Is our chanting session a superhighway or . . . ?

Discriminatory seeds and habits
have been planted within each of us.
We need to remind ourselves of this before acting.

We discriminate all the time. Hearing or seeing something or someone, we instantly identify what we perceive with its accepted name or term.

If we see a person, the familiar vocabulary imbedded in our store consciousness springs forward: male, female, tall, short. In a flash, we move from recognition to assessing: attractive, talks too much, etc.

Pigeonholing by skin color (followed by the identifier of “like me” or “not like me”), religion (followed by “same as mine” or “not mine”), education level, sexual orientation, na- tionality.

If, in our cultivation, we haven’t found much success in stopping our biased discriminat- ing, we need to at least catch such thoughts before they lead to regrettable action. Discriminating thoughts can be dangerous. Both to others and ourselves. So as soon as we detect them, we need to halt. While still at the perception stage, we need to act appropriately, without discrimination.

“Since Amitabha is so compassionate, 

why doesn’t he come and take us to the Pure Land right now?” 

Just as Sakyamuni Buddha cannot enlighten us, Amitabha Buddha cannot whisk us away to the Pure Land just because we wish to go there. Not even a Buddha can go against the natural law of cause and effect.

We need to plant the seeds for something to happen, whether it’s getting a raise at work or being born in the Western Pure Land. We create the cause for the latter by attaining, at a minimum,

Constant Mindfulness of Amitabha through our buddha-name chanting.

We also need to let go of our attachments. Wishing to be born in the Pure Land on its own is not enough, especially when we equally wish for a good job, a loving family, tasty food, etc. Our only attachment should be to the name of Amitabha Buddha.

Until we let go of all worldly attachments and have an attachment to only one thing—to Amitabha’s name—we’re not ready to go to the Pure Land. And he cannot come to guide us there.