Cultivating the Pure Land Way
Venerable Master Yinguang spoke of small size cultivation centers with no more than twenty practitioners. Small centers will be easy to maintain. There is no need to ask for donations or contributions, no need to hold Dharma assemblies or ceremonies for helping the deceased attain a better rebirth and no need to confer precepts or to give lectures on the sutras.
However, it is hard to find practitioners of the same mind, Pure Land centers could not completely follow Venerable Master Yinguang's instructions, but he added one thing: a lecturing session. Why? Because if we do not understand the Pure Land teachings, we may gradually lose our enthusiasm.
The more we listen to lectures on the sutras, the more we will understand the Pure Land teachings. Listening to lectures on sutras will help us to dissolve our doubts, developing confidence and strengthen our belief and vow. It will therefore guarantee our success in this lifetime. We should do nothing else but listen to lectures on the sutras and mindfully chant "Amituofo". In doing so, our minds will always be focused.
When the Buddha was in this world, which has the Dharma-perfect Age, people had high capacities and the majority would succeed in any method they chose to practice. After the Buddha's time, during the Dharma-semblance Age, people did not have as high capacity as earlier. With that, the qualities of the Buddha's teachings eventually deteriorated as it was passed down.
But it was not that the sutras had degenerated; rather it was the lecturers' interpretations of the sutras that had worsened. As time went by, the lectures on the Dharma became more and more incorrect and inaccurate.
And now, it is the Dharma-ending Age, more than three thousand years after the Buddha's parinirvana. The deterioration has reached a point where we do not know what to do. It gets more and more difficult for us to attain realization from learning and practicing Buddhism.
In Buddhism, it clearly stated that "nothing can be carried over to the next life except our karma". These are critical words of caution. Knowing that our karma will follow us like a shadow, we need to be diligent in cultivating good deeds and not to carry our negative karma with us, for to do so, will lead us in the Three Bad Paths. Good karma will lead us to be reborn in the Three Good Paths. And Pure karma from Constant Mindfulness of Buddha Amitabha will lead us to be reborn in the Western Pure Land.
From this, it is clear what we need to do in this life. We need to broaden our perceptions and expand our thinking instead of being concerned with trivialities or calculating our gains and losses. Life is very short. It would be of tremendous merit if we could carry out more goodness in this life and to benefit more people.
However, it is hard to find practitioners of the same mind, Pure Land centers could not completely follow Venerable Master Yinguang's instructions, but he added one thing: a lecturing session. Why? Because if we do not understand the Pure Land teachings, we may gradually lose our enthusiasm.
The more we listen to lectures on the sutras, the more we will understand the Pure Land teachings. Listening to lectures on sutras will help us to dissolve our doubts, developing confidence and strengthen our belief and vow. It will therefore guarantee our success in this lifetime. We should do nothing else but listen to lectures on the sutras and mindfully chant "Amituofo". In doing so, our minds will always be focused.
When the Buddha was in this world, which has the Dharma-perfect Age, people had high capacities and the majority would succeed in any method they chose to practice. After the Buddha's time, during the Dharma-semblance Age, people did not have as high capacity as earlier. With that, the qualities of the Buddha's teachings eventually deteriorated as it was passed down.
But it was not that the sutras had degenerated; rather it was the lecturers' interpretations of the sutras that had worsened. As time went by, the lectures on the Dharma became more and more incorrect and inaccurate.
And now, it is the Dharma-ending Age, more than three thousand years after the Buddha's parinirvana. The deterioration has reached a point where we do not know what to do. It gets more and more difficult for us to attain realization from learning and practicing Buddhism.
In Buddhism, it clearly stated that "nothing can be carried over to the next life except our karma". These are critical words of caution. Knowing that our karma will follow us like a shadow, we need to be diligent in cultivating good deeds and not to carry our negative karma with us, for to do so, will lead us in the Three Bad Paths. Good karma will lead us to be reborn in the Three Good Paths. And Pure karma from Constant Mindfulness of Buddha Amitabha will lead us to be reborn in the Western Pure Land.
From this, it is clear what we need to do in this life. We need to broaden our perceptions and expand our thinking instead of being concerned with trivialities or calculating our gains and losses. Life is very short. It would be of tremendous merit if we could carry out more goodness in this life and to benefit more people.
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