Talk:Sukhavati

I'm writing this short essay for the wiki. Because the longer sutra is not yet published by 84000 I can't link to exact place in the sutra but would it be suitable if I add the appropriate references?

Besides receiving the most praise and most detailed description in the Mahayana sutras, one of the main reasons Sukhavati became the most popular Pure Land, is that it is said to be the easiest for practitioners to be reborn in. Unlike many other pure lands, which require achievement of at least the first bhumi, rebirth in Sukhavati can be attained by ordinary beings, solely through their faith in Amitabha and their heartfelt wish to be reborn in his pure land.

This is because of one of the 48 vows Amitabha made in a previous life as the monk Dharmakara, as listed in the Amitabhavyuha Sutra:

Vow 18: If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings in the lands of the ten directions who sincerely and joyfully entrust themselves to me, desire to be born in my land, and think of me even ten times should not be born there, may I not attain perfect enlightenment. Excluded, however, are those who commit the five crimes with immediate retribution and abuse the Right Dharma.

Whereas the 18th Vow is emphasized in the East-Asian Pure Land schools, most tibetan commentators emphasize the twentieth Vow, which is the primary basis for the Four Causes of Rebirth in Sukhavati mentioned below:

Vow 20. If, when I attain buddhahood, sentient beings in the lands of the ten directions who, having heard my Name, concentrate their thoughts on my land, plant roots of virtue, and sincerely transfer their merits toward my land with a desire to be born there should not eventually fulfill their aspiration, may I not attain perfect enlightenment.

Another reason for Sukhavati's popularity is the protection of Amitabha’s vows, which ensures one will never again be reborn in the three lower realms or regress on the path to Buddhahood once one is reborn there. The importance of this should not be underestimated, because as Shakyamuni warns us in the longer Sutra, “millions of bodhisattvas, fall back in their progress towards full awakening, because they have not heard discourses on the Dharma such as the these”. Once reborn in Sukhavati, one can stay there until one reaches enlightenment because ones lifespan is as limitless as that of Amitayus. Or, following Samantabhadras Vows, one can return to the human and deva realms and perform boundless bodhisattva activity and even send emanations into the lower realms to help beings there.

Unlike in East-Asia, there was no separate "Pure Land" school in Tibet. But masters of all four schools wrote aspiration prayers for rebirth in Sukhavati. In addition, one of the most widely recited aspirations, Samantabhadra's Aspiration to Good Actions concludes with an aspiration for rebirth in Sukhavati:

When it is time for me to die,

Let all that obscures me fade away, so

I look on Amitābha, there in person,

And go at once to his pure land of Sukhāvatī.