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28 EASTERN HORIZON | TEACHINGS
KNOWING WHAT BUDDHISM
IS – THE PURE LAND SCHOOL
By Tham Ah Fun
Introduction Pure Land School and the Four
Mahāyāna Buddhists in Malaysia Noble Truths
always greet each other “A-mi-tou- First and foremost, it must be
fo” (Amitābha Buddha in Mandarin). clearly understood that the Pure
In fact, such greeting is the Land School is deeply rooted in
acceptable norm world-wide among the Four Noble Truths (the truth
Mahāyāna Buddhists, or even by of suffering, the truth of the cause
a non-Buddhist to a Mahāyāna of suffering, the truth of the end of
Tham was the initiator of the monastic. However, nowadays suffering, and the truth of the path
people say “ A-mi-tou-fo “ to mean that leads to the end of suffering)
Malaysian Dharma-Stream
“Hello”, “How are you”, “Goodbye”, which are the fundamental
Forums, 2017 & 2018, and
“Thank you”, “Oh dear”, “Excuse me”, teachings of the Buddha.
a Committee member of the
“Sorry” etc. There is quite a lot of
Malaysian Buddhist Kulapati misunderstanding about the Pure Any Pure Land practitioner who
Association. He has been a Land (Sukhāvatī in Sanskrit, Land of does not consider this world as a
Dharma speaker at various Ultimate Bliss) of Amitābha Buddha. place full of sufferings from which
National Service camps, as well Therefore, in line with the theme he must exit, will not have the
as at many temples and Buddhist “One Buddha Dharma” accepted aspiration and determination to be
associations. He has also served by many Buddhist organizations reborn in the Pure Land. In other
in various capacities in the in Malaysia, I would like to clarify words, he must have a mind of
Malaysian civil service, including some common misconceptions of renunciation.
the National Unity Board, (1977- Pure Land Buddhism by posing
1980) and Economic Planning some basic questions: Due to his great compassion
Unit (1981-1993), and has towards other suffering beings, he
worked as a consultant at various 1. Is the Pure Land School a form of also vows that upon his successful
Buddhism? cultivation in the Pure Land, he will
private sector corporations.
2. Who is Amitābha Buddha? return to assist and deliver others
Thum holds a B. Econs from the
3. Is Pure Land based on some from this shore of sufferings to the
University of Malaya, and M.
Buddhist sūtras? other shore of liberation. This is
Economics from the University of 4. What are its guiding principles? what we call Bodhicitta.
Canterbury, Kent, UK. 5. What is its lineage and who were Mahāyāna Buddhists definitely
some of the great masters of this subscribe to the Buddha’s teaching
This article is based on a School? of “do no evil, do good, purify the
presentation titled “Knowing 6. What are some of the do’s and mind”. Needless to say, Buddhists
What Buddhism Is” presented don’ts which practitioners of should strive to purify their minds
at an Intra-Faith Forum at the the Pure Land School should as much as possible. However,
Buddhist Maha Vihara, Kuala observe? due to internal defilements and
Lumpur, on 1 Sept 2018. attachments accumulated over our
