Let’s first read a passage from the scripture:
This scripture passage is saying “We should aspire to be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.”
Why?
Because when you reach there, it’s equivalent to gathering together with all virtuous beings in one place.
I believe that in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, fragrant sachets hang everywhere. The “people whose goodness is unsurpassed” mentioned are all very good people. To “assemble in one place” means that everyone is coming together, very kind and good people, all gathered together. Like us, being able to gather together to listen to the Dharma is equivalent to “assemble in one place with people whose goodness is unsurpassed.”
I remember before that in a certain place, in the mornings there were many kinds of exercise activities. Some practiced swordsmanship, some martial arts, some went jogging, and some did folk dancing. But sometimes I felt that their “exercise” was actually exercising their lips!
What does it mean to exercise your lips?
On the surface, they’re going for a run, but actually, they’re not running at all; they’re just talking. Many people love to exercise their mouth, gossip about others, if they do not exercise they would not feel comfortable. Often, A talks to B, B talks to C, and when A talks to B, he tells him not to tell others, and when B talks to C, he tells him not to tell others, but in the end, everyone knows. This is as if to “assemble in one place with people whose wickedness is unsurpassed.”
People have a common problem, a very strange one! The more secret something is, the more they like to hear about it, and the more secret something is, the more they like to talk about it. They’ll never talk about the good things, but they’ll definitely talk about others’ faults.
So when we come to participate in cultivation together, to recite the Buddha’s name, practice group cultivation and listen to the dharma, we hope that everyone’s mouth exercise will be reduced and exercising the ears will be increased.
In addition, when we are here, we should try our best to free ourselves from afflictions and keep our minds bright and pure.
Of course, there are also many excellent gatherings in society, such as the Lions Club, Rotary Club and Kiwanis Club, these are all very good.
However, I think that such high-class organizations sometimes inevitably may have some flaws also, and they may degenerate into “show-off clubs.”
The Lions Club and Rotary Club are excellent, but once you get there, if you start comparing which diamond is bigger, whether your car has SEL, what country your suit is made in, or whether your cape is made of mink fur caught in the Arctic… etc, although this is to “assemble in one place with people whose goodness is unsurpassed,” it still cannot escape the worldly mentality of “showing off wealth.”
Our “assemble in one place with people whose goodness is unsurpassed,” is devoid of the worldly vanity, pursuit of fame and profit. Here there is only cultivation, reciting the Buddha’s name, everyone has equal status. We all aspire to be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, which is an unsurpassed aspiration, there is no aspiration higher than this.
We can see that people in this world, without cultivation, have only two purposes in their lives. One is to “fight for fame” and the other is to “fight for profit.”
What are people pursuing in life?
It is these two.
But today we are here, we have transcended “fame” and “profit”, that is why it is called “supreme.” The most important thing we pursue is “the Way,” while ordinary people only pursue external appearances, fame and profit, so they won’t be able to understand “the Way.”
Those of us who have attained the Way are free from worldly troubles, but those outside the door are pursuing worldly troubles.
On reaching the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, everyone in future would be a bodhisattva, an arhat. The so-called bodhisattvas and arhats are those who have exhausted all afflictions and severed all afflictions. They will gather together at the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, this is then a real “assemble in one place with people whose goodness is unsurpassed”.
Om Mani Padme Hum