Earlier I promised "Green Reading" of the Longer Pure Land Sutra (also called the Sutra of Infinitite Life) which is a central sacred text for about half of the world's Buddhists. The sutra itself is too long to discuss here, so I'll offer the one-page summary of its message, written by the Chinese Pure Land master T'an Hsu, and talk about that instead.
In the sacred Buddhist texts of China, the Sutra of Buddha of Infinite Life relates [the story of] Amitabha Buddha.
On a certain occasion, Sakyamuni Buddha (the Buddha of our present age) was on Vulture Peak, surrounded by his disciples. Ananda, the Buddha's personal attendant, noticed the radiant beauty of Buddha and inquired what was the cause of Buddha's joy. Sakyamuni relates the following story:
In an infinite time in the past, Bhiksu [monk] Dharmakara observed the misery of all sentient beings, and moved by compassion, he vowed to establish a pure and perfect land where all could be liberated from their suffering. He then made forty-eight Vows in which he promised to establish this land or else he would not attain enlightenment.
The Sutra declares that Bhiksu Dharmakara practiced for many eons until he accomplished all his vows. Since he has achieved his aims, he is considered to be the Buddha of that land--THE BUDDHA OF INFINITE LIGHT AND LIFE.
To begin with...in any Green Reading, setting is crucial. Place is not merely a convenient stage for spiritual teaching. Religions like to present their texts as the most compelling aspect of any landscape--a figure against the ground of nature that commands our attention and respect. But in truth the two can't be separated. Take the Sermon on the Mount as an example: its message can no more be taken off the mountain (and remain alive) than Jesus' lilies can be taken from their field.
In this case the setting is Griddhraj Parvat (literally "The Hill of Vultures"), a mountain in north central India that is said to have been the site for a number of the Buddha's most important teachings, including the Surangama Sutra and the Lotus Sutra. That mountain has very long history in Indian religion, even before Buddhism. It appears in the Ramayana, where it is said to have been the birthplace of Sampati, the Hindu Icarus who flew too close to the sun and burnt his wings. But it was an important site even before those ancient myths were created, because the hills below it contain numerous prehistoric cave paintings.
More important than its cultural history for our purposes is the fact that for many thousands of years (perhaps for hundreds of thousands) it has been a site favored by vultures of various species. Thus, the name of the hill is probably far older than any of the myths or teachings associated with it. Preach a sutra here and it had better have to do with vultures. Otherwise, no matter how lofty or profound the teaching, it is out of sync with the world.
In fact, the Sutra of Infinite Life is completely in sync with vultures, provided we offer it the Green Reading it deserves. Following the principle that every myth reveals one teaching in order to conceal another (just as the figure commands our attention rather than the ground), that reading goes like this:
On a certain occasion Sakyamuni Buddha was meditating on vultures (that is, on the ground), whereupon his appearance gradually became radiant. His disciple Ananda (who had not be meditating on vultures, but rather on the "figure" of his teacher Sakyamuni) noticed the feeling of joy emanating from the Buddha and asked what he was thinking. This symbolizes the relationship between Green Meditation (which is always connected to Nature) and religion (which is never connected to anything but itself).
Sakyamuni answered by telling him the story of a species that fell out of harmony with nature countless eons ago, so that everywhere it looked it saw nothing but suffering. This was because its own suffering was so great. In fact, the world itself had not changed. It was as pure and perfect as it always had been, but this species could not see that. It could not accept that the root of what seemed to be the world's suffering lay only within itself.
Rather than looking inward to find the source of the problem, that species looked out, whereupon it embarked on an endless project. It would save all beings in the world by establishing a pure and perfect land of its own. It would create a spiritualized version of the natural order that would bring Nature into accord with its own vision. It made forty-eight vows (all suited to its own ideas about how life ought to be) and eventually fulfilled them, establishing a Pure Land where everyone could be reborn. There was only one problem: that land had no vultures whatsoever...because it had no death. Therefore it could not be perfect or etnernal, but only a static ideal with no reality, sustance, or truth.
Ananda asks Sakyamuni what became of Dharmakara (that earlier species) and Sakyamuni says that he eventually fulfilled his vows and is living in the Western Pure Land many light years from there. That is why he is filled with radiance and bliss. One wants to be as far from Dharmakara's so-called "perfect" realm as possible. It's the vultures that make Sakyamuni smile, not the Pure Land. The real Amitabha Buddha is the ecosystem that surrounds Vulture Peak, for which the peak itself would have been a longstanding symbol, even in the Buddha's day.
That is my "grounded," Green Reading of the Sutra of Infinite Life. Naturally, it is pretty heretical from an orthodox point of view. But I'll throw my lot in with the vultures any day, as I believe Sakyamuni the man would have done. I am less concerned with Sakyamuni the Buddha, the figure of religious devotion who stands as a shining figure against the ground of Nature. Let that figure find salvation where he may, I'm content to live as far away from him as possible, provided my feet are on the ground and there's at least one vulture overhead, as there is in this photo--taken at the site of the original Sutra.
