In the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination of the Pratyekabuddha, the Buddha taught: “Ignorance conditions action, action conditions consciousness, consciousness conditions name and form, name and form conditions the six sense bases, the six sense bases condition contact, contact conditions feeling, feeling conditions craving, craving conditions grasping, grasping conditions existence, existence conditions birth, birth conditions aging and death.” This Dharma shows us the cause and effect of the three lives: Ignorance and action are the past life. Consciousness, name and form, the six sense bases, contact, feeling, craving, grasping and existence are the present life. Birth and aging and death are the future life.

Not knowing all past truths, all present and future karmic results is called ignorance. Because of ignorance, creating actions is called action, action includes the arising of thoughts. Consciousness refers to reincarnation, Buddhism calls it consciousness, the world calls it soul. People in the world do not clearly understand the true nature of reality, so they call consciousness the soul; but in fact, if it is called soul, it is certainly not spiritual. Buddha and Bodhisattva clearly understand the truth, so they call the spirit consciousness a lost soul. Indeed, if the spirit consciousness is truly spiritual, then when reincarnated, why didn't they choose to be born into a wealthy family to enjoy blessings, but instead were born into a poor family, or even reincarnated into the three evil realms to live a miserable life? The true meaning of the word spirit consciousness is lost soul, not soul. Lost soul is the spirit consciousness when it is lost, confused, and bewildered, and is reincarnated into a miserable place. Confucius called that lost soul a wandering soul. He said: "The wandering soul is a transformation, the essence and energy are objects." The lost soul wanders and changes, combining with the essence and energy to become matter. According to modern scientists, that matter is light and vibration. Confucius considered matter to be a lost soul combining with the essence and energy to become matter, but that matter is only a false combination, not eternally existing. This is what the Buddha said nearly three thousand years ago in the Diamond Sutra: “All that has form is illusory,” and in the Heart Sutra: “Form is no different from emptiness, emptiness is no different from form.”

Honestly speaking, it is not easy for a spirit to be reincarnated. It is not possible to go anywhere or anytime it wants. A spirit must have all the conditions to be reincarnated. In Buddhism, that condition is called affinity. If the spirit itself in the previous life created good or bad karma, it is called karmic cause. If there is a cause without affinity, there cannot be a result. From cause to effect, there must be affinity in it for the result to come. The spirit itself is the cause, the parents are the affinity, the spirit uses the parents as the affinity to be reincarnated, that is the effect. If in the previous life, that person and his parents did not have affinity, his spirit cannot see his parents, so he cannot be reincarnated. For example, although consciousness is everywhere in space, we humans cannot see it. Likewise, gods, spirits, and ghosts are everywhere, but we cannot see them. Why? Because we and they have no affinity, so we cannot see each other. Once we have affinity, we can see each other. Ordinary people who see ghosts will eventually fall into the realm of hungry ghosts, because ghosts are the affinity that leads that person to be born into the realm of hungry ghosts. A normal person or consciousness that does not have affinity with ghosts will not fall into the realm of hungry ghosts. Therefore, do not ever wish to see ghosts! Nowadays, we see some people who like to use spirit mediums to wish to see ghosts. What happens when they see ghosts? They will go into the realm of ghosts with them, unable to raise their heads for hundreds of thousands of lifetimes.

If consciousness does not have affinity with parents, it will not be able to see parents, so it will not be able to reincarnate. What are the affinity to see parents in order to reincarnate? The Buddha taught that there are four types of karma: repaying kindness, repaying resentment, collecting debts, and paying debts. If in a previous life we had a good karma with that person, then now that person comes to repay kindness, and is born as a filial descendant. If in a previous life we had a bad karma with that person, and were enemies in the past, then now that person comes to take revenge, to retaliate, and is born as a disgrace, causing us to fail miserably in everything we do, and our family to be ruined. If in a previous life we owed that person a debt and did not pay it, then now that person comes to collect the debt; if the debt is small, it will not be long before it is paid off, and that person will leave us or die; if the debt is too large, it must be paid off before it will leave us and go away; sometimes it takes many lives to pay off the debt. If in a previous life that person owed us a debt, and is now born as our child, then depending on how much he owed us, he will serve us accordingly; if the debt is small, he will serve us with less material things, a little less; if the debt is large, he will serve us abundantly and generously. Therefore, we must see that the relationships between people are all about: repaying kindness, repaying resentment, collecting debts, paying debts, and not something that is happy and gives rise to love. Not only is the relationship between parents and children created by these four conditions, but the relationship between husband and wife is exactly the same. The relationship between brothers, sisters, and friends is also the same, but a little lighter. All relationships between people in the world are created by these four conditions. If there is no condition, even if we see each other face to face, we are still just strangers. If there is one of these four conditions, even if that person lives on another planet, their consciousness will still be attracted and be born there to meet each other. They even dare to follow us to hell to settle their previous grudges. Therefore, the chapter "Repentance and Repentance" in the Infinite Life Sutra states: "Or at the time of death, one falls into the three evil paths, suffering sorrow and grief, burning oneself. Enemies meet and kill each other, starting from small things, concluding into great suffering."

First, the spirit goes to meet the parents to reincarnate. After reincarnation, the embryo has not yet grown into a human form, so the Buddha does not call it a person but calls it name and form. Form is material, name is spirit. Although the embryo does not yet have the form of a human, the embryo is a material with consciousness in it, so the embryo is a life, not an unconscious object. Therefore, abortion is killing a living being, not throwing away an unconscious object as many people mistakenly believe. In the mother's womb, the embryo gradually grows, becoming a human form with all six senses: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind. The Buddha calls it the six entrances, we call it a fetus. When the fetus has just left the womb, it is called contact, and then it has feelings about the outside environment, which is called feeling. A newborn baby, just born from the mother's womb, although it receives feelings from the outside, does not yet have a discriminating mind. When the child grows up, it begins to discriminate and have attachments. People call this understanding, but Buddhism calls it discrimination and attachment, which means love. Once it has love, it has discrimination, wants, dislikes, likes, dislikes, etc. The child's mind of selection, discrimination, and attachment grows more and more, and when it is a little older, it will have the mind of gain and loss, and from there it will have the habit of possessing. If it likes, it wants to possess, if it does not like, it rejects and rejects; these are all called attachment. Taking is also attachment, and giving up is also attachment. Love, attachment, and existence are creating karma or creating action. So, if someone asks, what is creating karma? We can answer based on the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination: Love, attachment, and existence create karma.

The Fifth Patriarch of the Flower Adornment School, Master Kuei Feng, said: “All kinds of attachment and abandonment are samsara.” This is an extremely important thing that we must understand clearly. As long as we still have the mind of attachment and abandonment, there is still samsara. Once we clearly understand the true nature of this truth, do we still dare to love, dare to possess, and dare to possess anything? If we still dare to love, cling, and possess, then we are still not pure and not yet enlightened. The Buddha Dharma teaches that the most important thing is to “let go of all conditions,” that is, to cut off love, attachment, and existence in order to escape from samsara. However, for those who practice Pure Land Buddhism, the Buddha and the Ancient Great Masters especially teach us to love the Western Pure Land and to possess the nine grades of rebirth in order to be liberated. But must we love like this, must we possess like this to be liberated? Except for loving the Western Pure Land and holding onto the nine grades of rebirth, all other things should not be loved, held onto, or possessed! Those who recite the Buddha's name like this will definitely be reborn in the Pure Land and meet Amitabha Buddha to receive the Bodhi prophecy. As long as there is even the slightest bit of love and attachment to worldly and transcendental dharmas, rebirth will definitely be hindered. Therefore, we must truly let go of all love, holding onto, and possess, only loving the Western Pure Land and only holding onto the nine grades of rebirth, to be in accordance with the Pure Land's principle: "Generate the Bodhi mind, single-mindedly recite, and seek rebirth in the Pure Land."

Here we see that, although the sufferings of the dharma realms in the ten directions are of different severity, they are all the realms of the three sufferings (suffering of action, suffering of suffering, and suffering of destruction) mentioned in the Buddhist sutras. The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination combine with these three kinds of suffering to form the realms of all living beings in the six paths. From ignorance to the six entrances is suffering. Contact and feeling are suffering. Grasping, existence, birth and old age and death are suffering. Thus, a person's entire life from conception to death is suffering, there is nothing that is truly happy. All the enjoyments of wealth and love in this world are only happiness and suffering, not true happiness. If we do not want to have these sufferings, we must follow the Buddha's teachings: "Even in the place of enjoyment, do not grasp at them." That is, we can enjoy worldly blessings, but we should not be attached to them, otherwise we will fall into happiness and suffering. From the moment of conception in the mother's womb, we must feel the suffering of formation. After leaving the womb, throughout one's entire life, one always feels the feeling of suffering and the feeling of happiness, which are all suffering and suffering. In addition, there are also love, grasping and existence, which are all suffering and destruction. All the realms of ordinary beings are only suffering, not true happiness, so the Buddha advises us to stay away from them. So, looking from the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination, do we see that there is anything truly joyful in human life? Here, the Buddha is not only talking about the Saha world, but he is also saying that all the worlds of the Buddhas of the ten directions are not free from the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination. This Saha world of Shakyamuni Buddha and the worlds of the Buddhas of the other directions are all suffering, suffering of destruction, and suffering of action. Only Amitabha Pure Land is truly the Ultimate Bliss.

The Infinite Life Sutra says: “The Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss has no suffering, only natural joy.” Now, we practice the Pure Land Dharma-door to seek rebirth in the Ultimate Bliss. If we recite the Buddha's name to the point of achieving great success, from the state of One Mind Undisturbed to the state of One Mind Undisturbed, then there is no ignorance, no old age or death. At that time, there is no more suffering, all worries and anxieties are liberated, only the mind of compassion and goodness remains, joy and happiness. Why? Because when we recite the Buddha's name with one mind, the True Mind is revealed. The true mind is inherently pure and compassionate, without false thoughts, so how can there be suffering? Furthermore, if one can single-mindedly recite the Buddha's name, ignorance is destroyed, action is destroyed, and even old age and death are destroyed. This is a realm similar to that of a Pratyekabuddha who has severed afflictions. In the Pure Land practice of reciting the Buddha's name, the three kinds of suffering of action, suffering of suffering, and suffering of decay are all severed in one recitation of the Buddha's name; therefore, it is said that the Pure Land practice of reciting the Amitabha Buddha's name is the most brilliant, the most ultimate, the most perfect, and far superior to the Pratyekabuddha's method of cultivating the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination and the Arhat's Four Noble Truths! However, whether we know how to recite or not is a difficult problem.

The ancient sages said: "Ordinary sentient beings do not know how to recite." "Not knowing how to recite" means that in the recitation of the Buddha's name, thoughts of greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, and doubt still arise, so ignorance cannot be eliminated, actions cannot be eliminated, and love, attachment, and existence cannot be eliminated. The Buddha's name must exert the power to destroy love, attachment, and existence, only then can we destroy the grave sins of eighty billion kalpas of birth and death. That is how to recite the Buddha's name, it is not just reciting with the mouth that can bring true benefits! We must definitely recite the Buddha's name so that we can cut off all afflictions of the mind, attain a pure mind, only then can we see Amitabha Buddha come to guide us to rebirth, be forever liberated, and no longer fall into the evil paths. In other words, no matter what realm we are in, whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we must maintain our own normal mind. Normal means equal, constant means forever unchanging, unchanging. If we can maintain that equal, unchanging mind, then one recitation of the Buddha's name can destroy the grave sins of eighty billion kalpas of birth and death. To be honest, the ordinary mind is the True Mind. Once the True Mind is revealed, all sins and obstacles will be eliminated, not just the serious sins of eighty billion kalpas of birth and death! So, this sutra says: “Naturally preserve the pure truth, the supreme aspiration” is telling us to preserve the True Mind constantly, without change, then that is our own seven treasures, not something else that can be found from the outside.

What method do we use to preserve the Buddha Mind? The Infinite Life Sutra and the Amitabha Sutra both teach: “Single-mindedly chanting.” Single-mindedly chanting means that whenever a thought arises in your mind, you should immediately change it to Amitabha Buddha to restore your ordinary mind. Don’t let false thoughts, attachments, and discrimination continue endlessly, one thought giving birth to another, another thought giving birth to another, causing your already deluded mind to become even more deluded, and you will lose that ordinary mind. All the sins that arise from the mind of attachment, discrimination, and delusion can be eliminated with one recitation of the Buddha's name. If we recite the Buddha's name with all our heart, we will definitely achieve success. As long as we still have attachments, we must continue to study Buddhism and listen to the Dharma to know clearly how to completely wear down the mind of attachment. From beginning to end, the Buddha's Dharma only teaches the method to destroy the mind of attachment, but never tells us to give rise to delusions, desires, and greed from morning to night. Destroying ego-attachment will attain the fruit of Arhat, destroying dharma-attachment will attain the status of Bodhisattva. Arhats do not have ego-attachment, so they are Arhats, Bodhisattvas do not have dharma-attachment, so they are Bodhisattvas. As for us, we immediately attach to whatever we encounter, dharma-attachment and ego-attachment are both complete, lacking nothing, so we are called ordinary sentient beings. When we recite the Buddha's name and achieve effective practice, and in each recitation we can destroy the two kinds of ego-attachment and dharma-attachment, then our realm will surpass that of the Arhats and Pratyekabuddhas. Only by reciting the Buddha's name like this will we be effective. We can eliminate sins and generate blessings in this life, and wisdom and blessings will naturally appear, without needing to pray. Because this retribution corresponds to the Western Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha, in the future, after we leave this physical body, we will definitely be reborn in the Pure Land, become a Non-Retrogression Bodhisattva, and in one lifetime become a Buddha with the same name, Wonderful Sound Tathagata. How can the retribution of the Arhats and Pratyekabuddhas compare?

The Heart Sutra states: “There is no ignorance, nor is there the end of ignorance, nor even old age and death, nor is there the end of old age and death.” According to the Pure Land Dharma, when we recite the Buddha's name and attain the level of practice, from the state of One-pointed Mind without distraction to the state of One-pointed Mind without distraction, when the mind no longer has any intention, then the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination from ignorance to old age and death will no longer exist. That is the true state of liberation of the great Bodhisattvas, as this sutra says: "There is only natural joy." Thus, reciting the Buddha's name is to remove the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination, because the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination are like twelve ropes that bind us tightly in the cycle of birth and death, unable to move! Now we use the Buddha's name Amitabha to untie the ropes, to escape from the cycle of birth and death, to escape from the afflictions and habits, to escape from everything, then we will truly experience true happiness, there is only natural joy.