Voice of Master Jingzong - Q and A about the Purpose of Life
淨宗之聲 - 人生目的問答
Q10: For what reason do people live? Only to aspire to be reborn in the Land of Bliss? What is the meaning of life for an ordinary person?
Answer: (continuation of the answer to Q10 - 4/6)
2. A Buddha is a self-enlightened being, and is capable of enlightening others through his perfect and complete practices.“Self-enlightened” means possessing perfect and complete wisdom. “Enlightening others” means to cut off their afflictions , and help them to reach a state of ultimate perfection and happiness.
Buddhism talks about Nirvana with pure self-nature. It is characterized by permanence, bliss, and the enlightened self(which is no - self and purity). A Buddha’s life and light are infinite and he has a thorough understanding of life and the universe. If you have doubts in life and the universe, will you be happy? If you don’t know or understand your purpose in this life, you cannot be happy.
All human beings have the capacity to pursue blessings and happiness. If we wish to fully accomplish this, we have to become a Buddha, who reaches the ultimate state of infinite light and infinite life.
As an ordinary being, it is not easy to reach that goal through our own power. For this reason, we choose to rely upon Amitabha Buddha’s Other-Power, and aspire to be reborn in his Land of Bliss in the West, which is a land of Nirvana.
In this world we exclusively recite Amitabha’s Name of infinite light and infinite life, in order to totally unite with and fulfill our purpose in life. Some people may think they can achieve enlightenment through the Buddha’s teachings of the Sacred Path, and it is not necessary to aspire to be reborn in the Land of Bliss.
2. 佛是自覺、覺他、覺行圓滿。自我覺悟,智慧圓滿,煩惱斷除;覺悟他人,斷除他人的煩惱,幫助他人達到究竟圓滿的境地,他就獲得了究竟圓滿的幸福與快樂。
佛講涅槃、常樂我淨,佛的壽命是無量壽,光明是無量光明,宇宙人生中沒有他不瞭解的事相。
如果對宇宙人生迷惑,無明,那你有幸福快樂嗎?你心裡不懂、不明白這些事,你也不能幸福快樂。
所以,從人追求幸福與快樂的天然本能這樣一個方向推到極致,必然要成佛,必然要達到一種無限的境地——無量光明、無量壽命。
這個目標,作為我們凡人,談何容易呢?它的方向、目標,就決定了我們要求生西方極樂世界。如果求生西方極樂世界,那裡就是涅槃的國土。
我們在這裡念的名號就是無量光明、無量壽命的名號,所以這自然就和我們人生的目的完全統一起來了。
我想這是一個合理的論斷。當然,有的人認為他有辦法自己修行達到,他未必要求生西方極樂世界,那是佛法中聖道門的修行。
Namo Amituofo!
