7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best commentary I've read on the Amitabha Sutra, December 20, 2009
This review is from: Finding Our True Home: Living in the Pure Land Here and Now (Paperback)
I have an appreciation of both east-asian and Theravada Buddhism, so I write this review with a full appreciation of the Pali scriptures.
This is a splendid book on so many levels. Nhat Hanh's writing is clear, engaging, practical, and full of warmth.
He writes that there are three levels from which we may understand this sutra. The reader practices according to his level, i.e., the Pure Land is figurative, both figurative and literal, or literal: there really is a Western Pure Land, like there is a United States, and Amitabha will save us all. He doesn't make those who believe in a literal Pure Land feel silly or inferior. He encourages such a belief, especially if it brings about wholesome states of mind. He's clear that his own view is that the Pure Land is a metaphor for understanding that this life, just as it is, IS or CAN BE the Pure Land, depending on our state of mind. He does a magnificient job of elucidating this view. While reading this book, I'd occasionally get the feeling -- Wow, this really is the Pure Land, and I AM surrounded by bodhisattvas -- my chance to practice is now, there's no better place or time to practice.
Even though he understands the Pure Land from this view, he encourages Buddha remembrance and recitation in order to purify our minds. He engages and allows for both levels of understanding simultaneously, and this is what I find so brilliant about this commentary. So, even if the Amitabha sutra is a metaphor for a nondual understanding, one should practice anyway.
This is absolutely an essential read for those with an interest or devotion to the Amitabha Sutra. In my own path, my evaluation of this sutra has gone back and forth. After reading this book, it's clear to me that this is an exceptional sutra worthy of understanding and practice by any and all Buddhists.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simple and clear, June 14, 2008
This review is from: Finding Our True Home: Living in the Pure Land Here and Now (Paperback)
This book deals with pure land buddhism. While it is a commentary on the Amitabha Sutra, it goes much further. Perhaps one of the most profound and helpful concepts is learning to see that the pure land is here and now, that it is more a state of mind than an actual place. Recommended.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Introduction to Pure Land (Amithaba) Buddhism, March 8, 2010
This review is from: Finding Our True Home: Living in the Pure Land Here and Now (Paperback)
After an introduction by Sister Annabel Laity there follows a translation (from the Chinese version of Kumarasjiva's translation) of the Smaller Amithaba Sutra also known as the Smaller Sukhavativyuha Sutra ; the translation, in turn, is followed by section that suggest ways to practice (pages 21 to 50) and then, by Thich Nhat Hanh's commentary on the sutra. The essential point that TNH makes is that the "Pure Land" (Sukhavati) which is comparable to the Christian "Kingdom of God" (Luke 17:21and Mark 4:26), Jewish Garden of Eden (Psalm 84), the Islamic "Eden," or the Hindu "Amaravati," is something that you create and inhabit as you are living the present life. In fact, TNH goes so far as to maintain that, if one cannot access the "Pure Land" in one's present lifetime the chances of doing so after death are non-existent. The commentary on the sutra is divided into ten parts with each part quoting a section of the sutra and then introducing many of the basic terms/concepts that are found in Buddhism. One caution that needs to be kept in mind by newcomers to Buddhism, particularly TNH's interpretation of it, is the innovative terms that TNH uses as substitutes for more historically traditional terms, such as the use of "mindfulness training" for the term "precepts," etc. Cautiously used, this is a very important work as a foundational text for use in a dialogue with non-Buddhist devotional religions.
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