a buddhist perspective

It is most important that, in our cultivation, we correct our wrong mindset. If we are not happy with a person or a situation, this will obstruct our rebirth in the Pure Land, because our minds are not pure. This is why it is hard to attain rebirth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss and why Mr. Li Bingnan (one of Ven. Master Chin Kung's three teachers) said that only one or two out of 10,000 Pure Land practitioners succeed in attaining rebirth there.

Most practitioners only manage to suppress, not uproot, their afflictions. It entirely depends on their luck on their deathbed. If they cannot suppress their afflictions, which arise at the moment of their last breath, they will fall into the Three Evil Paths.

Therefore, we have to work hard to dissolve our dislike or hatred in daily life. We should not hold grudge any more. Instead, we should become more compassionate.

If someone holds a grudge against us, we should treat that person with compassion and gratitude.

Why gratitude? Because he or she helps us achieve the Paramita of Precept Observation and the Paramita of Patience. When we do not harbor the thought of taking revenge, this is keeping the precept of no killing. When we do not harbor anger, this is patience. He or she helps us achieve the Six Paramitas. Isn’t this kindness?

Our afflictions and residual habits from uncountable kalpas are dissolved here and now. In this way, there will be no obstruction to our practice of nianfo and attainment of rebirth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss, and we will be able to move Amitabha Buddha to come and guide us on our deathbed.

If there is anything in this world that we cannot let go, it will become an obstacle to us.

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

Question: Why do you say that precepts are unchanging and eternal? Don't they change as society changes?

Response: When we think of rules and laws we usually think of what are worldly laws. It is necessary to amend these laws periodically to suit the people and living conditions of the time.

But precepts are supramundane rules, not worldly rules. If you want to transcend this world, the Six Paths, and the Ten Realms, you have to adhere to precepts.

Precepts are rules that all Buddhas and bodhisattvas adhere to in their cultivation over countless lifetimes. They are rules for transcending the Six Paths and the Ten Realms, not worldly rules for daily life. That is why they are unchangeable, the Five Precepts in particular. Do you think the Five Precepts can be changed? Is no killing wrong? How about no stealing, no sexual misconduct, no lying, and no intoxicants? They are unchangeable. They are major precepts by principle and transcend time and space.

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

A clear distinction should be made between Awakening / Great Awakening and Supreme Enlightenment. To experience a Great Awakening is to achieve (through Zen meditation, Buddha Recitation, etc.) "a level of insight and understanding equal to that of the Buddhas" (Master Yin Kuang).

It is to see one’s Nature, comprehend the True Nature of things, the Truth. Only after becoming a Buddha can one be said to have truly attained Supreme Enlightenment (Attained the Way).

A metaphor appearing in the sutras is that of a glass of water containing sediments. As long as the glass is undisturbed, the sediments remain at the bottom and the water is clear. However, as soon as the glass is shaken, the water becomes turbid.

Likewise, when a practitioner experiences a Great Awakening (Awakens to the Way), his afflictions (greed, anger and delusion) are temporarily suppressed but not yet eliminated. To achieve Supreme Enlightenment (i.e., to be rid of all afflictions, to discard all sediments) is the ultimate goal. Only then can he completely trust his mind and actions.

Before then, he should adhere to the precepts; keep a close watch on his mind and thoughts, like a cat stalking a mouse, ready to pounce on evil thoughts as soon as they arise. To do otherwise is to court certain failure, as stories upon stories of overconfident monks, roshis and gurus demonstrate.

~ Seekers Glossary of Buddhism

Consciousness is the direct cause of all sufferings. Embedded in the Alaya consciousness are seeds of our residual habits. These seeds are the direct causes of all suffering as well as all happiness. Conception and impulse are “object as condition” and immediate antecedent condition. Feeling is the karmic result. You feel pain or happiness. If you plant good causes, you will enjoy happiness. If you plant bad causes, you will undergo suffering. This law governs the Three Realms. Ordinary people do not know this principle, so the Buddha manifested in this world to tell us the truth of existence.

When we truly understand the truth, we will know what to do and will be able to help ourselves. There are causes and conditions for any being to be born in a certain path. These causes and conditions are called directive karma, or generic retribution. The karmic force controls us; we do not have the control. We are led by the karmic force. We must know this. No other beings have control over us. Karmic force does.

What karmic force brings one to the human path? The Buddha told us that the karmic force from one’s observing the Five Precepts and cultivating the Ten Virtuous Conducts in past lifetimes will lead one to the human path. The karmic force from achieving the Four Immeasurable Minds of loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity, and a higher level of the Ten Virtuous Conducts will lead one to the heavenly path. The karmic force from greed will lead one to the path of hungry ghosts. The karmic force from anger will lead one to the path of hells. The karmic force from ignorance will lead one to the path of animals. These are directive karma, which determine the path we are born in.

There are about seven billion people living on the earth. They were born as humans in this lifetime as a result of having observed the Five Precepts and cultivated the Ten Virtuous Conducts in their past lifetimes. But some of these people enjoy wealth and social status while others are poor and of lowly origins, and undergo much suffering. The Buddha said this is because of their particularizing karma, or the specific retribution.

So there are two kinds of karmic retributions: directive karma, which leads us to be born in a certain path, and particularizing karma, which determines what kind of material life and spiritual life we lead. All these depend on our having cultivated good fortune or committed bad deeds in our past lifetimes.

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

There are two criteria for right livelihood. First, it should not be necessary to break the five precepts in one's work, since doing so obviously causes harm to others. But further, one should not do anything that encourages other people to break the precepts, since this will also cause harm. Neither directly nor indirectly should our means of livelihood involve injury to other beings. Thus any livelihood that requires killing, whether of human beings or of animals, is clearly not right livelihood....

Selling liquor or other drugs may be very profitable, but even if one abstains from them oneself, the act of selling encourages others to use intoxicants and thereby to harm themselves. Operating a gambling casino may be very lucrative, but all who come there to gamble cause themselves harm. Selling poisons or weapons—arms, ammunition, bombs, missiles—is good business, but it injures the peace and harmony of multitudes. None of these is right livelihood.

Even though a type of work may not actually harm others, if it is performed with the intention that others should be harmed it is not right livelihood. The doctor who hopes for an epidemic and the trader who hopes for a famine are not practicing right livelihood.

~ S.N. Goenka