(5.3) Sukhavati - A Step-By-Step Practice Guide

[Niết Bàn Tầm]

SUKHAVATI (PURE LAND BUDDHISM)

(Part 3/3)

3. BUDDHANUSMRTI PRACTICE: A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE

3.1. PREPARATION STAGE  

  Step 1: Psychological Preparation

"My achievements in this worldly life are next to nothing. My religious cultivation is also futile. It is so hard! I need to 'escape' this world for a better one so I can make progress. While I am waiting for that moment, I just need to linger around and make the very basic ends meet. I do not wish for anything else because I understand that the lighter the load the easier for me to get rid of them and leave."

The desire of being reborn in Amitābha Buddha's world is like a current unceasingly flowing inside the mind of this person. It is getting stronger and stronger to a degree that every day of this earthly existence seems like a century of waiting: "Another day has slowly gone away. Still my turn to His land has not come yet...What am I going to do?".

  Step 2: Appreciation of Amitābha Buddha's Great Vows

"The more I read His inconceivably great vows, the more I feel appreciative of them. I am highly enthused and will try to act in accordance with His vows. That is, I will help and support my beloved ones in any possible and rightful ways to make their lives as much joyful and happy as I could."

Some people in this group of lay followers (a.k.a. the 'lubu') are known to practice the recitation of Amitābha Buddha's name and tirelessly perform charitable and communal service for absolutely no material gain whatsoever. Their aim is to tame their mind by continually soaking it in these non-profit works so that it will resemble the Buddha's mind. The closer the likeness is the better.

  Why Are Preparation Steps Important?

This is because when you practice Buddhanusmrti, it is very important to have some power in your mental recitation. Otherwise, you will not make progress and successful cultivation is probably out of reach.

The following example will make it clearer. Two people are in a paper throwing contest: a strong weightlifter and a 5-year old boy.
(1)  The weightlifter uses all of his muscular power to throw the piece of paper as is. Needless to say how far this strong man can send the paper to: next to nowhere.
(2)  The little boy's turn. He wraps a stone with his piece of paper and throws. Of course, with just a little bit of force the boy can toss the paper much further than that by the strong man (Imagine how far the piece of paper could go if the second contester is not a boy but another equally strong man).

The key thing we should learn from this story is the clever use of the stone by the boy as a supplementary force to the paper so it could travel a lot further than without this added force. In other words, the man, albeit muscularly strong, is no more than an inept, clueless, and weak practitioner. On the contrary, the boy, despite being little and muscle-less, represents an adept, smart, and powerful cultivator.

Now, let's draw another analogy between a paper thrower and a Buddhanusmrti practitioner. If we see that the piece of paper represents the words of 'Namo Amitabha Buddha', what is the Buddhanusmrti representation of the stone constituting the vital force to drive the paper travel far out? This is 'faith'!

So, the Buddhanusmrti reciter should insert his/her faith in the Buddha recitation so that the words could go as far and clear as possible. The faith that there is a Buddha named Amitābha and His Land of Ultimate Bliss, that "if I cultivate correctly with devotion and perseverance I will be able to detect and hook on to His salvage signal to land/be reborn in His world", and that "till this worldly life of mine runs out of its course I will spend almost all of my energy to get myself spiritually prepared, leaving barely enough for the material needs." Such faith and mentality will surely benefit the aspirant in the Buddhanusmrti cultivation and guide his/her life accordingly (i.e., leading a life of non-attachment, free of material stimuli, peaceful and light as a shadow in this sentient world).

3.2. PRACTICE STAGE 1 – Get Used to the Techniques

o  Either lying or cross-legged posture is fine. Physical eyes are closed 100% throughout the session.

o  With a little bit of focus, you will see a dark space in front of you. When the space appears clear and stable, pick a spot that is straight from and of the same height as your ajna. Then direct your contemplation to that selected point.

o  While gazing at that point, mentally send your recitation towards it. The recitation should be made at the highest possible pitch (similar to calling out to someone). This recitation fashion could make you tired quickly. If so, lower the pitch a little bit to regain your energy and then go back up to the high pitch. Despite what pitch you are using or changing to, you should always strive to send the recited words towards the selected spot and use your mental force to push them further and further. It is worth reminding you that that since the recitation is a mental evocation of the words, there will not be any vocal sound. Also, do not move the point to a different spot or sway your contemplation away from it.

o  Breathe as normal. Alternatively, you can sync your breath with the recitation, i.e. one syllable per breath (in or out). Whichever breathing style you choose is fine as long as you feel comfortable with it.

Recited words and styles:

•  If you are a Vietnamese practitioner, use 'Nam mô A Di Đà Phật'. The recitation fashion is slow and prolonged as depicted below:
'NAAAmmmmmm...MÔÔÔôôôôôô...AAAaaaaaa...DIIIiiiiii...ĐÀÀÀàààààà...PHẬẬẬậậậậậậttt...'

•  If you are an English-speaking practitioner, use 'Namo Amitabha Buddha'. The recitation fashion is slow, prolonged, syllable by syllable as depicted below:
'NAAAaaaaaa...MOOOoooooo...AAAaaaaaa...MIIIiiiiii...TAAAaaaaaa...BHAAAaaaaaa...BUUUuuuuuu...DDHAAAaaaaaa...'

•  Or you could choose to use the following mantra: 'Om, Amitabha Hrih, Svaha'. There are two recitation styles for this mantra. Pick one as you wish.
▪  Style 1:
'OMMMmmmmmm...AAAaaaaaa...MIIIiiiiii...TAAAaaaaaa...BHAAAaaaaaa...HRRRiiiiiih...SWAHAAAaaaaaa...'
Note that the 'Om' is pronounced similarly to 'Aum' and the ending 'h' in Hrih is a voiceless sound.
▪  Style 2:
Start 'Om' in one tone and lengthen its resonance while reciting the remaining mantra in a different tone and similar manner as in style 1. The 'Om' resonance does not stop until you reach the end of the mantra. The difficulty of this reciting style is equivalent to concurrently drawing a circle with one hand and a square with another. As such, your concentration is/must be higher.

3.3. PRACTICE STAGE 2 – Work on the Red Dot

After you have practiced and felt comfortable with the techniques in stage 1 for some time, the next stage is to increase your mental force to conceptually turn the focussed point into a red dot (while you are still reciting your words towards this point as explained previously). This red dot symbolizes Amitābha Buddha's ushnisha-returning energy/light and should be about 50cm or an arm's length away from your ajna. The size of the red dot depends on your mind power and ranges from as small as a tip of a burning incense or a pepper to as big as 3cm in diameter. That means the stronger your mind power, the smaller the red dot.

To turn the concentration point into a red dot, you should follow the steps below:
(1)  Wait until your concentration is good and the focussed point is stable;
(2)  Draw the outline of the dot first;
(3)  Once the outline is done and clear, paint it with the color you want. In this case of Buddhanusmrti cultivation, the desired color is red.

Further technical advice:

▪  If for whatever reason the concentrated point turns into something other than the aspired red dot, ignore it and keep working on your painting. That means you draw and paint the red dot on top of that thing.
▪  If there is some uninvited image showing up next to or around your concentrated spot, acknowledge it without triggering any other mental activities (such as an investigating thought) or losing your concentration.
▪  Do not distract yourself by exploring the surrounding of your inner vision: how wide, how deep, what color, etc. Your energy is better spent on to the red point.
▪  Use roughly 70% of your energy in each session. There is no scientific method to compute this 70% of a person's energy. This can be understood as: Do not exhaust yourself in a single session. Cultivation is a long and hard (but eventually well worth) journey. So, think and practice long term!
▪  When the red dot appears for an instant (ksana), i.e. a very very short moment of time, good job! Start again, draw again, and paint again. Over time, your mind becomes stronger and less distracted by unwanted thoughts, and gets used to the task. This is similar to a child trying to practice biking for the first times: Sit up, pedal, wobble, fall, then get back up and try again. When the same mistake happens, think and learn from it to avoid its recurrence.

The very important thing is to not forget your recitation towards the contemplated dot. Keep doing this alongside your artistic job of drawing and painting that dot. If your paint job is not going well, do not worry: just maintain your recitation. Or sometimes the recitation appears to be stronger than the mental force applied to the working for the red dot, this is like you temporarily stop to ask for the directions before strolling on.

With persistence, it will come to a stage when the red dot appears a little bit longer. Still, its appearance is very much on and off and of hazy quality. Looking ahead the road remains long and bumpy but looking back you have made a significant progress. Well done! At this stage, you are less moody, calmer, more confident, more positive and happier. Especially, your faith has grown into a steadfast, unwavering reverence for Amitābha Buddha and His Dharma.

The duration for each session varies across practitioners (remember the 70% energy advice above!) and depends on many external factors. However, it usually ranges from twenty minutes to one hour. Yet, this time benchmark cannot explain why some can achieve this level within a week and some others are nowhere near it after ten years of practice.

A side note: Once you have attained this level, you may start to perform the service of transporting soul to Amitābha Buddha's land. In addition, your dedication becomes more beneficial to the receiver. Tibu's advice is that when you dedicate your merits and virtues to someone, give 100%. Yes, a hundred percent without holding back any slightest bit. This would help homologize your mind to Amitābha Buddha's.

3.4. PRACTICE STAGE 3 – the Red Dot Appears for 12 Seconds

While the recitation seems deeper and more profound, the red dot apparently becomes clearer and further out from your ajna. Whenever the red dot is submissive to the working of your mind power and appears for twelve seconds, it automatically moves far away, i.e. you do not (or very rarely) need to push it far out.

Because the twelve-second red dot remains largely intermittent, the destination's door is yet some distance away. You are making good progress, though. Keep practicing until when the working on the red dot is stronger than the recitation, you should know that you are strolling closer and closer to the destination, Amitābha Buddha's blissful land.

The red dot shows up more often and more steady over time. When you are able to hold it for two or three seconds, raise the reciting pitch, and drive the words harder towards it. Better still, push the red dot further and further into the space. If you notice, you will see that the area surrounding the dot gets darker. Strive to gaze at the red dot as if you are being hypnotized. When tired, change to a softer looking style, i.e. as if you are watching the fly landing on your cake. So, flexibly switch between these two contemplation fashions to suit your practice. Then comes the time when you can build the red dot, make it bright and clear, and maintain its appearance for twelve seconds. Congratulations, this is another exceptional milestone!

3.5. PRACTICE STAGE 4 – the Red Dot Appears for 40 Seconds

When the red dot is at its furthest possible spot and the recitation goes on almost automatically (i.e., with much ease), read in your mind the following keywords to enter the World of Ultimate Bliss.
▪  Phrase 1: 'The Four Great Vows' [6].
▪  Phrase 2: 'May they come true.' (for Western World of Ultimate Bliss).

In a practice session at this level, when you close your flesh eyes and direct your concentration to the space in front of your ajna. The mental vision seems near. Then, turn your focus on a smaller area inside that space, and so on, until your contemplation is fixed on one point, which is far from your ajna. Your concentration level is high. At this stage, your body, including the physical eyes, is almost totally relaxed.

When the red dot appears as small as the tip of a burning incense, your mental vision becomes more relaxed and less constrained; that is, you could turn your mental vision to left, right, near, and far with comfort and ease. The recited words also go out effortlessly.

When the red dot is clear, bright, and firm for forty seconds or more: Welcome to the Land of Ultimate Bliss! But...hmm, where is everyone? Oh, yes. Because, as explained in a previous section, your mindful contemplation has led you to the Formless Realm, i.e. the state of consciousness only, you do not see Amitābha Buddha or any resident of His world. Your mind is connected with His mind, though. You just need to move from the Formless Realm to the Form Realm. How?
(1)  Simply widen your mental vision a little bit you will see His hair and then His dharma body.
(2)  If you extend the contemplation further out to both sides of the red dot and at the negative angle of 60 degrees from your ajna, you will see the two Bodhisattvas on the two sides of Amitābha Buddha: Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva and Mahāsthāmaprāpta Bodhisattva.
(3)  Further lower your contemplation, you will see the entire Land of Ultimate Bliss.

Note: At any practice stage of 1 – 4, if you could see the Buddha's face (by means of strenuous practice, out of pure luck, or for some unknown reason) you are deemed to have reached the ninth level in His realm while still alive. Moreover, if you could see His dharma body, you should ask to borrow His TV for the sake of spreading Dharma, and converting and helping other people to practice.

There is an alternative way to put your state of mind in use at this level (i.e., the red dot is steady, bright, and lasts for at least forty seconds): Enter the Wisdom of Amitābha Buddha by visualizing His heart mantra 'Hrih'. Here is how you do that:
(1)  Mindfully recite the below mantra in a slow and prolonged fashion, at the highest possible pitch, with the strongest possible mind power, and towards the furthest possible distance from your ajna.
▪  For the rebirth of a human being's soul in His land: 'Om, Amitabha Hrih, Svaha'.
▪  For the rebirth of other sentient beings: 'Om, Krekara Krekara Hrih Hrih Hrih, Svaha'.
(2)  Visualize a red point as small as the tip of a burning incense until such conceptualized image appears in front of the ajna.
(3)  Contemplate it until it looks as real and brightly red as possible.
(4)  Visualize an Hrih inside a yellow sun as in the picture.

This conceptualized image is to replace the red dot. (A slightly different approach to visualize the Hrih image is: When you could see His face, look at His ajna and visualize it. Once the image appears, His face disappears.)
(5)  Contemplate it until the Hrih image becomes clear and bright (i.e., Hrih and the outline is red; the background of the circle is yellow; and they are all bright and shining). Then the image appears to move up higher than your ajna vision and you have to lift your mental eye to see it. Be patient and keep your mind tranquil and undistracted. This stage will come. It is just a matter of time and practice.
(6)  Evoke the phrase 'May the Four Great Vows come true!'. Something will pop up after that. As a cross-check, you should find some better and more experienced practitioner to have this thing interpreted and explained.  
(7)  The image emerged in (6) does not represent a measure of your concentration level but is the product of faith from your cultivation.
(8 )  Your recitation goes so well and automatic even if you may feel like really exhausted and unable to continue sending the words out. The Hrih image still appears as real. This state is known as Thoughtlessness (that is, 'reciting as if not reciting')

3.6. PRACTICE STAGE 5 – Only the Contemplation Is Left

Ms. 'Ba Hột Nút' [7] did attempt both ways of contemplation to enter Amitābha Buddha's world: His dharma body or His heart mantra Hrih, and concluded that they both are equally useful and effective. The red dot symbolizing the Formless Realm functions like a means to reach His world. To enter it: (1) move down to the Form Realm and discover His dharma body, or (2) fly straight to His wisdom with the Hrih and do not need to see His dharma body and His world's residents.

Once you are inside and
(1)  If His dharma body is what you are contemplating, continue with your recitation concurrently. When you could keep His dharma body for seventy seconds or more, you do not need to recite anymore. Purely focus on contemplating the image for as long as possible. Of course, you could borrow His TV for your religious service provision (as mentioned in the previous section).

(2)  If the Hrih image is what you are contemplating, keep on reciting until after the image lasts for at least seventy seconds. When you first use His wisdom to perform some religious tasks, your question may not be responded or receive any reply. No worry! It is just a matter of you being a newcomer in His world or a freshman in His university. No one is taking any notice yet. When your concentration improves, your mind power increases, and the contemplation becomes more smoothly and effortlessly, the response rate and accuracy will go up significantly. Then, your Q&A approach is as handy and powerful as the Buddha's TV.
Advice: Ask simple questions first. Check the answers yourself and have them cross-checked by practitioners of better skills and more experience for at least a year after you have attained this level. This checking is to make sure that a provided answer is not a product of your ego.

(3)  If you simply want to hold on to the red dot without the need of either (1) or (2), continue doing so for as long as you wish.  

3.7. Undisturbed Single-Mindedness And First Enlightenment

(1)  Single Mind

Striving to achieve single-mindedness is analogous to trying to find a friend by only his name (no picture, no address, nothing else). It is very difficult and requires endeavour, devotion, and perseverance. In Buddhanusmrti practice, the friend's name is Amitābha Buddha. Calling His name again and again is very tedious and tiring, and easily leads to drowsiness.

(2)  Undisturbed Mind

With great effort, you finally find the friend's house. It is only that he/she is not home yet. At this stage of Buddhanusmrti practice, you will feel uplifted and fully alert as if you are watching the Monkey King, a very popular Chinese movie. You will be even more wakeful and find it really hard to go back to sleep when the red dot appears a couple of times. The state of being mindfully undisturbed reaches a higher level when you could see the face of Amitābha Buddha (who you have been calling out to for a while).

Tibu's experience and further comments:

▪  After the Buddha's face appears, there will be some significant changes in the practitioner's temperament and personality. He/she handles his/her work in a moral, sensible, considerate, and thoughtful manner. In normal life, this person becomes kinder, gentler, and purer. These changes should happen sooner rather than later.
▪  The Buddhanusmrti techniques described in the previous sections is a way to achieve the undisturbed single-mindedness. While the practitioner fixes his/her mind onto one point in front of the ajna and concurrently strenuously send the recited words towards that single dot, he/she can easily lose the body awareness. Hence come the state of single-mindedness and its associated tranquillity. The more the practitioner is absorbed in that state, the clearer the red dot becomes (Needless to say, only Buddhahood possesses the highest level of undisturbed single-mindedness). When the state of peaceful, undisturbed, undistracted mind is almost always ubiquitous. It will be absolutely wonderful if the practitioner dedicates this peacefulness to someone. Doing so means he/she spreads his/her loving-kindness to that person.
▪  When a cultivator could attain and maintain the one-pointedness of the mind easily and effortlessly, he/she could sit and gaze at the blank TV screen for four hours as if he/she is watching a very thrilling movie. Any outsider (i.e., who does not know that the cultivator is in the state of single-mindedness) may look at the cultivator completely baffled, thinking "This person is not a meditator but a MADitator!".
▪  At each practice stage, a cultivator could experience some certain degree of a tranquil and single mind. Sometimes Tibu needs to mimic how this person practices to understand his/her state of mind.

(3)  First Stage of Enlightenment

When you have reached stage 4 in the Buddhanusmrti practice, you could at times mindfully evoke the term 'Enlightened' while contemplating the Buddha's dharma body or the Hrih image. If you become enlightened for the first time [8], you are effectively a Stream Winner (Sotapanna) [9]. This is the first stage of sainthood.

In this worldly life, we are easily attracted by each other's physical beauty. Once hooked and in love we could follow each other for incarnation after incarnation. Now imagine that we have found the absolutely unsurpassable beauty of all sentient beings: The TRUTH. How could we not fall in love forever and forever!

What happens after you become a Stream Winner? You will surely experience significant changes in your personality and temperament such as those explained above. In addition, you will also undergo the so-called 'concurrent cause and effect' or 'concurrent action and result'. If you are stubborn and attempt to make a bad cause (i.e., do something bad), you will certainly suffer from its negative effect within a couple of days, and the effect lasts for no less than a week. So, the law of karma works on a Stream Winner at a much faster and more intense rate. This is because the enlightened mind of the Stream Winner no longer likes defilement of any sort.

3.8. Western Land of Ultimate Bliss

Amitābha Buddha's land has two sections: the first part is in front of Him and the second part is behind His back. Tibu's experience is that it is easier to enter the front section than the back section. This is because the front section is for those who have not yet finished their cultivation and are still influenced by the Five Aggregates (pañcaskandha) [10]. Every soul in this land is sitting in a lotus flower. The stronger the soul identifies with or clings to these aggregates, the heavier it is, which causes the lotus flower to sink and less open at the top. On the other hand, when the soul is less attached to these aggregates, it becomes lighter and the lotus flower floats up higher and opens wider.

Therefore, the extent of attachment to the five aggregates will define where a soul should be among the nine ranks (3 grades of 3 levels each) in the Pure Land. It could start at the first level of the first grade and move up through cultivation. Or the soul could be reborn in the fourth level, for example, due to past good karma and cultivates its way up from there.

The lotus flower: There are two ways to look at a lotus flower in the Buddha's land: horizontally to its side or vertically down to its top. The side view of the flower suggests that it has only five petals, which represent the Five Aggregates. The view from above the flower shows the actual eight petals, which represent the Noble Eightfold Path.

The second section behind Amitābha Buddha's back has a large number of stupas, which locate entrances to Impure Worlds. Residents in this section are Once Returners, who are waiting for their turn to travel back to their desired world and help save their beloved ones. Once Returners are from the front section, have successfully cultivated the ninth level, and vow to go back for the salvation of sentient beings. If they do not make their vows they will not be shifted to the second section yet.

Although making a vow does not seem difficult at all, these ninth level residents, quite often, do not remember the ultimate cause of their Sukhavati cultivation. This is quite understandable: They are happy in the Land of Ultimate Bliss. And this is also why Bodhisattvas from the impure worlds sometimes show up and tap their shoulders to remind them about their vows. A reminder may run as "Come on, buddy! Your loved ones and many others are waiting for you to return and help them. You'd better make your vows and come to their rescue." When these ninth level residents remember and make the vows, they become faint or enter a state of unconsciousness before flying to the back section and awaiting their return trip: 'Knowingly Enter and Knowingly Exit the Womb' (which means they are entirely conscious of where they want to be reborn and are fully equipped with the knowledge of religious cultivation at birth).

Further information:

As explained in stage 4 that when your Buddhanusmrti cultivation goes so well your mind is anchored at as high as the ninth level. This is when your red dot is clear, bright, and lasts for at least forty seconds; and you could see Amitābha Buddha's dharma body. Better still, if your cultivation reaches to a level where His dharma body appears with all details, brightly shining and emitting auspicious light, and you could easily visualize and comfortably contemplate His image all day long (i.e., 24/24), your mind now belongs to the highest realm in the World of Form (Akanistha). Compared to the ninth level residents in the Pure Land, those in this realm (not far from the Pure Land) must attain a higher degree of tranquillity and have experienced the cessation of sensations and perceptions. Therefore, it takes a longer time for a cultivator to achieve this state of mind. However, the residents in this realm also often forget their cultivation purpose and make their vows to return to the impure worlds.


Remember: "They can do it. So can I!"


Endnotes:
[6] The four great vows are as follows: 'However innumerable sentient beings are I vow to save them all; However inexhaustible afflictions are I vow to extinguish them all; However immeasurable Dharma Teachings are I vow to master them all; However unsurpassable the Buddha's Way is I vow to follow it.' Should you wish, you could evoke these four great vows in lieu of the simple phrase 1.
[7] Ms. 'Ba Hột Nút', a.k.a. Ms. Vân and one of Master Tibu's first disciples, passed away in January 2008 as a Bodhisattva. She attained the Cessation of Sensations and Perceptions (Nirodha Samapatti) within an astonishingly short period of time, 3 months. She mastered all three practices: Theravada, Sukhavati, and Vajrayana.
[8] When someone attains the first stage of enlightenment, the common symptoms include headache and dizziness, which could last from as short as a couple of hours to as long as 24 hours.
[9] The stream represents the Noble Eightfold Path: Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. A Sotapanna is one who possesses this Noble Eightfold Path and is on the way to Nirvana. See 'The Buddha and His Teachings" by Narada Mahathera for more information.
[10] These five aggregates are the body (rūpa), feelings (vedanā), perceptions (saṃjñā), mental activities (saṃskāra), and consciousness (vijñāna).