What Would You Think if . . .

When I first started practicing Pure Land, I was sitting in the dining hall one Sunday at the Dallas Buddhist Association with a group of other people. A senior practitioner looked at us and asked a very simple question:

If Amitabha Buddha appeared before you and said he had come to escort you to the Pure Land right now, what would your first thought be?

We all thought.

And that was the problem.

Because in our thinking, we were hesitating. Clearly, we weren't ready. Our first thought should have been an instant, "Yes!" No other thought should have arisen other than the thought to go immediately.

What if it isn't the right time?

But it is. That is why Amitabha Buddha comes for us. He knows the time is right.

So I ask Pure Land practitioners reading this, "If Amitabha Buddha appeared before you and said he had come to escort you to the Pure Land right now, what would your first thought be?"

Life and The Living of it

It's not about me.

It's about others.

Thoughts on Purity of Mind

• What is the difference between ordinary people and Bodhisattvas?  Bodhisattvas correct their faults every day until they become Buddhas.  Ordinary people do not yet realize their faults.

• Deep concentration is not being attached to external forms.  It is to remain in stillness and serenity.

• We all want to accumulate merits and virtues. Giving is to cultivate them and patience is to keep them. If we are not patient but give rise to resentment and anger we will constantly be burning up our merits and virtues.

• Our mind needs to remain in serenity.  Our body needs to continue in movement.

• To go along with our true nature, we need to give up trying to control and dominate others.  Then our purity of mind will increase and our afflictions will decrease.

• To be pure and tranquil is not to be separated from all phenomena, it is to not be attached to all phenomena.

• Purity and calmness are the greatest enjoyment of the mind pure.  Where do we start?  First, let go of selfishness, let go of thoughts of controlling others.  All sentient beings have thoughts on controlling others, our environment and infinite objects.  These wandering and discriminating thoughts and attachments block our purity of mind.

• Why is it called the Pure Land?  Because it reflects the qualities of all who live there; kindness, gentleness and purity.

 ~ Based on the teachings of Venerable Master Chin Kung



Curbing Bad Language

A few days ago we were watching a short documentary on Mr. Li Bingnan, one of Venerable Master Chin Kung’s teachers. In the documentary, several of Mr. Li’s students, now in their seventies and eighties, were being interviewed.

One gentleman recounted how he had once spoken to Mr. Li about the Buddhists he, the gentleman, saw who chanted “Amituofo” but whose behavior was far from exemplary. He asked Mr. Li if he didn’t have the urge to criticize these less than stellar Buddhists.

Pausing for just a second, Mr. Li had replied that at least while they were chanting, they weren’t using bad language. The gentleman telling this story laughed as did we who were watching the documentary.

Mr. Li's gentle, but very good reply underlines the reality that chanting "Amituofo" can benefit us on many levels. Ideally, it can enable us to be reborn in the Pure Land to transcend suffering.

At the least, it can keep us from saying words we should not speak.

Isn't it Enough to be a Bodhisattva?

Question: Is it really necessary to attain Buddhahood? Won’t it be enough to become a Bodhisattva?”

Ven. Master Chin Kung's response: Although a Bodhisattva can help beings, he is unable to help a Bodhisattva who is of an equal or a higher attainment. For example, an Equal-enlightenment Bodhisattva cannot help another Equal-enlightenment Bodhisattva. However, a Buddha can help them as well as all others.

Therefore, only when we attain Buddhahood, can we perfectly help all beings in the universe. With such a vow, we can generate the great compassion to help others, to be diligent in severing our afflictions and mastering all methods.