Words on
the way of Zen
Reflections on practice, tradition, and the everyday path of Zen.
After Returning to Sahā to Liberate Beings, Will Past Karmic Consequences Still Manifest?
Amitabha Buddha. I prostrate to the Master. This disciple wishes to ask: if one returns to Sahā by the power of vows to liberate sentient beings, will they still undergo karmic consequences from their past?
ReadHeart-Pounding Nightmares Are Omens of Past-Life Bad Karma
[Original Text]
ReadThe final thought at the moment of death, deliberately strengthened, determines your afterlife destination
Many classic treatises emphasize the final thought at the moment of death. In the nine grades of rebirth, the ultimate focus always returns to the time of passing: the dominant condition that determines our afterlife destination is this ...
ReadThe Shurangama Mantra Counteracts All Afflictions and Habitual Tendencies
This section formally provides examples to illustrate the merit and benefits of reciting the mantra. Let us turn to the sutra text. What follows is a concrete example of the power of mantra recitation. For the sake of illustration: acros...
ReadCheck Out Amitabha Buddha's Promised Benefits and You'll Feel At Ease Right Away
We also encounter this situation in practice: when we have cultivated to a certain level, we get stuck, neither advancing nor regressing, just like the investment we mentioned earlier that yields no visible returns. At this point, an aff...
ReadMy Autistic Son Fostered My Aspiration for the Pure Land
I am Mo Xue, a Pure Land practitioner based in Hong Kong who practices with steadfast faith. Half a year ago, I was still a mother who had lost all enthusiasm for life, constantly grappling with the meaning of existence.
ReadManjushri Bodhisattva Is Not Only a Reincarnated Ancient Buddha, but Also the Teacher of Immeasurable Past Buddhas
The virtues of Manjushri Bodhisattva defy all measurement; Long ago he became the supreme Dharma King of the dragon race. Taking pity on sentient beings deluded in their own nature, He specially assists Shakyamuni in sustaining the profo...
ReadTwo Stories About Marriage
A Grandson Marries His Grandmother
ReadThough Not Pursuing the Emptiness-Nature of Dreams, Illusions, Bubbles, and Shadows, It Perfectly Embodies Their Empty Nature
Everyone knows that the fundamental purpose of the Buddha Dharma is to teach that "all dharmas are empty." That is why, whenever we recite the Heart Sutra, we chant "the five aggregates are empty"; when someone leaves home, we say they h...
ReadHow to Tell If You Are Abiding in the Mind of Birth and Death or the Mind Beyond Birth and Death
Ananda addressed the Buddha, saying: "World-Honored One! I have been blessed with the Tathagata’s supreme compassionate teachings, and my mind has now opened and awakened. I know that through my own practice and realization, I can attain...
ReadThe Three Progressive Stages of Practicing the Shurangama Mantra
◎ Chanting the Mantra to Break Through Obstacles
ReadPractitioners in the Dharma-Ending Age Should Wholeheartedly Recite and Uphold the Shurangama Mantra
When we begin to practice and study the Shurangama King Samadhi, it brings two types of benefits to our body, mind, and the world we inhabit:
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