In my previous post "How To Reach a Pure Land" I mentioned that I received the empowerment and training for the Tibetan Buddhist Pure Land practices or Phowa. In this post I would like to provide a high-level overview of the practice of reciting mantra in order to attain rebirth in the Pure Land. I strongly encourage anyone seeking to practice the mantra to obtain instruction and direct transmission (empowerment) from a qualified teacher before proceeding.
At the time of my training, I was taught:
Om ami dewa hri
However, I am very fond of the Indic form:
Om amitabha hrih
Amitabha, the Buddha of Immeasurable Light, is the center of a number of mantras in Tibetan Buddhist Vajrayana practices.
The Indic form of the mantra of Amitābha is oṃ amitābha hrīḥ, which is pronounced in its Tibetan version as om ami dewa hri, while the Sanskrit form is oṃ amideva hrīḥ
Very similar to one that I have hanging in my meditation room
The specific Tibetan Practice that I received the empowerment for is called Phowa
Phowa (also spelled Powa or Poa phonetically) is a Tibetan term for a Buddhist meditation practice that may be translated as the "practice of conscious dying", "transference of consciousness at the time of death" or "mindstream transference".
The method of mind-transference, or "enlightenment without meditation" as it is often called, can be applied at the moment of one's death with the objective of taking birth in the buddha-field of one's choice, i.e., Sukhāvatī, Abhirati, Ghanavyūha, Aṭakāvatī, Mount Potala, the Copper-Colored Mountain, Tuṣita, etc.
I was taught the mantra and visualization for rebirth in the Pure Land of the Buddha Amitabha, called Sukhāvatī.
A wonderful Phowa teaching available on the web is Teachings on Phowa, by H.E. Lingtrul Rinpoche http://www.kathokgonpa.ca/teachings-phowa.php
There is an entire category of Buddhism called Pure Land Buddhism. In Southeast Asia and Japan, recitation of the mantra, also referred to as praises to the Buddha Amitabha, are believed to be all that is necessary to attain the Pure Land after death. These praises are called Nembutsu or Nianfo.
Nianfo (Chinese: nianfo; Japanese: nembutsu; Korean: yeombul; Vietnamese: niệm Phật), literally "mindfulness of the Buddha" is a term commonly seen in the Pure Land school of Mahayāna Buddhism. It refers to praise offered to Amitabha Buddha as a devotional act. The original Sanskrit phrase would have been Namo Amitabhaya Buddhaya, which can mean either "I trust in the Buddha of Immeasurable Light" or simply "Homage to the Buddha of Immeasurable Light".
The reason that we rely on devotion to Amitābha Buddha to obtain rebirth in the Pure Land is mentioned in the Pure Land Buddhism Wikipedia article:
One basic Mahayana Pure Land concept is that Nirvana (liberation, awakening, salvation) has become increasingly difficult to attain, and that only through devotion to Amitābha Buddha and looking towards Amida Buddha for guidance can one be reborn in the Pure Land, a perfect realm in which enlightenment is guaranteed.
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