…(Buddha-name chanting practitioners) must dedicate all merits accrued from reciting sutras and mantras, from prostrating to Buddhas, from repenting one’s karmas, and from charitable actions such as rescuing victims and refugees in disasters and helping the poor to the Pure Land. One should not cultivate for the good fortune for one’s next life as a heavenly or human being.
If one has such a mind for the good fortune of one’s next life, one will not be reborn in the Pure Land. If one has not broken out of cyclic death and rebirth, the better one’s good fortune, the worse the karmas one will commit. It will be inevitable that one will fall into the three evil paths—hungry ghost, animals, and hell—in one’s very next life. After that, it will be even more difficult for one to recover the life form of a human being and have the affinities to receive and believe in the Pure Land teaching to end the cycle of death and rebirth.
The Buddha taught us to make the vow to be reborn in the Pure Land; it is for our present life. If one cultivates for the good fortune of the next life, one is violating the Buddha’s teaching. This is just like trading a priceless jewel for a piece of candy: what a waste! A foolish Buddha-name chanting practitioner who does not make the vow to be reborn in the Pure Land, but rather cultivates for the good fortune of the next life instead, is no different from this example.
~ Great Master Yinguang