13th Pureland Patriarch Yinguang:
One needs to understand that the pureland practice completely depends on faith and aspiration. With faith and aspiration, one is able to go to Sukhavati even if one doesn’t have samadhi or reached the stage of single pointed mind without distractions.
Do not take single-pointed mind without distractions as your main goal and neglect faith and aspiration. I’m afraid that when you speak of such lofty goals, you will not receive any concrete benefit. Not emphasizing faith and aspiration, you would not connect (deeply) to Buddha Amitabha and will only remain in this world of five degenerations and suffer.
~~
In another letter, the Venerable master reiterates:
“The practice of reciting Amitabha emphasizes on faith, aspiration and action. If you simply recite without generating faith and making aspirations, even if you manage to attain single-pointed samadhi, it is not certain that you will take rebirth in Sukhavati. But it is certain that if you have genuine faith and ardent aspiration, you will take rebirth in Sukhavati by the compassionate power of Amitabha even if you do not have the quality of single-pointed mind without distractions.”
~~
As long as you are a sentient being who meets the pureland practice, you need to believe in the limitless sufferings of samsara and the limitless happiness experienced in Sukhavati.
One must believe in the heaviness of one’s karmic obscurations from many past lives and think that without relying on Amitabha’s power, it would be very difficult to get out of samsara. You need to believe that if you aspire strongly for pureland, it is for sure that you will be reborn in Sukhavati when the time comes.
You must believe that reciting Amitabha will elicit his compassionate blessings and protection. When one’s mind is resolutely convinced of this point and wishes to get out of samsara like a prisoner who wishes to be freed from prison, there wouldn't be the slightest reluctance or clinging to our present lives.
Going to Sukhavati is like a wanderer who finally returns to his homeland. How could one entertain any thought of laziness or procrastination?
