Master Tanluan, a most revered Buddhist master, was a practitioner who was honest with himself. In his Gatha In Praise of Amitabha Buddha, he wrote:

Since time immemorial, I have been wandering through the Three Domains,
Tossed about by the illusions of transmigration.
The karma created  by each passing thought and moment 
binds me to the six realms and entraps me within the three wretched paths. 

       Master Tanluan lamented that, since time immemorial, he had been transmigrating in the Three Domains of Desire, Form, and Formlessness.

       The Three Domains encompass the six realms of samsara (the realms of heavenly beings, humans, asuras, animals, hungry ghosts, and hell beings). Samsara is actually illusory, not real. However, we ordinary beings are so foolish as to mistake illusion for reality, thus being ensnared in it endlessly to this very day.

       Our every fleeting thought creates bad karma, enough to bind us in the six realms. Worse still, we often fall into the lower three wretched realms where suffering is most intense.

       While karma can be either good or bad, Master Tanluan confessed that his thoughts and actions were unwholesome, continually pulling him into the depths of samsara. 

       Shakyamuni Buddha compared the six realms of samsara to a vast, bottomless sea of suffering - where sentient beings briefly emerge, only to be dragged under again. To be reborn as a human is akin to momentarily surfacing for air, only to sink once more into the abyss.

       Master Tanluan was revered by emperors of his time - one calling him “Bodhisattva Tanluan,” another “Divine  Tanluan.”

       Yet, despite their praise, he saw himself as nothing more than a fallen being, helpless against the tides of karma. If someone of his spiritual stature felt helpless, how could we hope to escape? Without Amitabha Buddha’s vow of deliverance - the 18th Vow - liberation from samsara would be impossible.

       The Pure Salvation Bodhisattva Sutra has this to say regarding the nature of sentient beings’ thoughts:

"A single day’s thoughts number in millions, and each is steeped in karma that leads towards the three wretched realms."

       “Millions” isn’t a literal count. It speaks to the countless unwholesome thoughts and actions that perpetuate our misery, leading us to rebirth in the lower realms. Without virtuous karma, we cannot hope to ascend to the heavens or human world, let alone escape samsara altogether. The realization of this fate is terrifying.

       The Sutra of the Earth Store Bodhisattva confirms this grim reality:

"Every thought, every action in this world produces nothing but karma and transgression."

       It further states:

Karmic forces are immense, surpassing even the highest mountain, Mt. Sumeru, and its weight drags us deeper than the darkest abyss, obstructing our path to liberation.

       Without Amitabha’s compassionate vow of deliverance, we would remain eternally trapped in this endless cycle of samsara.

       Master Tanluan described the Three Domains as illusory, defiled, distorted, ever-decaying, cyclical, and endless. Bound by the relentless cycle of birth and death (samsara), sentient beings suffer without end. What sentient beings do and the consequences of their deeds are illusions, never real. Their nature is impure, never pure. Their perceptions are warped, unable to discern truth from delusion. Everything is impermanent, in perpetual decay - fading, shifting, never constant. Within samsara’s grasp, we are forever caught in its torment, cycling through hell, the ghost and animal realms, with no end in sight. A fate both tragic and horrific.

       According to Master Tanluan, the Three Domains are a gloomy and dark abode. They arise from the impure and wrong views of their dwellers who are in an endless slumber, unaware of any hope for escape.

       Without encountering the Buddha’s teachings - or Amitabha’s deliverance - we would remain forever trapped in samsara, drifting in the sea of suffering, unable to break free.

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