It is said in the "The Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra": "Being upright and righteous, fasting for one day and one night is better than being good for a hundred years in The Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss." The Saha world is a filthy land. The environment outside is turbid and evil, in order to satisfy the five desires, we use all our scheming and unscrupulous means; as for the inside, there are many troubles and heavy karmic obstacles, practicing to purify karma is like sailing against the current, with more failures and less success, which is extremely difficult. Therefore, in this evil world of five turbidities, which is difficult to practice, it is commendable to be able to fast and cleanly hold the Buddha's name for one day and one night to practice diligently. Therefore, the merits and virtues are very great, surpassing the hundred years of practice in The Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.
The difference between "virtue" and "blessing "
There is a word difference between virtue and blessing, but the meaning is completely different. Virtue is the foundation for becoming a Buddha, and the same is true for rebirth in the Pure Land. In the "Shorter Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra", the Buddha told us: "You can't be born in the Pure Land without good roots, virtue, and karma." We must pay attention to the fact that here we talk about rebirth. The merits of the Pure Land are virtues, not blessings. Virtue is the result of dual cultivation of blessings and wisdom. The six perfections we usually talk about are dual cultivation of blessings and wisdom. Giving, keeping precepts, and enduring humiliation are the rewards of cultivating blessings, while meditation and prajna are cultivating wisdom. You need to be diligent in giving, keeping the precepts, and enduring humiliation, and you need to be diligent in meditation and prajna in the latter part. Therefore, the Six Paradigm Dharma Gate is the dual practice of blessing and wisdom.
From this place, we can see that if you want to be a blessed person in this world, you only need to practice giving, keeping precepts, patience, and diligence. If you do a good job in giving, keeping precepts, patience, and diligence, you will get immeasurable blessings. But we need to know that blessings are the conditioned dharma in the world, and the conditioned dharma also has a name called the leakage dharma. The conditioned dharma is said in the "Diamond Sutra": "All conditioned dharmas are like dreams and bubbles, like dew and like electricity. It should be viewed as such."
Let's look at the difference between blessing and virtue through an allusion. Bodhidharma came to China from India to promote Buddhism. Emperor Wu of Liang heard that Bodhidharma was an eminent monk, so he invited Bodhidharma to the palace for a long talk. Emperor Wu of Liang complacently asked, "Master, Since I came to the throne, I have ordered to build temples, copy scriptures, and offer sacrifices to monks. How much virtue is there?" Bodhidharma said to him, "There is no virtue. It is only blessings which is conditioned dharma. It seems like there is, but there really isn’t.” After hearing this, Emperor Wu of Liang became unhappy. Bodhidharma felt that he was not in harmony with Emperor Wu of Liang, so he left by himself.
Why did Bodhidharma say that all the good deeds done by Emperor Wu of Liang had no virtue? Our current Buddhist practitioners are also doing a lot, devoting ourselves wholeheartedly to supporting Buddhist temples, Buddhist monks, and even promoting Buddhism. We have to think carefully from this story. You see, Bodhidharma said that Emperor Wu of Liang did so much but did not have virtue. People with a discerning eye can understand that Emperor Wu of Liang was obsessed with these good deeds.He is doing charity with the hope of getting something in return, so this kind of charity is only the blessing with leakage in human beings world , not the virtue without leakage.
Therefore, when we Buddhists practice the Bodhisattva way, we must have the spirit of emptiness, so that the good deeds we do can become the virtues without leakage, and become the accumulation for our future rebirth in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. Why are there so many people studying Buddhism and reciting Buddha's name, but so few people are reborn in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss? The fundamental reason is that people who study Buddhism do not understand the truth. It will be troublesome if we don’t know the truth. Although we are also doing charity, it’s all charity that stays in appearance. In the monastery, we often see that many people hope to become the great benefactor of the monastery after donating money. We must know that this is attachment, and this merit is small. If you are unknown, you do what you do, you don’t have the heart to be rewarded, and you don’t regard yourself as a VIP in the monastery, then all the merits you do are virtues.
Virtue and blessings cannot be compared. Virtue is the dharma without leakage, and it is the accumulation of Buddhahood, while blessings are the dharma with leakage. What is dharma with leakage? It is just like when we pour some water into a teacup, there is a hole in the bottom of the cup, and the blessings will slowly leak out like water. No matter how many blessings you have cultivated, if you cannot be reborn in the Pure Land in this life, and you have not kept the five precepts and ten virtues well, then you will not enjoy this blessing in the next life, where will you enjoy it? In the evil realms, one may rebirth to become a ghost king, a land god, or a panda, a pet dog, and so on. It can be seen from this that as long as a practitioner changes his mind, understands the truth, gets rid of his attachments, and manifests a pure bodhicitta, the blessings can be transformed into virtue. That is the real inconceivable merit.---January 6, 2022 Buddhist Research Network
It seems that this place is not a permanent place.It is like dewdrops on grass blades, and like the shadow of the moon hanging upside down in the water, it is fleeting.—Lyrics of a section of "Fifty Years in the World" from "Atsumori”. Atsumori (敦盛, Atsumori) is a Japanese Noh play by Zeami Motokiyo which focuses on Taira no Atsumori, a young samurai who was killed in the Genpei War, and his killer, Kumagai Naozane. In "The Tale of the Heike" translated by Zhou Zuoren, this lyric is translated as "Fifty years in the world are like dreams and illusions, there is life and there will be death, what regrets for a strong man".
My current adversity and difficulties are all caused by my bad karma in previous lives, so I must accept it. "Resign oneself to adversity means repaying debts, and thinking about repaying debts in one's mind. "Cultivate morality to wait for the change of fate", and hurry up to study morality and practice morality to wait for this change of fate.