Two Fathers— Amitabha Buddha, the Compassionate Father, Welcomes My Father Home to the Pure Land
Two Fathers
— Amitabha Buddha, the Compassionate Father, Welcomes My Father Home to the Pure Land
Master, Namo Amitabha Buddha. I am Fopan. In 2020, I happened to pass by Amitabha Temple in Singapore, and I was drawn in by the majestic statue of Amitabha Buddha. This was how I first came into contact with Pure Land Buddhism. I had seen this statue of Amitabha Buddha online before, so I recognized at once that this was our compassionate father, Amitabha. As I gazed upon his statue, I was moved beyond words. When I entered the temple to pay homage, tears fell of their own accord. It was as if I were reuniting with a long-lost loved one, returning home after years apart, and my heart overflowed with warmth.
After that, through reading, studying online, and listening to the masters' teachings and to true accounts of rebirth in the Pure Land, I gradually came to understand the Pure Land teaching. I remember that in January 2021, when I still only half-understood Pure Land Buddhism, my father suddenly fell unconscious and was rushed to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with pneumonia. My father was already 92 years old. The doctors did not recommend aggressive treatment, and they told us to prepare ourselves. In his illness, my father groaned in pain, and he even mentioned seeing deceased relatives coming to him. I knew in my heart that this was an inauspicious sign, so I told my father that he must follow only Amitabha Buddha. But my father had never seen an image of Amitabha Buddha, and I was neither good with words nor able to describe clearly the majestic appearance of our compassionate father. All I could tell him was this: Amitabha Buddha would come holding a lotus flower, to welcome him to rebirth in the Western Pure Land.
After this, my father gradually sank into a stupor and could no longer speak. I respectfully asked the Master to come to the hospital to give my father a Dharma teaching. When the teaching was complete, I invited my father to recite the Buddha's name together with us. Incredibly, my father—who could no longer speak—managed to complete ten recitations of the Buddha's name, word by word. Sadly, after those ten recitations, he was once again unable to make a sound.
My father wished to go home, so I brought him back. Once home, I kept a Buddha-recitation player running around the clock, and I myself stayed by his bedside, reciting the Buddha's name. My father's condition kept fluctuating, so I continually reminded him to recite the Buddha's name, urging him that if he saw Amitabha Buddha coming to receive him, he must follow the Buddha to rebirth in the Pure Land. These efforts of mine were often misunderstood by others, and the sorrow and pressure I felt were beyond words. At that point, I should have asked the Master to come again to give an end-of-life Dharma teaching, but because I did not dare to raise it with my family, I could only recite the Buddha's name for my father on my own. At the time, since I understood little of the Pure Land teachings, I only knew to urge my father to recite the Buddha's name.
Later, I remembered that my father had always loved the dishes his daughter-in-law cooked. But by then he could no longer eat solid food, so I fed him a little broth. A little over two hours later, my father peacefully passed away. So as to leave no regrets, I asked the Master to perform an assisted-recitation service for my father; to my surprise, about half of my family joined the Master in reciting the Buddha's name.
On the third day after the funeral, my second elder brother told me that a Daoist priest—who had met my father more than ten years earlier and did not know he had passed away—said he had seen my father seated upon a lotus flower, attaining rebirth. On hearing this, I was moved to tears. About two months later, I dreamed of a master, who said to me, "This is your father." In the dream, my father had already taken on the appearance of a Buddha, exceedingly majestic.
This confirmed the inconceivable merit of Namo Amitabha Buddha: Amitabha's light embraces and never forsakes the beings who recite his name. As Master Yinguang said, "Know that of all Buddhist rites, reciting the Buddha's name carries the greatest merit."
I am deeply grateful to the masters for their compassion in performing the assisted recitation and caring for my father. I have vowed to volunteer at Amitabha Temple, hoping to help more people come to know and accept this Name in faith, so that together we may believe in the Buddha, recite his name, and be reborn together in the Pure Land.
Namo Amitabha Buddha
Respectfully, your disciple, Fopan
A Note from Venerable Jingben
This true account of rebirth through reciting the Buddha's name clearly reveals the inconceivable power of Amitabha Buddha's Fundamental Vow. During his life, Fopan's father knew little of the practice of reciting the Buddha's name; and at the end, beset by the pain of illness, he could barely speak. Yet on the strength of reciting this single name, "Namo Amitabha Buddha," he was received by the Buddha and reborn in the Pure Land. This is the truest illustration of the Eighteenth Vow: "Even with ten recitations, if they are not reborn, I shall not attain perfect enlightenment."
This shows that rebirth has never depended on how eloquent we are, or how much doctrine we grasp; it rests entirely on the power of Amitabha's Vow. Our Dharma friend Fopan felt she was poor with words and knew little of the Pure Land, yet this in no way hindered her father from being received by the Buddha—and this is precisely what reveals the surpassing wonder of deliverance by Other-Power.
On this Father's Day, may this account of Buddha-recitation strengthen the faith of all who recite the Buddha's name: if only we exclusively recite Amitabha's name, then at life's end we will surely be received by him, and our rebirth is assured. May the compassionate light of Amitabha, our compassionate father, also shine upon all, watching over every father in the world, so that each may form a deep bond with this name, "Namo Amitabha Buddha," and that all, embraced by Amitabha, may return together to their true home, the Pure Land.
Namo Amitabha Buddha
(Published on Father's Day, June 21, 2026)
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