We all run from suffering, that’s human nature. But have you ever thought that life’s deepest challenges actually present us with the opportunity to transform our lives - they might be our path to spiritual freedom. Without experiencing hardship, we won’t feel the urgency to seek something deeper. Our struggle can awaken in us a profound longing for lasting joy and peace in the Pure Land. The more we face difficulties in our world  (the Saha world), the stronger our aspiration grows for the Pure Land. So try to be thankful for life’s difficulties and see them in a new light. Complaining about our misfortunes only makes us sink deeper into our pain.

       Everything in this world is temporary, arising from fleeting causes and conditions. Nothing lasts forever - when the relevant causes and conditions end, things naturally fall apart. There’s so much suffering in life and ultimately nothing stays under our control. Only in the Pure Land can we find true, lasting peace and joy, free from all suffering and impermanence.

       Think of families, organizations, nations - all are transient and will pass eventually. Even the deepest bonds between parents and children, husbands and wives, must be broken one day. We’re like birds gathering briefly in a forest - when storm clouds loom, they scatter to the winds, perhaps never to meet again. This is what is meant by, “all phenomena arise and cease, constantly changing, ultimately unreal and beyond our control.” That which does not endure cannot be considered truly real.

       Faith means finding one truth that outshines everything else in life - something so precious that we'd value it above our very existence. It becomes a cause worth not just living for but, if needed, worth dying for. Just as the sun, moon, and stars draw our gaze upward, faith lifts us beyond our everyday concerns, calling us to something higher.

       Faith is the beacon that lights our way through life. Without it, we're like wanderers stumbling in the dark - lost, with no sense of purpose or direction. Where did we come from? Where do we go after death? What's the meaning of it all, and where can we find lasting peace? Without faith to guide us, we drift through life in a fog, our days slipping away meaninglessly as we're swept along by the currents of karma. This is why faith is so important in our lives.

       Life comes with a death sentence from our first breath. But we can't know when death will claim us, since it strikes without warning. That's why we need to prepare our own final journey now - by setting our hearts on rebirth in the Pure Land. Instead of waiting until our last moments for others to help by reciting the name of Amitabha Buddha for us, we can lay the groundwork ourselves, starting today.

       Human birth is precious, and encountering Buddhist teachings even more so. But if we can't find a path to liberation in this lifetime, we're just making a causal connection with the Dharma while risking another spin of the wheel of rebirth. And that's deeply troubling. Who can guarantee we'll be born human again? Who can promise we'll encounter Dharma once more? Even if we're lucky enough to discover it in our next life, what about the lives after that? As Master Yinguang warned, 'The unsolved issue of the cycle of birth and death is our greatest peril. Until we break free from this cycle, we risk falling into the wretched realms. We must seize this chance to find liberation now.”

       Since we've found the Buddha Dharma in this life, we must grasp this chance for liberation - through rebirth in the Pure Land. The Pure Land isn't another school of hard knocks; it's the realm of Buddhahood itself, where we reap the ultimate reward. That's what makes this path so simple and extraordinary - it guarantees us  the supreme attainment of Buddhahood when our time is up in this lifetime.

       Without profound wisdom, we won’t choose the path of Amitabha-recitation. Without great merit, we won’t even come across this path. Therefore, those who attain rebirth by reciting the Buddha’s name show both supreme wisdom and immense virtue.

(Translated by the Pure Land School Translation Team;
edited by Householder Fojin)