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Geneva
Conference Centre of Buddhism
Amitabha Buddha Dharma Function
07
December 2008, 11:00-17:00
14
December 2008, 10:30-12:30 |
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To celebrate the
birthday of the Amitabha Buddha, we will hold an Amitabha
Buddha Dharma Function, reciting the Buddha's name. This
gives an opportunity for devotees to strengthen and observe
the Pureland practice, learn the 48 Great Vows of the
Amitabha Buddha, improve society and purify human minds.
The Dharma Function will be held from 7 December at
11:00-17:00 to 14 December at 10:30-12:30.
We welcome you to come, participate and support it. The
virtues and merits derived are immeasurable.
May Everything Go perfectly For You
Geneva Conference Centre of Buddhism |
Amitabha
Buddha
Amitabha, Sanskrit word, literally means boundless light and
boundless life. He is the Buddha in the Land of Ultimate
Bliss (Pure Land), in which all beings enjoy unbounded
happiness. Amitabha has forty-eight great vows to establish
and adorn his Pure Land. People also recite or call upon his
name by the time of dying will be born in the Land of
Ultimate Bliss with the reception by Amitabha. Amitabha is
one of the most popular and well-known Buddha in China.
Pure Land of
Ultimate Bliss
This is the Buddha Land of Amitabha Buddha. In Amitabha
Sutra, there is full description about this Pure Land. This
is the world of utmost joy without suffering. With the
spiritual power of Amitabha Buddha, all beings in this world
will understand Buddhism easily and practise diligently, and
attain enlightenment eventually. Therefore by reciting
Amitabha Buddha's name, Buddhist followers hope that they
will be born in this Pure Land after their lives on earth.
The Amitabha
Buddha's 48 Great Vows
(1) If, when I attain Buddhahood, should there be in my land
a hell, a realm of hungry spirits or a realm of animals, may
I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(2) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my
land should after death fall again into the three evil
realms, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(3) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my
land should not all be the colour of pure gold, may I not
attain perfect Enlightenment.
(4) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my
land should not all be of one appearance, and should there
be any difference in beauty, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(5) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my
land should not remember all their previous lives, not
knowing at least the events which occurred during the
previous hundred thousand kotis of nayutas of kalpas, may I
not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(6) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my
land should not possess the divine eye of seeing at least a
hundred thousand kotis of nayutas of Buddha-lands, may I not
attain perfect Enlightenment.
(7) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my
land should not possess the divine ear of hearing the
teachings of at least a hundred thousand kotis of nayutas of
Buddhas and should not remember all of them, may I not
attain perfect Enlightenment.
(8) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my
land should not possess the faculty of knowing the thoughts
of others, even those of all sentient beings living in a
hundred thousand kotis of nayutas of Buddha-lands, may I not
attain perfect Enlightenment.
(9) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my
land should not possess the supernatural power of travelling
anywhere in one instant, even beyond a hundred thousand
kotis of nayutas of Buddha-lands, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(10) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my
land should give rise to thoughts of self-attachment, may I
not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(11) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my
land should not dwell in the Definitely Assured State and
unfailingly reach Nirvana, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(12) If, when I attain Buddhahood, my light should be
limited, unable to illuminate even a hundred thousand kotis
of nayutas of Buddha-lands, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(13) If, when I attain Buddhahood, my life-span should be
limited, even to the extent of a hundred thousand kotis of
nayutas of kalpas, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(14) If, when I attain Buddhahood, the number of the
shravakas in my land could be known, even if all the beings
and pratyekabuddhas living in this universe of a thousand
million worlds should count them during a hundred thousand
kalpas, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(15) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my
land should have limited life-spans, except when they wish
to shorten them in accordance with their previous vows, may
I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(16) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my
land should even hear of any wrongdoing, may I not attain
perfect Enlightenment.
(17) If, when I attain Buddhahood, innumerable Buddhas in
the land of the ten directions should not all praise and
glorify my Name, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(18) If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings in the
lands of the ten directions who sincerely and joyfully
entrust themselves to me, aspire to be born in my land, and
call my Name even ten times, should not be born there, may I
not attain perfect Enlightenment. Excluded, however, are
those who commit the five gravest offences and abuse the
right Dharma.
(19) If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings in the
lands of the ten directions, who awaken aspiration for
Enlightenment, do various meritorious deeds and sincerely
desire to be born in my land, should not, at their death,
see me appear before them surrounded by a multitude of
sages, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(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, do various
meritorious deeds and sincerely transfer their merits
towards my land with a desire to be born there, should not
eventually fulfil their aspiration, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(21) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my
land should not all be endowed with the thirty-two physical
characteristics of a Great Man, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(22) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in the
Buddha-lands of other directions who visit my land should
not ultimately and unfailingly reach the Stage of Becoming a
Buddha after One More Life, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment. Excepted are those who wish to teach and
guide sentient beings in accordance with their original
vows. For they wear the armour of great vows, accumulate
merits, deliver all beings from birth-and-death, visit
Buddha-lands to perform the bodhisattva practices, make
offerings to Buddhas, Tathagatas, throughout the ten
directions, enlighten uncountable sentient beings as
numerous as the sands of the River Ganges, and establish
them in the highest, perfect Enlightenment. Such
bodhisattvas transcend the course of practice of the
ordinary bodhisattva stages and actually cultivate the
virtues of Samantabhadra.
(23) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in my land,
who would make offerings to Buddhas through my divine power,
should not be able to reach immeasurable and innumerable
kotis of nayutas of Buddha-lands in the short time it takes
to eat a meal, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(24) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in my land
should not be able, as they wish, to perform meritorious
acts of worshipping the Buddhas with the offerings of their
choice, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(25) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in my land
should not be able to expound the Dharma with the
all-knowing wisdom, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(26) If, when I attain Buddhahood, there should be any
bodhisattva in my land not endowed with the body of the
Vajra-god Narayana, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(27) If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings should be
able, even with the divine eye, to distinguish by name and
calculate by number all the myriads of manifestations
provided for the humans and devas in my land, which are
glorious and resplendent and have exquisite details beyond
description, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(28) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in my land,
even those with little store of merit, should not be able to
see the Bodhi-tree which has countless colours and is four
million li in height, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(29) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in my land
should not acquire eloquence and wisdom in upholding sutras
and reciting and expounding them, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(30) If, when I attain Buddhahood, the wisdom and eloquence
of bodhisattvas in my land should be limited, may I not
attain perfect Enlightenment.
(31) If, when I attain Buddhahood, my land should not be
resplendent, revealing in its light all the immeasurable,
innumerable and inconceivable Buddha-lands, like images
reflected in a clear mirror, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(32) If, when I attain Buddhahood, all the myriads of
manifestations in my land, from the ground to the sky, such
as palaces, pavilions, ponds, streams and trees, should not
be composed both of countless treasures, which surpass in
supreme excellence anything in the worlds of humans and
devas, and of a hundred thousand kinds of aromatic wood,
whose fragrance pervades all the worlds of the ten
directions, causing all bodhisattvas who sense it to perform
Buddhist practices, then may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(33) If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings in the
immeasurable and inconceivable Buddha-lands of the ten
directions, who have been touched by my light, should not
feel peace and happiness in their bodies and minds
surpassing those of humans and devas, may I not attain
perfect Enlightenment.
(34) If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings in the
immeasurable and inconceivable Buddha-lands of the ten
directions, who have heard my Name, should not gain the
bodhisattva's insight into the non-arising of all dharmas
and should not acquire various profound dharanis, may I not
attain perfect Enlightenment.
(35) If, when I attain Buddhahood, women in the immeasurable
and inconceivable Buddha-lands of the ten directions who,
having heard my Name, rejoice in faith, awaken aspiration
for Enlightenment and wish to renounce womanhood, should
after death be reborn again as women, may I not attain
perfect Enlightenment.
(36) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in the
immeasurable and inconceivable Buddha-lands of the ten
directions, who have heard my Name, should not, after the
end of their lives, always perform sacred practices until
they reach Buddhahood, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(37) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in the
immeasurable and inconceivable Buddha-lands of the ten
directions, who, having heard my Name, prostrate themselves
on the ground to revere and worship me, rejoice in faith,
and perform the bodhisattva practices, should not be
respected by all devas and people of the world, may I not
attain perfect Enlightenment.
(38) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my
land should not obtain clothing, as soon as such a desire
arises in their minds, and if the fine robes as prescribed
and praised by the Buddhas should not be spontaneously
provided for them to wear, and if these clothes should need
sewing, bleaching, dyeing or washing, may I not attain
perfect Enlightenment.
(39) If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and devas in my
land should not enjoy happiness and pleasure comparable to
that of a monk who has exhausted all the passions, may I not
attain perfect Enlightenment.
(40) If, when I attain Buddhahood, the bodhisattvas in my
land, who wish to see the immeasurable glorious Buddha-lands
of the ten directions, should not be able to view all of
them reflected in the jewelled trees, just as one sees one's
face reflected in a clear mirror, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(41) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in the lands
of the other directions who hear my Name should, at any time
before becoming Buddhas, have impaired, inferior or
incomplete sense organs, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(42) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in the lands
of the other directions who hear my Name should not all
attain the samadhi called 'pure emancipation' and, while
dwelling therein, without losing concentration, should not
be able to make offerings in one instant to immeasurable and
inconceivable Buddhas, World-Honoured Ones, may I not attain
perfect Enlightenment.
(43) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in the lands
of the other directions who hear my Name should not after
death be reborn into noble families, may I not attain
perfect Enlightenment.
(44) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in the lands
of the other directions who hear my Name should not rejoice
so greatly as to dance and perform the bodhisattva practices
and should not acquire stores of merit, may I not attain
perfect Enlightenment.
(45) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in the lands
of the other directions who hear my Name should not all
attain the samadhi called 'universal equality' and, while
dwelling therein, should not always be able to see all the
immeasurable and inconceivable Tathagatas until those
bodhisattvas, too, become Buddhas, may I not attain perfect
Enlightenment.
(46) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in my land
should not be able to hear spontaneously whatever teachings
they may wish, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
(47) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in the lands
of the other directions who hear my Name should not
instantly reach the Stage of Non-retrogression, may I not
attain perfect Enlightenment.
(48) If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in the lands
of the other directions who hear my Name should not
instantly gain the first, second and third insights into the
nature of dharmas and firmly abide in the truths realised by
all the Buddhas, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
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