Dharma Master Jingjie
Master Lianchi, the eighth Pureland patriarch, was seventeen when he passed the
imperial examinations and earned a government position. It could be said that he was quite famous in
that region. Later, he saw his neighbour, an old woman, holding prayer beads
and chanting Amitabha all day long. He felt it was odd and asked her, "Old
lady, why are you always chanting Amitabha?"
The old woman said, "When my husband was alive, he chanted Amitabha very
devoutly, and because my husband chanted like this, when he was about to die,
he had absolutely no pain or illness. This was very unusual. Also, on his
deathbed, he called me to his bedside and said goodbye to me very clearly.
After he died, his body remained soft and flexible, and even had a fragrance.
Therefore, I developed faith in the practice of chanting Amitabha."
After hearing this, Master Lianchi was deeply affected. That night he wrote
four characters in his study: "The matter of birth and death is
paramount." He felt that although chasing fame and position was useful,
right mindfulness at the moment of death was much more important, therefore,
(resolving) the matter of birth and death was the topmost priority.
He began to cultivate, bowing and chanting Amitabha every day. Later, through
the blessings of Amitabha, his virtuous roots ripened and he became a monk at
the age of twenty-two. After becoming a
monk, he travelled everywhere to study. At the age of twenty-five, having been
a monk for about three or four years, he arrived at Mount Yunqi. He felt the
environment in this place was quite good, so he built a hut to practice
cultivation there.
One year, a very severe drought occurred at Mount Yunqi, which meant it hadn't
rained for several weeks and this was very serious. The people could no longer
make a living, they went up the mountain, saying, "There is a Dharma
Master practicing up here, let's ask him to bring rain." People in those days thought that all Dharma
Masters knew methods to bring rain.
Master Lianchi responded, "I don't know any method for bringing rain; I
just bow and chant Amitabha every day." But these devotees insisted,
"Dharma Master, it doesn't matter.
Regardless of what you practice, as long as you make the heavens rain,
it will be fine." Master Lianchi said, "How about this, I will lead
everyone (to pray for rain)."
Master Lianchi took a small wooden fish (Dharma instrument) and chanted 'Namo
Amitabha' as he struck the wooden fish rhythmically and walked around the
village thrice. He also walked around the crop fields thrice. When these three
rounds were almost finished, it rained right there and then. Inconceivably, the
Naga Kings obediently sent rain.
With our usual state of mind, it is difficult for us to fulfill our wishes
because we have many obstacles. However, when your mind is single-pointedly
fused with Amitabha’s name, it is a different matter altogether. If you walk from
this place to Taipei, your physical strength is limited; if you get on a train,
your speed becomes faster. Why? Because you have the assistance of the train.
Why was Master Lianchi able to pray for rain and bring rain immediately? I
believe that Master Lianchi had not been a monk for long at that time, so it
was not the power of his precept discipline, concentration, and wisdom. Rather, his clear mind that believed in
Amitabha with joy, combined with his practice of the Bodhisattva path, caused
him to resonate with Amitabha.
A Dharma classmate at the Buddhist college whom I was close to bowed to
Amitabha three thousand times daily during those three years he studied at the
Buddhist college. With every bow, he also chanted Amitabha ten times. That was
equivalent to doing three thousand bows and chanting Amitabha thirty thousand
times daily.
Can you imagine what the state of mind is like when a person is constantly
mindful of Amitabha? I will tell you so you can see what it’s like. When this
Dharma Master first became a monk, I thought that he didn't have much
merits/fortune. He used to be a factory worker.
After practicing Amitabha everyday, if the thought arose that he needed a new
pillow, someone would immediately offer him a pillow. If his cup broke and he
thought of buying a cup, someone would just offer him a cup. After he graduated
from the Buddhist college, he wanted to find a place to cultivate. A lay
practitioner in Luodong offered to build him a hut, did up the place nicely and
invited him to live there. When he wanted to cultivate, someone prepared a hut
for him.
In recent years, he came to see me, and I asked, "Do you still bow as much
now?" He said he bows very little now. Then I asked, "Does the
spiritual response of ‘wishes coming true’ still happen now?" He said it
doesn't happen now. This is because one is only relying on one’s own power now.
What power could an ordinary person have? Think about it.
In Bodhisattva Nagarjuna's Mahaprajnaparamita Sastra, it says that the merits
of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas can be shared with sentient beings, but their
virtuous roots cannot be shared. Amitabha Buddha has infused his name with all
the merits he has accumulated and cultivated over countless eons.
He aspired that his name would represent his qualities, merits, infinite light
and infinite life. Whenever anyone's mind comes into contact with Amitabha’s
name, they will avoid having incomplete sensory faculties, an inferior female
rebirth and achieve a noble body, be able to accomplish vast merits and receive
the protection of devas and human.
