FAQ: Can we just recite the Name Amituofo (Amitabha) only, without doing any good karma, can we still gain rebirth by doing that?

Amituofo, this is not a good attitude and can be pretty dangerous, and we will not recommend it. This is called Nianfo without a sincere heart. 

As Buddhists, one shall try to cultivate good in one’s daily life if one truly believes in the universal law of karma (cause and effect) and Buddha’s teachings - why wouldn’t one want to practice good? - knowing that good deeds will bring us good fruits in the future and evil deeds will make us feel miserable and suffer even in the here now, we should strive to practice good and give up bad. 

“To refrain from all evil, to do all good and to purify one’s mind, this is the teachings of all Buddhas.” All Buddhas include Amitabha Buddha. Amitabha Buddha would definitely not be an exception and he would not want us to do evil. 

Although Amitabha Buddha has infinite compassion in that he would receive evil people if at the time of death, they happen to hear the Dharma, and happen to give rise to the heart of sincere repentance and Nianfo, believe in it and vow to seek rebirth to His Pure Land - this shall not be an excuse for us Nianfo practitioners to fall and not to want to do good. 

It’s important to be aware that for evil people if they want to seek rebirth, they must also give rise to the heart of sincere repentance at the time of death - this is not an easy thing to do as it is difficult for people to change their habits. It is not a coincidence that someone can do that all of a sudden at the time of death and take belief and vow to seek rebirth. This shows that this person had cultivated a lot of good merit and karma in his past lives, and only in this life, he didn’t encounter good people or/and good situations (conditions), so he committed evil. 

We Nianfo practitioners do want to take risks. If we encounter this precious Dharma now, the correct attitude should be to do good and Nianfo with a sincere heart and to vow to attain rebirth in the Pure Land. In that way, it will be much easier for us to attain rebirth, and our rebirth will be smoother without obstacles as our heart resonates with the heart of Amitabha Buddha. Amitabha Buddha created the Pure Land because of his perfect enlightened untainted mind, the purest heart, his great vows and the infinite merit he cultivated in his past lives. 

The more sincere and pure (real) our heart is, the more we resonate with the Pure Land and Amitabha Buddha, and the easiest it is for us to elicit a response from Amitabha Buddha. 

Also, in both the Infinite Life Sutra and the Visualisation Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha talked about the ethics/morality that Nianfo practitioners should observe in our daily life. 

The Visualisation Sutra clearly details the Three Blessings of Pure Karma. This serves as a guiding principle for how Pure Land practitioners should behave in our daily life (to what extent we can do it is another question, but at least we should have the right attitude and want to do good). 

Three Blessings of Pure Karma (净业三福）

(from the Visualization Sutra， 观经)

At that time, the World-honored One said to Vaidehi, “Do you know that Amitabha Buddha is not far away from here? You should contemplate continuously and visualize the beings who accomplish pure acts in that Buddha-land. I shall now describe to you with various examples, so that all ordinary people in the future who wish to practice pure acts can also be born in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss. Whoever wishes to be born there should cultivate the three blessings: 

first, having filial piety towards one’s parents, attending to one’s teachers and elders, compassionately refraining from killing, and cultivating the ten good deeds; second, taking the Three Refuges, observing the various precepts, and refraining from breaking the rules of conduct; and third, generating Bodhicitta, believing deeply in the law of karma, reciting the Mahayana sutras, and encouraging people to follow the teachings. These three are called the pure acts.” 

The Buddha further said to Vaidehi, “Do you know that these three acts are practised by all the Buddhas of the past, present, and future as the right cause of pure acts?”

For people who practice these pure acts (one or two or all three), one can attain a much higher grade of rebirth than one doesn’t. Jiawen will talk more about it in detail when she expounds on the Pure Land sutras later. 

Namo Amitabha Buddha

Namo Amituofo