The Four Causes of Taking Rebirth in the Blissful Pure Land

In order to take rebirth in any pure land, you must prepare yourself seriously.

This includes:

(1) Purifying negative karmas, and

(2) Perfecting meritorious deeds with the formula of the four causes.

The summary that follows is based on writings of the third Dodrupchen Rinpoche, who, relying on the Amitabhavyuha Sutra, describes the importance of the four (or at least three) causes for taking rebirth in the Blissful Pure Land of the Buddha of Infinite Light.

The First Cause: Remembering the Pure Land

The first cause is to think about and remember the amazingly beautiful structures, peaceful atmosphere, and joyful feelings of the Blissful Pure Land, again and again.

The Blissful Pure Land is an atmosphere that is supremely peaceful and joyful, radiant and beautiful, a prosperous and benevolent paradise where suffering is unknown.

There is no concept or expression of afflicting emotions, such as greed, confusion, and hatred.

All is made of wisdom-light and wisdom-energies of utmost peace and joy.

It is a boundless paradise of mountains and fields of lights, rivers and lakes of light, gardens and flowers of light, trees and fruits of light, roads and mansions of light.

It is filled with an infinite number of divine beings of radiant light in various forms, costumes, and activities. They fly and move through space in absolute peace and joy.

They visit different manifested pure lands and receive teachings and blessings.

Anything you wish will appear.

The sounds of teaching and the music of Dharma fill the whole atmosphere.

All who exist there are in the state of utmost peace and joy.

In the center, beneath a giant Tree of Enlightenment, is the Buddha of Infinite Light. His majestic and youthful body of reddish light is adorned with the signs of a supreme being.

He is in the midst of an ocean of enlightened beings such as the eight bodhisattvas, who include Avalokiteshvara and Mahasthamaprapta.

The whole atmosphere is filled with the light radiating from his body.

His unconditional love, omniscient wisdom, and omnipresent power serve all without ceasing.

You must apply the four healing powers –

(1) positive images,

(2) positive words,

(3) positive feelings, and

(4) positive beliefs –

over and over again to strengthen your remembrance of the pure land:

(1) Visualize the details of the Blissful Pure Land (for example, as given in chapter 7 of the book Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth).

(2) Think about the details of the pure land and their qualities with words and prayers.

(3) Enjoy the feeling of their presence and blessings from the depth of your heart.

(4) Believe that the Blissful Pure Land the Buddha of Infinite Light are in front of you, and believe in the power of the buddha’s vow to lead you to rebirth in his pure land.

At the time of death, your mind will become free from the limitations imposed by your physical body and the culture of your environment.

So, while you are alive, if you cultivate the habits of seeing and feeling the pure land in your mind, at the time of death your perceptions will spontaneously arise as the real pure land, and you will find yourself in it. Thus your rebirth in the Blissful Pure Land will be natural.

Not everyone will see the Buddha of Infinite Light and his Blissful Pure Land the same way. Our perceptions depend on our spiritual attainments.

Some will see the pure land as it actually is; others will see it as a manifested pure land – though in reality the Blissful Pure Land is one.

If you are enlightened, you will see the Buddha of Infinite Light as the ever-present Buddha, the primordial wisdom. You will see his pure land as the ever-joyful pure land, the power and light of primordial wisdom itself.

All forms and experiences are present naturally as nondual awareness.

All appear as the true nature and pure quality, just as they are.

Buddhist teachings call this pure land “the pure land of the enjoyment body” (sambhogakaya) of buddhahood.

Taking rebirth in this pure land does not mean being reborn in a better world somewhere else. It is realizing the universal, omnipresent buddhahood with its inseparable pure land.

If you are an ordinary devotee, on the other hand, you will see the buddha and his pure land as a peaceful and joyful world filled with enlightened beings of unconditional love, omniscient wisdom, and boundless power – but you will perceive this world to be somewhere else, as if in another realm.

You will also enjoy ineffable peace and joy – but you will still experience these things with a dualistic mind, using senses and emotions.

Everything will be subject to change.

The teachings call this state of pure land “the pure land of the manifestation body” (nirmanakaya).

The extraordinary thing is that people like you and me – in fact, all mother-beings – can be reborn there.

And once there, we will never regress but always progress in spiritual growth, so that one day we will realize the pure land of the enjoyment body of buddhahood.

To take birth in this manifested pure land, we must train in the four (or three) causes.

The Second Cause: Accumulation of Merits

You must make merits as the seeds of taking rebirth in the Blissful Pure Land.

Positive karma or merits accumulated with total trust by positive mental and physical deeds are crucial for any peaceful and happy result, especially for taking rebirth in the Blissful Pure Land.

It could be (1) making offerings, (2) giving gifts, (3) serving others, (4) saying prayers, (4) purifying misdeeds, (5) protecting lives, and (6) being compassionate, caring, gentle, peaceful, devotional, mindful, and contemplative.

The Third Cause: Developing Enlightened Attitude

To develop enlightened attitude, or bodhichitta, you must vow or be determined to lead all mother-beings, without exception, to the Blissful Pure Land without any selfishness, and you must put that aspiration into practice through meditation and beneficial deeds.

However, quoting the sutra, Dodrupchen points out that the development of bodhichitta is not an essential condition for taking rebirth in the Blissful Pure Land. Nonetheless, developing an enlightened attitude will help you to ensure your rebirth in the pure land and will also make you be more effective once you are born there.

Dodrupchen adds that making a promise or determination is more powerful than making an aspiration. He writes: “In order to accomplish any aspiration, it is important to develop a strong intention or pledge, such as thinking, ‘In all my successive lives, I will train in the essence of compassion and emptiness, the path of Buddhism.’ As you know, the thought ‘I will wake up in the early morning’ has a greater impact on your waking up on time than the thought ‘May I wake up in the early morning.’”

The Fourth Cause: Dedication and Aspiration

The fourth cause is to dedicate all your merits as the cause of taking rebirth in the Blissful Pure Land and to make aspirations for the same purpose.

Even if you have the merits, you need to invest them for the particular purpose by dedicating them and making aspiration prayers again and again.

Dedication and aspiration are not merely devices to invest the merits as seeds of rebirth in the pure land; they are also powerful means of making merits in themselves.

If you imagine that a buddha is before you, listening to and blessing your aspiration prayers, the results of your prayers will be even more powerful and effective.

In order to accomplish the prayers of aspiration, it is crucial to rely on a source of power.

So it is very important to rely on a deity such as the Buddha of Infinite Light, the Buddha of Compassion, or Guru Padmasambhava.

These sources of power must be someone for whom you have devotion and with whom you are already connected by prayers and meditation.

You must see the source of power as the embodiment of all the Precious Ones.

Pray to him or her for the accomplishment of all your aspirations.

Teaching the four causes of taking rebirth in the Blissful Pure Land, Shakyamuni Buddha says:

“O Anand, there are people who

[1] Think of the details of the Buddha [of Infinite Light and his pure land] again and again.

[2] They create many immeasurable merits.

[3] They develop the mind of enlightenment.

[4] And they dedicate the merits and make aspirations to take rebirth in the Blissful Pure Land.

When they are about to die, before them the fully enlightened one, the Buddha of Infinite Light – thus gone, pacifier of the foes – will appear with a retinue of numerous ascetics, looking at them. Having seen the Buddha of Infinite Light, they will die with the mind of great clarity. Thereby they will take rebirth in the universe of the Blissful Pure Land.”

Or, as the same sutra teaches, you can also train yourself in the “three causes” (the first, second, and fourth cause, without the development of bodhichitta), and still take rebirth in the Blissful Pure Land.

Think about the qualities of the pure land again and again, make as many merits as you can, and then dedicate the merits and make aspirations, saying, “May I take rebirth in the Blissful Pure Land.”

Source: Based on Thondup, Tulku. Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth: A Tibetan Buddhist Guidebook. Shambhala. Kindle Edition.

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