..續本文上一頁 Land and all other Mahayana schools: the purpose of cultivation is to rescue all sentient beings, including the practitioner himself (Bodhi Mind).

　　See in this connection, Brahma Net Sutra, Secondary Precepts 20 and 45.

　　15. This seemingly exaggerated statement is easily understood in the light of the Buddha”s teachings. Injustices, like all karma, good and bad, have their source in the mind. One utterance of the Buddha”s name while in samadhi can change that m ind and therefore eliminate, or at least mitigate, all the wrongs from time immemorial.

　　To take a simple example from everyday life, suppose a person driving home from work were cut off and almost hit by another vehicle. Incensed, he might chase after the other car and at a stop light, start to give the driver a piece of his mind. However, should he discover that the driver”s wife was badly injured and about to undergo an operation, would his anger not change into understanding and forgiveness

　　 See also main text, section 44.

　　16. See note 1.

　　17. As soon as we produce t he “present” utterance. that utterance is already a thing of the past! Nothing remains still.

　　18. Koan: “Literally, Koan means a public case… However, it now refers to the statements, including answers, made by Zen masters. These statements are used as subjects for meditation by novices in Zen monasteries. Koan are also used as a test of whether the disciple has rea ly [achieved an Awakening]. Helped by koan study, students of Zen may open their minds to the truth. By this method they may attain the same inner experience as the Zen masters. It is said that there are one thousand seven hundred such koans on record. The term wato [hua-t”ou or topic] is also used in this sense.” (Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary)

　　“A word or phrase of nonsensical language which cannot be “solved” by the intellect but which holds a person”s attention while a higher faculty takes over. Used as an exercise for breaking the limitations of thought and developing intuition, thereby allowing one to attain a flash of awareness beyond duality (Kensho.), and later Satori.” (Christmas Humphrey, A Popular Dictionary of Buddhism)

　　19. “ Horizontal ” and “ vertical ” are figures of speech, which can readily be understood through the fo lowing example. Suppose we have a worm, born inside a stalk of a bamboo. To escape, it can take the hard way and crawl vertically all the way to the top of the stalk. Alternatively, it can poke a hole near its current location and escape horizontally into the big, wide world. The horizontal escape, for sentient beings, is to seek rebirth in the Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha.

　　20. Near-death karma: According to Buddhist teachings, at the time of death people are assailed by all kinds of afflictions, such as love, hate, regret, which they have been unable to let go of during their lifetimes. See also Notes 25 and 26.

　　21. The levels of re birth in the Western Pure Land as described in the Meditation Sutra. a key Pure Land text. According to this sutra, there are nine grades, pided into three sets of three grades each. The moremerits and virtues the practitioner accumulates, the higher the grade. These grades are in fact representative of an infinite number of levels corresponding to the infinite levels of karma of those reborn in the Pure Land.

　　22. Four Great Vows : These are the common vows of all Mahayana practitioners, be they lay or monastic, which are recited at the end of each Meditation/ Recitation session. The Four Great Vows, which represent the Bodhi Mind. are: “Sentient beings are numberless; I vow to save them a l. / Afflictions are inexhaustible; I vow to end them a l. / Schools and traditions are manifold, I vow to study them a l. / The

　　Buddha-way is supreme; I vow to complete it.” (Ross, …

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