We must remember that, in this world, whether it is fame, profit, social status, wealth, family members or relatives, we can take none of them when we die. So what can we take with us when we die? We can take with us all the karma, namely, good and bad energy, generated by what we have done in this life. We can take with us all our efforts and gains of correcting our thoughts, speech and actions. We can take with us our wisdom and abilities.

Listen to my teacher’s original lecture: What can we take with us when we die?

Listen to the podcast in English: Coming soon.

Listen to Amituofo Chanting.

If we understand this truth of the Universe, our goal of life will be different. Why? Well, for things that we cannot take with us when we die, what is the point of trying so hard to get them? If we have them, that’s great. If we don’t, that’s great too. We will no longer focus our minds on those things. Those are not good. If we are attached to them, we will end up being reborn in the three evil realms in our next lives, that is, the animal realm, the ghost realm, and the hell realm. So, we should not want to take these things.

But for the things that we can take with us when we die, we must pay attention to them. What should we take with us? We should take good mind, good thoughts, good actions, and good energy. It is good to take these with us. If we have these to take with us, we will be reborn in the two good realms in our next lives, namely, the celestial realm and the human realm. And we will not be reborn in the three evil realms.

Theravada practitioners who have attained the ‘initial achievement’ (小乘初果) are awakened to this truth. As for Mahayana practitioners who have attained the ‘initial level of believing in Buddhas’ teachings (大乘初信位菩薩), they have reached higher level of understanding than the aforementioned Theravada practitioners. They also know the truth. That is why they are constantly and steadily learning. Learn to stop doing whatever is bad and practise whatever is good. Learn to accumulate their efforts and gains. They take this learning as their foremost goal in this life. They are determined to complete this learning and improve themselves. What they want now is completely different from what they wanted before they learned Buddhas’ teachings.

Why all beings in the Six Realms cannot get out of the Six Realms? It is because they have been attached to the view that the body is the self. This results in a huge loss. That is why they have been cycling in the Six Realms over infinite past lives. One body dies and the soul get into another body. When a soul gets into a new body, it is again attached to that body and thinks, ‘Ah, it is me.’ This is very troublesome.

       

DEDICATION

The effort and gains of explaining, transmitting and listening to Buddhas’ teachings are dedicated to:

the entire Universe and all beings of all dimensions and all existences. May they all listen to Buddhas’ teachings, awaken to the truth of the Universe, be mindful of the name ‘Amituofo’ (Amitabha Buddha),

aspire to go to the Pure Land, and become Buddhas. (Read the above three times)

I pray to Buddhas and bodhisattvas for unconditionally solving all man-made and natural disasters around the globe.

For all of those who died in man-made wars and natural disasters across the world,

and for all of those who are related to me in all kinds of ways in this life and previous lives, may they listen to Buddhas’ teachings. May they awaken to the truth of the Universe, aspire to unearth their innate and most sincere, pure, equal and awakened mind, be single-mindedly mindful of Amituofo, aspire to go to the Pure Land so as to see Amituofo and listen to his teachings, removing all their delusions and unveiling their innate wisdom, gaining the real peace and happiness, instantly escaping from the cycle of birth and death, speedily becoming Buddhas, and helping all beings (in the entire Universe) like all other Buddhas.

The effort and gains are dedicated to the leaders of all countries on the Earth. May all countries be prosperous. May all disasters be solved. May the world enjoy eternal peace. I use the effort and gains to return the help from the enlightenment of Buddhas, by the correctness of Buddhas’ teachings, from the purity of sangha, from all beings, from my parents (in this life and previous lives), and from my country(ies). I also use the effort and gains to help alleviate the suffering of those who are already in and will be reborn into the animal realm, the ghost realm and hells as the result of their bad thoughts, speech and deeds. For anyone who sees and hears me chanting or being mindful of Amituofo and doing other good deeds, may they aspire to unearth their most sincere, pure, equal and awakened mind so as to go to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, together with me, at the end of our present lives.