Basic Knowledge in the Pure Land Teaching
淨土小常識
General Discussion on Pure Land (continued)
Regarding the thirty-two marks of excellence of a male, the Buddha described what constituted a handsome appearance of a man. These thirty-two marks of excellence would have been appropriate for an Indian male.
Actually, it is better to read Amitabha’s 3rd Vow, where “the color of everyone’s body is pure gold and all are equal”, thus eliminating racial discrimination. The 4th Vow also says - “there are no differences in appearance or beauty, which eliminates all judgements of beauty and ugliness.”
Based on these two vows, there are no genders in the Pure Land. As said in the Infinite Life Sutra, “That Buddha-land, like the realm of unconditioned Nirvana, is pure and serene, resplendent and blissful. The sravakas, bodhisattvas, heavenly beings and humans there have lofty and brilliant wisdom, and are masters of supernatural powers. They are all of one form, without any differences; but, are called 'heavenly beings' and 'humans' simply by analogy with the states of existence in other worlds. They are of noble majestic countenance unequaled in all the worlds, whether heavenly or human. They are all endowed with bodies of Naturalness, Emptiness, and Infinity."
Also, the 10th Vow says, “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.”
This explains that people there have no thoughts of self-attachment, so they don’t care about their bodies. How could they discriminate against those in “male” or “female” bodies?
(to be continued tomorrow)
137 淨土泛論 * (續上)
至於淨土中人皆是具有三十二相的男子，我想亦無非是說大家皆形貌端正而已，三十二相是印度美男子的典型，於是就這樣套用上了。
其實，在思想上更有意義的是第三和第四願，第三願說：國中人天，悉皆金色。這是沒有種族和色類的差別，大家一律平等，因此，淨土中就絕不會有種族歧視的現象。第四願則進一步說：大家的形色相同沒有好醜，因此消除了許多不快和煩惱之因。
根據此二願去推理，淨土中人應該是無男女相的，魏譯《無量壽經》卷上明顯的說：
其諸聲聞、菩薩、天人，智慧高明，神通洞達，咸同一類，形無異狀；但因順餘方，故有天人之名。顏貌端正，超世稀有，容色微妙，非天非人，皆受自然虛無之身、無極之體。
《無量壽經》第十願說：設我得佛，國中天人，若起想念貪計身者，不取正覺。
這更說明了其國中人對身體根本無貪計之想念，身體的事情連想都不想它，還有什麼貪執、分別、男相、女相呢？
Namo Amituofo!
