Reincarnation & Pureland

Reincarnation Story

My eldest maternal aunt died in the year 1994, of liver cancer. Before she died, one of her greatest wishes was to see my second maternal uncle get married and settle down. We still remember how during his wedding dinner, she was close to tears when she asked how was the food and whether was the married couple happy or not, she was deeply attached to her extended family and could not bear to let go of them. Eventually, she died at home unable to defeat the cancer, and we conducted a Buddhist funeral for her.

For this aunt's case, because she was too attached to her loved ones, the shifus and my extended family members felt that she is unlikely to be able to be reborn in Amitabha Pureland. Yet, because we kept performing good deeds and dedicated them to her having an auspicious rebirth, the shifus suggested that one day she might be reborn to our family. It so happened that the brother whom she loved the most really became a father in the year 1995, exactly within a year of the aunt's demise. Everybody was very eager to see the newborn because we suspected that he (a son) may be the reincarnation of the departed eldest aunt.

I was a nanny looking after the cousin as he grew up over the years, and we treated him kindly just as we would have honoured the eldest aunt because she was really kind to us all. But what occurred to us was that as the cousin grew up, he couldn't remember anything about his past life. He had assumed a new identity as a newborn, a different gender, a different name, everything about his new birth is brand new. There's nothing he does that we could confirm for sure that he was the reincarnation of that late aunt.

I considered this deeply during my Zen sitting sessions, and I wondered to myself whether was it better that she could not remember her past life? That aunt had suffered deeply because of her cancer, so given a brand new life, it does seem better that she forgot everything that she underwent, and just enjoy her childhood as a newcomer. Furthermore, he also couldn't remember his children in his prior life, the karmic affinity has ended and he is now no longer an illiterate mother and a housewife but instead a young boy both healthy and academically inclined.

I concluded to myself that when affinity has ended, one has to learn to let go. Set her/him free, and wish him/her all the best in the new reincarnation. There's nothing that we can bring from the past life to a present life, other than our own karmic tendencies which may still remain, apart from that all the loved ones mean nothing when one dies and gets reincarnated. Learn to let go, that's the moral of this first tale.

Pureland Story

My maternal grandmother died in the year 2012 of old age. She had lived long enough to see her daughter and husband die, and it was a nasty life she led. Still, she was committed to Buddhist practice, and she would keep on chanting Namo Guan Shi Yin Pu Sa and Namo Amituofo spurred on by me and my other aunt. We are all devout Buddhists generally, and we believe in Amitabha Pureland. For my grandmother's case, she was lucky because apart from dharma practice, she managed to receive Triple Gem refuge on the day just before she passed on in hospital. We invited a Tibetan lama to give her the initiation, and the patient in the same hospital ward told us that she saw Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva show up that morning and brought my grandmother away in her sleep. I had no proof of course, but these are people who bear testimony to the gnosis of Buddhist practice, so who am I to question them? :)

My maternal grandmother's funeral wake was a splendid one. Everyone had arrived, there were several Buddhist groups and monastics who showed up to chant and sing for her demise, my grandmother passed away with a smile on her face, and even my father who is a part-time undertake felt that her demise was a brilliant one. Not a single person cried when she died, it wasn't that we didn't feel sad, it's just that she was that successful as a person, everybody was celebrating her life well led so we simply didn't see the need to cry. This was a passing marked by the Buddha's blessings, even her great grandson who was three years old, told everyone that he saw "dua ma" appearing in the skies and smiling to us. In a nutshell, we simply had to believe that she is born in a better place after her demise.

We did our best to ensure that my grandmother would be reborn in Amitabha Pureland if that was her calling. Apart from giving her the best ancestral tablet and niche that we could afford, we kept doing good deeds and transferring merits to her. We kept doing so until the shifus told us that enough is enough, she should be well received in Pureland by now. I invited a photograph of her into our altar where I still venerate her as a loved senior, and everything points to a high probability that she is in Amitabha Pureland by now. There are no nasty dreams or wretched phenomenon since she passed on, everything felt A-ok.

In conclusion, till today I am not able to prove that she has been reborn in Amitabha Pureland, and I have no proof that she remembers us all or not, but the Amitabha method is one of faith and devotion, you simply have to believe that it works and that's because of Amitabha Buddha's 48 great vows. If you keep asking questions then you're missing the point, because Amitabha Buddha has promised us that as long as you keep Him in our minds while practising, you simply will be delivered by Him to Pureland.

So, stop asking questions, keep the faith and keep practising, dedicate merits where appropriate. Belief is not just a fraction but instead the whole of Amitabha Pureland practice, as long as you are willing to believe in Amitabha Buddha's salvation, you can get out of cyclical existence and be excused from being reborn again in this Saha world.