Wonderful Metaphors in the Pure Land School
淨土宗妙喻
Metaphor 47: The Jivajivaka (The Two-Headed Bird)
The two heads of a Jivajivaka bird share the same body, which is nourished by food in the same stomach. The Amitabha Sutra refers to the “Jivajivaka bird” as a mystical creature with two heads that share one body. The two heads have separate lives and different consciousness, yet their karmic rewards are the same.
This shows that Amitabha Buddha not only treats us like himself, but also loves us the same way he loves his parents. As the Infinite Life Sutra puts it, “[Amitabha Buddha] sees us as part of himself,” and he is like “a dutiful son who loves and respects his parents.”
The two-headed bird will always thrive as long as one of its heads is fully functional. If it is, the other head survives even if it is mediocre. Why?
Because it can absorb the nutrients its partner takes in. However, if both of them are weak and useless, they will perish together. In essence, the two heads of the mystical bird either thrive together or die together. They are a unity of two lives. The so-called “ shared-life existence”, “the shared-life bird”.
47. 共命鳥喻
≈ 如共命鳥，互同腹食 ≈
《阿彌陀經》提到「共命鳥」，就是「一身兩命，識別報同」，一個身體、兩個生 命，神識各別，可是卻同用一個身體 —— 兩個生命在一個身體裏面。
這就表示阿彌陀佛把我們看成他自己，如同《無量壽經》所講的「於諸眾生 ，視若自己」，而且把我們當成父母來孝敬，所以如「純孝之子，愛敬父母」。 「共命之鳥」，兩個頭、一個身體，只要其中一個生命優秀、能幹，即使另外 一個生命拙劣、無能，也沒關係，也必定能夠存活。為什麼？
因為對方所吸取 的養分，牠同樣能獲得滋養。但是如果自己無能、對方也無能，那就只有同歸 於盡了。所以，「共命之鳥」生則同生，死則同死，生命是一體的，所謂「生命共 同體」，「共命之鳥」是最恰當的形容。
Namo Amituofo!
