How can there be Maitreya Bodhisattva or Sakyamuni who become a Buddha from birth?
2025-03-17
by Master Ouyi Zhixu
All the Buddhas in the ten directions, the patriarchs of all sects, and the ancient sages and wise men, all used adversity as a furnace for tempering. Among the "Four Noble Truths" preached by the Buddha, the " Duḥkha (Suffering)" is placed first; the Eight Sufferings are also called the Eight Teachers. If a cultivator has even a little bit of the sentiment of "liking favorable circumstances and hating unfavorable circumstances", his end will be to rot together with the summer weeds. How can he stand tall and proudly among wind, frost, ice and snow like pine and cypress?
Beautiful jade cannot be made into a useful object without being carved, and stubborn gold cannot become pure without being forged. A bell will not ring if it is not struck, and a knife will not be sharp if it is not sharpened. How can there be a born Maitreya or a Sakyamuni who naturally becomes a Buddha?
If you aspire to achieve the virtues of saints and Buddhas, you must endure vicious insults as if they were drinking nectar, and encounter violent hardships as if they were finding a treasure. This is what is called practicing in the midst of adversity. Only in this way can you plant the right causes for rebirth in the Pure Land Sukhāvatī in this Sahā world. Only then can you transcend to the Pure Land like a lotus emerging from the mud and enter the "Avinivartanīya (stage of no regression)."
If one talks a lot about chanting Buddha's name and seeking rebirth in the Pure Land when he has nothing to do on weekdays, but immediately regrets, becomes angry, and resents himself when something unpleasant happens, I am afraid that he will not be able to achieve the "Samadhi of Chanting Buddha's Name" and there is no guarantee that he will be reborn in the Pure Land Sukhāvatī.
Practitioners of Pure Land Buddhism should verify these ten major obstacles one by one. When they are sick, in distress, or even when they are humiliated and wronged, they should only increase their resolve to recite the Buddha's name and seek rebirth in the Pure Land. They should develop the insight of "all Dharmas and phenomena are suffering and empty" and not blame the Gods or others. In this way, the lotus bud in the Pure Land will flourish day by day, and they can be said to have attained the Treasures King Samadhi of Reciting the Buddha's Name.
one gains enlightenment in the process of practicing Buddhism, and does not fall back into the two vehicles, ordinary people, or the evil realms, nor does one lose the Phala (Practice level), concepts, and Dharmas that one has attained.
