Pure Land Monastics, Part Four

Question: Please could you write about the daily practice as a monastic. My background was mainly in Theravada Buddhism and I am interested to know what role mindfulness meditation might play in Pure Land practice. I am curious if quiet vipassana type meditation is part of Pure Land practice.

Response: The goal in Pure Land practice is to attain the state in which we always hold the thought of Amitabha Buddha in our minds. So in our practice we either just chant "Amituofo" or we combine this with chanting a sutra. Master Chin Kung recommends that we chant the Infinite Life Sutra, one of the primary Pure Land sutras, because it explains causality and rebirth in the Pure Land, and will build our confidence in the Pure Land method.

To hold "Amituofo" in our mind does not mean we do not think of anything else. It means that in whatever we are doing the thought "Amituofo" is always present.

We do not practice other types of meditation because to succeed in being reborn in the Pure Land, we need to excel in one method. We simply do not have enough time to spend some of it on another method. Practicing two methods would be like trying to get somewhere while taking two different routes.

Once we are in the Pure Land and no longer caught in the cycle of rebirth, we will have all the time we need to learn and practice other methods.

The Nature of Our World

What is real? Important? Lasting?

What seemed so intensely important when we were children, teenagers, and young adults is long forgotten. Friends we couldn't bear to be separated from are now never thought of. Places we wanted to be, experiences we wanted to have—gone. The kind of lives we lived as children are no longer.

All the things we once held as real have changed. Change is the true state of the world we live in.  

May War Surrender to Peace

 

There is nothing more dreadful than hatred.
Hatred separates people.
It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up families.
It is a thorn that irritates and hurts.
It is a sword that kills.

There is nothing more worthy than self-sacrifice.
Self-sacrifice unites people.
It is a healing herb that unifies strangers and brings families together.
It is the love for others that is higher than self-love.
It is selflessness not selfishness.
It is our only hope.

May ignorance give way to understanding.
May hatred yield to compassion.
May war surrender to peace.

Joyfulness

Joyfulness is freeing others from unhappiness and being sincerely happy for them when they accomplish that. It is a mental state of great contentment and ease, not to be misunderstood with happiness, which is just a physical state of feeling good. We can start to develop joy for those who are closest to us: our family and friends. We expand it to those we know and like, then to those we know but dislike, and finally to those we do not even know. Ideally, our wish will be that all beings find joy.

Have We Really Understood?

In our ignorance and delusion, we do not truly understand karma. What we think, say, and do will assuredly come back to us, just as surely as if we threw a ball against a wall. It may take a million lifetimes, but the cause will give rise to the result, the ball will bounce back. It is very likely that many people will think, wait a minute, I believe in karma.

Please think again.

Do we really believe and understand? Have we become even a little irritated with someone or something today? That was anger and we have not understood. Have we thought, “I would like to have a special food for dinner tonight” or “Is there still room for me to quickly pull out in front of that car?” That was greed—for taste, for self-interest. if we still have ignorance and delusion, still feel anger and craving, then we have not really understood causality.