Some
people say that the Nembutsu of faith is too much related with death and
afterlife and that they prefer something (a practice or teaching) for the
"here and now”. The world of spiritual seekers is filled with such ideas
of "here and now" being a supreme goal, that we must learn to live in
the "here and now", and not think about death or after death. But
this separation is only a delusion. In truth, death is not separated from the
"here and now” as breath which comes out might not be followed by the breath
which comes in. In the "here and now” we can lose everything; in the
"here and now” we and our loved ones can stop breathing, in the "here
and now” we may suddenly find ourselves in the afterlife, losing
this humanform, the chance of listening the Amida Dharma and receive faith.
Like in the good movie, "Groundhog day” , the minds of unenlightened
people dwell constantly in an ever repeating "here and now”.
Unfortunately, they like this "here and now" so much that they even
create spiritual ideologies to keep them focused on it. Being extremely
attached to the "here and now”, they refuse to speak about death and
rebirth, or the aspiration to be born in Amida’s Pure Land, calling it a
reminiscent of folk religion or a distraction from the "here and
now". Unfortunately, they will also die one day, in the exact moment they
dream about ‚"here and now" and will be born again, in another
"here and now" - the same here and now, but painted differently. How
sad this is…
