This four characters: A Mi Tou Fwo (Amitabha Buddha) means inconceivable, so it says,

The Buddha Amitabha is the great Dharma king,
universally gather all various faculties of living beings to the West.
Day and night, hold his name, with sincerity recite it.
At all times, in contemplation, think upon it well.
With one herat unconfused, you realize samadhi.
when all creation's void, you'll enter the Lotus Land.
Suddenly enlightened to the non-production, the Buddha appears in person.
A wonderful enlightenment fruition is naturally attained.

This eight verse praises Amitabha Buddha as the great Dharma king. Heng Chang wrote me a letter and addressed me as " Venerable Master Dharma king", Is master a Dharma king? that is not for sure, but Amitabha Buddha definitely is a great Dharma king, so his name is Amitabha Buddha. Amitabha is a Sanskrit word, which means" limitless life" , also means" limitless light". Limitless life is symbolizing his unlimited blessing, and limitless light describes his unlimited wisdom, so it means both blessing and wisdom are unlimited.

The blessing is completed, the wisdom is completed. With both blessing and wisdom are perfected, he is named the Buddha of limitless life and wisdom. Limitless life can cause all living beings also to obtain limitless life. Limitless light can make all living beings to attain limitless light too. Why is it? Because Buddha is not selfish, he did not say," AH! only me can monopolize the limitless life, you can't have it.", or he won't say, " Only I have this limitless light, living being can share none of it.".Whoever recites the name of Amitabha Buddha will gain the limitless life. Whoever recite Amitabha can gain limitless light. The unlimitless life and light could be obtained by everyone. Hence the words "Amitabha Buddha" are inconceivable, so he is called great Dharma King. Amitabha Buddha is the king within Dharma, not only he is the king within the Buddha Dharma but is a great Dharma King, so you see how great he is! those who recite the name of Amitabha Buddha have good roots; Those who have no good roots will not encounter this dharma door. How simple this Dharma door is! All you have to do is reciting. Just by reciting the name of Amitabha Buddha, you can become Buddha, which without spending money or effort. As long as you can recite it, you too can attain limitless life and light. Why could we gain this just by reciting ? Isn't this a bit too much of a bargain for us to be able to learn this dharma door without making any effort!

The reason for it is because in the past lifes, Amitabha Buddha cultivated all kinds of dharma doors without success. He had cultivated this and that dharma door for several great kalpas without being able to obtain Buddhahood. He had been precticing various dharma doors, and had undergone bitter experiences. Because of this, he then made the vow, " Since I had undergone such a difficulty while I was cultivating the Buddha Dharma, I want to make a vow to cause all living beings to accomplish Buddhahood easily, I don't want them to go through the same hardship as I did.". So Amitabha Buddha made forty-eight vows,which universally gather all living beings . All living beings of the ten directions, as long as you can recite " Na Mo A Mi Ta Bha Buddha", the name that I accomplish the Buddhahood, then I will assure to take you and to become Buddha. If you don't become Buddha, then I myself neither will become Buddha nor attain enlightenment.

Amitibha Buddha had made the forty-eight great vows, therefore, any living being of the ten directions, whoever could recite the name of Amitabha Buddha,has deeply tied up the dharma condition with him. Once the dharma conditon has been tied up,Wao, you will be in the West before you are aware of it. So it says, " Universally gather all beings of various faculties ". Yet you still don't know how did you make it to get there. You may wonder, " Gee! I did not buy any airline ticke to come here-the West? I did not purchase any train, or boat, or bus ticket. I buy none of it and I come to Western Ultimate Bliss Land already.". Don't you think that you got a great deal of it? Amitabha Buddha in the former life had made a great effort and cultivated many ascetic practices to be able to become Buddha. Now, we just only need to recite the name of Amitabha Buddha, and we can go to the land of Western Ultimate Bliss. Don't you think that it is a good bargain? There is nothing more expedience, more convenience than this, it is truly" easy! easy! easy! you could realize the patriach's mind on the tip of myriad grass." it is too easy, it is extremely easy. So it is said," universally gather all living beings" , you could see that we here all have a connection with Amitabha Buddha like radio. If you recite Amitabha Buddha, your shadow will be reflected on the radar of Amitabha Buddha. If we say it more advanced, it is like T.V., we send a fax to him. Amitabha Buddha will know and catch the wave whoever recites his name,that person's mind telegram will be sent to Amitabha Buddha. Isn't it really wonderful? So it is said, " universally gather all faullties of living beings to the West."

"Morning and night, hold his name, with sincerity recite it": To recite the name of Amitabha Buddha day and night. In movement and stillness, you recite his name. While moving you can recite and change the motion into stillness; while still you can recite and change the still into motion. When there is neither movement nor stillness, at this state, your telegram to Amitabha has gotten through and you have received his response. "hold his name" means you concentrately hold the name of Amitabha Buddha- Na Mo A Mi Ta Bha Buddha, Na Mo A Mi Ta Bha Buddha..., don't lose it, don't forget about it, remember it by heart. If you maintain your recitation morning and night without stopping, you may recite to the point that you don't realize moving when you walk, you don't know the stillness when you sit, you don't feel thirst when you are thirty, you don't feel hunger when you are hungry, you don't know freezing when you are cold , you don't experience the warmth when you are warm, There is nothing at all. At that time, you recite to the state of both people and dharma are empty, Amitabha becomes you, and you are Amitabha Buddha, there is no way to seperate, there is no way to put it down. That is what it means by " morning and night, hold his name, with sincerity recite it."

Recite it single-minded and sincerely without false thoughts. You don't think how is China nowadays, how is Japan rescentantly, how is Mahatma Gandhi, the prime minister of India,right now. What for to think of all these worthless matters? If you do not strike up all these false thoughts, you are singlemindly and sincerely in recitation. To recite and uphold the name concentrately to the point that you were ask," what is the day of today?", You don't know. "what is the date of tomorrow?' You don't know.To recite till not knowing anything, then you arrive at a miraculous state.

You may ask," But isn't this stupid?" " Stupid?" It trains you to become wise. It's said, "If you can train to become great dolt, then you become clever", If you are stupid to the extreme point, then you come to be talent and clever. "If you can learn to be stupid, then the marvel appears.". Look at Yan Yuan, for example, Confucius said, " I have spoken with Hui for a whole day and he has not contradicted me, as if he were a stupid." Hui had acted like a very stupid person. "But I have examined his actions when he retired from me and found that he puts the teachings into practice, Hui is not stupid!". Confucius said that after Hui went back to his room, I had been watching and examining him, I found that Hui brought what he had learned into fully play, Hui was not stupid at all. If you are able to learn to be stupid like this then it's not bad at all.

When mentioned this, it reminded me of being arrogant before. I remember when I was young and first started school, I was very slow and dull at the very begining, I could not remember my lessons. If I had managed to learn and memorize my lesson clearly, when I stood before the teacher to recite it , I was just like seeing King Yama,and I forgot them all. Because our teacher was holding something similar to the incense board in his hand, and stood there waiting for you seriously , and was looking at you. Seeing him in that way, you are already scared out of your wits. There is a Chinese old way of school teaching, it was too severe, It scared the child and made the child cry who usually doesn't cry. After I have found the skillful way of study, I could study fast and well, and could master in an hour what took other students even more than five days to learn. My teacher said to me,"Wau! You are really like Yen Hui, it really can't tell that you are such a smart one! You are really clever!" I became arrogant when I heard he praised me and I thought," Oh! I am the same as Yen Hui. Would I die the same age as he did? En, I am going to give myself a name." what was it ? it was called " semblance of stupidity." means someone is like a stupid.That is the name of arrogance.

If you can recite the Buddha's name to the point that you can let go of everything and like a stupidity, I don't mean that to be a stupid like the one who was taking drugs, it doesn't count, then you will suddenly penetrate and be enlightened.So it is said, "morning and night, hold his name, with sinceriety recite it."

" At all times, in contemplation, think upon it well." : At all times you are in contemplation, of what you contemplate? you contemplate,"Amitabha's body is the color of gold, the splendor of his hallmarks has no peer, the light of his brow shines round a hundred world, wide as the four great seas are his eyes pure and clear, shining in his brilliance by transformation are coundless Bodhisattvas and infinite Buddhas,his forty-eight vows will cross all living beings, in nine lotus- stages we reach the farest shore." To contemplate the splendor of Amitabha Buddha's hallmark, this is the meaning of contemplation. At all times contemplate and don't lose track. "Think upon it well", you should think upon the wholesome state of Amitabha Buddha, don't bother to think of unnecessary matters, then that is the meaning of " think upon it well."

"With one heart unconfused recitation, you'll realize samadhi." If I dan recite with one unconfused heart, I can enter samadhi. With one unconfused heart,which lead to attain the samadhi, is like to be stupid. Whoever follows and learns from me should remember, not to practice the dharma door of arrogance like I had before. I was very arrogant, so now I feel that everybody is better than me. I have put down the arrogance, and the more people are better than me, the happier I am, the more pleased I am! I will not be jealous, why is it? If people are better than you , of course it is fine! Why does it have to be that I am better than others? I don't need to be better than other people, I am worse than anybody. This is my principle.

"When all creation's void, you enter the lotus Land", all creation's void means there is not grief, all worry are void, all thoughts are void. Myriad thoughts are empty, there is not a single false thinking arise, there is no worry, there is no affliction. "enter the Lotus Land", means to enter the world of Lotus flower, the country-side of Lotus flower. when you reach that state, then you " suddenly enlightened to the non-production" : you immediately enlighten to the patience of the non-production Dharma, which means to thoroughly understand the origional face. "the Buddha appears in person" : At that time the Buddha manifest the Dharma body, "The wonderful enlightenment is natually attained" : the wonderful enlightenment is the Buddha's fruition. You are able to shoulder the Buddha's position directly. You may say, " Oh! I am the Buddha now." It doesn't meant that you think you are a Buddha, then you are a Buddha already, the Buddha does not come by thinking. You have to truly attain the Buddha's dharma body, truly certify to the Buddha's fruition, then you can be considered as a Buddha. So it doesn't mean that you think of being a Buddha, you are a Buddha already. what about if you think you are a ghost, then you really are a ghost. So everybody should work hard to cultivate this dharma door of Buddha's recitation.

What I have talk about today, if you can recite to the point of being single mindly without confusion, all creation's void, then at this very moment, you gain some benefits, at that very moment it is pure. So the dharma door of Buddha's recitation is wonderfully inexpressible. What would it be like of reciting? It is like a child eats candy. After eating candy, the child tastes the sweetness of it, and he still keeps on thinking to eat it again without being able to put it down. We should apply the same way to the Buddha's recitation. To taste the flavor of recitation is like eating candy. In fact it is not like taste sweet, it is truly that way. If you have recited enough to have gained some skill, oh! you will feel as if you were drinking sweet dew that were never ended. Gwan Yin Bodhisattva had seen you recite the Buddha till your throat gets dry, he then gives you a bit of sweet dew so it tastes sweet. Those people who know how to recite the Buddha have sweetness in their mouth. But you don't become to attach the sweetness, if you attach to it," Oh! how sweet is it!", well, it is not sweet anymore. This dharma is such inconceivable. Once you conceive of it, it is not what it is. Do you understand? why if you attach to it, and it become disappeared? Because if you attach the sweetness, you have greedy mind and you think," I like to eat this now,An! it is so sweet, I don't need to buy any candy to eat, it saves money." . The Bodhisattva saw you are so greedy and stingy, he doesn't want to give it to you, so it become sweetless. Whoever has this kind of state, remember not to think whether it is sweet or not, you only need to recite Buddha's name, the true the better. If you can recite the Buddha ceaselessly, then you will have accomlishment. Either you will see light, see flower. or see the Buddha, these are all good states. But don't be greedy for these states either or in your attachment they will disappear, it will be ended same as the sweet dew.

This is the first day of the session, there are still six days to go and you have many opportunities. There are six days left in the first session, and togather with the second session, there are thirteen days left. You will have many chances to obtain a single unconfused mind. But you should not be lazy and think," Oh! I have planty of chances, I can wait!" Don't wait, especially in the evening, during the Great Transference ceremony. When kneeling down to recite the Buddha's name and the verses for contemplation during the transference, you need to be earnestly sincere.To be extremely sincere. To offer up in all sincerity, but how sincere ? to render ten thousand out of ten thousand. Don't say hundred persent ot ten thousand , the more the better. You have to determine to attain benefit, or insteadyou come to attain this session in vain. Otherwise, you have undergone all these bitterness for nothing, wouldn't that be a shame!