The reality of life in Samsara (the cycle of rebirth) is that as humans our lives are incredibly short, an average of some seventy odd years. Of those years, roughly one-third is spent sleeping, years are spent in growing up, a good portion of our adult life is involved in work, and so on. After all these activities, how much time do we really have to spend on our practice?
We can spend our lifetime reading about Buddhism and this can certainly feel like an admirable use of our time. But while learning about our chosen method of practice is vital, reading about other schools and traditions runs the risk of becoming a distraction.
We need to remember that our lifetimes are short and we do not know when we will breathe our last breath. The Buddha advised people who would be living in other times to learn and practice other methods. But for those in our time he recommended the Pure Land method so we could transcend the cycle of rebirth by being reborn in the Western Pure Land.
Once there, we will be in the presence of Amitabha Buddha and uncountable bodhisattvas. No longer hampered by a short lifetime or a need to work or sleep or do all the other things we humans do, we will have all the time we need to learn from these beings who have progressed farther than we have. Finally, the time will be right for us to learn all the different methods and practices we will need to help an incredible range of beings end their suffering and attain happiness, and break through delusion and attain enlightenment. Until those of us who are drawn to this path attain that rebirth, we need to remember this is our primary goal.
What’s the urgency?
Sakyamuni Buddha compared the odds of our being reborn as a human to the likelihood that a blind sea turtle, surfacing from the depths of the ocean only once every century, would encounter a tree trunk with a hole suitable for nesting. That’s how unbelievably rare our opportunity to have been born as a human is. And there’s more. Next, we needed to be reborn during the period of time after the appearance of a Buddha so we could hear the Dharma. Then we needed to have the right conditions to hear those teaching, then to find the specific teaching that is right for us, then to find a teacher we can learn from and Dharma friends to practice with. And when we have finally managed to accomplish all this, we have to realize that all we can count on is our next breath!
We need to use this rarest of opportunities to focus on and achieve in our practice. If we fail to do this, we will carry the seeds from our practice with us, but as the Buddha cautioned, it will be a long time for we ordinary people to encounter these wonderful conditions again. We cannot afford to waste time.
I know that on the surface seeking our own release from suffering can sound selfish. And the urgency stressed above can seem a tad over the top. When I first heard that our primary goal is to seek rebirth, the conversation in my head would come up with things like “But I need to help those who can’t understand Chinese” and “People want to learn now. What about them?” and “I still have time.”
Well, after taking the three refuges and five precepts under Ven. Master Chin Kung almost fifteen year ago and having been involved in learning and working with the teachings for much of that time, in the past twelve years virtually on a daily basis, I have learned a few things. :-)
One of the things I have learned is that my ability to help people in this lifetime, even as a nun who spends a great part of her time in different aspects of propagating the Dharma, is limited. I don’t know very much. My level of achievement is extremely modest, my abilities inadequate. I make mistakes all the time and am not nearly as skillful in helping others as I should be. In short, there isn’t a lot I can do to truly help people. I just don’t have enough time. Life can and does end in a moment. And as someone shared with me recently, “If we don’t attain rebirth in this lifetime—what a waste.”
So, we need to focus. Now, not next year, not after we learn everything. We need to remember the first vow of Buddhas and bodhisattvas: “Sentient beings are innumerable; I vow to help them all.”
How do we focus, and then how do we maintain that focus? Perhaps we can ask ourselves some questions:
What is the ultimate goal in my life?
What is the ultimate goal in my practice?
How much time will I devote to my practice and learning?
Is it enough to accomplish my goal?
Am I honestly doing everything I can to progress in my practice?
What is my strongest motivation to practice?
What inspires me to practice or learn when I’d rather do something else?
What is the one book or recorded talk that I can really get into by reading or listening to it on a regular (daily is ideal) basis?
And the final question:
How much time do I have left in this lifetime?