Comment from David
Time: July 1, 2007, 12:10 pm

a thousand Thanks ! …

Comment from mario loy
Time: September 25, 2007, 10:12 am

why so many buddhas - isn’t one enough ?

Comment from Bodhipaksa
Time: September 25, 2007, 10:42 am

Apparently not!

Even in the earliest days of Buddhism Shakyamuni was seem as just the latest (and not the last) in a lineage of Buddhas. So there were always more than one, although the past ones seemed to be seen as gone and out of reach, while Maitreya, the coming Buddha was prayed to.

It’s likely that the other Buddhas like Amitabha, who are non-historical and dwell in a mythic dimension, first arose in meditators’ visionary experiences. They just appeared! Presumably the did so because there was some psychological/spiritual need for them. Partly this might be because of a need for the sense of a “present” spiritual force, while Shakymuni, like the Buddhas before him, was seen as gone beyond and hence unreachable. But then why shouldn’t the view of Shakyamuni simply change so that he’s seen as being a source of present comfort and inspiration? Why “invent” new Buddhas to take this role?

I’d side with Sangharakshita’s “Guide to the Buddhist Path” and guess that the arising of new Buddhas was more to do with the need to represent enlightenment iconographically. One figure simply isn’t enough to represent all the different qualities of Enlightenment, and so you end up with a variety of Buddhas. Ultimately I think in some sense they’re all the same Buddha — like white light refracted through various prisms they reveal different “colors” of the same experience.

Anyway, if you want to stick with one Buddha that’s just fine! It’s just a question of what suits you.

Comment from Mbeleck Mandenge
Time: September 28, 2007, 7:41 am

How is the meditation with this mantra practised? Would you give us some leads. We will be greatly obliged. What of the medicine Buddha? Has the medicine Buddha got a mantra? If yes how would it be used?

Comment from Bodhipaksa
Time: October 10, 2007, 4:28 pm

Hello Mbeleck,

Apologies for the delay.

I’m afraid I’m not familiar with the visualizations of Amitabha or the Medicine Buddha. I have chanted the Amitayur Dhyana Sutra, which is an Amitabha visualization. To my surprise the text doesn’t seem to be available online.

The essence of visualization practice, however, is that you visualize the figure in front of and above you, you chant the mantra, and you receive blessings flowing from the figure in the form of light that radiates from the Buddha to you. I’m sure some Tibetans would disagree with me, but I think there’s no harm at all in making up your own visualization practice if you’re not able to get an introduction to it from an experienced teacher.

I recently had a friend who does the Medicine Buddha practice chant the mantra for me and I plan to add something about that Buddha on the site. That’s not the same as the visualization practice of course, but that’s not my aim!

All the best,
Bodhipaksa

Comment from rsm
Time: March 21, 2008, 8:38 pm

Sometimes, it seems they say Amitabha, at other times, Namo Amito Fo (Fwo in some texts), it’s interesting and they’d have this going on all day, in sleep, on their phone message machines, everywhere for mindfulness.

Comment from Bodhipaksa
Time: March 22, 2008, 1:00 pm

Hi RSM,

That would be Chinese speakers you’re referring to. In Chinese Amitabha is rendered as something like A-mi-t’o-p’o or O-mi-t’o-fo — the transliterations seem to vary widely!

That’s really interesting about the mantra being on phone messages. It’s very reminiscent of Amitabha’s Pure Land, Sukhavati, where even the sounds of the birds remind one of Awakening.

Comment from rsm
Time: March 23, 2008, 5:29 pm

Thank you for your response, well, I’ve been going through some books I have, you all provide useful guidance in the English language and I have attended sessions in the Twin Cities where really I did not know what was going on at times but I thank them for their gracious kindness for letting me attend.