The world we live in

is none other than the realm of Buddha.

Here it is forever Spring,

flowers bloom without end,

and the fragrant path is ever open.

– A Thousand Hands of Compassion

As a teenager, to the bewilderment of my family, I became a Christian. My memories of that period are of long summers, walking across the gorgeous East Anglian countryside totally in love with the trees and fields and birds and insects, praising God in everything I saw. I’d walk from church to church across farmland and along country lanes, and never left the divine presence.

A couple of decades later my interest in things spiritual re-awoke and, living in Thailand, I looked to Buddhism. I loved the temples and Buddha images and the devotion of the Thai people, but recoiled from teachings that denied the beauty of this world. To this day I disagree with the Four Noble Truths, I don’t see life as only suffering and I don’t want to eliminate love for life.

I remember going to hear a Therevada monk give a talk on developing dispassion in which he used a day trip to see a waterfall as an example of the human condition. After traveling up into the mountains, everyone looks at the waterfall for a few minutes and then, seconds later, they’re eating their sandwiches – ready for the next distraction. So, what use waterfalls?

It’s only recently I’ve seen how Buddhism truly encompasses a love of, and even gratitude for, this very world we live in. I saw it first in the sheer attention to beauty in most Korean temples. But then I saw how that lovely balance of building, stream, woods and mountains didn’t come about by accident, how it was a manifestation of a core teaching I’d overlooked.

Yet I have trouble seeing this world as the Pure Land. After all, that’s where I’ll be taken by Amida Buddha and the Bodhisattvas after death. This world, with its violence and cruelty, is far from pure. Even in its pristine state, creatures live and die by eating each other. Illness, old age and death touch us all. The Buddha wanted to transcend this, the Therevadans and Pure Landers are both right – our task is to just get out.

And yet, doesn’t the idea that this very realm is no other than the Buddha-realm accord with my earliest, and possibly deepest, spiritual experiences as I communed with all the creative energy and beauty of the world? Doesn’t the teaching that we are all connected through this power-source of Buddha-nature accord exactly with my impulse for appreciation and gratitude?

I take refuge in one mind,

remaining just as it is, it ceaselessly takes care of all things.

I take refuge in one mind,

with all-embracing harmony it saves all beings everywhere.

I take refuge in one mind, which completely looks after all beings throughout the world and universe.

I take refuge in one mind,

with a single thought transcending time and space, it nurtures all.

I take refuge in one mind, endlessly giving light to all.

– The Thousand Hands of Compassion

Thinking back, looking up at those huge East Anglian skies and resting in the all-encompassing arms of God didn’t mean that all my pain went away, it did mean I had, in some small way, transcended it, even transformed it. And it happened not through practice or meditation, not through Buddhology or Theology, but through resting and appreciating and letting go.

You only need to breathe lightly

for the miracles to be displayed.

Suddenly you hear the birds singing,

the pines chanting;

you see flowers blooming,

the blue sky,

the white clouds,

the smile and the marvelous look

of your beloved.

– From ‘Our True Heritage’, a poem by Thich Nhat Hanh

And now I think of it, that monk I heard in Thailand those years ago had a point. What use waterfalls if you then simply head for the sandwiches? But if you bring to the waterfall your time and peace and appreciation, if you are in touch with that part of yourself that is deep and still and peaceful, then, yes, life also is deep and still and peaceful and we can taste the Pure Land.

So, for me, the Pure Land remains a destination after I die and I make no apologies for my faith, but what I have learnt from masters such as Thich Nhat Hanh and Daehaeng Sunim, is how to spend more time in the Pure Land whilst in this realm now. Something that accords with my experience and makes sense to me. Pain and suffering doesn’t go away, but it can be seen for what it is, a necessary part of being alive. And being alive is wonderful.