Reciting Buddha’s name is a lifelong career

Editor's note:

On May 25, 2011, Elder Hsing Yun of Fo Guang Shan in Taiwan visited Donglin Temple in Lushan Mountain, visited and provided guidance to the ancestral hall of the Pure Land Sect, and gave instructions to the four disciples in the Main Hall. The disciples gave a short but vivid teaching, which is summarized as follows based on the essence of Elder Xingyun’s teaching.

1. Reciting Buddha's name is a lifelong career

I am from Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China. When I was 12 years old, that is, 73 years ago, I became a monk in Nanjing. The founder advocated humanistic Buddhism, which was represented by reciting the Buddha's name sincerely. Master Yuanying, the first president of China's Buddhist Association, believes that the Pure Land Buddhist chanting method is very reliable and that chanting Buddha's name is a lifelong career. It is certainly not easy to keep a director's attention intact. You can recite the Buddha's name with a happy heart, a real heart, or an empty mind. You must recite it clearly, hear it clearly with your ears, and think clearly in your heart, that is, "it is the mind that becomes the Buddha, and it is the mind that is the Buddha."

2. Where are heaven and hell?

About where are heaven and hell? It has three meanings.

First: Heaven is the three realms of twenty-eight days, the first level is the Four Kings Heaven, and the second level is thirty-three days. There are many hells in the three realms, such as the eighteen levels of hell.

Second: Paradise is by Poyang Lake. Jiangxi has beautiful mountains and clear waters, and many people live in bungalows and villas, which is like paradise. Hell is also in the human world. If you go to the market and look at the slaughtered animals hanging upside down from the hooks, with their bellies cut open by knives and hung up, isn't it the same as the Hell of Daoshan Oil Pot?

Third: The real heaven and hell are in our hearts. Everyone has a heart. If you think about good things and good deeds all day long, you will go to heaven; if you do evil deeds, you will go to hell. A person can go to hell and heaven many times in a day. When we recite Buddha's name, we must recite the Pure Land. The Pure Land is in the Western Paradise and also in our hearts. For example, if you practice the ten good deeds, your mind will be in the Pure Land; if you commit greed, hatred, ignorance, jealousy, wrong views, sexual misconduct, steal, kill, and violate the five precepts, your mind will be in hell. Our hearts are very burdened, just like a factory. A good factory produces good things, and a bad factory produces bad things. Therefore, we must purify our hearts with Buddha’s wisdom and compassion.

3. The Story of Four Wives

There is a story in the Buddhist scriptures. It is said that in the past there was a very rich man who begged four wives. The eldest wife is an old woman, she no longer likes her, and has forgotten her; the second wife is young and useful, and she cares about her occasionally; the third wife is the one who cares more; the fourth wife is the favorite, she is young, beautiful, charming, and cannot leave for a moment. But life is impermanent, and Yuanwai is in mourning. The road to hell is very lonely, and Yuanwai wants to find someone to bury him with. Who can accompany you? Of course it is my beloved fourth wife. When the fourth wife heard this, she said, "Oh, I will never be buried with him." Looking for a third wife, the third aunt said that you are going to die when you are old, but I am still young and can remarry. The senior official was very disappointed and went to see his second aunt. The second aunt said that you were dead and I wanted to take care of the whole family for you. As a couple, I will arrange your funeral well and send it to the desert. See you in the countryside. In desperation, the official thought of his eldest wife, but the eldest wife said without any embarrassment, "If you marry a chicken, follow the chicken, if you marry a dog, follow the dog. Of course I will accompany you." The senior official felt ashamed when he heard that. I usually don't care about you and take care of you. I didn't expect that a horse's power will be known after a long journey, and people's hearts will be seen over time. You are still the best to me.

Please listen carefully to this long story. The fourth wife is our body. We should take care of it with nutrition, health, and make-up. But when we leave this world, this body is no longer mine, whether it rots or is cremated. The third wife is our gold, securities, and wealth. We keep saving and saving. Once we die, the money is no longer mine. The third wife has to remarry and give it to someone else. The second wife is our children, family, relatives and friends. When we are about to die, she will help us burn incense and worship us. She will send us to the wilderness and say goodbye to us. The eldest wife is our heart. Usually we don’t cultivate our mind. We always think about good health, money, and friends and relatives to take care of us, but we don’t take care of our own heart. But in the end, only the heart is ours. People will die, but their hearts will not die. When people die, where will their hearts go? In reincarnation, in cycles, like a clock on the wall, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12...it comes back again.

4. The cycle of cause and effect

The climate is spring, summer, autumn and winter, and the cycle repeats; things are formed, lived, broken, and empty. The house is built, and you live in it happily, but in the end it is gone. Another building was built... where are the people? Birth, old age, sickness and death. After birth, you will grow old. When you get old, you will get sick. When you get sick, you will die. After you die, you will come again.

A flower seed, a soybean seed, buried in the soil, can bloom and bear fruit with moisture and sunlight. Seeds all have the function of growth, how can humans not? A family is so happy when they have a son in old age! At this time, a monk came, crying and wiping his tears at the door. The old man was unhappy. He was celebrating his birth. Why are you crying? The monk said, I cry, there is another dead person in your family. We are happy when we are growing up, but sad when we die. In fact, people die as they are born, so don’t be sad when you die, because you will come again after you die. A river of spring water flows eastward, where does it go? Will come back again. Look at my rosary. One hundred and eight rosary beads are strung together by a thread. The thread is the cause and effect of my life. It strings together all the good and bad things in my life. It cannot die or be lost. of.

Immortal life is like wood burning a fire. When one wood is burned out, another wood is added, and then another wood is burned out. Another wood is replaced one by one. The fire of life will not stop, so people will not die.

5. "Doomsday theory" is a heresy

"The end of the world is coming" is a heresy. Don't believe it. Nowadays, the world is booming, and computers and the Internet have developed unprecedentedly. We must also believe in the infinite depth and breadth of the Buddha’s Prajna wisdom. The Buddha said that there will be an era of the end of the Dharma, but the end of the Dharma is not the end of the world. Tsunamis, earthquakes, and typhoons occur in coastal areas. These are the movements of nature. When a typhoon comes, you can take precautions; when an earthquake strikes, make your house stronger; when a tsunami comes, don't get too close to the water. Don't create worries every day, think that the end of the world is coming, and don't bother yourself.

6. Reborn in the Pure Land of Utmost Bliss, reborn as a lotus flower

We who recite the Buddha's name will be reborn in the Pure Land of Western Bliss in the future, reborn as a lotus flower.

Some people say that I am rich now. I have immigrated to Beijing, to Shanghai, to the United States, to Germany... We have the merit of reciting the Buddha's name and can immigrate to the Western Pure Land. The Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss is the ninth level. The lotus flower transforms into life. This Saha world is very painful. Our bodies are physical bodies, which are very heavy. We are subject to birth, old age, sickness and death, which is very troublesome. Arriving in the Western Paradise, pure, at ease, truly free! From the Land of Ultimate Bliss, those who can make offerings to the Buddhas of the ten directions and feel at ease will return to the Land of Ultimate Bliss in just one meal, where they can recite Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha together with all the good people. After going to the Pure Land, you can take advantage of your wish to come back to the Saha World to save all sentient beings. Compared with others, those who wish to come again are more comfortable, more blessed, and more secure.

Amitabha Buddha is infinite light and infinite life. Infinite life means not limited by time, and infinite light means not limited by space. The life of those who recite the Buddha's name transcends time and space!