mosquitoes don’t bite. If you recite as if you were asleep, then if the mosquitoes bite, you won’t know it. When you’re asleep you don’t feel them bite; if you recite well, it’s the same way.

Monday, August 18, 1975 (afternoon)

Today is the first full day of the Buddha recitation Session. Those who have chanted the Buddha’s name before know of its advantages. Those who have never recited before will not know what we are doing. “Namo, namo, namo—what?”

Amitabha!

“Well, what is Amitabha anyway?”

A Buddha!

“But what are we doing? We recite while we walk, recite while we stand, recite while we sit, and even when we lie down to sleep our minds are still reciting. What use is it?”

I will tell you:

To bow in worship before the Buddhas
Eradicates offenses like the Ganges sands.

If you just bow once before the Buddhas, you eradicate as much bad karma as there are grains of sand in the River Ganges.

You say, “As grains of sand in the River Ganges? Well, I’ve sung the Buddha’s name so many times, certainly my offense-karma has been completely wiped away.”

You should be aware that from limitless eons ago, from the time when you first became a human being until the present, your incarnations are uncountable. You yourself may not even believe that you have past, present and future lives. In each life you were confused, muddled, and unclear, and therefore, at present, you don’t know how much bad karma you have amassed as a human being. There is reason to fear that the bad deeds you have committed in one single life exceed the number of sand grains in the Ganges. Although reciting the Buddha’s name will eradicate offense-karma like the Ganges’ sands, you don’t know how much of it exists. Fortunately, our bad deeds have no material form. If they did, each individual’s karma would completely fill empty space. That’s the extent of your offenses! But, because karma has no material form, empty space has yet to be filled. So it says,

To bow in worship before the Buddhas
Eradicates offenses like the Ganges’ sands;
To give a single penny
To increases your blessings without limit.

In supporting the Bodhimanda, those with money give money. Those with strength give strength. Whether you give money or strength, the merit and virtue are the same, and they help you to plant good roots.

To recite the Buddha’s name but once eradicates the grave offenses committed during ninety million eons of birth and death. In America, where the Buddhadharma is new, you now have the rare good fortune to encounter this method. What’s more, you’ve rare good fortune to encounter this method. What’s more, you’ve met with a Good Advisor, one who can teach you the method of Buddha Recitation. No one should casually waste this precious time. Be very conscientious, work hard at your recitation, and you will not have attended this session in vain.

Here we are bivouacked out-of-doors under the open sky, camping in the wilds and reciting the Buddha’s name. There is nothing to shelter us from the rain. When it’s not raining we recite while walking on a circular track. This is truly an excellent recreation. We’re not here to play ball or set off rockets, but to recite the Buddha’s name. This is truly a subtle, wonderful, and inconceivable environment. There are no sounds at all. It’s not like San Francisco with its cars, buses, trolleys, and planes going “vroooom! Vroooom!” --- all making a tremendous din. It’s very peaceful here, and perfect for Buddha Recitation. So all of you take care not to waste this precious time.

Deep in the mountains the air is fresh and there is not the slightest trace of pollution. The evil world of the five turbidities, the turbidity of the eon, the turbidity of views, the turbidity of living beings, the turbidity of afflictions, and the turbidity of the lifespan---exists in places crowded with people. This wilderness, by contrast, is the clear, pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. If you can cultivate in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, the power of the noisy bustle of the city. Here, it is easy to enter samadhi, to gain concentration, to obtain the Buddha Recitation samadhi.

As you recite the Buddha’s name, every sound of the Buddha’s name is a thought of purity. When every sound is recitation, every thought is clear and pure. When every thought is clear and pure, you obtain the Buddha Recitation samadhi.

As it is said,

One pure thought is one thought of the Buddha.
When every thought is pure, every thought is of the Buddha.

Beside us runs a small river, and the flowing water recites the Buddha’s name. As you listen to it, it says, “Namo Amitabha Buddha.” The blowing wind also recites the Buddha’s name, proclaiming the wonderful Mahayana Dharma. This state is the same as that in the Land of Ultimate Bliss. In the Land of Ultimate Bliss: 

The water flows, the wind blows
Proclaiming the Mahayana; 
In the pools of seven treasures 
Are flowers of four colors
And waves of solid gold.

The lotuses which bloom in the pools made of the seven treasures are green-colored of green light, yellow-colored of yellow light, red-colored of red light, white-colored of white light. Green, yellow, red, and white, the lights shine brightly.

You say, “Dharma Master, you have been explaining Buddha Recitation for quite a while now, but ultimately what is this ‘namo, namo’ all about? Namo what?”

“Namo” yourself! Don’t “namo” anyone else. Think of it this way, “I have such good roots that I have learned to recite the Buddha’s name!”

“Namo” means “to return one’s life and respectfully submit.” This means to return your body, mind, and life and respectfully bow before Amitabha Buddha. Say to yourself, “I take my body, mind, and life and return in refuge to Amitabha Buddha.”

You ask, “Well, if ‘namo’ means ‘to return one’s life and respectfully submit,’ what does ‘Amitabha’ mean? Can you explain that?”

Of course I can. Don’t be impatient. I’ll tell you in due time. If I don’t finish this time, I’ll continue next time. And if I don’t finish next time, I’ll continue later on. Don’t worry. I am determined to teach you what “Namo Amitabha Buddha” is all about. 

“Namo Amitabha” is Sanskrit. Yesterday Guo Zhen said it was Chinese, but that’s completely wrong. “Buddha” is also Sanskrit. The Chinese character “Fo” is a partial transliteration of the word “Buddha.” Amitabha’s other name, “Amitayus,” means “limitless life.” When you recite the Buddha’s name, you obtain a limitless life span. Because you return your life and respectfully submit to the Buddha of Limitless Life, you may take the merit and virtue you obtain by reciting and live as long as you please!

If you say, “I want to live to be ninety-nine years old,” then you will certainly not depart at age eighty-eight. You will live to be ninety-nine.

You say, “But I want to live to be a hundred!”

You can do that, too. All you need to do is recite the Buddha’s name sincerely. This includes all of us gathered here today. I will now make a prediction: Those among you who want to live to a very old age will certainly get to do so. Not everyone, mind you but only those who are sincere. Whoever recites sincerely will obtain that response and get his wish.

“Amitabha” means “limitless light.” The limitless light is the light of wisdom, the opening of wisdom. Whoever recites sincerely can develop great wisdom and a faultless memory. There’s no question about it. “Amitayus” means “limitless life” and “Amitabha” means “limitless light.”

The word “Buddha” is also Sanskrit. I explain the word “Buddha” using the similar-sounding Chinese phrase 不大 bu da, which means “not big.” So I have a verse:

Neither great nor small,
Neither come nor gone,
In numberless world systems,
Buddhas shine upon each other’s lotus thrones.

The Buddha is not any bigger than we people are. Rather, he is just the same size. However, he has become enlightened and returned to his inherent wisdom. We are no smaller than the Buddha, and the Buddha is no smaller than we are. But, because our hearts are not pure, because we have not discovered our inherent wisdom or developed great wisdom, we are still common people.

The Buddha is one who is enlightened. Living beings are those who are confused.

When enlightened, one is a Buddha.
When confused, one is a living being.

To become enlightened is to become a Buddha. Before enlightenment, one is just a living being. When you become enlightened you gain nothing that the living being doesn’t have. When confused, one hasn’t anything less than the Buddha has. There is no increasing and no decreasing; it’s a question of whether you are confused or enlightened. That’s where the difference lies.

I will illustrate this with a very simple analogy. Mind you, this is just an analogy. Don’t take it literally, because it’s all hypothetical. The Buddha is like a university professor---university professors are not Buddhas---you should be clear about that point---and living beings are like students. Every student can become a professor. Every professor can become a student. The Buddha is, however, wiser than professors. He’s even highter than a professor! Remember, this is a mere analogy which demonstrates that the Buddha and people are the same.

“Then why should I chant the Buddha’s name? Why doesn’t the Buddha recite my name?” you wonder. “Why should I recite ‘Namo Amitabha Buddha’? Why doesn’t the Buddha recite me? Why doesn’t he recite my name?’”

That’s a good question. In fact, it’s got me stumped. I don’t know how to answer it, but I’ll think up something: Ah! I know! It’s because you never made a vow to cause living beings to recite your name. The Buddha Amitabha on the causal ground was a Bhikshu named Dharma Treasury, and he made forty-eight great vows. In every vow he said, “In the future, when my cultivation succeeds and I have become a Buddha, my country will be one of ultimate bliss and purity. The murkiness of the five turbidities will not exist within it. All living beings in the ten directions who recite my name will be led to rebirth in my land, where they may realize Buddhahood. As long as one of them has not become a Buddha, I will not accomplish the right enlightenment.”

Because of the power of the vows of Amitabha Buddha, we have gathered here to recite---with different mouths but with the same sound---“Namo Amitabha Buddha.” We are cultivating by relying on the power of the vows of Amitabha Buddha. When we recite the Buddha’s name, Amitabha Buddha knows about it. “Hey, I signed a contract with that living being saying that if he kept my name in mind I would lead him to become a Buddha. If I don’t guide him to Buddhahood now, the contract is nothing but a lie.” And the Buddha hurries right over to guide you to Buddhahood.

Someone says, “But the Western Land of ultimate Bliss is so far away---hundreds of thousands of millions of Buddhalands---how can I go there? Can I take a plane? How much will the ticket cost? How much is the train fare? Can I take the bus or drive myself?”

Don’t worry about that. You can arrive in a single thought. You don’t have to buy any tickets at all. In a single thought you can be reborn in the Land of Ultimate Bliss. Hundreds of thousands of millions of Buddhalands are not beyond that one single thought.

We now recite “Namo Amitabha Buddha” and there is nothing more important than this work. Don’t you see? Last night it was raining and today the sky is clear. In a moment you are all going to make a vow to stop the rain. The rain has got to stop because we are working hard here at our cultivation. I myself don’t have the strength, but if you collectively say, “IT IS NOT ALLOWED TO RAIN!…” Yesterday I admonished Guo Tong because he was being lazy and not working hard. Now we should all do this work together. For these few days while we are cultivating her, the least response we can expect is a clear sky. Otherwise it will be pitch dark at night, and the paths are very muddy. The men don’t know this, but the women are really roughing it over there. They have to cross the river, and it is never certain whether they are going to cross the water or whether the water is going to cross them. But I’ll tell you:

When you’re confused, the teacher takes you across.
When you’re enlightened, you take yourself across.

When you become enlightened, you take yourself across; you carry your own flashlight.

At just this moment Guo Hang has struck up a false thought. He wants to run into the mountains to live. Isn’t that right, Guo Hang? 

Guo Hang: Yes…

Ven. Master: But you have to open your eyes. If you keep your eyes shut, even if you have a flashlight, it will be useless. You’ll fall down anyway. Remember, you’ve all made a vow that it is not allowed to rain. If it doesn’t rain, that proves you are all sincere. If it does rain, that will prove that you are not sincere. It has nothing whatever to do with me. It’s none of my business. The rain is your business.

Most of the people from Gold Mountain Monastery have entered the sleep samadhi, because they’re used to sleeping sitting up, so they can sleep while they sit. The newcomers aren’t able to do this.

August 18, 1975, Monday (evening)

Disciple: This is a story I’ve already told everyone at Gold Mountain Monastery, but there are so many new people that I’d like to tell it again.

There was an eighty-year old lady. When Shi Fu was in Hong Kong, he had a temple built on top of a mountain and you had to walk up eight hundred steps to get there. I wasn’t clear about the details last time and Shi Fu had to tell me, so I know them now.

This eighty-year-old lady was deaf, yet every day she would go to Shi Fu’s Dharma lecture. She insisted on going even though she couldn’t hear. After a while, one day when everyone was chanting, all of a sudden she could hear them. On the night before this, she had had a dream in which three fat children ran into her stomach, and from then on she had to eat every hour. She had to go down in the middle of the Sutra lectures and cook something for herself and go back to the lecture. This went on for about a week and then she decided to tell Shi Fu.

Shi Fu would get up very early in the morning and take supplies to an island where he was building a temple, and he would return in the evening for the Sutra lecture. The elderly lady got ready to meet him as he was coming up the steps. She told him her dream. Shi Fu told her to light a stick of incense at midnight. She went back and lit incense at midnight and then she saw Weitou Bodhisattva take the children by the ear and drag them away. Shi Fu later told her the Bodhisattva was taking them to jail. Afterwards she was cured of her hunger ailment.

The reason she had it in the first place was because in her past life her friend had had that ailment and she had not believed it. She had accused her friend of making it up. That was why she had received this retribution in this life. When she herself had the ailment, a lot of people said she was faking it. Those people will receive a similar retribution in the future.

Ven. Master: If anyone wants to say anything, I’ll give you an opportunity to speak right now.

Question: We haven’t told people on what page in the Recitation Handbook the Sutras and mantras we’ll be reciting are. The new comers won’t know, so people from Gold Mountain should tell them where we are in the book so they can follow along in the recitation.

Ven. Master: Good. You should tell everyone where we are starting. It’s not like at gold Mountain where we only have a couple of new people. Here we should announce it to everyone.

Ven. Master: What time did you start this morning?

Disciple: 7 o’clock.

Ven. Master: Did you do Morning Recitation?

Disciple: Yes.

This afternoon at the three o’clock lecture I spoke about Amitabha Buddha, but I did not finish explaining the term “Buddha.” I will do so now.

Previously, the Buddha was the same as every other living being. Not only was he the same as human beings, he was the same as all living creatures, even mosquitoes, bees, and ants. Because he shared this kinship he later brought forth the thought of enlightenment. Having brought forth the thought of enlightenment, he practiced the Bodhisattva Way, benefiting himself and benefiting others, enlightening himself and enlightening others, helping himself and helping others, saving himself and saving others. There was no selfishness in the things he did; he was open and unselfish. He helped everyone. When he cultivated in the causal ground, he gave up his very life to rescue living beings. 

The Buddha saw a tiger about to starve to death, and he offered his body to the tiger as food. When he saw a hawk on the brink of death, he fed his own flesh to it, slicing the meat from his bones in order to feed it. Think it over: The tiger is the most ferocious of beasts and the hawk is one of the fiercest of birds, but when the Buddha saw that these evil creatures were starving, he gave up his life to save them. Because he had such a great, magnanimous spirit, he became a Buddha.

After he became a Buddha, did he then sit back and enjoy the bliss of Buddhahood? No. He did not forget all living beings. He saved them; he taught and transformed them.

The Buddha has three kinds of enlightenment, 

1) self-enlightenment;
2) the enlightenment of others; and 
3) the perfection of enlightenment and conduct.

He enlightens himself; and he enlightens all living beings, and he has perfected the practices of his cultivation.

Perfect in the triple enlightenment,
Replete with the myriad virtues,
He is called “Buddha.”

As to the myriad virtues, in every move the Buddha makes, he benefits others, thus perfecting his virtuous conduct. That is why we call him “Buddha.” This has been a general explanation of the term.

Not just a Buddha can realize Buddhahood. Everyone can become a Buddha. That is why our faith in the Buddha is not superstitious [literally, “confused faith”]. Buddhism is not like other religions whose deities claim, “I am the true god. All others are false. No matter how faithfully you believe in me, you will eternally be my inferior. Never can you occupy my position.”

Religion such as this is dictatorial, authoritarian, and unjust! On the other hand, everyone can become a Buddha. This is why Buddhism is the most democratic religion, the most just religion. The Buddha is completely devoid of selfishness, thoroughly devoid of desire for self-benefit. He is open, generous, and impartial, straightforward, true, and unprejudiced. He sees all beings as identical with himself and so he wants to take them all across.

Hearing this, someone has become arrogant. Why? It doesn’t occur to him that the Buddha became a Buddha by virtue of his cultivation. He says, “Oh, everyone is a Buddha. I don’t have to cultivate. I am a Buddha! Everybody is a Buddha!” 

This person has deviant understanding and heterodox views. It’s true that everyone can become a Buddha, but in order to do so, one must cultivate. When you become enlightened you can certify to the result of Buddhahood. If you do not cultivate and have not become enlightened, what kind of a Buddha are you? You are a stupid Buddha, a confused Buddha. Muddled and dense, you understand nothing. You hear others talk about it, misunderstanding them, yet consider yourself a Buddha, too. This is not permissible.

Why do I mention all this? Because in the past I have met many people who have held such views and so I decided to tell you about it.

We will now discuss the Pure Land Dharma-door, Buddha Recitation. The Pure Land is the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss, the country of Amitabha Buddha. When the Buddha was in the world, no one understood the Pure Land Dharma-door. That is why not even one of the Buddha’s disciples, with their great wisdom, didn’t understand it. No one thought of asking for it, and so the Amitabha Sutra, which we just recited, was spoken by the Buddha without request. All the other Sutras which the Buddha spoke were requested by an interlocutor. 

For example, in the Vajra Sutra the interlocutor was Subhuti, who asked the Buddha to speak the Sutra. Since none of the Buddha’s disciples understood this Dharma-door of Pure Land recitation---not even the great and wise Shariputra---the Buddha spoke the Amitabha Sutra to Shariputra without waiting to be asked. It is an extremely important Sutra and takes across those of great wisdom. Those who lack wisdom are not able to understand it. That we now have met to cultivate this method of Buddha Recitation makes Shakyamuni Buddha very happy and pleases Amitabha Buddha a great deal, too.

Simply explained, there are four kinds of Buddha Recitation. The first is “Contemplating by Thought Buddha Recitation”; the second, “Contemplating an Image Buddha Recitation”; the third, “Holding the Name Buddha Recitation”; and the fourth, “Real Mark Buddha Recitation.”

In “Contemplating by Thought Buddha Recitation” one contemplates the following verse:

Amitabha Buddha’s body is of golden hue,
His fine marks brilliant beyond compare.
The white hair-mark winds as high as five Mount Sumerus,
And his purple eyes are as deep and clear as four great seas.
Countless transformation Buddhas appear within his light,
With transformation Bodhisattvas, also numberless.
His forty-eight vows take living beings across
In nine grades of lotuses to reach the other shore.

Amitabha Buddha’s body is of golden hue:  Amitabha Buddha’s entire body is gold.

His fine marks brilliant beyond compare:  His characteristics are incomparable. Amitabha’s light is unequalled. He has the thirty-two marks and eighty minor characteristics of a Buddha. His brilliant light pervasively illumines all living beings with whom he has an affinity.

Whoever is sincere in his recitation during this session may be illuminated by Amitabha’s light. But your heart must be truly sincere. Bring forth your true heart to recite the Buddha’s name, and don’t fear suffering or pain. You must be extremely sincere and earnest.

Whoever is sincere in his recitation during this session may be illuminated by Amitabha’s light. But your heart must be truly sincere. Bring forth your true heart to recite the Buddha’s name, and don ‘t fear suffering or pain. You must be extremely sincere and earnest.

The white hair-mark winds as high as five Mount Sumerus:  In the space between Amitabha Buddha’s eyebrows there is a white hair-mark. How big is it? As big as five Mount Sumerus. And how high is Mount Sumeru? Mount Sumeru is the highest mountain there is. None of our mountains are as high.

The empty space that we see is called the Heaven of the Four Kings. Mount Sumeru is twice as high as this heaven. In other words, the Heaven of the Four Kings is located half-way up Mount Sumeru. Amitabha Buddha’s white hair-mark is five times as high as Mount Sumeru. How high do you think that is?

His purple eyes are as deep and clear as four great seas:  Amitabha Buddha’s eyes alone are as large as four seas. Now, would you say he has big eyes? His purple eyes, bright and clear, are as big as four great seas, so how big would you say his entire body is? His body is as big as one hundred million trichiliocosms.

Countless transformation Buddhas appear within his light:  Amitabha Buddha emits light from his eyes., his ears, his nose, and his mouth. His entire body pours forth light, and from every hair pore on his body appear Buddhas from boundless universes. See? Your mind can’t possibly conceive of anything so big. No one knows how many transformation Buddhas he creates.

With transformation Bodhisattvas, also numberless:  The Bodhisattvas which appear on every single hair pore of his body are also boundless.

His forty-eight vows take living beings across:  He has made forty-eight vows to teach and transform living beings.

In nine grades of lotuses to reach the other shore. His lotuses are divided into nine grades:

1. superior rebirth in the superior grade;
2. superior rebirth in the middle grade;
3. superior rebirth in the lower grade;
4. middle rebirth in the superior grade;
5. middle rebirth in the middle grade;
6. middle rebirth in the lower grade;
7. lower rebirth in the superior grade;
8. lower rebirth in the middle grade;
9. lower rebirth in the lower grade;

Each of these nine grades in turn divides into nine, making nine times nine, or eighty-one grades in all.

Among the eighty-one grades, how big is the largest lotus? It’s about one hundred times as big as the United States of America. A small lotus is about the size of this country. This should give you a general idea. The bigger your lotus is, the bigger your Dharmabody will be when you realize Buddhahood and sit upon the lotus throne. If your lotus is the size of single U.S.A., then as a Buddha you will also be just about that big. The Buddha’s transformation bodies are inconceivable. This is called “Contemplation by Thought Buddha Recitation.”

As we sit here listening to the lecture, several mosquitoes among us are thinking, “Oh! How can the Buddha be that big? I don’t believe it.” It’s fitting that they don’t believe it, because they are so small they can’t believe there could be something that big. Not only do they not believe that the Buddha is as big as he is, they also don’t believe people are as big as they are. Although they may see a person, they don’t know what a person is. They think we are Mount Sumerus. Each one of us is, in fact, a Mount Sumeru. What does that mean? Today I’ll reveal this most subtle and wonderful dharma: Your Mount Sumeru is just your arrogance, your smugness, and your disbelief!

Okay. That’s all for today. There are still three more types of Buddha Recitation to be discussed. Perhaps someone will tell you in a dream tonight what they are. If not, I’ll explain them tomorrow.

Tuesday, August 19, 1975 (afternoon)

Today is the second day of the Buddha Recitation Session. Yesterday you didn’t know what the recitation of “Namo Amitabha Buddha” was all about, and so I explained it to you. By now, each of you should know how to apply effort in reciting the Buddha’s name. When reciting, don't sing too loudly or it may injure your energies. However, if you recite too quietly, it’s easy to doze off and lose your vitality. Whey you are drowsy, you are not able to hear yourself recite. If you can’t hear yourself recite, then “Namo Amitabha Buddha” will not be present in your heart. So it is necessary to recite out loud so that your ears hear the sound clearly and distinctly, and your mind contemplates the sound clearly and distinctly. Don’t waste even a single second. At all times be mindful of your Buddha Recitation. Say “Namo Amitabha Buddha” with sincerity and concentration.

Your mindfulness should be uninterrupted. Continue reciting at all times without a break. Last night I explained the first of the four techniques of recitation, “contemplating by thought.” Today I will continue with the second, “contemplating of an image Buddha Recitation.”

When you contemplate using thought, Amitabha Buddha’s Dharma body is so large that it is not easy to expand the measure of your mind to contemplate it. As an alternative, you may set up an image of Amitabha Buddha and practice mindfulness of the Buddha while facing the image. Look closely at the white hair-mark between the Buddha’s eyebrows. The white hair-mark will emit a great light which will travel to the end of space throughout the Dharma Realm, so that all places receive the illumination. Within Amitabha Buddha’s light appear limitless Buddhas and countless Bodhisattvas. This is the method called “contemplation of an image Buddha Recitation.”

The third is “holding the name Buddha Recitation” in which one repeats the six-syllable vast name, “Na-mo A-mi-to-fo,” that is, “Namo Amitabha Buddha.” This technique is divided into audible recitation and soundless recitation. Here in the Dharma assembly we practice audible recitation. When the bell is rung, everyone recites “Namo Amitabha Buddha” in unison, making a melodious sound. Soundless recitation refers to the period when we sit in silence while single-mindedly reciting “Namo Amitabha Buddha.” This is called “silent recitation,” or “vajra recitation.”

Of all the Dharma-doors in Buddhism, Buddha Recitation is the easiest one to cultivate, as it

Receives the beings of the three dispositions,
And gathers in both the intelligent and the dull.

Living beings are of three dispositions: a superior disposition, that is, people with wisdom; a mediocre disposition, that is, people of average intelligence; and an inferior disposition, that is, people who are very stupid. This method benefits both the young and the old, and works for both the intelligent and the dull. Intelligent people are those with wisdom and dull people are the stupid ones. People with wisdom who recite the Buddha’s name can easily gain a response. People who are stupid who recite will also find it easy to gain a response. Therefore the recitation of “Namo Amitabha Buddha” on the one hand saves effort and on the other costs nothing. It’s the most convenient Dharma-door of all. Not only is it convenient, it is the most expedient of all expedient methods, the shortest of all short cuts, the most wonderful of all Dharma-doors. Some people may say, “What’s the significance of the phrase “Na-mo A-mi-to-fo?” Its significance is profound and vast. Its wonder cannot be exhausted in speech, nor can its advantages.

When the Buddha dwelt in the world, that era was called the Proper Dharma Age. At that time, the Buddha taught the Dharma and there were certified Arhats and great Bodhisattvas; the sages were dwelling in the world. The Dharma-image Age followed next, after the Buddha entered Nirvana. During this period people who cultivated the Way were few; those who were attached to external appearances and concentrated on making Buddhist images were many, but genuine cultivators were few in number.

After the Dharma-image Age, came the Dharma-ending Age. The Proper Dharma Age lasted for one thousand years. The Dharma-image Age lasted another one thousand years. That’s two thousand years in all. The Dharma-ending Age endures for ten thousand years. We are now living in the Dharma-ending Age. What does the phrase “Dharma-ending” mean? It means that the Dharma has nearly come to an end and is about to disappear. The “disappearance” of the Buddhadharma involves the disappearance of belief in the Buddha. In the Dharma-ending Age, living beings’ faith in the Buddha is not firm. When the Buddha dwelt in the world, people’s faith was so firm that if you held a person at knife-point and threatened his life saying, “Don’t believe in the Buddha or I’ll murder you,” he would rather die than surrender his belief. That’s how solid in faith the people were during the Proper Dharma Age.

Now, in the Dharma-ending Age, you don’t even have to threaten a person with death. You just have to say, “Don’t believe in the Buddha,” and they quickly reply, “Okay, fine.” You don’t have to threaten them, just tell them to quit believing and they will. It’s very difficult to promote faith.

Calculate it for yourself: How many people are there in the world? Among the entire human race, how many people believe in the Buddha? You can lecture the Sutras to these believers every day and they will still waver between doubt and faith. You can conduct a small experiment. Try this. Invite a person out to a movie. He’ll accept on the spot and away you go. Then try asking him to a Sutra lecture. He will say, “Ohhh…sitting there for two hours is nothing but suffering and tedium. It’s not half as much fun as a movie!”

That’s the Dharma-ending age for you. You needn’t threaten them with death. You can simply say, “If you believe in the Buddha, I’ll bow to you three times.” And what do you think happens? They snap, “You go believe in the Buddha yourself. Why bow to me?” In the Dharma-ending Age it is difficult to believe in the Buddha. People may believe for a while but then they retreat. They may believe for two and a half days, but before the third day rolls around, they turn back and say, “I’m tired of Buddhism.” Tired. See? That’s the basic make-up of people in the Dharma-ending Age. You suggest to him gently or tell him, directly, “Don’t talk so much!” and he’ll continue to talk, talk, talk too much! That’s the way it is. If you tell them not to do something, they insist on doing it. If you tell them to do something, they will insist on not doing it. That’s the way beings are in the Dharma-ending Age.

In this age, the Dharma will disappear. The first Sutra to disappear will be the Shurangama Sutra. That is why those who study the Buddhadharma should first investigate the Shurangama Sutra. As long as someone understand this Sutra, the Buddhadharma will not become extinct. As long as there is someone who can recite the Shurangama Mantra, the demon kings, the heavenly demons and those of externalist teachings will not dare come into the world to play their tricks and to make trouble. The Shurangama Mantra is the most miraculous mantra for helping the world. The Shurangama Sutra is the primary Sutra which protects and supports the Proper Dharma.

The Shurangama Sutra will disappear first, and then no one will be able to recite the Shurangama Mantra, because it is too long. For example, many among us have been studying it for over a year and still can’t recite it. Basically, the Shurangama Mantra should take six months to learn. The Sanskrit “Shurangama” is transliterated into Chinese as leng-yan, and those who study it are said to be “leng,” that is, in a daze, for half a year while memorizing it. Here in the West, we have people who have been “leng” for one, two, and even three years, and still have not come out of their “daze.”

The Shurangama Sutra and the Shurangama Mantra will be the first to disappear. The last Sutra to disappear will be The Buddha Speaks of Amitabha Sutra.

When the Amitabha Sutra has become extinct, only the six-syllable vast name “Na-mo-A-mi-to-fo,” will remain in the world. It will last another one hundred years and save limitless living beings. After one hundred years the six-syllable vast name will lose two syllables and only “A-mi-to-fo” will remain for another hundred years and then they will disappear. At that time people will be undergoing extreme suffering. They will have no blessings at all. What they eat will be like horse manure. The food will have no nutritive value, even the natural foods. No mater what one eats, it will be harder to swallow than horse manure. Why? Because the people will have no blessings. When the Buddha was in the world the water that people drank was more nourishing than the milk we have today. Why does today’s water lack nutritive properties? It’s because now the people don’t have such great blessings.

At that time, people will be as tall as dogs. When their suffering reaches its peak, things will start getting better, and the eon will beg to “wax.” We are presently in an eon of “waning.” This means that every one hundred years the average lifespan of human beings decreases by one year and their average height by one inch. When it has decreased to the point that an average lifespan is ten years, and an average height is about the size of our present-day dogs, people will have sexual desire as soon as they are born and they will also be able to commit murder. That’s how rotten they will be. 

But at that time, the eon will being to wax, and every hundred years people’s lifespans will increase by one year and their height will increase by one inch. When the average lifespan has reached eighty-four thousand years---would you call that a long life?---it will begin to decrease once again. When the average lifespan has waned to eighty thousand years, the next Buddha, the Venerable Maitreya, will appear in the world. Whoever wants to meet him at that time should work hard right now.

We are now conducting a Buddha Recitation Session. The Dharma-door of chanting “Na-mo A-mi-to-fo” is not easy to encounter. It is said:

Supreme, profound, wondrous Dharma
Is hard to meet in a million eons.
I see it, accept, hear, and uphold it,
And I vow to understand
the Tathagata’s true principle.

Supreme, profound, wondrous Dharma:  It may look to you like Buddha Recitation is very easy, yet this method is quite rare and hard to find. You should all think about it: In America Alone, how many people understand the Dharma-door of Buddha Recitation? Many people will say, “Buddhists sit in Zen meditation.” Others say, “Cultivate the Secret School. It’s fantastic. It’s a secret.” Very few truly understand how to recite the Buddha’s name. In America such a Dharma assembly has simply never been held before. 

This is the very first time that the deep, deep, and wonderful Dharma has been explained in the countryside. You might say our Dharma assembly is unprecedented in the history of this country. And what is more, people have come from the four quarters to attend, including such distant places as Los Angeles and San Francisco. This demonstrates real sincerity. If they were not sincere, they would not have come all this way. They’d be at the movies instead, or out dancing, drinking, playing cards, shooting a few holes of golf, playing football, ice-skating, skiing, or whatever. However, these people have abandoned such pleasant diversions to chant “Amitabha” in the mountains.

Is hard to encounter in a million eons:  Although it is hard to meet, you have now encountered it.

I see it, accept, hear, and uphold it:  Now you have met with the Buddhadharma and know how to recite the Buddha’s name.

And vow to understand the Tathagata’s true principle:  Vow to understand the true principles of the Dharma-door of the Pure Land.

You are all sincere and today I am very happy. Why? Because you have evoked a response and stopped the rain. It didn’t rain last night and it didn’t rain today. That’s two days. This proves that you are earnest in your recitation. If it rains tomorrow, you’ve retreated. But if it doesn’t, then you will have created three dry days. If it doesn’t rain for a whole week, that will be conclusive evidence of genuine effort on your part. 

Since you are all so earnest, I will tell you what I’ve been doing. In the last few days I have negotiated and signed a contract with the mosquitoes. It says,

Mosquitoes are not allowed to bite participants in the recitation session. Should they feel compelled to bite someone, they shall bite me first. This applies equally to all those attending, regardless of whether or not they are my disciples. Mosquitoes are not allowed to make trouble for anyone.

So they will bite me first because it doesn’t matter if the mosquitoes drink a little of my blood; I want to give it away. After this, if anyone is bitten by a mosquito, please report it to me. If bitten by one mosquito, tell me. If two bite you, announce, “I’ve been bitten twice!” and I’ll take it up with them. After all, they did sign a contract and if they don’t live up to it, I just might take them to court!

Someone is thinking, “If I do, Dharma Master, you will say I’m not reciting sincerely.” Well, if you don’t tell me, you’ll just cheat yourself. It’s none of my business. Do as you please!

Disciple: Master, just as the subject of mosquitoes came up, one flew by my ear and I believe it is still biting me.

The Master: Oh? Very well, you can take it to Buddhahood. Tell it, “I vow that you will become a Buddha first.”

Tuesday, August 19, 1975 (evening)

The second day of the session has almost passed. I believe it won’t rain tonight. That means that during the last two days everyone has been sincere. I don’t know if you will continue to be sincere tomorrow. We’ll just have to wait and see whether it rains. While walking and reciting “Na-mo A-mi-to-fo,” when you hear the large bell, that is the sign that you are to return to your bowing cushions, and the tempo of the recitation is speeded up. I’ve noticed that many of you are unaware of this. When you recite, keep your hands in front of your chest; this is called the “palms-lowered position.” Don’t let your hands hang down by your belly. That does not look nice. They should be right in front of your rib cage, directly below the heart. 

When you hear the big bell, raise your palms and join them together. Then you no longer recite “Na-mo A-mi-to-fo,” but just “A-mi-to-fo.” I’ve noticed a lot of you don’t raised your palms at this time, but let your hands hang down or swing at your sides. This is because you don’t know about the rules. Although rules are not important, you still have to abide by them. As it is said, “If you don’t follow the rules [in Chinese the word for “rules” is made of the two words “compass and T-square] you can’t make circles or squares.” That is, if you don’t follow the rules you won’t attain your goal.

For example, when Guo Tong came to the temple at the age of four, the only question he had was, “Why do there have to be rules?” That was the question he asked at age four. Seeing that he had this question at such a young age, I knew that he was an unruly kid.

I told him, “The rules are there just because you don’t follow them. If you abided by the rules, there wouldn’t be any need for them.” Even now, I think he must still detest the rules. He wants to be free to run around, play, and be rowdy. That’s just his character. He’s like a monkey, jumping and crawling all over the place. He is very lively and his eyes are always looking around at everything. But he can really tell stories. If he continues, in the future, he’s going to make his mark as a master storyteller. He is only eleven now and he can really make stories up; wait till he grows up—he will be even better at it then. So keep your eye on him. Pretty soon his stories will fly right up into the sky.

If anybody here wants a story, he can make one up for you. Don’t forget about that story about a single strand of hair [given in the The Earth Store Sutra with the Venerable Master Hua’s commentary, published by D.R.B.A.]. that’s a secret dharma that most people don’t know about. Even if people want to know about it, don’t tell them right now.

Also, when you stand at your places, those who come first should stand up in front and those who follow should stand behind them in the order that they file in. The first to come should not stand in the back so that those who follow have to shove past to find a place. No matter where you go, you should proceed according to the rules for order in the assembly. Then things won’t become confused, but will run smoothly. You should all take note of this. 

Cultivation must be done every day. You can’t cultivate one day and slack off the next. The same applies to following the rules. You have to follow the rules every day. If you don’t, you are not acting in accordance with the precepts of the Buddhadharma. So, wherever you go, take care to observe the regulations and don’t be sloppy about it.

“Holding the name Buddha Recitation” can be practiced by both the young and old, and those in the prime of life. It is suitable for everyone. Sick people can recite the Buddha’s name. You who are sick suffer from the pains of disease because of karmic obstacles. You should hold the Buddha’s name in order to lessen these obstacles. Those who are healthy should take advantage of their health to recite the Buddha’s name and dedicate their recitation to insure their perpetual good health. Old people who are approaching the end of the road should follow the good path to the end. They should recite the Buddha’s name. Young people whose road ahead is filled with limitless light should recite “Na-mo A-mi-to-fo,” to make the light appear. Thus, the Dharma-door of Buddha Recitation is suitable for every type of person. 

You can chant while walking, standing, sitting, or reclining. However, when reclining you should not recite aloud. Do it silently in your heart. If you recite aloud it is disrespectful. The busiest people can recite the Buddha’s name, and people who are the most at leisure can also recite the Buddha’s name.

How do you practice recitation when you are very busy? You practice the “Morning and Evening Dharma of Ten Recitations.” In the morning and the evening do “ten recitations.” Recite for the length of a single breath, “Na-mo A-mi-to-fo,” and that is one recitation. Ten such “breaths” is called “ten recitations.” In the morning when you get up, wash your face and brush your teeth. Then face the West, or better still face an image of Amitabha Buddha. If any of you would like to have an image, I have some paper images at Gold Mountain Monastery that I can give you. Face the Buddha image, join your palms together very respectfully and bow three times. Chant “Na-mo A-mi-to-fo” for the length of ten full breaths. Do this in the morning and in the evening. Recite “Na-mo A-mi-to-fo, Na-mo A-mi-to-fo, Na-mo A-mi-to-fo, Na-mo A-mi-to-fo…until you run out of breath and that counts as “one recitation.” Do this ten times in the morning and ten times in the evening. 

Don’t deliberately stretch out the length of your breath or cut it short. It should be very natural. This is called the “Morning and Evening Dharma of Ten Recitations.” Do this every day without interruption; it will only take five or ten minutes. Can you recite at other times during the day? Of course you can. The more you recite, the better. With the skill derived from your practice of this Dharma you can be reborn in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss. This method of Buddha Recitation is the most convenient Dharma door.

As I said, “Those with wisdom should recite the Buddha’s name, stupid people should do it, too.” Suppose someone says, “I’m very stupid. Probably it’s useless for me to recite.” In using this technique, the more stupid you are, the better! The wiser you are, the better! No matter how wise you are you cannot exhaust the method of Buddha Recitation. No matter how stupid you are, you are still included within it and it can be your guide.

Among the Buddha’s disciples, one in particular was extremely stupid. How stupid was he? When you taught him how to recite “Na-mo A-mi-to-fo”---a mere six syllables---he could not remember them. Finally the Buddha thought of a plan.

“Fine,” he said, “since you can’t remember the Buddha’s name, I’ll give you two words. Just recite ‘sweep clean.’” But he still forgot! He would say “sweep” and forget “clean,” and then he would say, “clean…uhh…what was the first word again? Oh! Sweep! Sweep…sweep…Just a minute now; don’t tell me, ah…what was the second word?” He’d remember one and forget the other. He was that dumb. None of us here is quite that stupid. Even me. I’m a bit more intelligent than him. Don’t you think so? I do. You are all, of course, much more intelligent than I am. Anyway, what was his name? Little Roaside (Shuddhipanthaka). He got that name because he was born by the side of the road. Although he was very stupid, he later became enlightened when he found out—What did he find out?

He discovered that his mother was a woman! He didn’t know that before. The Buddha certified his enlightenment and he gained spiritual powers. See, if such a stupid person can get enlightened, we who are so intelligent will certainly have even more success. Okay, that’s all for today because someone is thinking the idle thought that, “You know, the lectures are really too long.”

Bhikshuni Heng Hsien:  
Today we’re in the third day of reciting the Buddha’s name, and you can expect to be getting a bit of response at this point in the session. Yesterday the Master talked about how people who were sick, if they recited the Buddha’s name, could be cured by virtue of their karmic obstacles being lessened through reciting “Na-mo A-mi-to-fo.” Yesterday we had a “big cat” story. Today I thought I’d tell a couple of “little dog” stories. These are true stories of how reciting the Buddha’s name has effected cures. 

The first involves a Pekinese dog who live in Fresno. Pekinese dogs were developed in China as a response to the introduction of Buddhist Sutras. The very first printed books in China, printed from wood-block, were of the Vajra Sutra, and they depicted the Bodhisattva Manjushri riding on a lion. The ladies of the imperial court were very much taken by the lion, and so a new breed of dog was developed—the Pekinese—to look like the lion of the Bodhisattva Manjushri. So in Fresno, California, there was a small Pekinese—the runt of the litter. A runt, but a show dog. She wasn’t special dog, and a very lively, good-tempered dog, with only a few minor failings—a little bit of vanity and a little bit of over-fastidiousness with regard to food, but aside from that, there seemed to be no reason that what happened to the dog should have happened, except perhaps it was due to the jealousy of one of the older, larger dogs.

At any rate, when I went down to visit my great aunt, who owned the dog, the Pekinese was paralyzed from the waist down. Something had happened to her spine, and the whole back end of her. She couldn’t move, but she could drag it along just barely. She was in tremendous pain. You could see that she was exhausting her strength and was going to die very soon. I’d been studying the Buddhadharma for a while, and I had great faith in the power of the mantras and the power of the Buddha’s name. She was being taken for treatment with some kind of rays, but I saw that the people giving the treatment were more concerned with my great aunt’s pocket-book than they were with the dog. The treatments were not doing anything for the dog. 

I sat down with a book of the Shurangama Mantra and recited it two or three times, and then I started to recite the Buddha’s name, “Na-mo A-mi-to-fo.” It was very strange and very wonderful, but as soon as I started reciting it, it’s as if something clicked with the dog. I had her facing away from me, with the idea of concentrating on her injured spine, and she started looking around at me and making all sorts of noises and gestures as if she wanted to recite the Buddha’s name too. And it occurred to me that perhaps—of course I had no way of knowing—but perhaps in previous lives this had been something that she was familiar with and that somehow struck a bell. At any rate, from that time on she improved. Within a few days, she was virtually normal with only a slight limp, and eventually she recovered entirely. This was by virtue of the recitation.

Another incident involved people from Gold Mountain—Upasaka Guo Kui and Upasika Guo Cong. Before they had their daughter Guo Fang, they had a dog name Lucy. Lucy was a very lively and intelligent terrier. She had a lot of tricks and was very rambunctious—a very human kind of dog. I felt I had a lot of affinities with the dog. One afternoon I looked out the window of Gold Mountain Monastery to see Lucy being hit by a car. I went running out and found her lying in the street, severely injured. The car had probably hit her on the side of her head and the front part of her body. Her eyes were starting to roll back, blood was coming out of her mouth, her legs were sticking straight out and she was going stiff. The driver of the car, a demonic looking young man, came out and started yelling at her, “Hurry up and die, dog!”

I asked him to leave, which he did, and started reciting the Great Compassion Mantra. Other people came out to recite, and someone went to tell the Master what had happened. Word came down to us that the dog was going to die, and we should recite, “Na-mo A-mi-to-fo.” We carefully moved the dog into the office, washed her wounds, wrapped her warmly in a blanket, and recited “Na-mo A-mi-to-fo” for all we were worth. We recited for a couple of hours, and during that time, you could see Lucy coming back to life. By the end of an hour and a half, you had to hold her down—she didn’t want to stay in the blanket. She’d been a dead dog out in the street, but she came back to life. 

We kept reciting until it was time for the Master to lecture. The Master immediately asked how Luc was and had us bring her upstairs. Now some people figure that Lucy had taken refuge at some point. Someone else saw her being ushered out of the Master’s quarters, presumably after an interview on another occasion. At any rate, she had a lot going for her in terms of studying the Buddhadharma. The Master scolded her and reminded her that he had told her that if she kept running out of the building, she was due for some trouble. But she hadn’t listened, and that was why this happened. All of this she meekly accepted. She was already running around in a subdued fashion that evening, and she was normal by the next day—completely cured.

An interesting thing about Lucy is that her owner, Upasika Guo Cong, was expecting Guo Fang at the time. Shortly before Guo Cong's daughter was born, Lucy just disappeared. She didn't get lost; nobody lost her. She just wasn't there anymore and very shortly after that Guo Fang was born. Now, don't draw any conclusions from that necessarily, because I've never seen Guo Fang pull that trick of sitting down on her haunches and playing around with her paws, so there may not be a connection. At any rate, that's the story of Lucy. Lucy isn't here today due to those causes and connection of the Buddha's name. The important thing in this, of course, is the power of not of one person but of lots of people. 

When I was reciting for the other dog---Ah Choo was her name and she's actually very much alive at the present---I knew that it was the power of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas that worked through the invocation of the mantra and the Buddha's name. People aren't always clear about this. However, it's easy when you have an extremely powerful mantra in your grasp to figure that it's you doing it and somehow get confused and maybe show off a little bit. This can be very dangerous.

This happened to someone in China. There was a Bhikshu who had a lot of cultivation and he was known as the "Living Arhat." His specialty was using the Great Compassion Mantra to cure people, and he could cure anybody of any disease. One time a lot of Dharma Masters were assembled at Pu-tuo-shan (Pu-tuo Mountain) in china for a precept ceremony. After the ceremony was over, many of them had no way to get back to their home temples. 

The Living Arhat did a lot of flamboyant curing with the Great Compassion Mantra, amassed a lot of money, and rather conspicuously bought everybody tickets or chartered a boat to get everyone back to their temples. At that time the Master was part of the assembly and he saw that the Living Arhat was due to die pretty soon himself, so he went up to him and said, "You're called the Living Arhat, aren't you? You can cure other people's illnesses, but have you cured your own?"

"What illness do I have?" asked the Arhat.

"Now you've got the illness of seeking for fame, and in the future, you're going to contract the illness of seeking for profit. In fact, it won't be long before you fall," said the Master. Now the Arhat had some cultivation. He never lay down to sleep and ate only one meal a day, and he had this power, and he recognized that something was going on. But it was very strange: he immediately bowed down to the Master and pleaded with him, not to keep him from falling, but that when he did fall, to come and save him. So, since the Master grants people's wishes and the man was sincerely asking to be saved when he fell, the Master said, "Alright, when you fall I'll save you."

Years passed, and Dharma Masters had to leave the mainland and flee to Hong Kong and Taiwan and so on. After a passage of time, what should happen but, on the streets of Hong Kong, the Master ran into the "Living Arhat," except that he was no longer a Bhikshu. He was dressed as a layman. He had gone back to lay life; in other words, he had fallen. The Master said, "Well, what happened to your Living Arhat?"

The man said, "It's just because everything you say is so effective. Your words are magical. It's just because you said I was going to fall that I've fallen."

The Master said, "Well, I promised you that if you fell, I'd save you, so I'll save you. So you can go back to being a Bhikshu now."

"Well, I haven't got any money," said the man. Now, in China, you had to pay a lot of money to leave home. If you wanted to leave home and you were broke, you were out of luck.

The Master said, "That's OK, I'll give you money and you can leave home." And so the man did. You would think the man learned his lesson, but he got involved with a layman in Hong Kong who was looking for a Bhikshu as a drawing card for his establishment. The layman at first approached our teacher, who would have no part in being used as an advertising gimmick. But this former Living Arhat took him up on the deal. So the layman set him up as a "Living Buddha," bowing to him as such. It wasn't very long before the "Living Arhat" just disappeared. So it's very dangerous to play around with the mantras and the curing power behind them for one's own personal benefit.

What is generally done in order to aid people is to transfer the merit from recitation of the mantras or recitation of the Buddha's name for other people's benefit. Transferring merit is one of the Ten Great Vows of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, and these vows are recited every morning by people who do Morning Recitation.

The first vow is to worship and respect all Buddhas. This is done by bowing to all the Buddhas, not just one Buddha. It certainly doesn't mean bowing to blocks of wood or pieces of stone that are carved to represent Buddhas. Rather, it means taking refuge with all the Buddhas of the ten directions and three periods of time.

The second vow is to praise the Thus Come One’s qualities. Such praises are, for example, the praise of the Buddha Amitabha. The praise that says that Amitabha’s body is a golden hue and the light of his fine marks are beyond compare. The mark of the white hair tuft between his eyes is as large as five Mount Sumerus and his clear purple eyes are as vast as four great seas. In his light there are countless transformation Buddhas and boundless transformation Bodhisattvas. His forty-eight great vows save living beings and the nine grades of lotuses completely cross beings over to the other shore. This is a praise of the Buddha and that fulfills the second vow to praise the Thus come One’s qualities.

The third vow is to extensively cultivate the giving of offerings. Giving offerings can be done in many ways. It can be done by offering incense and flowers before Buddha images or it can be done with the offering of the pure heart which is not fixed at all.

The fourth vow is to repent and reform all karmic faults. This means repenting all the things you’ve done that make it hard for you to cultivate right now, that act as obstacles. Karmic obstacles make it hard for you to sit in quiet meditation; they make it hard for you to concentrate your mind on the Buddha’s name or whatever practice you are practicing. You repent of all the evil done through body, mouth, and mind through beginningless time up to the present. 

This is very important in taking refuge. There is a moment in the taking refuge ceremony when the aid of the Buddhas is invoked. At that point, the Buddhas of the ten directions shine light upon you, and if you can very sincerely repent at that moment, you can completely eradicate your karmic obstacles and be completely pure. It all depends on the degree of your sincerity at that time.

The fifth vow is to compliantly rejoice in merit and virtue, which sounds sort of occult and mysterious, especially about 4:30 in the morning when we recite the vow. But this means that whenever anybody is doing something that is good, you are pleased and you also participate; you join in. If people are having a recitation session, you don’t just say, “Well, that’s really fine that they’re having a recitation session.” You also go and participate. Some people heard from as far away as Los Angeles that there was this session of reciting the Buddha’s name up here in Oregon. They not only approved, but rejoiced or followed in accord and came up to participate. Other people have also come from a great distances.

The sixth great vow of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva is to request the turning of the Dharma Wheel. Now we know that the explanation of the Pure Land Dharma door was spoken by the Buddha without anybody explicitly requesting it. But in general, the Dharma must be requested before it is spoken. Of course the speaking of Dharma can be a speaking that takes many forms; it’s not just necessarily in words. So the sixth great vow is to request that giving of Dharma, the turning of the Dharma Wheel.

The seventh vow is to request that the Buddhas dwell in the world. Now, of course, when Buddhas become Buddhas, they just enter Nirvana and don’t have to stay around in our suffering world. They’re not subject to any kind of suffering whatsoever. If living beings want them to stay around, however, they will. So the seventh is to request that the Buddhas stay in the world and teach living beings.

The eighth vow is to always follow the Buddhas in study, which means doing what the Buddha did. The Buddha, for example, gave his life to save a starving tiger. This vow involves doing this kind of practice. The Buddha also cut off his flesh to feed an eagle. That’s another example of what can be done to constantly follow the Buddha in study.

The ninth vow is to forever accord with living beings. This doesn’t mean that when living beings are doing things which are questionable you go ahead and do them, too, because you want to follow in accord. It means that whatever living beings like, you start from there in teaching them. Whatever they like to do is what you use as a basis for helping them to end birth and death, without imposing some exterior kind of structure or regulation on them. You start out from where they’re at.

The tenth is to universally transfer all merit and virtue. That means that you take the merit and virtue of all of the practices that you do from knowing about the Buddhadharma and being able to cultivate according to it, and transfer it to other living beings, ideally to all living beings on a very vast scale so that all will accomplish Bodhi. Merit can also be transferred for individual needs or for healing purposes.

Those are the ten great vows of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva. Now the living Arhat that was mentioned, of course, was no Arhat because a real Arhat has ended one of the two kinds of birth and death. There are two kinds of birth and death. One is being born in a body with a given life span which is more or less fixed, though not completely fixed. And the other is change birth and death which is the birth and death involved in the constant succession of thoughts: One thought being born and dying, the next thought being produced and then being destroyed, and so forth. Arhats have ended the first kind of birth and death. They are no longer subject to being born in a body with a given life span. But, of course, the so-called ‘Arhat’ in the story had not reached that point. He didn’t have control over his own birth and death and so when his offenses had accumulated to a certain point, he had to die.

Now I know that some people wonder why we’ve said that our Master does not concern himself particularly, in most cases, with individual cures. It’s because the Master is curing on a much larger scale. He’s giving people the medicine for curing birth and death; that is, if one follows those teachings that he teaches one can learn to have complete control over one’s own destiny and be able to teach other people to do the same as well. So it’s not just a matter of being cured of a given illness, but of completely being free of birth and death.

A man:
Oftentimes examples are used to illustrate things that happen on the mind ground that happen in the world of the relative. An example such as this occurred to me today. I used to live with a group of people on a beach on Maui, called McKenna Beach. We were all engaged in setting up a camp. Right smack-dab in the middle of the camp was a part of the foundation to an old army bunker of reinforced concrete that was about a foot thick, two feet high, and quite a few feet long. Anyway, it had to go. We were all busy setting up camp and none of us really wanted to face the task of getting that thing out of there. Nevertheless, it was right in the way of the camp and impractical to keep. So, we’re all busy setting up camp and one person would go over with a sledge hammer and hit it a few times, and the thing wouldn’t move. This went on throughout the course of the day. A person would get on it for five or ten minutes, get discouraged and bummed out about the thing, then go back to whatever they were doing. Basically no one wanted to get on this thing. I was avoiding it altogether. It just looked hopeless.

An idea occurred to me about half way through the day that with anything in the world, if you hit hard enough and long enough in one spot, it will eventually break up. After I took a swim to refresh myself, I grabbed a sledge hammer and worked on that piece of concrete. I just kept hitting it in the same place---toward the middle and toward the bottom---for about two hours. Finally, the entire thing broke. A couple of us hauled it out in two long pieces and got it out of there.

This illustrates how one should cultivate on the mind ground. Often people will begin cultivating a Dharma door such as reciting mantras or perhaps a Bodhisattva’s name or a Buddha’s name like we’re doing now. The beginning is usually fine, but after one achieves a little bit of concentration, one’s karmic obstacles rise to the surface and the more one meditates or recites or whatever Dharma door it is, the longer the obstacle will stay up on the surface. Many people don’t understand what is actually happening and say, “Well, meditation is just an utter drag. I’m more bummed out now than a few years ago when I started,” and they quit. This is a very, very common tendency and a tactic that people use to avoid facing the deeper problems of life.

Basically when cultivating a Dharma Door, such as reciting the Buddha’s name for example, one recites and recites. At the beginning notices nothing. After a while one notices that attachments and false views come into view. These will take a very definite personalized form according to who the individual is and what his attachments and shortcomings are. After a long as definite, tangible forms, these attachments all merge together into a kind of a blob within oneself of misery and melancholy and total, utter blah. This actually shows a little bit of success. Then one meditating on it, and lo and behold, this blob starts producing light. This is when a state of equilibrium is achieved. It’s basically the same whether one is reciting a Buddha’s name or reciting a mantra.

One takes a conscious thought, this thought of the Buddha, and uses it to overcome one’s unconscious thoughts or false thoughts. Normally one’s false thinking is most definitely strong, very strong, stronger than one’s conscious thoughts. When one’s conscious thought, one’s recitation becomes as strong as one’s unconscious thoughts or false thoughts, they start bouncing back off one another and this will produce light in the mind. The longer you can keep the conscious thought equal to the unconscious thoughts arising, the longer the light will actually appear. And eventually this light will destroy one’s attachments and obstacles.

Very often—I know I find myself doing it all the time and many of you may notice the workings of your mind while reciting and walking around outside and sitting in here—one tends to say to oneself, “Oh, I don’t care about that. I don’t think that is necessary or I don’t think this is necessary.” When this kind of thinking occurs, one should ask oneself, “If I don’t think this is really so, then who is it that does?” Look into this question and really contemplate it. “If I’m not really attached to such and such a thing, who is it that is? If I don’t think I’m doing this wrong, who is it that thinks I’m doing such and such wrong or incorrectly?” These are things that should be looked into in order for one to realize who one really is. It’s very important to recognize the fact that you may be wrong and everybody else may be right, and really acknowledge this fact. Otherwise if one can’t bring a change of attitude to one’s mind, even one’s own cultivation could be totally incorrect. Basically, even meditation is false. If one’s attitude isn’t correct toward meditation, meditation itself will become an obstacle. It is important to realize this, so one doesn’t spend years of cultivation in vain.

This sort of reciting that we’re doing today here in the session is really fine, because sitting is fine and most people here have probably done quite a bit of sitting meditation, but I know I, myself, and a lot of my friends never practice walking meditation. Walking meditation is a really fine practice and should be introduced more because it’s very important for people to realize that one doesn’t have to be seated in order to mediate. In our daily activities there is ample opportunity to practice meditation, even for very busy people. There are always times when one is waiting in line or one has to just bide one’s time. One can take these opportunities to get in quite a few hours of meditation a day, even in the course of daily activities.

In addition to meditation, to eliminate obstructions and whatnot and to help one to realize one’s fundamental nature, there’s the keeping of precepts. The Buddha instructed his left-home disciples that after he passed into Nirvana the monks should take the precepts as their teacher. Basically, a person who becomes a monk is not supposed to get involved with any meditation whatsoever before keeping the precepts for at least five years, and there is a very good reason for this. 

To draw another analogy, it’s sort of like going along in an automobile and trying to stop the automobile by just turning off the motor and not even bothering to apply the brakes. Now, the car will eventually stop and if it does stop, it will take a lot longer and it will also be a lot easier to get going again with no brakes applied, a child could come along and push it. The same principle applies to keeping precepts. If one achieves success in meditation and one has held the precepts for a good length of time, his chances of falling into worldly ways are pretty slim. Suppose one runs across a beautiful woman or a nice beautiful bag of ganja (marijuana) or psilocybum (another drug) or whatever one may like. It’s highly unlikely that one will think, “Oh, that’s really great,” and get involved in it. On the other hand if one cultivates on one’s own and ignores precepts, one can very easily not only fall into one’s old attachments, but create very new ones that will emerge very strong and make it very difficult to cultivate.

Wednesday, August 20, 1975 (afternoon)

The Master: Are there any questions?

Student: I am rather new to Buddhism and would like to know what school or sect you teach.

The Master: What is your name?

Student: Bob.

The Master: Where are you from?

Student: Manhattan.

The Master: At gold Mountain Monastery we study the entire spectrum of Buddhism. We do not subscribe to any one particular sect or school. We maintain no such divisions.

Student: I recall the Master once saying that we must cultivate our roots where we come from and we must cultivate the Dharma where it comes from. I’m very new and I don’t really understand very much, but I do grasp the idea of birth and death. I understand that when things die, new things are born. I would like the Master to expound upon that and tell us more about what the Dharma is and how we can learn to propagate it in the Dharma-ending Age. Like other living things, when the Dharma ends, does it then get reborn?

The Master: The Dharma is a method---a method for cultivating the Way. After practicing for a time, people often feel that the Dharma is not as fresh and exciting as it was at first and they quit cultivating. Basically, there is no Dharma-ending Age and there is no Proper Dharma Age. The Dharma itself is unmoving. It is not inherently “proper” or “ending.” People, however, are sometimes diligent and vigorous and at other times they are lax and lazy. When people are vigorous, that’s the Proper Dharma Age. When people are lazy, it’s the Dharma-ending Age. The Buddha Recitation session we are conducting here is a vigorous one and it is the proper Dharma Age for us. After the session is over, if you don’t cultivate and aren’t vigorous, it will revert to the Dharma-ending Age.

Another student: Could the Master please tell us more about the third eye?

The Master: There are five eyes, not just three eyes. Where have you heard about three eyes?

Student: Yesterday, when the Master discussed Amitabha Buddha’s white hair-mark, I took that to be the third eye.

The Master: That’s not the third eye. That’s just the white hair mark. The Buddha doesn’t have just three eyes. The Buddha has a hundred thousand billion, limitless, boundless eyes. If we living beings cultivate, we too can possess a measureless number of eyes. On the tip of every hair alone there is an infinite number of eyes. The third eye which non-Buddhist religions talk about is really nothing. They simply have no understanding of what the doctrines of Buddhism are all about. If you cultivate and become a Buddha you will have an uncountable number of eyes and an uncountable number of hands. Guanyin Bodhisattva is said to have “a thousand hands and a thousand eyes,” but not only has she a thousand eyes and hands, she has more than ten thousand. It cannot be known how many hands and eyes she has.

Has anyone been bitten by mosquitoes? Certainly a lot of people must have bites?

Student:…

The Master: That’s because you haven’t been sincere in your recitation! You haven’t brought forth your true heart.

Student: What about the contract?

The Master: The mosquitoes are not trustworthy. They are bound to fail to observe the terms of the contract. There’s not the slightest doubt about it. They are just too small to pay attention to things like that. There are too many of them, besides. I can sign a contract with one of them, but another won’t keep the agreement, and will close in. They like their independence and are very democratic in spirit. They won’t put up with having people supervise them. If I sign a contract with one of them, another will say, “I didn’t sign nothin’. I’m not following no contract,” and so they bite.

Translator: The Master only made out a contract with one mosquito…

The Master: Hey, it wasn’t just one. It was a lot of them. But there were still a lot of them who didn’t sign. For example, in this country there are the Democrats and the Republicans. If I signed a contract with one of them, the other would say, “He didn’t sign. It’s none of our business.” Mosquitoes, too, have a lot of different parties and sects.

Mosquitoes have the Mosquito Party. Ants have ant parties and bees have bee parties. Each creature belongs to its own organization and faction. Only my Buddhism has no party, no school, and no sect; it is all-inclusive, complete Buddhism. The Buddhism I teach is not Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Burmese, Ceylonese, or Indian. The Buddhism I promote is world-Buddhism, universal Buddhism, the Buddhism of the entire Dharma Realm. The Buddhism I promote I don’t even call Buddhism; I call it “the teaching of people.” If you are a person, you should believe in Buddhism. This is because people can become Buddhas. Since all people can become Buddhas, we can call this teaching “the teaching of people.”

But “the teaching of people” is not an all-inclusive term, so we will give it yet another name, “the teaching of living beings.” All living beings are included within it. This includes the living beings who fly in the air, those who walk on the earth, and those who live in the waters, as well as all the plants and trees. All the trees have living beings inhabiting them. Living beings are born from a conflux of changing conditions. When the causes and conditions conjoin, living beings are born. So I advocate that Buddhism be renamed, “the teaching of people,” and that that name be further changed to “the teaching of living beings.”

What is more, “the teaching of living beings” can be renamed “the teaching of the mind.” Because all living beings have minds, they can all become Buddhas. Thus we call it “the teaching of the mind.” The mind, the Buddha, and living beings are three and yet are not different. They are one and the same. That take the Dharma Realm as my school; I take the Dharma Realm as my name. And I embrace the teaching of the Dharma Realm. So, in name, substance, school, function, and teaching, it is all “the Dharma Realm.”

Name: The Dharma Realm.
Substance: The Substance of the Dharma Realm.
School: The School of the Dharma Realm.
Function: The Function of the Dharma Realm.
Teaching: The Teaching of the Dharma Realm.

The entire Dharma Realm is our scope. All living beings live within the Dharma Realm. No matter what religion you follow, you can’t go beyond the Dharma Realm. Moreover, there is no way you can deny that you are a living being. All living beings are included within the Dharma Realm. Thus you are encompassed within Buddhism. Whether you are a good person or a bad person, you are included within Buddhism, and I consider you to be a Buddhist whether you consider yourself to be one or not.

You may say, “But I don’t believe in Buddhism.” Well, that’s your business. You are like a person who ran away from home at an early age and now no longer recognizes his own father. Even face-to-face you no longer know your father. The scope of my Buddhism includes everyone---believers and non-believers alike. Are believers real Buddhists and non-believers not Buddhists? No. Whether you believe or not, I claim you as a Buddhist. The Buddha himself said, “All living beings have the Buddha nature and all can become Buddhas.” You can’t run away. There’s no place to run to! So when my disciples want to draw near, they may do so; if they want to leave, they are free to leave. No matter where you go, I know you’ll never run beyond the Dharma Realm, and that is just my territory. 

My Buddhism has no limits. If you believe, fine. If you don’t, that’s even better. If you praise Buddhism, fine. If you slander it, it doesn’t matter. I am vigorous whether the situation is favorable or unfavorable. Even if you slander Buddhism, I will still take you across to Buddhahood. For example, yesterday Guo Li said a mosquito was biting his ear and I told him to make a vow to cross it over to Buddhahood. When you have that kind of vow power, the mosquitoes won’t bite you. Guo Tong said that a mosquito had bitten him and I told him to take it to jail. He said, “No, no, no…” Even though he was bitten, he wouldn’t lock the bug up in jail. That’s the heart of compassion.

Even though I said that I had signed a contract with the mosquitoes, some people have been bitten by them. Although a contract was signed, in all matters one should reflect upon oneself, illuminate inwardly. The first doctrine I spoke was the real one. What was that? I said that if you brought forth your true hearts to recite the Buddha’s name, no mosquitoes would bite you and no contract would be necessary. If you do not recite sincerely, but drift off in idle daydreams instead, the mosquitoes know what to look for and they’ll say, “You! You’re supposed to be cultivating and reciting the Buddha’s name but all you’re doing is day-dreaming. Okay, you can just offer me a bit of your blood. How do you like that?” They can tell just by looking, you know. If your heart is true, then,

Better would it be to change the course of a thousand rivers,
Than to disturb the mind of a cultivator of the Way.

The mosquitoes intuit, “That person is busy cultivating and reciting. No matter what, I’m not going to pester him.” Although mosquitoes are small, they can tell by looking, and they also know how to distinguish odors. If you have the “Buddha Recitation fragrance,” if your heart is true, they won’t bite you. If your heart is not true, if you’re like me, for example, and do nothing but day-dreaming, they come to beg from you all the time. The mosquitoes come to ask for a handout, and although I’m very stingy, I have to oblige and give them a little blood. 

The same is true, of course, for all of you as well. You never, ever considered giving away a penny in order to help someone else, so the mosquitoes say, “This guy is a hard case. I have to transform him in a tough way instead of gently. He’s very stingy with his blood and so I’m determined to taste it.” They are encouraging you to bring forth the thought of Bodhi, because when they sting and drink a little blood you may wake up a little, “Ah, the Saha world is truly filled with suffering.” Because the bite hurts for several days, you can know how bitter samsaric existence is, and think, “I must hurry up and recite the Buddha’s name and seek rebirth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss where there is no suffering, only happiness. There are none of the three evil paths, and no mosquitoes, ants, or other pests there either.” 

And if you do bring forth the thought of enlightenment, then the mosquitoes become your Good Advisors. They truly help you cultivate. You’ve got to turn the illumination around and reflect inwardly. Ask yourself, “Have I recited in earnest?” That’s the important point. Yesterday when I said that I had signed a contract, that was false. What I told you today is the truth.

Someone is thinking, “I came to this recitation session to hear instructional talks; why is he talking about mosquitoes?” Although the mosquitoes are small, they are a topic for a major essay. When we cultivate the Way, we should start from the small, not from the big. One proceeds from the small to the big, from the near to the far, from the lowly to the lofty. So if you can be clear about the things close at hand, you will understand what is going on at a distance.

If you don’t want to hear what I have to say, simply forget it. If you can forget it, you’re truly mindful of the Buddha. However, I feel sure that you won’t forget it today.

Someone is thinking, “I can forget. When I fall asleep I’ll forget about it.” That’s all too true.

Wednesday, August 20, 1975 (evening)

All of you participating in this session should earnestly recite the Buddha’s name so that other people will not have to suffer just because of you. If you don’t recite sincerely, it will rain, and those who are sincere will be forced to suffer because of you. If the majority of people are sincere, of course it won’t rain. There’s no question about it. When it rains, the paths are hard to walk, especially at night. It hasn’t rained now for three days, and that is a great response, but there are still four days left. We’ll have to wait and see what happens. Everyone should be mindful; be extremely earnest and sincere as you chant. Don’t be lazy and sneak off to rest, and don’t neglect to join the recitation. You’ve come from such a long distance; to be careless and flippant at this point would make the experience meaningless. So it doesn’t matter who you are, all participants in the Dharma assembly must endure the bitterness and recite the Buddha’s name. Be patient, no matter what happens, and continue to recite sincerely.

You shouldn’t sing too loudly or too softly. When it’s time to recite, don’t sing like someone asleep and then suddenly wake up and energetically babble to your friends. Don’t be like that. You should put all of your energy into reciting the Buddha’s name and visualizing Amitabha Buddha. Then you may obtain a response or observe an auspicious sign. For instance, you may see Amitabha Buddha come to rub you on the crown of your head; he may draw near and cover you with his sash; you may see Amitabha Buddha emitting light. These are all auspicious signs. You may also smell a very strong and fragrant incense, and extraordinary scent, or you may see lotuses. At night you might