Is that all there is?

Once in Shandong Province China there was a beggar who came to a temple to beg for food. He was greeted by the abbot of the monastery, a very compassionate Master or Pure Land. The old abbot had great compassion on the beggar and told him that if he would travel to a particular rural village he would find a great treasure where the roads intersect.

In delight the beggar set off and finally reached the village. When he found the two intersecting roads he searched in vain but could find no treasure. Disappointed and tired from his long journey he sat down on an old dusty wooden box in which the local farmers would store corn cobs. “Is that all there is!” he sighed in despair, “this decrepit old box full of rocks?” He departed the village disappointed.

Not long after a poor farmer wandered by with his wife and three children. He noticed the old box beside the road and inquired of a passer-by who had left the box there. “I don’t know” replied the village man. “It appeared yesterday morning. Perhaps it is rubbish which someone has left.” The poor farmer was curious. He tried to move the box with his foot but it was heavy. He found a branch from the tree which he broke to make a lever and with great effort prized open the box. To his great astonishment and joy the box was full of gold bars. Out of honesty he immediately notified the village mayor who moved by the poor farmer’s honesty allowed him to keep the gold.

Is that all there is? Many seekers of Pure Land are disappointed as all they see is the seemingly “boring” repetition of the Buddha’s name. Many come seeking profound meditation experiences hoping to see visions, brilliant colours or mind altering experiences. While it is certainly not impossible to have these experiences from Meditation or Buddha Name Remembrance they are to be treated with great caution as they are illusory and impermanent. Such seekers have missed the point and in doing so have foregone a great treasure.

Each repetition of the name of Amitabha Buddha is like a small droplet of pure mystical water falling into our life pond of muddied, stagnant water of lifetimes of negative karmic residue. Each droplet displaces the muddied water until eventually the water become clear and reflects the light of the sun and moon and we can see ourselves as we truly are, a reflection of the Buddha, our Buddha nature. It is then we recognize a treasure of a lifetime and are truly blessed.

Amitofuo