Buddha Name Recitation

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The Buddha name recitation is practiced in many forms: silently or aloud, alone or in groups, by itself or combined with visualization of Amitabha or contemplation of the concept of Buddha or combined with the methods of Zen. The aim is to concentrate one’s attention on Amitabha, and let all other thoughts die away. At first and all along, miscellaneous thoughts intrude and the mind wanders. But with sustained effort, one’s focus on the Buddha name recitation becomes progressively more steady and clear. Mindfulness of Buddha – Buddha remembrance – grows stronger and purer.

Reciting the Buddha name functions as a powerful antidote to those great enemies of clear awareness that Buddhist had traditionally labelled “oblivion” and “scattering”. “Oblivion” refers to the tendency of human mind when not occupied by its habitual thoughts to sink into a state of torpor and sleepy nescience. “Scattering” is the other pole of ordinary mental life, where the consciousness flies off in all directions pursuing objects of thought and desire.

Through the centuries, those who practice it have found that Buddha name recitation is much more beneficial use of mind than the ordinary run of hopes and fears that would otherwise preoccupy their minds. Calm focus replaces agitation and anxiety producing a most invigorating saving of energy. “Mixed mindfulness is the disease, while mindfulness of Buddha is the medicine”.

According to the Pure Land teaching, all sorts of evil karma are dissolved by reciting the Buddha name wholeheartedly and single-mindedly. What is karma? In Buddhist terms “karma” means deeds, actions. Through sequences of cause and effect, what we do and what those we interact with determines our experience and shapes our perceptions which in turn guides our further actions.

Habitual patterns of perception and behaviour build up and acquire momentum. Now we are in the grips of “karmic consciousness”, so-called because it is a state of mind at once the result of past deeds and the source of future deeds. This is the existential trap from which all forms of Buddhist practice aim to extricate from us.

According to the Pure Land teaching, Buddha name recitation is more effective for this purpose than any other practice and be carried out by anyone. The key is being single-minded, focusing the mind totally on Amitabha and thus interrupting the onward flow of karmic consciousness. This is where Zen and Pure Land meet.

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