Who
is Amitabha?
According
to Mahayana Buddhist sutras he was a king in the remote period
of time. Renouncing his kingdom, he became a monk and was named
Dharmakara, which means 'Treasury of Dharma'. Inspired by the
teachings of the then Buddha of that time, Lokesvaraja Buddha,
who taught him the way to supreme enlightenment many aeons ago,
he made forty eight great vows for the saving of the sentient
beings. The Eighteenth Vow, which is the basis of the Pure Land,
ran like this: 'If upon the attainment of Buddhahood all sentient
beings in the ten quarters who aspire in sincerity and faith
to be reborn in my land, recite my name up to ten times and
fail to be born there, then may I not attain the Perfect Enlightenment…'
Since
then, the Bodhisattva Dharmakara, after five aeons of self-cultivation,
finally attained the Supreme Enlightenment and became the Buddha
Amitabha. This means that his grand and infinitely compassionate
vow is now a reality, the paradise known as Pure Land or Sukhavati
has been established, suffering beings must and will be delivered
if only they will have the full faith to call upon his name.
Calling
the Buddha's name with full faith is known to the Chinese as
'NIEN-FWO' meaning 'Prayer-recitation'. The Japanese term for
this practice is known as 'Nembutsu'. In this practice three
important qualities must be present in the mind: Sincerity,
Faith and Aspiration to be reborn in the Pure Land. The simple
prayer or formula that one needs to repeat is:
"NAMO
O-MI-TO FWO"
One
may repeat it in Sanskrit 'Namo Amitabha Buddha' which literally
mans 'Homage to the Amitabha Buddha ' or 'I seek refuge in the
Amitabha Buddha'.
