Sukhavati

Sukhavati

Sukhavati (Skt. Sukhāvatī; Tib. བདེ་བ་ཅན་, Dewachen, Wyl. bde ba can or bde ba chen) is the blissful buddha field of Amitabha; one of the buddha fields of the five families, said to be located in the western direction.
In Sukhavati, sentient beings experience neither physical pain nor mental suffering and the causes for their happiness are limitless. For this reason, this world is called Sukhavati (Blissful).

The Special Characteristics of Sukhavati

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 20th Vow, which appears to be 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 merit 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 Buddha Shakyamuni warns us in the Amitabhavyuha 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 will not die before reaching enlightenment because ones lifespan is as limitless as that of Amitayus. That is, unless one aspires to return to the human and deva realms to perform boundless bodhisattva activity and even send emanations into the lower realms to help beings there.

Upon rebirth in Sukhavati, one immediately attains miraculous abilities, such as the five clear perceptions, unlimited eloquence and wisdom in upholding sutras, the ability to travel anywhere instantanously such as Abhirati, Zangdokpalri or our planet Earth and to hear spontaneously whatever teachings one may wish and remember them perfectly.

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

In that pure land, may I actualize every single one

Of all these aspirations!

May I fulfil them, each and every one,

And bring help to beings for as long as the universe remains!

Four Causes of Rebirth in Sukhavati

According to Jamgön Ngawang Lekpa, the four causes of rebirth in Sukhavati are:

1. Generating bodhichitta
2. Accumulating merit in many ways
3. Repeatedly bringing the buddha field to mind
4. Dedicating all one's sources of merit as causes for rebirth in that pure realm

Lala Sonam Chödrup, in his famous commentary on the Prayer of Sukhavati, gives them as:

1. the support, visualizing the pure realm
2. accumulating merit and purifying obscurations
3. the aid, generating bodhichitta
4. the circumstance, pure prayers of aspiration, dedicating all sources of virtue so that oneself and others may be reborn in Sukhavati

Literature

Sutras

There are three sutras by Buddha Shakyamuni that expound on the pure land of Sukhavati. The Kangyur includes Tibetan translations of two of these texts:

• Amitabhavyuha Sutra (Skt. Amitābhavyūhasūtra), which is also known as the “longer” Sukhavativyuha Sutra
• Sukhavativyuha Sutra (Skt. Sukhāvatīvyūhasūtra), which is also known as the “shorter” Sukhavativyuha Sutra

The third is only extant in Chinese:

• Amitayurdhyana Sutra (Skt. Amitāyurdhyānasūtra)

In addition, the White Lotus of Compassion Sutra details another previous life of Amitabha, as King Aranemin, where he makes very similar aspiration prayers as the above mentioned vows.

Prayers to Be Reborn in Sukhavati

• Brief Amitabha Mönlam, 'spoken' directly by Buddha Amitabha to Tertön Mingyur Dorjé
• Aspiration to be Reborn in the Pure Realm of Sukhavati (aka Dechen Mönlam or Dé Mön), by Karma Chakmé Rinpoche (aka Raga Asé)

Teachings Given to the Rigpa Sangha

• Sogyal Rinpoche, San Diego, 3 December 2010
• Sogyal Rinpoche, Lerab Ling, 5 September 2010
• Mingyur Rinpoche, Lerab Ling, 13 July 2008
• Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche, Sukhavati, Bad Saarow, Germany, 28 July 2018

Further Reading

• Gomez, Luis, trans., The Land of Bliss: The Paradise of the Buddha of Measureless Light: Sanskrit and Chinese Versions of the Sukhavativyuha Sutras (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1996)
• Georgios T. Halkias, Luminous Bliss: A Religious History of Pure Land Literature in Tibet (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2013)
• J. Eracle, La Doctrine bouddhique de la terre pure (Paris: Devry Livres, 1973)
• Trois Soutras et un traité sur la terre pure (Geneva: Aquarius, 1984)
• Tulku Thondup, Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2005), Ch.7 'The Buddha of Infinite Light and His Blissful Pure Land'.
• Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, Karma Chakme’s Mountain Dharma, vol 4, Ch. 4 The Guide on the Quest for Jewels: Choosing a Pure Realm, 2010
• Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, Living is Dying - How to Prepare for Dying, Death and Beyond (Siddharta's Intent, 2020), Ch. 5 Aspiration Practice, available here

External Links

• Sukhāvatī Series on Lotsawa House
• Khenpo Sodargye's teachings on the practice of Amitabha, includes footage of Amitabha empowerment by Khenpo Jikme Phuntsok
• Khenpo Sodargye's teachings on the Pure Land of Amitabha, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.
• Prayers and Practices to be Reborn in Sukhavati by Panchen Losang Chökyi Gyältsen and Lama Tsongkhapa (FPMT, 2014)