Here is an analysis of the poll question ‘What do you wish to attain by the end of this life?’ As of today, the results are:
38% : Go Pureland
20% : Be a Bodhisattva
11% : Don’t know
10% : Return a Human
08% : Be a Buddha
06% : Be a Stream-winner
05% : Be an Arahat
02% : Be a Deva
If you reflect deeper, it’s really a trick question, because some options can overlap in reality. For instance:
(a) You can be a Deva or Human who is a Bodhisattva.
(b) You can go to Pureland and be a Bodhisattva and Buddha.
(c) You can be a Stream-winner and go Pureland.
(d) You can be an Arahat and go Pureland.
Hope you get the idea! Now let’s look at the individual choices:
Go Pureland: This is the safest destination, which guarantees swift progress to Bodhisattvahood and Buddhahood.
Be a Bodhisattva: It is not easy to be a enlightened Bodhisattva within this lifetime, though one can be an unenlightened one.
Don’t know: It is spiritually dangerous to be goalless, to let one’s karma direct us to an unknown rebirth.
Return a Human: Unless one returns better trained and continues to train well, it is easy to be disheartened as the world enters the Dharma-diminishing age.
Be a Buddha: This is the most challenging goal to attain in a single lifetime. It is good to have a back-up plan if it is not attained.
Be a Stream-winner: This is the minimal attainment that is irreversible. In a way, all should at least aim for this goal, even if they aim for others too.
Be an Arahat: This is the minimal attainment that is self-liberation, less difficult that Bodhisattvahood and Buddhahood, but can lead to them.
Be a Deva: Unless one has strong Dharma practice, it is possible to forget the Dharma and later fall to the lower realms.
Now… would you reconsider your vote? Do share with us why you chose what you did (via commenting below).
Pureland is not a mere pacifier. It is real, as experienced by countless for hundreds of years, as recorded in thick historical volumes of Pureland testimonies. The reality of it can also be glimpsed via good practise in this very life.
It is relatively easier to reach Pureland than to become an Arahat, Bodhisattva or Buddha straightaway. As with almost every practice, even if it’s just the art of say, cooking, many practise it but not all will master it – simply because they are not diligent enough in practice.
To reach Pureland, the Three Provisions are needed – strong faith in its reality and the vows of Amituofo to lead us there, strong aspiration to be born there (ideally for helping others after training there), strong practice to create merits (via practice of compassion) and nurture wisdom (via realisation of Dharma) to be born there.
The truth is, out of their infinite compassion, all Buddhas are already doing their best to manifest in various forms from moment to moment to help awaken beings. Most of the time, we fail to recognise these manifestations in our lives. They can only do so much, as according to our karmic limitations, to help guide us. But one of the most powerful way through which they can help us is to guide us to Pureland, where our delusions will have no chance to surface and will only diminish in time.
Being born in Pureland is the simplest way to get out of the mess of Samsara. Every being left in Samsara is here not because Buddhas are not helping them, but because they are not connecting adequately to their great compassion and wisdom. It does take two hands to clap. The Pureland practice already serves to greatly alleviate the humongous task of advancing towards enlightenment, but because it seems too good a deal for many, many miss its great benefits. Myself had many queries of the Pureland teachings, but because I was active in getting the answers, they were resolved. What’s left is faith, and the aspiration to practise well. Amituofo! :straight:
I didnt that buddhist ‘wished’ anything. I thought they just ‘were’.
The Buddha did teach that desires are okay if they are wholesome. Not driven by any wholesome desires or spiritual aspirations, we would never improve and enlightenment would never be attained.
Only when one is spiritually advanced are all forms of desires let go of – when one already embodies perfect compassion and wisdom in natural and constant action. 😉
Ok 🙂 Thanks
>>> It is real, as experienced by countless for hundreds of years, as recorded in thick historical volumes of Pureland testimonies.
Then, by now, countless should have ‘graduated’ and should be in the ‘workforce’ in helping and leading others, yet there are so many sentient beings around. Look like a very serious issue. Where are these ‘graduates’?
No doubt on Amida’s Vow, then what left should be what you mentioned – strong practice to create merits (via practice of compassion). Are those believed in Pureland doing it or know the proper way to create merits?
Faith, how does one measure the faith is strong or have it gone through any “test run� Just like, with no examination, how do I know where is my standard?
These graduates are at many places now making the world a better place. Skilful Bodhisattvas do not create a fuss out of their real identities – because that would draw needless attention. There are also many good teachers sharing the Dharma to change the world, including on how to create merits and increase wisdom. Their efforts might not seem enough, but it takes two hands to clap. They can only do so much. The rest is up to how we respond. I think what’s more important than asking where are these graduates is to become one of them.
How to measure faith? It’s simple. When we practise well enough, we will personally experience the compassion of the enlightened. At that point onwards, there is no turning back.
Hope you can consider joining this short class to clear all your doubts. I heard from the admin staff yesterday that seats are running out: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Amituofo/message/122 😉
I picked DON’T KNOW because it seems futile to ‘wish to attain’ any of these options. My limited understanding suggest that we inevitably arrive at our END STATE due to the cumulative effects of our kharma; and the END STATE may not even be what one had originally in mind due to incomplete understanding.
Hence, the focus is to do good and not do bad.
Everything that we do or don’t do has an immediate effect on the END STATE, which is actually this very moment.
Indeed, Pain is inevitable but Suffering is optional.
It is very difficult to not suffer whenever pain is experienced, but any attempt is worthy. It brings us one step nearer toward Freedom.
Pureland definitely! because I only want to be with Amituofo and learn from him. ^_^
Hi Mai, it’s still good to have a goal, to cultivate specifically towards it, and to dedicate your merits towards it, thus increasing the ‘chances’ of attaining it ^_^
(Not all karmic effects are immediate, as some take longer time to bear fruit, as dependent on the conditions.)
Hi summer, see ya in Pureland! Amituofo
Thk for the info, I don’t think I will be attending.
What Buddhism attaches me not Pureland but its core values – COMPASSION and encourages questioning to find the truth.
I guess if I can learn what true compassion is, it not only helps me and it is also benefit all other that I come in contract at any moment.
Should I decide Pureland is the destination for me in my later life, I just need to add in the component – FAITH, which can be very easily achieved. Because, if I fully understand compassion and do not want any sentient beings suffer, I will believe Buddha who is full of compassion will not abandon me. How we treat the world, the world will treat us the same.
The other values of Buddhism if I can learn that, it will be with me now and forever, even if I come back as human, I should be able to navigate life more easier … :p
Actually, the Pureland teachings embody the great compassion of all Buddhas – as they are taught by all Buddhas, as a great skilful means to guide them to transcend suffering and to train enlightened Bodhisattvas to aid others to do the same. Sharing the Pureland teachings is done as a practice of compassion.
As the Pureland teachings are among the hardest to have faith in (according to the Buddha), among all Buddhist teachings, the spirit of free enquiry is important too in dispelling doubts, to discover its reality in theory and experience.
Faith, Aspiration and Practice are the Three Provisions for birth in Pureland (not just faith alone). The danger of ‘random’ rebirth is that we do not always progress spiritually in an upward linear manner – this is why most of us are not enlightened yet. There is the tendency to backslide when conditions in life change. This is another powerful reason why most* Chinese Buddhists aspire to be born in Pureland, because the conditions there do not allow backsliding, while only facilitating progress to nothing less than enlightenment. (*Pureland Buddhism is the most popular form of Chinese Mahayana practice.) Amituofo 🙂