Extending Life through Great VowsYutang Lin
Comment: A Buddhist friend is suffering from cancer. Even though through Buddha's blessings he has safely gone through chemotherapy several times, the cancer cells reappeared. At this juncture of life and death, if one prays only for the extension of personal life, how could it be ensured that the karmic debt would be compensated for in time? Therefore, I urged him to make a great vow toward the Bodhi path, asking Buddha for more time so as to be able to go further into practices, and to help others engage in Buddhist practices as much as one could. Praying for extension of life in this way renders it no longer a personal matter, but a matter related to the continuation of the Dharma lamp in the Dharmadhatu. Consequently, it would become easier to get help from all sources and thereby extend the duration of this life. In fact, everyone is constantly walking the fine line between life and death, yet few have awakened to this reality. In order to extend life span, there is no better way than to develop great Bodhi vows and then to devote the rest of life accordingly to Dharma practices and propagation. Written in Chinese on August 17, 2000 [Home][Back to list][Back to Chinese versions] |
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