Who is Amitabha Buddha?

Amitabha Buddha’s love is that of a mother who, every day, sits in the courtroom of the trial of her son for his latest violent crime. She is horrified by what he has done, and she would, literally, give everything she has to wash away the hurt which her son has caused. She also continues to love him with all of her heart, absolutely convinced that the sweet little boy is still in there underneath the street thug mask he thrusts out at the world.

Whatever we have done, Amitabha still sees the ember of enlightenment within us, just as it is in every human consciousness. That small bit of spiritual heat can be fueled into the great blaze of a Buddha through the Buddhist paths which use meditation, ethical practice and the study of the Buddha’s teaching to fire the transformation of their heart-mind. These paths require an immense effort, the demands of which are unimaginable to those of us living in cultures of near-constant distraction. While we can make spiritual progress on these paths, we do not hear of anyone these days becoming a Buddha.

Thankfully, Amitabha Buddha offers to help us if we wish to become a Buddha and are humble enough to admit that we are still too foolish to achieve our enlightenment through our own efforts. By establishing a connection with Amitabha we are accepting a ride after a long, tiring walk down a lonely road. We now move towards our destination through the power of another person’s momentum.

We let his perfected karma, spiritual momentum, sweep us up and draw us back to his Land of Bliss where all beings quickly become Buddhas. Then we have the power to return to this world and free others.