In the morning service at Amida Shu temples and gatherings there is a passage that begins “Your radiant face, like a mountain peak catching the first burst of morning light, has awesome and unequalled majesty.” It is the first verse of a short text called Tan Butsu Ge, which is a section of the Larger Pureland Sutra.
Tan Butsu Ge literally means Song in Praise of the Buddha. In this case it is the Buddha Lokeshvararaja who lived an immense time ago in an altogether different world, perhaps a different universe. The song is sung in the sutra by Dharmakara Bodhisattva who subsequently, much much later, becomes Amitabha Buddha. It expresses his delight and astonishment on meeting the Buddha and tells how he is inspired by this meeting to enter the Buddha Way.
Radiant Appearance
This story of Dharmakara meeting Lokeshvararaja is told by the Buddha Shakyamuni to Ananda. The incident reflects the opening of the encounter between Ananda and Shakyamuni themselves. Ananda similarly has been struck by the radiant appearance of Shakyamuni. He says, “Oh Blessed One, I do not ever recall seeing the Tathagata so serene, purified, cleansed and radiant as I do today. This thought occurs to me ’Today the Tathagata dwells in the sphere of the most rare Dharma! the sphere of the Buddhas! … The Buddhas of the three times contemplate one another. Could it be that you are now bringing to mind all the other Buddhas? Are you gazing upon the tathagatas, arhats, Samyak Sambuddhas of the past, the future, and the present? Is that why your august presence shines with such radiance today?” and the Buddha replies, “You are right, Ananda, you are right.”
You can tell a lot from a face. My companions here tell me that they can tell when my illness is worse and when it is less bad because they can see it in my face. When i am bad, my energy withdraws inside and the face darkens. When I am well the opposite happens. Sometimes we see somebody that we are familiar with and we think, “Either he is in love, or he just won the lottery.” A radiance is evident to everybody.
Such radiance tells us the inner state of a person. It is also infectious. In the famous Fred Astair song, They Can’t Take That Away From Me, one of the things he treasures is “The way your face just beams.” When somebody has that radiance we all benefit, feel lifted and liberated. This is the effect that a Buddha has.
Receiving & Giving
How is it that a Buddha is so often radiant? The sutra tells us. The Buddha is radiant because he is receiving radiance himself. He has a mind full of the Buddhas of past, future and present. This is the real meaning of mindfulness. What energy comes out of us depends upon what energy goes into us and this is substantially a question of what we have in mind. Sometimes the mind is necessarily preoccupied with pressing difficulties. Sometimes it is full of the joy of love. The more troubles we carry around, the less opportunity we have to soak up the love.
The Buddha, therefore, recommended a simple life so as to give more space to contemplate the myriad Buddhas. In the Pratyutpanna Samadhi Sutra it says that the person who practises the samadhi sees Buddhas everywhere. This is religious consciousness - it is what all good religions instil. The terminology may vary but the basic inculcation of an openness to divine light is universally the same. Allowing in the radiant face that smiles upon us from every direction results in our own face lightening up. In this way we can all be mirrors for the moonlight of the Dharma. In this way we bring happiness to one another - "their hearts will lighten and be joyful, happy and at ease."
We say that in the scriptues, light is a symbol for wisdom, but it is more than just a symbol and not just a metaphor - there really is light in the face of a person who receives the Dharma, just as there is spring in her step and song in her voice. Similarly, Tan Butsu Ge talks about “The melody of your enlightenment.” This radiance is a kind of visual music and when we are affected by it we want to sing, just as Dharmakara sings in the sutra. The other day when we were all in the Aphrodite Field together and the sun was shining his smiling face upon us, we started chanting, and the song of Buddha’s enlightenment filled the world. Tan Butsu Ge.
KO GEN GI GI
I JIN MU GOKU
NYO ZE EN MYO
MU YO TO SHA
NICHI GATSU MA-NI
SHU KO EN NYO
KAI SHITSU ON-PEI
YU NYAKU JU MOKU
NYO-RAI YO GEN
CHO SE MU RIN
SHO GAKU DAI ON
KO RU JIP-PO
KAI MON SHO-JIN
SAN-MAI CHI-YE
I TOKU MU RO
SHU SHO KE U
JIN TAI ZEN NEN
SHO BUTSU HO KAI
GU JIN JIN HO
KU GO GAI TEI
MU-MYO YOKU NU
SE SON YO MU
NIN O SHI-SHI
JIN TOKU MU RYO
KU KUN KO DAI
CHI-YE JIN MYO
KO MYO I SO
SHIN-DO DAI-SEN
GAN GA SA BUTSU
SAI SHO HO O
KA-DO SHO JI
MI FU GE DATSU
FU-SE CHO I
KAI NIN SHO-JIN
NYO ZE SAN-MAI
CHI-YE I JO
GO SE TOKU BUTSU
FU GYO SEI GAN
IS-SAI KU KU
I SA DAI AN
KE SHI U BUTSU
HYAKU-SEN-OKU-MAN
MU-RYO DAI SHO
SHU NYO GO JA
KU YO IS-SAI
SHI-TO SHO BUTSU
FU NYO GU DO
KEN SHO FU KYAKU
HI NYO GO JA
SHO BUTSU SE-KAI
BU FU KA KE
MU SHU SETSU DO
KO MYO SHI SHO
HEN SHI SHO KOKU
NYO ZE SHO-JIN
I JIN NAN RYO
RYO GA SA BUTSU
KOKU-DO DAI-ICHI
GO SHU KI MYO
DO JO CHO ZETSU
KOKU NYO NAI-ON
NI MU TO SO
GA TO AI MIN
DO DATSU IS-SAI
JIP-PO RAI SHO
SHIN YETSU SHO JO
I TO GA KOKU
KE RAKU AN NON
KO BUTSU SHIN MYO
ZE GA SHIN SHO
HOTSU GAN O HI
RIKI SHO SHO YOKU
JIP-PO SE SON
CHI-YE MU GE
JO RYO SHI SON
CHI GA SHIN GYO
KE RYO SHIN SHI
SHO KU DOKU CHU
GA GYO SHO-JIN
NIN JU FU KE
Your radiant face,
Like a mountain peak
Catching the first burst
Of morning light
Has awesome and
Unequalled majesty.
Like black ink by comparison
Are the sun, the moon, or the "mani" treasure.
Tathagata,
Such is your incomparable face.
The melody of your enlightenment
Fills the world
Rare and precious
Are your precepts,
Learning, energy, meditation,
Wisdom and amazing virtue.
The oceanic Dharma
Of all Buddhas
Which you fathom
To its deepest depths
Dispels the 3 poisons
From the heart -
You are like a lion:
Valiant and divinely pure.
Great power!
Deep wisdom!
Awesome light!
Reverberation -
A prayer I make, a Buddha to become
Equal to you, my Dharma king,
To lead all beings to the other shore
Leaving none behind.
The six paramitas
To perfect
With prajna at their head.
Should I become Buddha:
I will fulfil
This prayer completely:
To everyone
I'll bring great peace.
To Buddhas countless
As sand grains
My offerings I make,
And do not flinch
From the trials
Of the incomparable Way,
Powerful,
Straight and true.
Though Buddha lands
And worldly realms
Be numberless
Like sand,
By sheer power
Of aspiration
I'll fill them all
With light.
Let me become a Buddha
And the multitude
Of beings
Will all enjoy
My primordial
Nirvana world.
By indiscriminate compassion
I will enlighten all.
Reborn here from no matter where
In my country their hearts
Will lighten and be joyful,
Happy and at ease.
Oh you Buddha, witness my vow,
My true aspiration,
Establishing my vow on you
Gives me the strength to fulfil it.
Buddhas throughout space and time
Of unimpeded wisdom
Always witness
My heart's practice.
No matter the obstacles, the hardships,
My practice will endure
Through all,
Without regret.
Replies
Thank you for this teaching Dharmavidya. I had thought of asking you about this verse ~ my favourite. So beautiful, I'm happy to learn more about it.
Currently on retreat in New York. James and I had a good discussion about "faith" this morning, and thought of you.
namo amida bu ~ Prajna