Why can sentient beings with bad karma be reborn in the Pure Land Sukhāvatī even if they only chant the Buddha's name ten times before their death?

Lecture by Master Zhiyi

Question: Living beings have created countless bad karma for a long time. If they do not meet a good teacher in this life, they will end up doing all kinds of evil. When sentient beings with bad karma are dying, if they recite the name of the Buddha ten times, they can be reborn in the Pure Land Sukhāvatī, beyond the three realms. From the perspective that good and evil cause and effect correspond to retribution, how does this make sense?

Answer: It is unknown how strong or weak the good and evil karma that sentient beings have done since time immemorial is. However, if you can encounter the teachings of a good teacher when you are dying, chant the Buddha's name and seek rebirth in Sukhāvatī, and follow the teachings, you will definitely be able to be reborn in the Land Sukhāvatī. That's because the good deeds in the past life are very strong, so you can meet good teachers and teach you to recite the Buddha's name and achieve rebirth in the Pure Land.

People with strong bad karma in their past lives cannot even meet good teachers, let alone achieve success by chanting the Buddha's name ten times.

You think that the power of bad karma from beginningless time is very heavy, but the power of reciting the Buddha's name ten times before death is very light. In fact, this severity is not certain. It does not depend on the length of time or the severity of the sin, but is determined by the following three factors: 1. Heart, 2. Affinity, 3. Determination.

1. In the heart, it means that when committing sinful karma, it arises from false and perverted thoughts. Those who recite the Buddha's name recite the Buddha's name with a sincere heart after hearing the method of reciting the Buddha's name taught by good teachers and knowing the merits of Amitabha's name. From this we can see that committing sins is an illusory mind, while reciting Buddha's name is a true mind. How can this illusion and reality be compared?

For example, there is a room that has been dark for ten thousand years. When it was illuminated by sunlight, the darkness immediately disappeared. Will the darkness not disappear just because it has been dark for ten thousand years?

2. Affinity: causes and conditions.

This means that when one commits sinful karma, he or she arises out of a false and foolish mind and is caused by a false state. The mind of reciting the Buddha's name is born from hearing the pure and true merits of the Buddha, and is born from the supreme bodhicitta.

These two kinds of fate, one real and one fake, how can they be compared? For example, if someone is shot by a poisonous arrow, although the arrow hits deep, the poison has penetrated into the muscles and bones. However, as soon as you hear the sound of the poison-removing drum, the poison arrows will immediately fall out in response to the sound, and at the same time the poison will be removed from the body. It does not mean that the poison will not be excreted from the body on its own just because it has penetrated into the muscles and bones.

3. Determination.

It means that when you commit sins, you commit sins intermittently with the foolishness and delusion that you will commit again in the future. As for those who recite the Buddha's name, they have made up their minds to escape from the three realms and have no desire to be reincarnated in the human world. They continue to recite the Buddha's name uninterrupted until the end of their lives.

Because this kind intention is so strong, he can be reborn in the Pure Land. For example, if there is a very thick rope, only ten people can hold it, but a thousand people can't pull it. And a child can cut it in one stroke with a sharp sword. Another example is firewood that has been piled up for a thousand years. It only needs a small flame as small as a bean to burn it all in one go. Another example is a person who has been practicing ten good deeds throughout his life. According to logic, he should be reborn in heaven.

However, when he was dying, he suddenly had an unswerving wrong view, and this wrong view immediately caused him to fall into the Avīci Hell. You see, although the bad karma is illusory, because it is very powerful, it can also eliminate the ten good karma he has practiced in his life, causing him to fall into the evil path. What's more, when you are dying (hell and other sufferings are present), recite the Buddha's name with a brave heart (desperately seeking help). This kind of real and uninterrupted good karma (the merit power of chanting the Buddha's name) can naturally eliminate the beginningless bad karma, and then you can be reborn in Sukhāvatī!

The Buddhist sutras also say that as long as you recite the Buddha's name with a clean mind, you can eliminate the serious sins of life and death for eight billion kalpas. Therefore, when you recite the Buddha's name, because your mind is so strong, you can suppress your bad karma, so you will definitely be able to be reborn in the Pure Land. You don't need to doubt this. In the past, some people interpreted the achievement of reciting the Buddha's name ten times as "only by reciting the Buddha's name ten times at the moment of death can one be reborn in the Pure Land in his next life." This is a wrong statement. Why?

Mahāyānasaṃgraha says: 'This is just a vow, there is no actual practice.' Abhidharma-samuccaya says: 'If you are willing to be reborn in the land of peace and happiness (Sukhāvatī), you can be reborn there successfully. If you hear the name of "No stains Buddha (Amitābha)", you can attain Buddhahood.' All of this only talks about the causes that are planted initially and the results that are achieved in the end, but omits the long period of practice in between. But! If someone interprets the good deeds of chanting the Buddha's name ten times vigorously before death (without leakage) as being able to be reborn in the Pure Land in the future life, I don't know how many people will be misled! I hope that all practitioners will think deeply about the principles underlying this, strengthen their own beliefs, and not be misled by evil views, so as to avoid falling.

"A Treatise on Ten Doubts about the Pure Land Buddhism": The Eighth Question

為什麼惡業眾生臨終十念也能往生

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