There's a way to determine if you are reciting with a true heart. If you are sincere, the mosquitoes will not bite you. If you are insincere, the mosquitoes will bite you. If you recite with a true heart, you won't be bothered by the rain. No matter how it pours, it won't dampen the mind which recites the Buddha's name. Recite until the wind blows, but doesn't touch you; the rain pours, but doesn't fall on you.

If your only thoughts are to chant the Buddha's name, then it won't rain. The weather will be fine, that's certain. The mosquitoes won't bite you and the rain won't fall. These are some responses that come from sincere recitation of the Buddha's name. If you are simply pretending, then it will rain, the mosquitoes will bite, and you'll be miserable sitting there. If you recite well, however, even when the mosquitoes bite you'll pay no attention to them, and so it will be as if they hadn't bitten.

You should think, “I will endure the pain of being bitten. My only thought is to recite the Buddha's name. If the mosquitoes bite, I won't even know it.” If you don't feel the bugs bite and if you don't know it's raining, that's being true-hearted. If your heart is sincere you will certainly have a special response. You may see Amitabha Buddha coming to rub you on the crown of your head or you may see him bathing you in light. Amitabha Buddha may appear and cover you with his sash. These are all responses:

His hand rubs my head,
His sash covers me...

Amitabha Buddha may respond in these ways.

So if you don't fear that the mosquitoes will bite, if you are unmoved by the rain, and if you're not afraid to walk the rugged path back and forth, then your heart is true. If your heart is true, even when mosquitoes bite, you won't feel it. That's why I say they won't bite. They won't bite because you won't know that you have been bitten! If, as soon as a bug flies near you, you think, “Oh no! Here comes a mosquito!” and try to brush it away, then you've forgotten about reciting.

This is not a joke. It's a very serious matter. When Guo Yu said to me today that a mosquito had bitten him, I said, “You haven't been mindful and that's why the mosquito bit you.” The mosquitoes are just acting on the principle that

Everything's a test
To see what you will do;
If you don't recognize what's before your eyes,
You have to start anew!

If you can't even deal with the demonic obstacle of a mosquito, then you've really chanted the Buddha‘s name in vain.

That's all for today. I hope you all sleep well, and that the mosquitoes don't bite. If you recite as if you were asleep, then if the mosquitoes bite, you won't know it. When you're asleep you don't feel them bite; if you recite well, it's the same way.

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Monday, August 18, 1975 (afternoon)
Today is the first full day of the Buddha Recitation Session. Those who have chanted the Buddha's name before know of its advantages. Those who have never recited before will not know what we are doing. “Namo, namo, namo--what?”

Amitabha!

“Well, what is Amitabha anyway?”

A Buddha!

“But what are we doing? We recite while we walk, recite while we stand, recite while we sit, and even when we lie down to sleep our minds are still reciting. What use is it?”

I will tell you:

To bow in worship before the Buddhas
Eradicates offenses like the Ganges sands.

If you just bow once before the Buddhas, you eradicate as much bad karma as there are grains of sand in the River Ganges.

You say, “As grains of sand in the River Ganges? Well, I've sung the Buddha's name so many times, certainly my offense-karma has been completely wiped away.”

You should be aware that from limitless eons ago, from the time when you first became a human being until the present, your incarnations are uncountable. You yourself may not even believe that you have past, present, and future lives. In each life you were confused, muddled, and unclear, and therefore, at present, you don't know how much bad karma you have amassed as a human being. There is reason to fear that the bad deeds you have committed in one single life exceed the number of sand grains in the Ganges. Although reciting the Buddha's name will eradicate offense-karma like the Ganges' sands, you don't know how much of it exists. Fortunately, our bad deeds have no material form. If they did, each individual's karma would completely fill empty space. That's the extent of your offenses! But, because karma has no material form, empty space has yet to be filled. So it says,

To bow in worship before the Buddhas
Eradicates offenses like the Ganges' sands;
To give a single penny
Increases your blessings without limit.

In supporting the Bodhimanda, those with money give money. Those with strength give strength. Whether you give money or strength, the merit and virtue are the same, and they help you to plant good roots.

To recite the Buddha's name but once eradicates the grave offenses committed during ninety million eons of birth and death. In America, where the Buddhadharma is new, you now have the rare good fortune to encounter this method. What's more, you've met with a Good Advisor, one who can teach you the method of Buddha Recitation. No one should casually waste this precious time. Be very conscientious, work hard at your recitation, and you will not have attended this session in vain.

Here we are bivouacked out-of-doors under the open sky, camping in the wilds and reciting the Buddha's name. There's nothing to shelter us from the rain. When it's not raining we recite while walking on a circular track. This is truly an excellent method! We have not come to this pure mountain land for sport or recreation. We're not here to play ball or set off rockets, but to recite the Buddha's name. This is truly a subtle, wonderful, and inconceivable environment. There are no sounds at all. It's not like San Francisco with its cars, buses, trolleys, and planes going, “vroooom! vroooom!”—all making a tremendous din. It's very peaceful here, and perfect for Buddha Recitation. So all of you take care not to waste this precious time.

Deep in the mountains the air is fresh and there is not the slightest trace of pollution. The evil world of the five turbidities--the turbidity of the eon, the turbidity of views, the turbidity of living beings, the turbidity of afflictions, and the turbidity of the lifespan—exists in places crowded with people. This wilderness, by contrast, is the clear, pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. If you can cultivate in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, the power of the response of the Way will be completely different from that of the noisy bustle of the city. Here, it is easy to enter samadhi, to gain concentration, to obtain the Buddha Recitation samadhi.

To be continued