Tue, Dec 12, 2000 page11

• Thinking of Buddha - Namu Amito Fo

  The six characters visible on car bumpers and walls around Taiwan are rooted in the ritual chants of Pure Land Buddhism

  • By Mark Caltonhill / SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR
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  The most common graffito in Taiwan is probably the six characters 南無阿彌陀佛. They are scrawled on walls and lampposts, appear at roadside shrines and as car bumper stickers. Pronounced Namu Amito Fo, the phrase means "Adoration of the Amitabha Buddha."

  This practice of "Thinking of Buddha" gave rise to a new sect of Pure Land Buddhism. Through repeated recitation of a Buddha's name (usually that of the Amitabha "Immeasurable Light" Buddha), and concentration on those perfect aspects of his nature, a person could gain access to the Pure Land in the West and subsequently Nirvana. This sincere faith is especially important at the moment of death, and was irrespective of however evil their life may have been. Today, the 17th day of the 11th lunar month, is celebrated as the birthday of Amitabha.

  Buddhist legend identifies him as the monk Dharmakara who made a vow to refuse his own Buddhahood until he had saved all living creatures. He vowed to create a magnificent Buddha world and open it to all beings who invoked his name. Although the name Amitabha was known in early Mahayana Buddhism (though not in southern Theravada Buddhism), it is only in 4th-century China that a devotional cult emerged. Some scholars have suggested Amitabha's true origin lies in or beyond India's far northwest, where Buddhism absorbed Iranian influences.

  In China, Pure Land Buddhism was influenced by indigenous Daoist ideas, including the terrestrial paradise ruled over by the Queen Mother of the West, repeated invocation of a deity's name and visualization of supernatural beings.

  Although such devotional practices appealed predominantly to the lay public, after persecution of Buddhism between 574 and 578, the cult attracted adherents from all classes and penetrated Zen (Chan) monasteries. There was widespread pessimism that in this world of sinners and tyrannical governments, individual effort to achieve enlightenment was futile. Instead, humankind needed a simple path to salvation, aided by the power of Buddha's compassion.

  Superficially, this dependence on an outside agency seems the very opposite of Zen's search for one's own inner Buddha Nature. In practice, however, "Thinking of Buddha" is not so different from "Holding a Koan," in which an aspirant gains inner unity and illumination by reflecting on problems set by a Zen Master.

  By late imperial times, a Zen-Pure Land syncretized Buddhism was almost universal in China (though not in Japan or Korea). The Zen ideal of inner enlightenment was combined with the cult of Amitabha. This resulted in the idea that the true Pure Land lies within oneself and that invocation of a holy name can be one theme in Zen meditation.

  Pure Land Buddhism gave rise to its own artistic styles with extremely elaborate depictions of Amitabha in the splendor of the western paradise. He is often the central figure of a trilogy, flanked by bodhisattva Guanyin (symbolizing mercy) on his left, and bodhisattva Da Shizhi (embodying wisdom) on his right.
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