If Amitabha Buddha were to appear before you 

and say he was here 

to escort you to the Pure Land right now, 

what would your very first thought be? 

When I first started practicing Pure Land Buddhism in Dallas, Texas, I was sitting in the dining hall one Sunday afternoon with several other people. A long-time practitioner looked at us and asked the above question. We all started to think.

And therein lay the problem.

In our thinking, we had hesitated.

Clearly, and sadly, we weren’t ready. If we were, our first reaction would have been an instantaneous “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. Knowing that the time is right, Amitabha Buddha will come for us.

So I ask Pure Land practitioners reading this, “If Amitabha Buddha were to appear before you and say he was here to escort you to the Pure Land right now, what would your very first thought be?”