Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

was dead. Heaven was no doubt pleased with such a
venerable teacher.
j. If one worships Amitabha, then one gains birth in his
Pure Land. There are three conditions for this:
i. Complete faith in the saving power of Amitabha's
merits.
ii. An intense desire, almost will, to gain birth there.
iii. Practice of the meditations described, conjoined
with a realization of sunyata and a development of
the bodhicitta. (See Ch. XI, D.)
All three are connected with an inward reverential
attitude and an outward worship, in the form, for
instance, of prostration.
On the subject of pride and worship, Mr. Chen had
some further comments:
Some Theravada bhikkhus have the idea that they alone
are the true disciples of the Buddha, and with this pride
they do not revere the bhiksus of China and Tibet who
are also bodhisattvas and may, moreover, be followers
of the Vajrayana. It is true that the robe worn by the
monks of the Southern Buddhist tradition more nearly
resembles that worn by the Buddha than do the red
robes of Tibet or those of China, but this matter seems
to be another source of pride for the Theravadins. With
the two prides of name and of robe, they sometimes say
624