I’d like to talk about the mala. A mala or rosary is the one piece of equipment that you should have. As a Pureland Buddhist especially you must have a mala.
In Buddhism there is an analysis of the sense into their organs, their power and their object.
In Buddhism there are
- six senses, the organs being the tongue, the body, the nose, the ears, the eyes and the mind itself. These are the six senses.
- Each sense has a power to connect it with its object,
- and it has an object.
So, this analysis into 18 items is found commonly in the oldest Buddhist texts.
And each sense can be considered to have a masculine and a feminine aspect.
And we use the sense to sense the past, the present and the future.
So, 18 x 2 (masculine and feminine) x 3 (past, present and future) gives you = 108.
There are 108 beads on a mala.
If you use a mala to count your nembutsu, by the time you get to the end of the mala, you have saturated all of your senses, both in the feminine and in the masculine aspect, past, present and future, in other words: in total, the whole of sentient existence, with the nembutsu. This is part of the significance of having a mala.
So, I recommend: have a mala! Keep it with you!
If you want it in the traditional Pureland form, the 108 will actually be in two interlocking circles of 54 beads each. But you can have a single circle of 108, if you like. Most other schools of Buddhism have a single circle of 108. My favourite one is a small one with very nice wooden beads. Its quite small, so I can keep it in my pocket.
If you have a mala and you keep it with you, you will undoubtedly say a lot more nembutsu. As soon as you see the mala, you want to recite the nembutsu. The practice will be with you and the mala will support you.
The significance of the double-mala, the two interlocking circles of 54: if you hold it with both hands, if you’re doing a large number of nembutsu on a retreat, say, and you hold the mala with both hands and you can, if you say, let’s say 4 nembutsu for each bead, then, by moving a bead with one hand, every time you said 4 nembutsu and then moving a bead with the other hand, every time you’ve done a complete circle, you’ll be able to count up to 10.000 nembutsu. Some days you might do more, some days you might do less. But the habit of keeping the mala to hand will certainly result in you saying many more nembutsu.
Of course, one nembutsu is quite sufficient. Amida will answer. The faith is what matters. But faith and practice cannot be differentiated. Its just like, if you forget your beloved’s birthday, you may still love him or her. But it’s much better to remember and to celebrate. So, even if you don’t remember to do your nembutsu, still, Amida is with you, but it’s much better to remember and to celebrate.
We celebrate by saying the nembutsu and if you have a mala, then you will say many more nembutsu. You can make this a delightful thing; and then the Dharma will be with you. It will benefit yourself, it will benefit others, and it enables the life of the Tathāgata to permeate all of your 18 sense basis, masculine and feminine, past, present and future, the whole of sentient existence.
Namo Amida Bu
Namo Amida Bu
Namo Amida Bu
Thank you very much
Dharmavidya
David
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