Why is Amituofo’s birthday sacred? Because he is a Buddha, a fully enlightened being with perfect compassion and wisdom, among all other virtues, capable of guiding us on the fastest path to Buddhahood. How could his day of birth not be sacred then? And whose birthday could be more sacred? Namo Amituofo
‘Namo Amituofo’, who does not know how to recite it? Though reciting but not corresponding, the ‘mother and child’ are difficult to meet. Walking, standing and sitting, lying down, now, of this mind gathered, with thought to thought in self-continual succession, mindfulness will become one and unified. With such mindfulness of Amituofo, Amituofo naturally appears, and his Western Pure Land will definitely be born in, with all of one’s life without retrogression [towards Buddhahood].
The Pure Land Tradition’s 11th Patriarch Great Master Xing’an
With wholehearted focused mindfulness [of Amituofo], do not hesitate,
to diligently perfume with the fragrance of precepts and concentration.
With Faith, Aspiration and Practice, these three are the provisions,
[for crossing] the sea of suffering, to attain compassionate navigation [by Amituofo].
The Pure Land Tradition’s 8th Patriarch Great Master Lianchi
