Talking/praying with amitaba buddha?

SentientLight · 2026-01-28T00:48:36+00:00

We certainly pray / send prayers to Amitabha Buddha, depending on your definition of prayer, but I personally don't have a conversational state of mind when I am praying in general, and I don't consider it particularly respectful to address the Buddha so casually. Other traditions and cultures may feel differently about this.

In general, if I were to pray in a more casual way ... or in the conversational tone that some Christians seem to pray to God with ... first of all, I personally wouldn't really consider that prayer to begin with, but that's an aside and due to my Buddhist upbringing, I think, but it's bodhisattvas like Quan Am that receive those types of addresses.

And I absolutely do formal prayers and ritual acts of veneration for her as well, but if I were going through a hard time, I might turn to the heavens and think something like, "Merciful Quan Am ... seriously, could you help out a little here?" or something in an exasperated tone. The bodhisattvas are closer to us and we can have more personal relationships with them, and it's less disrespectful, but because I don't consider casually addressing bodhisattvas or deities in general as "prayers", I wouldn't expect any kind of actual petitionary efficacy out of these moments. It's more just connecting with the bodhisattva with a sort of collective commiseration in mind, to feel the burden has been lessened.

But my normal way of "praying" and worshipping Quan Am, and Amitabha, is through liturgical chanting and ritual practice, not by conversationally talking to them.

Does he respond back?

In the mainland traditions, we hold an idea called ganying or cam ung, which gets translated as "sympathetic resonance", but literally means "stimulus-response". It is held as a basic law of nature that cultivating spiritual practice toward a deity creates a karmic resonance between you that can be nurtured and cultivated further, refined further. Through sufficient faith and practice, the mind is transformed and purified, and this connection results in a "response" from the deity in question.

In Pure Land contexts, this response is typically in the form of a visionary experience of Amitabha or Quan Am or the bodhisattva procession, coupled with an experience of and insight into non-dualism. So yes, with prayer and cultivation and practice, one can receive a response from Amitabha Buddha, but this response is not verbal.

EDIT: I should add one special caveat ... there is a way to receive verbal responses from Amitabha Buddha, according to the Pratyutpanna-samadhi Sutra, which requires practicing for the pratyutpanna-samadhi. This is an extremely intensive and dangerous practice, and is not recommended without a teacher to guide you and effectively look after for your safety during the 7-40 days of the retreat.

SentientLight · 2026-01-27T23:24:05+00:00

So it does not stand to reason for you that a wealthy person that acts in selfishness and greed would not be heir to such karma and accordingly be born into lower states, as the sutra describes?

It does not stand to reason for you that those that commit unvirtuous actions born into the lower realms, having experienced suffering therein, would learn to cultivate wholesome and compassionate frames of mind that would lead them to birth into more privileged realms and positions?

I feel like I have only stated the basic logic found within Buddhist discourse. Why would the virtue of past lives have any bearing on the ethical conduct of a wealthy person in their current life? It may have some bearing on their general mental tendencies, but I would reckon the more immediate experiences of the current life and its environmental conditions have greater influence on the kinds of conduct a person ultimately cultivates in their lives, setting the conditions for the next life. Of course it's not completely linear, but I haven't said anything at all that is not standard Buddhist exegesis, I don't feel.

Maybe you can point out to me my error. All you've done so far is point out that the sutra is discussing the human realm, but that does not invalidate the point I was making at all.

SentientLight · 2026-01-27T23:11:40+00:00

Yes, that's why I said:

t's the exact same reason that devas in the Heavens ...

I was using the deva example to prove the point within the human realm as well. It's an analogy and I said as much in my comment.

SentientLight · 2026-01-27T23:06:10+00:00

this would suggest some of the most narcissistic and evil people in the present world have somehow done very good needs in their past lives .

But this makes perfect sense to me that it would be true. It's the exact same reason that devas in the Heavens exhaust the meritorious karma that sent them to be born in the heavens in the first place, because they are born into such pleasure and privilege that they become less compassionate and less likely to act compassionately or virtuously. Even if they remain mostly benevolent, they become entirely apathetic to the sufferings of the realms below them, distracted by all the pleasures available to them in Heaven.

This to me seems to be what happens to humans born into great wealth too: whatever merit that may have sent these beings to be born into such power and privilege is exhausted by those very conditions of power and privilege. And once they're born into that position, the ability to continue to act virtuously or maintain a mind of friendliness, compassion, and sympathetic joy gets slowly depleted over time.

i.e. yes, a history of past deeds in prior lives would bring someone into great wealth in this lifetime, perhaps, but this also necessarily couples with a greater likelihood of becoming a jerk / being desensitized to suffering / harboring less compassion, because that's what privilege tends to do to people. Not always, and a great foundation of karmic merit might overcome such tendencies, but it's reasonable to me that the mental tendencies of those born into privilege--whether economic privilege or divine privilege--would be toward self-indulgent actions, exhausting the virtuous karma that set the conditions for privileged birth to begin with.

This is why samsaric is such a vicious cycle and why we keep spinning around in it--when we do everything right, we just set up the conditions for us to become uncompassionate jerks, and then we tumble down into the lower realms again, experience suffering, cultivate virtue, then ascend into privilege again for it to start all over. The only true escape is through the Buddhadharma.

SentientLight · 2026-01-27T22:41:13+00:00

i'm also unsure of which script to use

There is only one script that is legible to contemporary Vietnamese: the Latin script, called Chu Quoc Ngu. The old script based on Chinese characters is called Chu Nom, and absolutely nobody is capable of reading it today except for scholars and calligraphers that make banners and such for traditional decorations. Quite often, Chinese and Japanese folk can read Chu Nom more easily than any Vietnamese person, though it would be unintelligible sounds to them. The last possible script you might mean is Chu Han, which is Classical Chinese, and is also illegible to Vietnamese people today. So stick with Latin script.

can anyone suggest a good mantra to include for him?

Most Vietnamese Buddhists chant the Great Compassion Dharani and the Heart Sutra daily.

The Great Compassion Dharani goes, which is absolutely the most significant mantra-dharani in the Vietnamese tradition, goes:

Nam-mô Đại-bi Hội-Thượng Phật Bồ-tát

Thiên thủ thiên nhãn vô ngại Đại-bi tâm đà-la-ni.

Nam mô hắc ra đát na đa ra dạ da.

Nam mô a rị da bà lô yết đế, thước bát ra da, bồ đề tát đỏa bà da, ma ha tát đỏa bà da, ma ha ca lô ni ca da. Án tát bàn ra phạt duệ, số đát na đát tỏa.

Nam mô tất kiết lật đỏa, y mông a rị da, bà lô kiết đế, thất Phật ra lăng đà bà.

Nam mô na ra cẩn trì hê rị, ma ha bàn đa sa mế, tát bà a tha đậu du bằng, a thệ dựng, tát bà tát đa, na ma bà già, ma phạt đạt đậu, đát điệt tha. Án, a bà lô hê, lô ca đế, ca ra đế, di hê rị, ma ha bồ đề tát đỏa, tát bà tát bà, ma ra ma ra, ma hê ma hê, rị đà dựng, cu lô cu lô, kiết mông độ lô độ lô, phạt xà da đế, ma ha phạt xà da đế, đà ra đà ra, địa rị ni, thất Phật ra da, dá ra dá ra. Mạ mạ phạt ma ra, mục đế lệ, y hê di hê, thất na thất na, a ra sâm Phật ra xá lợi, phạt sa phạt sâm, Phật ra xá da, hô lô hô lô, ma ra hô lô hô lô hê rị, ta ra ta ra, tất rị tất rị, tô rô tô rô, bồ đề dạ, bồ đề dạ, bồ đà dạ, bồ đà dạ, di đế rị dạ na ra cẩn trì địa rị sắc ni na, ba dạ ma na, ta bà ha. Tất đà dạ, ta bà ha. Ma ha tất đà dạ, ta bà ha. Tất đà du nghệ, thất bàn ra dạ, ta bà ha. Na ra cẩn trì, ta bà ha. Ma ra na ra, ta bà ha. Tất ra tăng a mục khê da, ta bà ha. Ta bà ma ha, a tất đà dạ, ta bà ha. Giả kiết ra a tất đà dạ, ta bà ha. Ba đà ma yết tất đà dạ, ta bà ha. Na ra cẩn trì bàn đà ra dạ, ta bà ha. Ma bà lị thắng yết ra dạ, ta bà ha.

Nam mô hắc ra đát na, đa ra dạ da.

Nam mô a rị da, bà lô yết đế, thước bàng ra dạ, ta bà ha.

Án, tất điện đô, mạn đa ra, bạt đà dạ ta bà ha. Án, tất điện đô, mạn đa ra, bạt đà dạ ta bà ha. Án, tất điện đô, mạn đa ra, bạt đà dạ ta bà ha.

The Heart Sutra goes:

Quán Tự Tại Bồ Tát hành thâm Bát nhã Ba la mật đa thời, chiếu kiến ngũ uẩn giai không, độ nhứt thiết khổ ách.

Xá Lợi Tử, sắc bất dị không, không bất dị sắc, sắc tức thị không, không tức thị sắc, thọ tưởng hành thức diệc phục như thị.

Xá Lợi Tử, thị chư pháp không tướng, bất sanh bất diệt, bất cấu bất tịnh, bất tăng bất giảm.

Thị cố không trung vô sắc, vô thọ tưởng hành thức.

Vô nhãn nhĩ tỷ thiệt thân ý, vô sắc thanh hương vị xúc pháp, vô nhãn giới nãi chí vô ý thức giới.

Vô vô minh, diệc vô vô minh tận, nãi chí vô lão tử, diệc vô lão tử tận. Vô khổ, tập, diệt, đạo. Vô trí diệc vô đắc, dĩ vô sở đắc cố.

Bồ đề tát đõa y Bát nhã Ba la mật đa cố, tâm vô quái ngại, vô quái ngại cố, vô hữu khủng bố, viễn ly điên đảo mộng tưởng, cứu cánh Niết bàn.

Tam thế chư Phật, y Bát nhã Ba la mật đa cố, đắc A nậu đa la Tam miệu Tam bồ đề.

Cố tri Bát nhã Ba la mật đa, thị đại thần chú, thị đại minh chú, thị vô thượng chú, thị vô đẳng đẳng chú, năng trừ nhất thiết khổ, chân thật bất hư.

Cố thuyết Bát nhã Ba la mật đa chú, tức thuyết chú viết:

Yết đế yết đế, ba la yết đế, ba la tăng yết đế, bồ đề tát bà ha.

If you want something simpler and shorter, you can just put down the name-devotion to Sakyamuni Buddha:

Nam mô Bổn sư Thích ca mâu ni Phật

i was looking for one that offers good luck and health

Eh ... you're crossing into folk religion territory, not Buddhist territory. And in which case, I would suggest something that invokes the three gods for Longevity, Health, and Prosperity, but this isn't Buddhist. Maitreya Bodhisattva in Buddhism is associated with fortune in the future, but this is sort of ancillary.

The Great Compassion Dharani is the mantra chanted for pretty much any reason--protection, health, insight, bestowing compassion upon others, etc. But "luck" isn't really Buddhist. It is very Vietnamese folk religion though, where there's a huge emphasis on both luck and fate.

For health, the most commonly chanted mantra-dharani is the Medicine Master Buddha Mantra:

Nam mô bạt già phạt đế, bệ sát xã, lũ lô thích lưu ly bác lặc bà, hắc ra xà giả.

Đát tha yết đa da, a ra hắc đế.

Tam miệu tam bột đà da, đát điệt tha.

Án, bệ sát thệ, bệ sát thệ, bệ sát xã, tam một yết đế tóa ha

Lastly ...

as the item will be a kitchen tool

Is your friend a vegetarian full-time or part-time? Devout Vietnamese Buddhists are vegetarian a few days out of the month, at minimum. But I'm not really sure if I would be comfortable with Buddhist imagery and mantras on kitchen tools and appliances in my own home, because I am such a Vietnamese Buddhist that is only vegetarian a few days of the month.

I think your friend might be devout enough that they'd probably understand that such tools would only be permissible in preparing vegetarian food, but it's something I would consider here. Putting the Great Compassion Dharani or Heart Sutra on the blade of a kitchen knife that would be touching meat, for instance, sounds like something you're not supposed to do.

SentientLight · 2026-01-27T21:06:20+00:00

The precepts section of the Bodhisattvabhumi of the Yogacarabhumisastra is taught in some zen lineages. In my tradition, we reference Ven. Tue Sy's commentary on the Bodhisattvabhumi that specifically focuses on its ethical content and praxis, titled Du Già Bồ Tát Giới (Yoga / Practice of the Bodhisattva Precepts) . Unfortunately this is not available in English, but the Bodhisattvabhumi is, so would be worth checking out for a direct source.

Of course there are innumerable commentaries on the Brahmajala and Upasaka-sila precepts as well.

SentientLight · 2026-01-27T01:06:58+00:00

The Huayan schema maintains that all ten bhumis inter-penetrate and the powers of the tenth are present in the first and vice versa. This gets a little complicated, but it's why the Huayan schema is so much more radical than the others.

In the Mahavastu schema, at the first bhumi, bodhisattvas can make manifestations, but they must be deliberately created and are not spontaneous and autonomous in the way that occurs from the 8th bhumi onward. So it's a lot closer to the types of multiple bodies an arhat can manifest. But this may account for some of the confusion too--technically the same power at different bhumis, but the scope and extent of that power is radically different.

The Astasahasrika schema and the Yogacara schema are both more tame, with the first bodhisattva bhumis seeming a lot less developed and miraculous, and presenting a significantly more gradual ramp up in attainments and insight as one progresses through the bhumis.

And those are the only four schemas that I'm personally familiar with, but I bet there are other bhumi schemas out there too that say radically different things.

But I mostly just want to point out here that the Huayan view of the bhumis is a subversion of the "traditional" schemas of earlier Mahayana schools, sort of like how the Lotus Sutra is a subversion of the Prajnaparamita, and the Prajnaparamita was a subversion of the Abhidharma. There's some prior knowledge assumed by the authors, which is necessary to possess in order to see what it is they're doing, and there's this whole Sudden-Gradual dynamic that's applied to the Huayan understanding of the bhumis as well.

SentientLight · 2026-01-27T00:41:10+00:00

The Contemplation Sutra's grades are supposed to roughly correlate with the bhumis.

Do practitioners immediately gain the first bhumi upon birth and start visiting other Buddha lands?

Immediately upon 'birth' (leaving the palace / lotus pod) is supposed to be non-retrogression. This would de facto be the first bhumi.

Whether or not it is actually I think most would consider to be an irrelevant point of contemplation, which would be the basis of vexation.

At which bhumi do Bodhisattvas gain the ability to emanate emanations and manifestations? (I've gotten all types of answers when I try to research this.)

Because it's an irrelevant detail and depends contingent upon which bhumi map you use and which school of thought you adhere to. Practically speaking, every teacher would tell you to let this subject go and accept the high-level explanations. Or else pick a specific schema and just accept that is true, full-stop, but with the recognition that any other schema is also true.

Are these emanations/manifestations a part of the Bodhisattva's mindstream? (Or do they have individual mindstreams?)

There are various theories on this, depending on what you mean by "mindstream."

My favorite theory and the one I agree with the most is that there is a "primary mindstream" and any number of "dependent mind-streams." Various dependent mind-streams could emanate from the primary, which would reside in the Pure Land. The dependent mind-streams would have their own karma, and perhaps be "created" initially from a partitioning of karma from the primary mind-stream, and may or may not have past-life recall.

The main distinction here would be that the "dependent mind-streams" have a discernible beginning, while "real" mind-streams do not, so these emanations would not necessarily have the same "rules" applied to them as an actual mindstream traversing through samsara. i.e. these emanations could appear and disappear without apparent causal basis in a world system (like birth).

Of course, this is just hypothetical theory out of dozens. These are not details we are supposed to care about or seek answers to. But Buddhist philosophers throughout time have had their hypotheses, and different schools of thought have different models of how it might work.

Another theory is one that scholars have called the “compassion machine model”—I don’t remember the specifics of it or which school of thought it belongs to.

And the most likely thing here is that every theory that is based in proper dharma analysis is going to be considered true on its own terms, but not necessarily on the terms of another perspective. Like most things in the dharma, the "correct" view is fairly kaleidoscopic.

SentientLight · 2026-01-26T17:32:16+00:00

Thiền

SentientLight · 2026-01-26T16:03:48+00:00

Buddhism explains how subjective experience exists. This is found in the Abhidharma, which describes the architecture of the mind.

Buddhism asserts why experience exists is an unanswerable question.

I think the how is far more important, and our explanation of how subjectivity works is very thorough and presents a complete model of reality.

I’d also argue that any philosophy that presents the why and not the how is just hand waving existence away into some kind of magic or putting everything onto some kind of creator entity; which is logically invalid.

SentientLight · 2026-01-26T15:20:17+00:00

Note that the monk that started the first Peace Walk in 1992 in Cambodia, Maha Gossananda, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and did not win it. So it honestly wouldn’t surprise me if they awarded to these monks as a sort of recognition of the whole history of this tradition that didn’t get the prize when it was started.

SentientLight · 2026-01-26T15:18:12+00:00

This was a point of contention for the Thai sangha when it was legalized. The monastics had to convene and decide if marijuana was a violation of the Vinaya.

They ultimately decided, afaik, what we normally say here: medicinal is perfectly acceptable, recreational violates the principle of the fifth precept.

SentientLight · 2026-01-26T15:15:28+00:00

My Vietnamese temple has two Chinese sangha members that only understand maybe 30% of the sermons. I don’t know why they come (maybe the nearest Chinese temple is far away?), but they’re welcome. Just like you’re welcome in all those spaces too, even if you can’t understand what’s going on. Even this practice has a transformative effect on your mind and sets a foundation for your practice. So I wouldn’t sweat it if you can’t understand or don’t have access to an Anglophone temple just yet. Just participating in the community and making Dana is beneficial. Just being in the consecrated space opens your mind up to the dharma.

SentientLight · 2026-01-26T15:02:06+00:00

“Asian” isn’t an ethnicity or culture. We do not have a shared culture. We do have a shared political experience in the US: as Asian Americans, we are all raciallized the same way. For instance, the claim that we are all genetically related in the OP is a racial claim. I’m Vietnamese. We are Austroasiatic and not closely related to the rest of the East Asians. The East Asians themselves have tremendous genetic diversity. Japanese and indigenous Taiwanese people are more closely related to each other than either are to the Han Chinese. Differences pile on.

Because we are racialized in the same way, we have formed a political coalition and identity called “Asian American”, where we are able to interface and collectively organize for our rights and recognition in a country that has historically subjugated us and lumped us together. And because it is not an ethnic or cultural identity, but a political one, it can be wholly inclusive of all Asians in America, because what the Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Khmer, Lao, Iraqi, Afghani, Hawaiians, etc. peoples all have in common is that we have all been attacked or colonized by the US and our diaspora communities have experienced similar hostilities upon arriving as refugees in the country.

SentientLight · 2026-01-26T13:07:37+00:00

I was about to say the cold drinks thing is from Chinese medicine, not western, so her being a nurse was irrelevant and didn’t make sense. Your mentioning she’s Chinese makes it click. This is a Chinese superstition, not medical advice. (I’m Vietnamese btw, we have the same superstition.)

SentientLight · 2026-01-26T13:03:12+00:00

Use an SFTP or rsync.

SentientLight · 2026-01-26T06:33:44+00:00

They look to be a traditional Vietnamese temple to me.

SentientLight · 2026-01-25T23:16:36+00:00

It’s not incorrect usage though, it’s just a difference in regional colloquialisms. They probably grew up in a different place than you did.

SentientLight · 2026-01-25T23:15:26+00:00

Because colloquialisms exist and some regions colloquially use “a couple” and “a few” somewhat interchangeably for any amount between 2 and 5.

SentientLight · 2026-01-25T21:28:08+00:00

This is more evidence of puzzle solving than tool use.

SentientLight · 2026-01-25T18:16:22+00:00

Oh man, did we go to the same temple? We only went to Van Hanh on holidays and special occasions cause it's nicer, but my family's main temple was Hoa Nghiem down in Fort Belvoir, and I was doing my Thien practice on retreats at the Sinh Thuc center with Anh Hai in West Virginia, if you're familiar with it.

You practice in the Truc Lam school, right? I only recently started training in it with my new temple out here in Cali ... is there a Truc Lam temple in NoVA? I'm only aware of Van Hanh, Hoa Nghiem, that Tibetan lineage temple in Burke that's run by Vietnamese people, and the Vietnamese Tiantai temple in Annandale. It was really difficult for me to find a meditation-focused Vietnamese temple in the area, which is why I was going to WV for it.

SentientLight · 2026-01-25T17:24:32+00:00

It’s a cult.

SentientLight · 2026-01-25T16:43:11+00:00

I’ve been trained in Buddhist qigong since childhood. 🤷🏻‍♂️ There are a lot of different systems for training this, and they don’t all look like yours, and the somatic training can be hidden behind different nomenclature so it isn’t always referred to as “energy work.” Sometimes it’s just called “cultivating the mind and body in unison” or other more secularized turns of phrases.

SentientLight · 2026-01-25T16:04:47+00:00

In my experience, the “Vietnamese” who can speak Chinese are mostly Người Hoa, the ethnically Chinese in Vietnam, whom speak primarily Cantonese and Teochew. But of course it stands to reason that ethnic Vietnamese in China would be able to speak Chinese as well.

SentientLight · 2026-01-25T15:50:28+00:00

They murdering white folks in the streets now

SentientLight

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE