Allow me to begin with a story: once upon a time there lived an old woman who would chant the name of Amitabha Buddha from morning to night, so much so that people called her “Old Amitofo Chanter.” After her death, she appeared before Yama, the lord of death and judge of the hell realm.

Yama took one look at the old woman and said, “Send her to the hell realm!” The old woman protested, “In life I was called ‘Old Amitofo Chanter’ and you’re sending me off to hell? Surely you have made
a mistake!”

“My judgments are never wrong, but I’ll prove it to you. Demons, go check again.” Yama’s demons wheeled out eight large wagons full of all the merit from the old woman’s recitations of Amitabha Buddha’s name, dumped them into a wicker scoop, and gave them a shake. 

As the demons shook them, all the old woman could hear was a series of cracks as all her merit broke into pieces. All of her recitations were now a jumble of scraps, for there was no merit in them. “You see?” Yama said. “There are no solid karmic rewards among the Amitabha Buddha recitations you did in life.” At that moment, a red demon exclaimed, “Lord Yama, there is one left!” 

Only one unbroken bit of merit remained, and it had come about in the following way: on one occasion the old woman was on her way to the temple to bow to the Buddha when she was overtaken by a rainstorm and a bolt of lightning that struck a fir tree standing right in front of her. In that instant the old woman’s mind was free of distraction and did not abide in anything, at which point she recited “Namo Amitofo” (Taking refuge in Amitabha Buddha). It was only this particular recitation of Amitabha Buddha’s name that remained as merit after she passed away, allowing her to escape the suffering of hell.

There is a similar story about a man named “Stone Hui.” Stone Hui’s family had been stonemasons for generations, which is why people called him “Stone Hui’ Stone Hui was illiterate, but he would still ask the Buddhist monks to recite the sutras for him. Having listened to them so many times, he was also able to recite some from memory as well.

Later on, Stone Hui left his family and went to Chan Master Dasui’s temple to work as a manual laborer, where he was assigned the task of chiseling stone. His iron hammer never left his hand, and his lips never stopped reciting the Buddhist sutras.

Chan Master Dasui would see him work like this every day, and finally asked, “You’re tap tapping today, and you’ll be tap tapping tomorrow; what will you do when you are at death’s door?” Stone Hui cast aside his iron hammer and followed Dasui into the abbot’s chambers. Dasui wanted him to stop memorizing Buddhist sutras and give up his attachment to the written word.

One day, Stone Hui was chiseling stone once more, and the stone he was working on was exceedingly hard. He struck forcefully at the stone with all his might. Sparks flew everywhere, and there amid all the sparks, Stone Hui suddenly attained enlightenment.

Afterwards he entered the abbot’s chambers, paid homage to Chan Master Dasui, and spoke the following verse:

Exhausting all my effort,
Completely forgetting myself,
In a burst of flying sparks,
Here it is all along.

Dasui realized that Stone Hui was now enlightened, and consequently bestowed upon him a set of monastic robes. Stone Hui then entered the Dharma hall to teach, and said: “If you are unclear about your own mind while practicing meditation and learning the Way, then you are like a person crying out in
thirst while being inside a well. Within a day we walk, stand, sit, and lie down; we are always moving and doing, is there anything that is not changing? The eyes see and the ears hear, so where is the path not present? If you can recognize the path, that is the path of great liberation. Look at me. I’m an old man: am I better than you in any way? Is there any way you are inferior? Understand? The moon is reflected within the waves across the 36,000 acres of Lake Tai. To whom is it speaking?”

After he finished speaking, Stone Hui got up and left. To go through the motions of reciting sutras and bowing to the Buddha without putting your heart into it is a total waste of time, no matter how much effort is involved. Such unmindful practices will not help your life in any way. After listening to the Dharma we must think about, practice, and realize the teachings to attain enlightenment. We must rediscover our minds. The mind is prajna, also called vajra. 

Vajra is a Sanskrit word, translated as jingang (金剛) in Chinese, which describes a material that is sharp and powerful, often translated as “diamond:’ The mind itself is very powerful and has limitless potential. When we rediscover the mind, it becomes like a diamond, sharp and powerful, and absolutely true without illusions. Such a mind grants right understanding and allows us to see the truth.

Source: Hsing Yun. Four Insights for Finding Fulfillment: A Practical Guide to the Buddha’s Diamond Sutra. Los Angeles: Buddhas Light Publishing, 2012.

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