é™æ€è¯ Readings For Silent Reflection
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To be reborn in Western Pureland, one must have faith, vow, practice of holding Amituofo's name. Vow arises from faith, practice of holding Amituofo's name arises from vow.
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To constantly suspect that others see you differently is to to fret yourself with illusion, allowing layers of vexation to weigh on your mind.
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行善時ä¸�怕心辛苦者，ä¸�æ–累积ç¦�德资粮。
Those who aren't afraid of hardship in doing
good deeds, continuously cultivating merits. -
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Suffering and Joy
One can pay no attention to emptiness and form, theory and practice, delusion and awakening, wisdom and foolishness, even good and evil. But no one can ignore suffering and joy.
Suffering and joy cut to the quick – into our bodies, bones, hearts. Every minute and second, every thought and feeling, suffering and joy are inseparable from us.
To live is to suffer and to feel joy; life is a process of striving to leave suffering behind for joy. The history of humankind is a saga of struggle to replace misery with happiness. The instinctive pursuit, the atavistic impulse of all sentient beings is to lose suffering and win joy. But have we reached this goal? Have science, philosophy, the arts and religion attained it?
Only if we forsake suffering for joy in the ultimate sense does life take on value, dignity, even brilliance. Otherwise it would resemble endless chastisement.
Life is precious. But if we cannot leave suffering behind, all would be anguish. We would go from pain to deeper pain, boundless pain – an endless ocean of suffering. Wouldn’t life then be a form of punishment?
Only by abandoning suffering for joy – realizing great, eternal joy – can our lives become radiant, complete and splendid.
All forms of inequalities eventually manifest in suffering and joy. So long as someone is suffering, the world would lack equality and peace. It will only have peace when suffering is entirely eradicated.
Amitabha Buddha exists to eliminate the suffering of all beings and give them ultimate joy. If Buddhism is unable to remove suffering and bring joy, it would lose its reason for being.
Besides the Pure Land path of Amitabha Buddha, is there a Dharma path that can allow mediocre ordinary beings to replace suffering with joy – to leave behind the anguish of life and death for the elation of nirvana?
--By Master Jingzong
(English translation by Foyuan, edited by Jingtu) -
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大安法師:
修�与法性相应就能生起我们內心的快�。
法�，相对于世间五欲的��说，
它是ä¸�å�¯ç‰é‡�é½�观的。
我们世间也都追求快�，
但都是追求感官的快��物质的享�，
那些��长久，���生悲。
而且他得那个ä¹�，å�¯èƒ½æ˜¯ä»¥é€ 业的方å¼�æ�¥å¾—到，
é�žå¸¸çŸæš‚，马上å�˜åŒ–，
所以那个�本质上就是苦。 -
放下ä¸�ç‰äºŽæ”¾å¼ƒã€‚
éš�缘ä¸�ç‰äºŽéš�便。
‘Letting go’ of the unresolved
is not to ‘give up’ the worthy,
but to be unattached to results
while always doing one’s best.
‘According with conditions’
is not to be ‘arbitrary or fickle’
in moral principles and deeds,
but to do what is best for now.
– Buddhist Saying -
