Ways of getting to the Pure Land in Vajrayana

[DorjePhurba]

Hello everyone. I've been reading about the vows of Amitabha and how simple it seems to be reborn in Sukhavati, and I've heard about the use of phowa to transfer consciousness to Sukhavati. Now, I'm curious as to why phowa is necessary if the vows of Amitabha seem to guarantee rebirth in his land by vowing to be reborn in his land and reciting his name while relying on him to take one there. Is there a different interpretation of what is necessary to be reborn in Sukhavati in Vajrayana or is phowa seen as simply another way of getting there?


Chris

[Josef]

There are many different so-called pure land practices in Vajrayana. Phowa isnt exclusive to Amitabha or his pure land. There are many different Phowa practices, each with its own aspiration and result. There are also straight up pure land aspirations that are said to work. For instance I have ( and dont recite as much as I should ) an aspiration prayer for rebirth in Zangdokpalri (Padmasambhava's pure land) written by Kunzang Dechen Lingpa that is said to provide the conditions for rebirth their through recitation alone.
Phowa and pure land aspirations are different methods for different dispositions.

[narraboth]

to answer your question (which nangwa might not have)
yes, Amitaba buddha has made his vows, so even without powa, people can still be born in that pureland.

The benefit of powa is,
1. when you are dying, without powa, you should chant buddha's name and pray to him, then he will appear to you, base on his vows. In the case of powa, if you have experience, you visualise him as your wish, you don't need to wait.

2. praying as method is totally base on your faith. People are easily distracted or not so sure when dying, thus not everyone who chant Buddha's name can successfully reborn in pureland. Although distraction can also happen in powa practitioner, those who already got powa sign, should have better confidence which is important at that time. Also, powa works not just with your faith and buddha's vows, powa also has the blessing of your root guru, his lineage, and the power of inner channel and wind. Thus powa is more powerful.

3. In the case of Buddha come to pick you up, you are you, buddha is buddha. But if you have received powa, you will know in the end it's different. So powa is more profound. Although the results are all rebirth in pureland, there are different level of rebirth. If you can reach higher realisation in the end of life, you might attain bumi quicker. The best situation is you attain high enlightment when you die through profound instruction of powa. Sutrayana pureland teaching doesn't have this instruction.

4. There are different sayings about powa. Base on some opinions, you need to be good at tsa lung to attain good powa. If you attain that kind of powa, you can basically choose which pureland to go. But in most of cases nowadays, we are still kind of rely on blessing and buddha's vows even we practice powa with lamas. But that should still be more helpful.

Hello everyone. I've been reading about the vows of Amitabha and how simple it seems to be reborn in Sukhavati, and I've heard about the use of phowa to transfer consciousness to Sukhavati. Now, I'm curious as to why phowa is necessary if the vows of Amitabha seem to guarantee rebirth in his land by vowing to be reborn in his land and reciting his name while relying on him to take one there. Is there a different interpretation of what is necessary to be reborn in Sukhavati in Vajrayana or is phowa seen as simply another way of getting there?


Chris

[kirtu]

Another way of getting to the Pure Lands is said to do a good deal of Nyung Ney. I'll have to check this out with Khenpo Norgay this weekend though to make sure I understood him correctly last year when he was reading various stories of results of Nyung Ney practice in the literature.

Kirt Undercoffer