WHAT IS BIRTH IN THE BORDERLAND?
Comments on the 17th Chapter of TANNISHO:
Birth in the Borderland of the Pure Land
“On the assertion that a person
born in the borderland
will in the
end fall into hell.
"In what authoritative passage do we
find such a statement? It
is deplorable that this is being maintained by people who pretend to be
scholars. How are they reading the sutras, treaties, and other sacred
writings? I was taught that practicers who lack shinjin are born in the
borderland because of their doubt concerning the Primal Vow, and that,
after the evil of doubt has been expiated, they realize enlightenment
in the fulfilled land.
"Since practicers of shinjin are
few, many are guided to the
transformed land. To declare, despite this, that birth there will
ultimately end in vain would be to accuse Shakyamuni of lying."
--Tannisho, Chapter
17
________________________________________________________________________
My comments:
Everything related
with the Pure Land is the creation of Amida Buddha. It comes
from his Enlightened activity and is the manifestation of it.
All the manifestations of Amida Buddha,
especially his true Pure Land and the borderland of his Pure Land, are
real and effective in helping sentient beings to achieve supreme
Buddhahood.
Amida Buddha realized that it is easier for
unenlightened sentient beings to have aspiration for birth in his
perfect Pure Land upon hearing about its existence. So he created this
place and made it in such a way so that both people who completely
entrust in him and also those who cannot completely entrust, be born
there and escape once and for all from samsara.
Therefore there is a difference between these
two categories of people:
(1) Those who completely entrust in Amida Buddha and let go of any clinging to any form of reliance on their personal power become themselves Buddhas in the very moment when they are born in the Pure Land, and
(2) those who entrust in Amida but still cling to some kind of personal power do not become immediately Buddhas when they are born in the Pure Land. People in this last category are in fact born in the so called borderland of the Pure Land . They do not attain the state of Buddhahood, but they are free once and for all from the suffering of birth and death in Samsara. They are safe, but still they are not liberated. In the same time, being in the special environment of this borderland of the Pure Land they have the opportunity to overcome their doubts and entrust completely in Amida Buddha.
(1) Those who completely entrust in Amida Buddha and let go of any clinging to any form of reliance on their personal power become themselves Buddhas in the very moment when they are born in the Pure Land, and
(2) those who entrust in Amida but still cling to some kind of personal power do not become immediately Buddhas when they are born in the Pure Land. People in this last category are in fact born in the so called borderland of the Pure Land . They do not attain the state of Buddhahood, but they are free once and for all from the suffering of birth and death in Samsara. They are safe, but still they are not liberated. In the same time, being in the special environment of this borderland of the Pure Land they have the opportunity to overcome their doubts and entrust completely in Amida Buddha.
Master Shan-tao said: “those
born in the fulfilled Pure Land are extremely few; those born in the
transformed Pure Land are many.”
This is because there are very few who completely renounce the reliance on their personal
power and calculations and entrust 100% to Amida’s Power.
It is also taught in this chapter: “Since practicers of SHINJIN are few, many are guided
to the
transformed land.” Transformed land and borderland are the same.
Also there are many other names for the borderland, like “the realm of
indolence and pride”, a term used by Shinran in his wasans:
“…People devote themselves to saying the nembutsu in self-power; Hence they remain in the borderland or the realm of indolence and pride…” or “the city of doubt”, “the womb-palace”, etc.
“…People devote themselves to saying the nembutsu in self-power; Hence they remain in the borderland or the realm of indolence and pride…” or “the city of doubt”, “the womb-palace”, etc.
This borderland of the Pure Land is also
described like a luxurious prison “made of seven precious materials”
where people who doubt the Power of Amida Buddha and recite nembutsu
while relying on self power or are aspiring to be born in Amida’s Pure
Land by relying on their personal merits and virtues are like princes
who, because they committed offenses against the king, are imprisoned
in a golden palace where they enjoy all pleasures but they are not able
to see the king.
This comparison appears in the Larger Sutra:
“The Buddha said to Maitreya, "Consider the case of
the noble cakravartin-king who possesses a prison embellished with the
seven precious substances. It is adorned in manifold ways, furnished
with a canopied bed, and hung with many silken banners. If young
princes commit offenses against the king, they are imprisoned there….."
The Buddha said to Maitreya,
"These sentient beings are precisely like that. Because they doubt the
Buddha's wisdom, they are born in a womb-palace... If these sentient beings become
aware of their past offenses and deeply repent, they desire to leave
that place...”
To doubt the Buddha’s wisdom means to doubt
that Amida created the perfect method for saving you and believing that
there is still something you need to do or add to his enlightened
activity in order to be born in his Pure Land. To doubt also means to
doubt the Primal Vow of Amida in which is described the method and
cause of direct birth into the fulfilled Pure Land – the total
entrusting in Amida.
Amida Buddha has 48 Vows, among which the
Eighteenth is called the Primal Vow. This Vow contains the direct cause
of attaining complete Buddhahood in the moment of our birth in the Pure
Land. Becoming a true Buddha, capable of benefiting sentient beings in
the exact moment of attaining birth in the Pure Land is the consequence
of receiving SHINJIN or complete faith in Amida Buddha during this
present life, while to rely on Amida but entertaining doubts means to
be born in the borderland of the Pure Land.
To deeply repent, means to
realize how foolish the idea of adding something to the working of
Amida is. Unfortunately, people who doubt Amida Buddha’s Power in the
present life will have to expiate their doubts by realizing their
stupidity in the borderland or this womb-like palace. Thus they will
have
the change of heart
and receive SHINJIN in this place called the borderland of the Pure
Land.
Then, in this chapter of Tannisho it is said,
“after the evil of doubt has been expiated, they realize
enlightenment in the fulfilled land.”
As we clearly saw in this chapter and in the
quote I chose from the many passages one can find in the sutras about
birth in the borderland, this place is not one from which one can fall
back into the lower realms or the hells, but a place within the Pure
Land where people who relied on Amida Buddha during their present life
but couldn’t escape their doubts and were still clinging to their self
power will stay until they overcome their doubts and completely entrust
to Amida Buddha.
It is like an emigrant who was received in
the country of Amida but he is still kept at the border region, not
being allowed to enter the main continent and meet the president. In
fact, there are his own doubts which obstruct him from entering the
main continent because of his own clinging to himself, while the Power
of Amida is that which caused him to be born in that border region.
Only the Enlightened Power of Amida Buddha is
the one who makes possible even birth in the borderland of the Pure
Land, not to mention the birth in the true Pure Land itself. Amida
Buddha has such an Infinite Compassion and such good methods of saving
sentient beings that he succeeds in offering salvation from samsara
even to people who doubt and who don’t rely completely on his Power. He
brings sentient beings safely out of samsara, both those who entrust
completely and those who still have an incomplete trust, while the
latter will stay for a while in the borderland until they overcome
their doubts.
It is not
the fault of Amida or some kind of punishment that some are born
in the borderland, just that they are kept in that region by their own
doubts. They are the ones who are keeping themselves out of the main
continent of the Pure Land, while Amida carried them out of samsara
once and for all.
It is very important to understand that the
Pure Land in both its aspects, the border land and the true Pure Land,
is not a realm within samsara, but a creation of the enlightened
activity of Amida which is situated beyond the reach of birth and
death. There is no retrogression or falling back from the borderland of
the Pure Land into hell or any other samsaric realms because this place
has nothing to do with samsara.
One who enters the borderland of the Pure
Land is already in the safe embrace of Amida Buddha, just that he
doesn’t completely entrust in Amida. But his journey in samsara is
definitely over, and there is not a single word in the sutras and the
sacred texts saying anything different.
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