Fear in Our Lives

Because we are only accepting of pleasure in our lives,

an immense amount of fear is created

as we spend our lives dodging pain.

~ Author Unknown 

Beings in the Pure Land

In the Pure Land, we will be born inside our lotus flower, a pure conception. This is different from a fetus spending nine months in the womb. When one enters the womb, one is not pure. One’s thoughts are not pure. Neither is the living environment. The womb is surrounded by the large and small intestines, by feces and urine. Therefore, the environment is not pure.

It is different when one is born in the Land of Ultimate Bliss. The lotus flower is pure. In addition, one is born through transformation. As soon as one is born, the body is tall and the appearance is magnificent. There are no young or old people there. Everybody has the same appearance. It is a world of equality. Therefore, the mind is at peace.

People in this world have different appearances and do not have an impartial mind. One who has good fortune or good looks can easily become arrogant. One who has no good fortune or is unattractive often suffers from a sense of inferiority. These are common social phenomena.

In the Western Pure Land, everyone has the same appearance, the same physical conditions, the same living environment, and the same learning. Everyone is equal in everything there. Therefore, one will not have afflictions such as arrogance or a sense of inferiority.

Although one still has the seeds of afflictions and residual habits, there are no conditions that will cause these afflictions and residual habits to arise. This is why the Western Pure Land is incomparably wondrous and why it is praised by all Buddhas. These inconceivable conditions are because of the powers of the original vows and the merit of innumerable kalpas of cultivation of Amitabha Buddha.

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

Karma Is A Natural Law

The theory of karma should not be confused with so-called "moral justice" or "reward and punishment." The idea of moral justice, or reward and punishment, arises out of the conception of a supreme being, a God, who sits in judgment, who is a law-giver and who decides what is right and wrong. The term "justice" is ambiguous and dangerous, and in its name more harm than good is done to humanity. The theory of karma is the theory of cause and effect, of action and reaction; it is a natural law, which has nothing to do with the idea of justice or reward and punishment. Every volitional action produces its effects or results. If a good action produces good effects and a bad action bad effects, it is not justice, or reward, or punishment meted out by anybody or any power sitting in judgment on your action, but this is in virtue of its own nature, its own law. This is not difficult to understand. But what is difficult is that, according to karma theory, the effects of a volitional action may continue to manifest themselves even in a life after death.

~ Walpola Rahula

The Karma of Thought

 

What we are is the result of what we have thought,
is built by our thoughts,
is made up of our thoughts.
If one speaks or acts with an impure thought,
suffering follows one,
like the wheel of the cart
follows the foot of the ox.

What we are is the result of what we have thought,
is built by our thoughts,
is made up of our thoughts.
If one speaks or acts with a pure thought,
happiness follows one,
like a shadow that never leaves.

~ The Buddha

Less is More

The average home size in the U.S. has increased from 980 to 2350 sq. ft. in the past fifty years, an increase of 240%.[1] This increase has occurred at the same time that families have gotten smaller. So if we’re not filling our larger houses with people, what are we filling them with?

Things.

As incomes have risen, buying power has also rise. So we buy more “things.” And we then decide that each family member needs their own set of “things.” But where do we put all these new possessions? In a bigger house! A bigger house that needs more wood, cement, wiring, and plumbing than its counterpart of fifty years ago. It needs to be heated and cooled. It needs to be filled. To fill it, we need more “things.”

In a world with shrinking resources, people have increasing wants. We see the results all around us. Daily, we create more environmental problems as there is not enough water, clean air, and land to go around. We have created a standard of living that many want, but few can have and the earth cannot sustain.

Those who manage to fulfill this higher standard of living did so to be happy. But as the joy of new ownership erodes, they find themselves working to maintain that envied lifestyle. People end up working for their house, for their possessions. But happiness sought in material phenomena does not last. We do not find happiness externally, but within us.

It is wise to remember that less is more. Less consumption, less wanting, less selfishness lead to more contentment and more time for what truly matters.

---

[1] “Build,” Big Ideas for a Small Planet, Sundance Channel