cont....Buddhism Wisdom & Faith ( by Dharna Master Thich Thien Tam )

Liberation from Suffering

6) Contemplating the Suffering of Birth & Death

Sentient beings revolve in the cycle of Birth and Death, along the Six Paths, life after life. These are the paths ( realms ) of celestials, human beings, asuras ( titanic demons ), animals, hungry ghosts and hell-dwellers. The Eight Sufferings, while common to all sentient beings, concern humans in particular.

Although the celestial path is blessed with more happiness than our world, it is still marked by the Five Signs of Decay and the "things that can go against our wishes." The path of the asuras is filled with quarrellings and acrimonious competition. The path of animals such as buffaloes, cattle, donkeys and horses, is subjected to heavy toil. Other domestic animals, such as goats, pigs, chicken and ducks, are subjected to violent, untimely death. Still other animals suffer from stupidity, living in filth, and killing one another for food. On the path of hungry ghosts, sentient beings have ugly, smelly bodies, with bellies as big as drums and throats as small as needles, while flames shoot out of their mouths. They are subjected to hunger and thirst for incalculable eons. As to the hellish paths-- the sufferings there are so great no words can describe them.

These last four paths ( realms ) are referred to in the sutras as the " Four Paths of Misery. " The degree of suffering, from the path of the asuras downward, is multiplied manyfold for each path. Within these realms, sentient beings revolved in Birth and Death through one realm after another, like a spinning wheel, with neither beginning nor end.

In general, rebirth on the celestial or human paths is difficult and rare, while descent onto the four lower paths is easy and common. For this reason, the ancients lamented :

Born and reborn endlessly along the Six Paths,
When impermanence strikes , we must let go of everything.

Once while he was still alive, Buddha Sakyamuni scratched a tiny bit of soil with his finger and asked his disciple Ananda, " Where is there more dirt, on my fingertip or in the whole wide world?" Ananda replied, "Great Master, of course there is infinitely more soil in the big, wide world than on yr fingertip; it is beyond all possible comparison." The Buddha then said, " Likewise, Ananda, the sentient beings who are reborn on the celestial and human paths are like the dirt on my fingertip, while those who descend onto the lower paths are like the soil in the whole wide world." This example should ring a bell in the morning calm, waking up cultivators.

In short, as stated in the Lotus Sutra:
The Triple Realm is impermanent and conditioned dharmas bring no happiness.

Those who recite the Buddha's name should seek rebirth in the Western Pure Land to escape the cycle of Birth & Death and gradually attain Buddhahood. They should not seek the false blessings of this earth. Only in this way is Buddha Recitation consonant with the goal of liberation and with the compassionate Mind of Sakyamuni Buddha.

To achieve this aim , the practitioner should constantly meditate on the Eight Sufferings of the human conditions, including the untold sufferings of the Six Paths. Otherwise the determination to escape Birth and Death will not easily arise and the vow to be reborn in the Western Pureland will not be in earnest. How, then, can he step upon the "other shore" ( of liberation ) in the future , and , with his wisdom, save all sentient beings?

Buddha Sakyamuni once sighed:

In the Dharma-Ending Age, may disciples will always chase after worldly blessings; very few will pay attention to the major question of Birth and Death.

This is so because they lack wisdom and do not meditate realistically on the suffering of the world. They are not only ungrateful to the Buddhas, they are also ungrateful to themselves. Is it not a great pity?