First I will recite the scripture once:
Previously, we raised a question:
“Since everyone in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss is born from lotuses, how come there are birds flying in the sky there? What’s going on?”
That’s a good question!
Since there is no animal realm in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, how come there are these birds flying around in the air?
According to the Buddha’s own explanation, all these birds flying in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss are manifestations of Amitabha Buddha.
What’s the most beautiful sound in the world?
Some say it’s music, and good music is the best, but it seems that modern music isn’t necessarily good, and there is a lot of music that isn’t necessarily good either. Sometimes we’re curious, and one of our disciple’s family owns a nightclub. This disciple invited us to go, and when we went in, the sound was unbearable, like thunder.
I used to learn twist dancing and soul dancing in school, and I was pretty good at both, but now what’s popular isn’t twist dancing or soul dancing, but something like “disco” that sounds like “falling dead dog.” It really does look like someone falling and stumbling around! The drumbeats and the pitiful screams in that nightclub sounded almost like the sounds of a slaughterhouse, like pigs being slaughtered! That music, when we went in, we all covered our ears.
I remember my music teacher once told a story.
A man, consumed by rage, brandished a knife and tried to kill a musician. The musician ran to the side, immediately opened his piano, and began playing Moonlight Sonata.
As soon as he played, it seemed as if darkness had fallen and the moon had appeared, a truly beautiful scene! There were beautiful trees, and many birds were singing in them!
The murderer, who had originally intended to kill the musician with a knife, forgot all about his purpose to kill the musician upon hearing such beautiful music.
Then the musician played a little bit the sound of flowing water, from a very, very far away place, a small river’s water is flowing gently from far away!
The murderer’s heart was filled with rage initially, but it was instantly extinguished by the beautiful sound of flowing water, and he lowered the knife in his hand. The musician then played some music that filled the hearts of people with joy, and the murderer with knife in hand, began to gently sway and lightly glide his feet, dancing a waltz.
Music can cleanse the souls of people. The birds that Amitabha Buddha manifested in the sky sing these kinds of songs specifically to cleanse people’s souls. These birds are called the “shared destiny birds.” The songs they sing lead people’s hearts “towards the Buddha, towards the Dharma, towards the Sangha, and towards good.” The songs sung by this bird are all Dharma, all Buddhist teachings. It doesn’t sing randomly. It’s like the most melodious bird, the nightingale. The nightingale’s singing voice is very beautiful. The birds we see in the Western Pure Land are all manifestations of Amitabha Buddha himself.
This reminds me of when my father-in-law was about to pass away.
I was living in Ballard when he passed away. His surname was Lu, and his name was Lu Jinshui.
The day before he passed away, Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva brought him to my bedside. Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva told me, “Your father-in-law has some karmic obstacles. In the future, he will be reborn as a bird.”
I said, “Will he become a bird in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss? That’s good then!”
I knew that the birds in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss were equivalent to Buddhas. They are all expounding the Dharma, singing beautiful songs, and teaching others the Dharma.
Actually, that’s not the case!
The Bodhisattva said, “Throughout his life, he was not a bad person, he simply enjoyed leisure.”
How so?
Because he loved to travel. He had been to Eluanbi more than ten times, and he had been to Penghu many times, including Mount Yangming and Sun Moon Lake. The list goes on and on. Traveling was the greatest pleasure in his life.
Why be reborn as a bird?
Because he spent his entire life flying around, his heart constantly flying like a bird.
So Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva calculated for a long time and said, “Being a bird is the best.”
This is cause and effect. If we enjoy traveling, we might be reborn as birds in our next life.
“Okay!” I said, “How can this be? I am Lu Sheng-yen, and my father-in-law also shares the same surname, Lu, so my wife’s surname is also Lu. This is very strange, Lu Sheng-yen’s father-in-law will actually be reborn in the animal realm. Isn’t that… rather embarrassing?” I said, “This is a loss of face!”
Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva said, “Then what should we do?”
I said, “I can’t tell you anything right now. In short, Bodhisattva, please think of a solution.”
Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva was in a very difficult position. Then, an inspiration struck and the Bodhisattva’s inspiration is very divine. He said, “Your father-in-law, although he liked to travel around in his life, had never been abroad and has no karmic connection to foreign countries. Therefore, in his future reincarnation, he can only be reborn in Taiwan.”
The Bodhisattva thought for a moment and said, “Alright, there is a solution. There is a place in Taiwan called Niaosong Township.”
This is near Fengshan in Kaohsiung, right next to Chengcing Lake. There is a place called Niaosong Township, a very nice village with beautiful mountains and clear waters. So, according to the Bodhisattva, he will be sent to Niaosong Township to be reborn as a human.
Originally he was destined to be born as a bird (Bird is Niao in Chinese), but add the words “song Township” and it becomes Niaosong Township. This person, Lu Jinshui, was to be reborn as a bird, and then “song Township” was added to his name. This is called “stealing a step” (in Taiwanese). So, he was reborn in Niaosong Township. This was a matter of making things more acceptable; a matter of saving face.
The next morning, a call came from Taiwan informing me that my father-in-law had passed away.
I was informed almost a day earlier than they had, that is a fact! This is a very real thing!
Being reborn as a bird isn’t very good as it’s still in the animal realm, and animals are oviparous, as are birds.
Fortunately, Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva and I have some affinity. By adding just two more words beneath the “bird,” the rebirth was shifted back into the human realm.
Next time, I should bring an offering to Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva.
This is only because we practice Dharma and get along well with the Bodhisattva. A little can be changed, but not entirely. Being reborn as a bird, becomes being reborn in Niaosong Village (Bird Pine Village), isn’t it pretty similar?
This bird is able to “produce harmonious and elegant sounds”, the most beautiful kind of sound.
I think that most people who can sing were, in a previous life, birds reincarnated.
Ah! I’m not referring to the ordinary birds in this world, but to the birds manifested by Amitabha Buddha in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. These birds can also expound the Dharma, they can expound the Thirty-Seven Qualities Related to Enlightenment, which are the so-called Thirty-Seven Qualities Related to Enlightenment in Buddhist scriptures, namely “precepts, meditative concentration, and wisdom,” which are divided into seven categories.
Although our human realm is higher than that of birds, in reality, our human realm is not that great.
Now we will talk about the Four Bases of Mindfulness which are part of the Thirty-Seven Qualities Related to Enlightenment.
We should constantly reflect on the fact that our bodies are not entirely clean or pure. This impurity is further divided into seven types of impurities, and we should always keep this in mind.
The first is that “Seeds are impure.” Basically cells are the seeds of humans, cells are not pure.
The second is that “Conception is impure.” Besides the impurity of our cells, the moment when we are conceived is the most impure, because we are in the womb, surrounded by very dirty things, very dirty blood and fluids. This is “Dwelling is impure.”
Then, “What we eat is impure.” It seems that what we eat is what our mother has already digested, and we eat the remains. What our mother digested is then given to us.
“Birth is impure” because we are born along with some very dirty things.
Our “whole body is impure”. Even our skin, the surface seems a bit cleaner. Actually inside it is all impure. In fact, even the surface is impure.
Many ladies are skilled at makeup, in the past I used to think of their makeup as painting, they are painting their faces.
Actually there are two people who know if a lady is pretty or not.
Some people say that the milk man who delivers the milk in the morning knows because she has just woken up and has not applied makeup yet. Opening the door to take the milk, one takes a look at her face and is terrified. After applying makeup she looks like a fairy, before painting she looks like a demon, this will terrify people.
Someone asked me where is clean?
I said in the past before “You can practice the Dharma even in the toilet.”
One of my disciples asked me this, saying his parents wouldn’t let him practice the Dharma, his house was very cramped, there was no place to cultivate.
I said, “Why don’t you practice the Dharma in the toilet?”
He replied, “Toilets are dirty, how can I practice the Dharma in them?”
I told him, “You also have a toilet inside your body, it is just that one is inside, and the other is outside.”
True practitioners of the Great Tantric School know that there is not a single clean place in the world.
You can also say the world is all clean.
You think that the toilet is dirty and that you cannot cultivate there. Actually your stomach is full of the toilet things.
Do you think covering it up makes it clean?
In reality, everywhere is clean, which also means nowhere is clean.
Furthermore, when a person dies, the rotting, putrid smell of the flesh, oh my! It is totally not clean.
What’s there to say about humans?
What’s there to talk about being clean?
So, everyone is actually impure, all the same.
Except for the fragrant sweat produced in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. As long as we are humans, unless we apply perfume or scented powder, or deliberately create a fragrance, otherwise humans are not pure. We should constantly think that “The human body is impure.” we have to cultivate until we reach the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. It is the purest place.
There, one can truly hear beautiful music. The songs we hear in the human world aren’t necessarily good sounding. The songs heard in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss are the most beautiful. This concludes today’s discourse.
Om Mani Padme Hum