Sukhavati: Difference between revisions

From Rigpa Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
(added little bit of description from sutra)
Line 1: Line 1:
[[File:Sukhavati.jpg|frame|Sukhavati]]
[[File:Sukhavati.jpg|frame|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.
'''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.<br>
In Sukhāvatī, sentient beings experience neither physical pain nor mental suffering and the causes for their happiness are limitless. For this reason, this world is called Sukhāvatī (land of delight or bliss). One cannot express the total number of pure arhats and bodhisattvas living there, except to say that they are immeasurable or countless.


==Four Causes of Rebirth in Sukhavati==
==Four Causes of Rebirth in Sukhavati==
Line 43: Line 44:


==External Links==
==External Links==
*{{84000|https://read.84000.co/translation/toh115.html|The Display of the Pure Land of Sukhāvatī}}
*{{LH|/topics/amitabha-sukhavati|Amitābha and Sukhāvatī Series on Lotsawa House}}
*{{LH|/topics/amitabha-sukhavati|Amitābha and Sukhāvatī Series on Lotsawa House}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140512124959/http://www.bdk.or.jp/pdf/bdk/digitaldl/dBET_ThreePureLandSutras_2003.pdf The Three Pure Land Sutras], translated from Chinese by Inagaki, Hisao, 2003
*[http://www.khenposodargye.org/2015/01/the-method-for-the-practice-of-amitabha-3/  Khenpo Sodargye's teachings on the practice of Amitabha]
*[http://www.khenposodargye.org/2015/01/the-method-for-the-practice-of-amitabha-3/  Khenpo Sodargye's teachings on the practice of Amitabha]
*[http://www.khenposodargye.org/2015/01/the-teaching-on-pure-land/  Khenpo Sodargye's teachings on the Pure Land of Amitabha]
*[http://www.khenposodargye.org/2015/01/the-teaching-on-pure-land/  Khenpo Sodargye's teachings on the Pure Land of Amitabha]
*{{84000|https://read.84000.co/translation/toh115.html|The Display of the Pure Land of Sukhāvatī}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140512124959/http://www.bdk.or.jp/pdf/bdk/digitaldl/dBET_ThreePureLandSutras_2003.pdf The Three Pure Land Sutras], translated from Chinese by Inagaki, Hisao, 2003
*[https://ia803101.us.archive.org/17/items/prayersandpracticestoberebpanchenlosangchokyigyaltsen/Prayers%20and%20Practices%20to%20be%20Reb%20-%20Panchen%20Losang%20Chokyi%20Gyaltsen%2C.pdf Prayers and Practices to be Reborn in Sukhavati] by Panchen Losang Chökyi Gyältsen and Lama [[Tsongkhapa]] (FPMT, 2014)
*[https://ia803101.us.archive.org/17/items/prayersandpracticestoberebpanchenlosangchokyigyaltsen/Prayers%20and%20Practices%20to%20be%20Reb%20-%20Panchen%20Losang%20Chokyi%20Gyaltsen%2C.pdf Prayers and Practices to be Reborn in Sukhavati] by Panchen Losang Chökyi Gyältsen and Lama [[Tsongkhapa]] (FPMT, 2014)


[[category: pure Realms]]
[[category: pure Realms]]

Revision as of 11:28, 18 November 2023

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 Sukhāvatī, sentient beings experience neither physical pain nor mental suffering and the causes for their happiness are limitless. For this reason, this world is called Sukhāvatī (land of delight or bliss). One cannot express the total number of pure arhats and bodhisattvas living there, except to say that they are immeasurable or countless.

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 (Tib. བདེ་སྨོན་, Démön; Wyl. bde smon), 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:

Prayers to Be Reborn in Sukhavati

Teachings Given to the Rigpa Sangha

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. 5 Riding the Supreme Steed Balaha: Reaching a Pure Realm, 2010

External Links