From doctor to patient: shifting our mindset

In my previous article, I proposed that we must recognize our role as “patients” in the Pure Land teaching of deliverance. Accordingly, we must shift our mindset. Instead of striving to become a buddha or bodhisattva, a “doctor” or “benefactor,” by practicing to cultivate abundant merit and virtues, we should embrace our identity as an ordinary being (a recipient) through belief in and acceptance of Amitabha Buddha’s deliverance. We are therefore merely patients.

Here, “we” refers to Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike, who acknowledge their nature as ordinary beings trapped in the endless cycle of birth and death (samsara) within the Six Realms of the defiled land. This refers to our world called “Saha,” meaning “to tolerate suffering.” This acknowledgment stems from the experience of our reality, not merely intellectual understanding.

This self-awareness aligns with what Master Shandao describes in his Commentary on the Contemplation Sutra as the “First Kind of Deep Faith.” He writes:

We are iniquitous ordinary beings subject to endless rebirth in (samsara). Since time immemorial, we have died and been reincarnated, without any causal conditions to leave the cycle of birth-and-death.

The Contemplation Sutra presents Queen Vaidehi as a model for understanding the reality of the world and for awareness of the nature of ordinary beings living there. Her experience illustrates how an ordinary being can develop this “first kind of determinant deep faith,” followed by the “second kind of determinant deep faith.”

The two kinds of deep faith as the gateway to the Pure Land

Master Shandao defines the “Second Kind of Deep Faith” as believing that “Amitabha Buddha embraces and receives all sentient beings with his 48 Vows. Without doubt or anxiety, we are certain of rebirth [in the Pure Land] with recourse to the power of his vows.”

This is the main theme of the Infinite Life Sutra as spoken by Shakyamuni Buddha.

Understanding this relationship with Amitabha Buddha is essential for all Pure Land practitioners. Amitabha, through his own initiative, made profound vows, cultivated merit and virtues, and dedicated them for our deliverance in his Land of Bliss. Practitioners need only accept Amitabha’s compassionate deliverance and exclusively recite his Name.

The two kinds of determinant deep faith serve as the entry point of the Pure Land gateway for all Pure Land practitioners, and all those who seek rebirth in the Pure Land. These two kinds of deep faith are one entity, non-dual, interdependent, and inseparable. Their relationship is like that of a donor and a recipient, doctor and patient, teacher and student, and so on.

The two causal conditions: the loathing of suffering and the yearning for purity

What happened to Queen Vaidehi in the Contemplation Sutra? What circumstances led her to aspire for rebirth in the Land of Bliss? Her awakening was triggered and driven by two causal conditions:

1. The loathing of suffering (Skt: duhkha-nirvid).
2. The yearning for purity (Skt: shaucha-kama).

In a tragic coup, Queen Vaidehi and her husband the king were placed under house arrest by her son. Then their son tried to commit both patricide and regicide by starving him to death. In her despair, Queen Vaidehi pleaded with Shakyamuni Buddha to send his disciples to comfort her before she and the king perished. To her surprise, the Buddha appeared before her.

Weeping, Queen Vaidehi begged the Buddha:

“World-Honored One, please reveal to me a land without sorrow or affliction where I can be reborn. I do not wish to remain in this evil defiled world of Jambudvipa, filled with hells, hungry spirits, animals, and vile beings. I wish that in the future, I will no longer hear evil words or see wicked people.”

She knelt and repented, imploring the Buddha: “I entreat you, O Sun-like Buddha, to teach me how to visualize a land of pure karmic perfection.” Through her suffering, Queen Vaidehi gained insight into the nature of this defiled, evil world and the plight of vile ordinary beings. She was fed up with evil words being spoken by wicked people.

Purity as distinct from worldly happiness

Queen Vaidehi knew the principles of retribution for good and evil karma, the Law of Cause and Effect in the three periods of time, and reincarnation within the Six Realms, as taught by the Buddha. She interpreted the worldly concepts of suffering and happiness, from the point of view of the Buddhist teachings of good virtues and evil offences.

Therefore, Vaidehi concluded that the Saha world is “filled with hells, hungry spirits, animals, and vile beings,” and there is no real happiness if she continues to be reborn in the Saha world. Isn’t that a true description of the world in which we live? She wished to be reborn in “a land without sorrow or afflictions,” without hearing any evil words, or seeing any wicked people.

Moreover, Queen Vaidehi understood that sorrow and afflictions result from evil karma, according to the Law of Cause and Effect. So she asked the Buddha to teach her how to practice for pure karmic perfection, in order to attain rebirth in a pure land, with a pure body and pure mind in the next life. It was her causal conditions that led her to yearn for purity rather than happiness.

Purity means no attachment to or no contamination by the “six dusts.” They are sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, and thought. These “dusts” can be misleading and stimulate our sense organs and satisfy our sensual desires only temporarily. They may give us a feeling of joy for a while; however, we eventually suffer from the loss of pleasure when conditions change, just like Vaidehi.

There is a saying in Buddhism: “suffering can inspire an ordinary being to seek enlightenment.” Thus, Shakyamuni Buddha revealed the truth of suffering in the Four Noble Truths in his first sermon. Queen Vaidehi may have had no motivation to loathe the defiled world, but because of her suffering, she yearned for purity and wished to attain rebirth in a pure land. Isn’t this the general mindset of Pure Land practitioners?

Related features from BDG

Our Role in Amitabha’s Teaching of Deliverance to the Pure Land
Establishing Faith in the Pure Land Teaching in the Context of Practice
The Bridge Between the Teachings of Shakyamuni and Amitabha

More from Pristine Pure Land Teaching by Alan Kwan