Good Roots, Good Fortune, and Favorable Conditions

Why is that world called Ultimate Bliss? Because there is no suffering there. Why is there no suffering? Because a good teacher is teaching there, and all the beings there have matured good roots.

But it is different in our world. In this world, we do have a good teacher, Sakyamuni Buddha, who is no different from Amitabha Buddha. It is just that the direct rewards in this world are not good. Why? Because the beings in this Saha world have deep-rooted afflictions and residual habits, and many karmic obstacles. It is very hard to teach them and to transform them. Even if Amitabha Buddha were to teach here, he would not be able to help them as they would not accept his teaching. The Saha world cannot compare with the Land of Ultimate Bliss.

Why does every being in the Western Pure Land have matured good roots? We should know the reason. Amitabha Buddha attained Buddhahood only ten kalpas ago, so the Western Pure Land is like a newly established world. On the other hand, this Saha world is like a place that has existed for thousands of years. Many faults and bad habits have been accumulated for generations and it is hard to change them.

The Western Pure Land is a place that Amitabha Buddha built for the purpose of learning and practicing, and in the beginning there were no beings. Where did the beings in the Western Pure Land come from? They immigrated from the worlds in the ten directions. In order to emigrate to the Western Pure Land, they had to meet one requirement. That requirement is that one must have matured good roots, good fortune, and favorable conditions. It is clearly stated in this sutra: “One cannot be born in this land with few good roots, good fortune, and favorable conditions.”

It is truly a rare opportunity to learn of such a beautiful world. If we want to be reborn there, we must have ample good roots, good fortune, and favorable conditions. We may be able to rely on others to help us where favorable conditions are concerned but we have to cultivate good roots and good fortune ourselves. Others cannot help us with these.

Having good roots means that one is able to believe and to comprehend the teachings in this sutra. Having good fortune means that one is willing to practice according to the teaching and is able to attain realization. Favorable conditions are external. The most important favorable condition is to meet a truly good teacher who introduces this Dharma door to us. We already have this favorable condition.

~ Based on Ven. Master Chin Kung's 2003 lecture series on the Amitabha Sutra

Then When?

I've heard people say, "Oh, this was a bad year for me."

"How come?"

"I was sick all year. I couldn't practise at all."

Oh! If they don't practise when death is near, when will they ever practise? If they're feeling well, do you think they practise? No! They only get lost in happiness. If they're suffering, they still don't practise. They get lost in that, too. I don't know when people think they're going to practise.

~ Ajahn Chah

Being Careful of What We Advise

Question: If someone asks me if they should do something wrong and I say sure why not, and they do it and something seriously bad happens to them, would I have any karmic results? Wasn't it just their own karma to have that something bad happen to them? Probably they would have done what they did whether I said anything.

Response: Whether the person was "destined" to have something bad happen to them, you had the free will to encourage them or to try to dissuade them from what you knew to be wrong. By not trying to dissuade them, at some level you made the decision to encourage them in a wrongdoing. You chose to do what was either morally or legally wrong. Irrespective of what they decided to do and whether they got caught, you chose to do something wrong.

It's all shades of gray. If you said to not do it and they did, that's one karmic result for you. If you tried to talk them out of it and when it didn't work, you gave up and said "oh go ahead," that's another karmic result. If you thought what they wanted to do was fine even though you knew it was wrong, that's another karmic result. It's all shades of gray.

You may now be thinking that you were also "destined" to say what you did.

Your destiny resulted in who you are, in what you were taught, and the circumstances in which you are living. But your every thought is not predestined. Even if having that fated conversation with your friend was destined (and I do not know if it was or wasn't) every word in it was not. At any moment, we have the potential to turn away from doing something wrong, from harming another person or being, and making the morally right decision. By making that right decision, we will redirect to some degree our future.

But if we chose the wrong decision—or encourage someone else to make the wrong decision—we will undergo the karmic consequences for what we have said or done.

I'm Fine, Thank You

A growing number of people I know are trying to “downsize” their lifestyles. Unfortunately, this is difficult to do because we have so many conveniences and electronic toys that are supposed to make our lives easier—and theoretically—to give us more free time.

Easier lives? It feels like we spend a lot of time maintaining what we own. Cars need to be taken to the shop for fixing, buildings need repair work, yards need mowing and fertilizing, electronic gear periodically needs updating. The list seems endless. And the more we have, the more we seem to be working just to keep everything functioning.

More free time? This one doesn’t seem to be working out either. In correspondence and my regular reading, many people are apologizing because they’re so busy that they couldn’t get something done on time or commenting that they simply don’t have time to relax and be quiet.

The “downsizing” response is to do with less. It’s getting back to the basics and living more simply. Those who haven’t tried this often think it feels like deprivation or that it won’t make any difference and scoff at the effort or just think the person is weird.

Deprivation? Consider how the Buddha and the monastics with him lived. The Buddha had three garments, an alms bowl, and a few other items that he could carry with him. When he traveled, he went by foot. When he rested or slept, he did so under a tree. He ate what was offered to him, and co-existed peacefully with his environment. No longer deluded, he was perfectly awakened. He had attained lasting happiness and liberation.

We, on the other hand, have stress and high-blood pressure, pollution and environmental damage, more frantic lives and less time to do the things that really matter to us.

So if all our things and conveniences haven’t made us happy, why don’t we just eliminate them? And stop worrying about what others will think of us.

Why don’t we use less of everything? And save more for others.

Why don’t we look the other person in the eye and simply say “No, thank you.”? And be contented that even if others think we’re weird or deprived or unrealistic, we know we’re happy living like this. And that we're just a little bit closer to liberation.

Self-spoken When the Time Was Right

The Study Report says: “Sakyamuni Buddha spoke this sutra [the Amitabha Sutra] without being asked. This is because he was deeply compassionate and wanted to help all beings at the earliest opportunity, but as the Pure Land teachings were very profound and hard to believe, no one requested the teachings.”

This is a teaching that Sakyamuni Buddha gave without being requested to. There are very few such self-spoken sutras because usually a sutra was the Buddha’s answer to somebody’s question. Although no one knew to request this Dharma door, the Buddha saw that the conditions of some beings in the assembly had matured. In other words, these beings would believe and accept this Dharma door and thus benefit from it.

It is often said that a Buddha cannot help those who have no affinity with him. That is, he cannot help those who do not believe him. Therefore, when the Buddha saw that among his students there were some who could believe, understand, and practice this Dharma door, he taught without waiting to be asked. This is “because he was deeply compassionate and wanted to help all beings at the earliest opportunity.”

~ From Ven. Master Chin Kung's 2003 lecture series on the Amitabha Sutra