Despising the Pure Land Sect is deceiving the heavens and people
2025-03-16
Lecture by Master Yunqi Zhuhong
If you always say something like "no form, no thought" and think it is profound, then people with a little more talent can do this by reading a few sutras and remembering a few Zen cases. It is not difficult at all!
Since you have fully realized your own mind, everywhere is a pure land, so let me ask you:
Would you still live in the toilet? Are you willing to eat from the same trough with dogs, pigs, horses, and cows? Are you willing to go to a grave in a desolate mountain and sleep with a stinking, rotting corpse? …
If you feel happy and secure about these items and don't mind them at all, only then can you say that the mountains and plains are always the pure land Sukhāvatī.
If one appears to endure patiently on the outside, but inwardly doubts and disgust arise, then the distinction between pure and impure states has not been completely resolved, and emotions of hate and love still exist.
With this mentality, if you talk big about the state of great saints that transcends emotion and vision, deny the existence of the Buddha Country and despising Pure Land Buddhism, you are deceiving heaven and people, and are willing to blind your own soul. How miserable! How miserable!
Also, if you have great strength and great vows, wishing to stand out in the sea of reincarnation and practice the Bodhisattva path without fear or cowardice, then I will not force you to seek rebirth in the Pure Land Sukhāvatī.
If you are worried that the karmic winds of desire in this Sahā world are too strong and you cannot make your own decisions; Worrying that it is hard to encounter the Buddhas and that there is no way to practice Buddhism; Worrying that your endurance is not strong enough, one cannot save sentient beings from the dangers of the three realms; Worrying that until this karmic body is exhausted, I will not permanently break the cycle of birth and death, nor will I be able to sever the Saṃsāra (reincarnation) of spiritual consciousness; Worrying about having to suffer the retribution of the next life, leaving this body to suffer the consequences of another, the road ahead is unclear and I don't know where to go; Therefore, if one abandons the Pure Land Dharma and does not seek rebirth in the Pure Land Sukhāvatī, the loss will be no small matter.
This Pure Land Dharma seems simple but is actually profound, seems easy but is actually far-reaching, seems difficult but is actually easy, seems easy but is difficult. One day you will understand the mystery of it.
Master Yunqi Zhuhong "Yunqi Buddhist Dharma Collection"
