In this episode, Master shares insights from the Amitabha Sutra: that the Land of Amitabha exists, and that part of Buddhism’s rich treasury comes from the recordings of His disciples’ experiences across the different planes of existence.
So we come back to the Amitabha Sutra. “Amitabha” means “the infinite Light.” So this Buddha has infinite (inner Heavenly) Light, boundless (inner Heavenly) Light. So when this queen of India had longed so much to see the Buddha, He appeared to her in the prison. Now, He appeared together with one of His disciples, and took the queen by the hand and led her to another land of existence. Now scientists have proved to us that there are many lands, many planes of existence in the Universe. Some have people; some, they have not yet discovered if they are peopled or not peopled.
Now our Buddha – the Shakyamuni Buddha – has discovered long, long, long ago that there are planes of existence which are peopled, like ours, or some are different from ours. Some are more advanced in technology; some are less advanced in technology. Some are more civilized than ours; some are less civilized than ours. So, when the queen went over there to that Land, she saw that the earth of that Plane was covered with gold, with crystal. And all the houses, the buildings are built in the air, not on the earth, and built with all kinds of precious stones, like lapis lazuli, like crystals, pearls, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, etc. And she was thinking, “What a beautiful Land it is.”
And the people who live there, well, they look similar to us, but they are more beautiful in appearance. And also, they do not walk; they do not need transportation like we do. They kind of fly. Whenever they want to go somewhere, they just fly. And whenever they want to come back, they fly back. And every kind of clothing or necessity will just appear to them whenever they need [it]. There is no need to go shopping and waiting for parking, and all this trouble. And no change money and all this kind of thing.
And also, in that Land, there is a kind of nectar, a pool of nectar, where if one bathes oneself in it or one drinks a little from it, then one will feel different: feel enlightened, refreshed and full of spiritual insight. Even in that Land, the bird(-people) and the trees will speak the Dharma. “Dharma” is the Sanskrit term for Teaching – Teaching in a verbal language. Also, sometimes it means the sentient beings. All kinds of phenomena in the Universe, it also means Dharma. Also, Dharma in the subtle sense means that that is a subtle Teaching, the invisible Teaching, the Truth. So it can be explained in many ways.
Now, in that Land of Amitabha Buddha, all the bird(-people) and the trees, the winds speak the Dharma. And when people listen to this so-called Dharma, they will have more faith in the Supreme, more faith in the Buddhas, in the practitioners, the assembly of the Saints, and in the teaching of the Saints. Now, when we come to think of the Amitabha Land, it’s truly just like a fairy tale. How can the earth be covered with gold? How can the houses be built in mid-air and not fall down? How can all the walls and roofs be made with crystals, diamonds, rubies, all kinds of precious stones, etc.? Here we fight over a piece of diamond if it is large enough. Well, we have to work very hard for many weeks in order to buy a small drop of diamond. I would say a drop; it looks like a drop of water. It is just a little bit harder. So, just to buy a drop of diamond, you have to spend a lot of money.
Now, in that Land, they use diamonds, crystals, rubies, etc. to build their houses. Can you imagine? So, that is one of the points why the Christians or the other religions could not believe in Buddhism. It is because the Buddha spoke too much. It is because His disciples spoke too much. What we call “talkative” in Chinese. Loquacious.
The Buddha did not speak, actually. He did not tell us all this. It is the disciples of the Buddha, overhearing all these experiences, fantastic stories, [who] wrote them down for others to enjoy. For example, sometimes my so-called disciples… Please allow me to call them that way. I feel very shy, but there is no other name so that you will understand their relationship with me. Or you can call them my students. “Students”? Then they will think I teach in a university. Yes, yes. It is also a kind of university, a Celestial university in which I teach.
Now, my disciples, sometimes they also wrote down their stories of where the Master had taken them to which Land, or to which country of the Universe to visit. And they wrote them down as their own inner experiences for them to check up their progress. Well, that we must do. That we must do anyhow. So if he died, after my so-called disciple died, what happens then? Maybe his nephews, his grandson, granddaughter will accidentally inherit this kind of so-called spiritual diary. And inside, there will be full of inner experiences, like today he has heard the Buddha speak what to him. Today [Supreme] Master Ching Hai took him to which Buddha’s Land, and introduced him to whatever Master over there, or to which Buddha, or maybe took him to see (Lord) Jesus, maybe took him to see Maria or Santa Clara, whatever. Then he all wrote it down. Then this book, if it is interesting enough, the nephew, the grandson, granddaughter, maybe will just publish it. And then it becomes one of maybe the Buddhist Sutras. That’s what happened with all the sutras in Buddhism. The sutras, or the so-called scriptures had not been accumulated or written down until one hundred years afterward. Before that it was only spoken through word of mouth, and His disciples also did not write them down. They just listened to them through… What is “story tellers?” (Story teller.) Storyteller? (Yes.) It’s not nice. Raconteur (gifted storyteller) is nicer.
So, you see, that’s why the Buddhist scriptures are so vast and so rich in number. Because all the disciples’ stories are many, many. Because Buddha lived to the very old age of 80, so His disciples are many, and the stories, no doubt, many. And also, in India at that time, it was very peaceful and no one persecuted the Buddha or any of His followers. So they enjoyed a prosperous time, and they had time to write down and to preserve these precious memories of those disciples. Whereas with (Lord) Jesus Christ, He had to work in darkness, to work in hiding. If you [have] read the story, you would know. And He was only famous a little bit – after three-and-a-half years, they had killed Him. So, afterward, all the disciples had to separate in different directions and were also working under cover, not very open. Therefore, even if they had any inner experiences, they could not write [them] down or they couldn’t be well preserved. Because the people, the government of that time would search for them and would destroy all of them.
So we have just noticed, the Amitabha Land looks like a fairy tale story. So many people will think, “Well, that is some imagination, hallucination or maybe illusion.” So, according to some Christian believers, Buddhism is a kind of imagination, hallucination or something. No, no, no. I tell you the truth: the Land of Amitabha exists. Some of my disciples have visited it after initiation, or some of them visit it right at the time of initiation, because it doesn’t take long to visit these “countries.” It’s just a second, you can go, and a second, you come back. A fraction of a second. It all depends on the openness of our mind or the inner channel. Everything is within; there is nothing we can find without.
Photo Caption: “Veg of the Wild”
