Robin Beck

Waking up to the Pure Land

Nirvana, Deathlessness, & Emptiness

"If the minds of the people are impure, their land is also impure, but if their minds are pure, so is their land. There are not two lands, pure or impure in themselves. The difference lies solely in the good or evil of our minds." -- Nichiren

The terms pure and impure appear in the Agamas/Nikyas and are synonymous with unconditioned and conditioned. Other synonyms of 'pure' are unborn, unbecome, unmade, and deathless. Annicca {impermanent}, dukkhá {unsatisfactory}, and anattá {not self} are qualities of that which is impure, conditioned, born, become, made, and mortal. As to what causes impurity:

"Luminous, monks, is the mind. And it is defiled by incoming defilements." -- The Buddha

Mind here is 'citta' meaning heart-mind or alaya/amala; that is the 8th/9th consciousness. It is not the brain {mano/manas}, nor is it the physical heart {hridaya}. Alaya refers to the impure, conditioned citta; amala is the pure, unconditioned citta. Defilements are Klesha/Bonno -- things like the 3 poisons, 5 afflictions, or 10 defilements. Those are what are "evil."

To the best of my knowledge, the Pali Canon tells us how to wake up, and what we wake up from; but not exactly what we wake up to. It does say it is there:

"Luminous, monks, is the mind. And it is freed from incoming defilements."-- The Buddha

Also:

"There is an unborn,an unbecome, an unmade, an unconditioned. If there were not, there could be no escape from what is born, become, made, and conditioned. But since there is an unborn [eternity], an unbecome [joy], an unmade [true self], an unconditioned [purity], therefore is there release from what is born [impermanent], become [unsatisfactory], made [not self], and conditioned [impure]."-- The Buddha

The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra tells us that we wake up to true self, eternity, purity, and joy. The Impure reformed is Pure, Annicca reformed is Eternity, Dukkha reformed is Joy, and Anatta reformed is True Self. These appear to be in the Lotus Sutra as: Superior Practices {true self}, Firmly Established or Enduring Practices {eternity}, Pure Practices {purity}, and Boundless Practices {joy}.

When we are awake, our land is the Buddha Field or Pure Land.

Eyes Of The World

Right outside this lazy summer home
You aint got time to call your soul a critic no.
Right outside the lazy gate of winters summer home,
Wondrin where the nut-thatch winters,
Wings a mile long just carried the bird away.

Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world,
The heart has its beaches, its homeland and thoughts of its own.
Wake now, discover that you are the song that the mornin brings,
But the heart has its seasons, its evenins and songs of its own.

There comes a redeemer, and he slowly too fades away,
And there follows his wagon behind him thats loaded with clay.
And the seeds that were silent all burst into bloom, and decay,
And night comes so quiet, its close on the heels of the day.

Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world,
The heart has its beaches, its homeland and thoughts of its own.
Wake now, discover that you are the song that the mornin brings,
But the heart has its seasons, its evenins and songs of its own.

Sometimes we live no particular way but our own,
And sometimes we visit your country and live in your home,
Sometimes we ride on your horses, sometimes we walk alone,
Sometimes the songs that we hear are just songs of our own.

Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world,
The heart has its beaches, its homeland and thoughts of its own.
Wake now, discover that you are the song that the mornin brings,
But the heart has its seasons, its evenins and songs of its own.

Robert Hunter

Posted by rbeck at February 13, 2007 05:17 AM