How Can One Attain Rebirth in the Pure Land?

Due to the varying karma of each individual, the state of the physical body at the moment of death differs. Those with heavy karmic obstacles experience disharmony of the four great elements at the end of life, resulting in a rigid body; after death, they will undergo retribution in the three evil realms. Those whose karmic obstacles are not too heavy and who have performed many virtuous deeds in their lifetime, with their minds resonating with wholesome dharmas, experience harmony of the four great elements, resulting in a soft body at death. They will be reborn in the three wholesome realms without suffering at the end of life. In the Dharma-ending age, the vast majority of people have heavy afflictions, having performed few virtuous deeds and many evil deeds in their lifetime, and thus experience great suffering at the time of death. To facilitate rebirth in a wholesome realm, families may invite others to assist with chanting, hoping to eliminate some karmic obstacles and increase some merit and virtue. During this chanting assistance, the four great elements become harmonized, and the body becomes soft. Some then assume that the deceased must have been reborn in the Pure Land, or at the very least, in the heavenly realm. However, this is not necessarily the case. A soft body only indicates reduced karmic obstacles and increased wholesome roots and merit and virtue.

I encountered a real incident involving a female lay devotee. Her husband, though a Buddhist, did not practice. After he died from a prolonged illness, she invited monastics from a temple to assist with chanting. Four groups took turns chanting continuously for seven days without a single minute's break. The more they chanted, the softer the deceased's body became, eventually becoming so pliable that the entire body could be curled up. Everyone assumed he had gone to the Pure Land, or at least to the heavenly realm. However, seven days after the cremation, the deceased appeared to the female devotee in a dream, his expression clearly unhappy. She came to ask me what this meant. I explained that he was dissatisfied with his current state, still experiencing suffering, likely indicating that he had neither been reborn in the Pure Land nor ascended to the heavenly realm, nor had he taken rebirth in the human realm. If he had already taken rebirth, he would not have been able to appear in a dream; even if he did, he would appear joyful, not looking distressed.

Not long after, noises were heard on her balcony. Later, the female devotee dreamed that her husband had returned home. This indicates, first, that the deceased had not attained rebirth (generally referring to rebirth in the Pure Land or the realms of heavenly beings, asuras, or humans); second, that he had not taken rebirth (referring broadly to taking birth, the beginning of a life within the six realms of rebirth); and third, that he was in the state of the intermediate existence (bardo). This incident demonstrates that no matter how much others chant for assistance, if the deceased lacks deep wholesome roots and merit and virtue, and if the mind does not resonate with the Pure Land, rebirth in the Pure Land cannot be achieved. If the mind does not resonate with the heavenly realm, ascension to heaven is also impossible. Only if the merit and virtue of those providing chanting assistance are exceptionally vast, capable of transforming his karmic seeds, could he then ascend to heaven, attain rebirth in the Pure Land, or be reborn in the human realm.

Why did a soft body not lead to rebirth in a wholesome realm? Because chanting assistance only increases some merit and virtue and alters some karmic seeds, which is far from sufficient for rebirth. To achieve rebirth, one must cultivate the mind oneself, transforming it to resonate with the Pure Land. A few days of chanting assistance cannot change the deceased's mind. Spiritual practice is not so easy; even living practitioners may not achieve a perfectly pure mind after a lifetime of practice. Without personal practice, relying solely on others' chanting cannot transform the mind to the point of unshakable faith in the Pure Land and Amitabha Buddha, nor enable one to relinquish all karmic connections to the Saha World. To accurately determine whether the deceased has attained rebirth requires the divine eye, enabling one to see the deceased's consciousness seated on a lotus throne, witness the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas coming to welcome them, and see them arriving in the Pure Land. Without such direct perception, any judgment is inaccurate, mere speculation, and unreliable.

The issue of practice involves merit and virtue. Merit and virtue are obtained only by those who cultivate them; those who do not cultivate do not obtain them. Parents and children cannot substitute for each other, including between the Buddha and his own family members. The Shurangama Sutra states that Ananda, relying on being the Buddha's cousin, assumed he did not need to practice diligently, believing that the Buddha's majestic power and blessings would naturally lead him to accomplishment. However, this was not the case; he still had to undergo his tribulations, as did the Buddha's own family members. The merit and virtue of practice do not come from outside; they arise from one's own mind and cannot be given by others. Whether the deceased can attain rebirth depends on whether they themselves possess the merit and virtue of Buddha-recitation. This merit and virtue cannot be given to them by those providing chanting assistance; it requires personal recitation and practice. Without the merit and virtue of practice, there can be no corresponding karmic fruition.

Many practitioners of the Pure Land school today place all their hopes on the final thought at the moment of death. If one has not cultivated well in daily life, if the mind remains unchanged, and the karmic seeds are not purified, relying solely on the final thought is like placing a bet—it is unreliable. One must achieve realization through daily practice to have confidence in attaining rebirth at the end of life. If one cannot even control thoughts in dreams during ordinary times, how much harder will it be at the time of death, amidst the suffering of illness, with karmic obstacles manifesting, and creditors from past lives coming to collect debts? The final thought will be even more difficult to grasp. Therefore, one cannot rely solely on the final moment; one must achieve some realization in daily life, transforming the mind, eliminating karmic obstacles, increasing merit and virtue, and gaining control over mental states.

To attain rebirth in the Pure Land, one's merit and virtue must resonate with the Pure Land; without resonance, one cannot dwell there. Wherever one wishes to go, one's merit and virtue must resonate with that environment; one must possess the corresponding karmic seeds. If one has not planted those karmic seeds and the merit and virtue do not resonate, how can one reach that place? If the mind does not resonate with the Pure Land, it cannot manifest the Pure Land; how then can one be reborn there? Any method of spiritual practice is fundamentally about cultivating the mind. Only when the mind is cultivated to a certain degree, transformed to a certain extent, and resonates with a particular state, can one dwell and survive in the corresponding environment.