Future Life and Pure Land Rebirth

　　A Lecture given at Northwest University, Xian, China

　　Afternoon of Nov. 10, 2011

　　An introduction by the organizer:

　　Good afternoon! On behalf of the Buddhist Research Institute of Northwest University, let me first welcome Khenpo Sodargye to our campus!

　　The name “Khenpo Sodargye” is one that resonates, even to those who have only a little contact with Buddhism. Hence I shall not take up time making introductions. If you feel yourself not fully informed about Khenpo, a simple Internet search will bring you up to date. For now, I just want to point out that Khenpo Sodargye, while appearing here as a fully ordained monk, is also a great scholar. He has authored many books amounting to more than 10 million words, causing a profound impact in our country and abroad. In addition, Khenpo is an advocate of charitable causes and has been tirelessly engaging in activities to benefit beings.

　　At Northwest University, we have Buddhist Research Institute and Religion Research Center. Many teachers and students sitting here are conducting researches in religion, focusing especially on the role of religion in life”s ultimate concerns. Religion, in fact, deals mainly on the ultimate questions of human existence, whichareclosely interrelated tolife. But what is life anyway

　　 Is there a future life—a continuation of our being

　　 If there is one, then in what fashion will it go on

　　 These questions have greatly puzzled many scholars in the world and multiple propositions have been put forward.

　　In this respect, Buddhists have been expounding on the theory and engaging in the practice for over 2,500 years, most notably among Tibetan practitioners whose tradition came from India”s Mahayana. According to the account in The Great Tang Records on the Western Regions by Master Xuanzang, the most illustrious era of Mahayana in India was during the time of Nalanda Buddhist University. The teachings from Nalanda University have been best preserved in Tibetan Buddhism, of which our honorable guest speaker today, Khenpo Sodargye, is an authentic lineage holder. In the following hour, Khenpo will share the Buddhist wisdom he has realized with all those who are passionate about lifeand are curious about life”s coming and going.

　　Khenpo Sodargye has been to many universities—Peking University, Tsinghua University,China Universities, and so on—before arriving at our campus today. The talk we are about to hear will definitely be an academic presentation complete with direct and sound reasoning; but moreover, I think it will be a philosophical discourse that is bound to enlighten us tremendously. Therefore, before Khenpo takes the podium, let”s take a deep breath torelax both our minds and bodies,to prepare ourselves for this teaching on the truth of life and its sustainability——

　　Khenpo Sodargye:

　　What I”d like to discuss with you today is about rebirth and future life, which I have actually talked about and elaborated on at other universities. When I was thinking of switching to another topic, your organizer said it would be better to keep this one, and I thought I might as well give it a try. After all, this is a subject that deserves thorough analysis time and time again.

　　I. Different Perspectives on Future Life

　　“Do humans have a future life or not

　　” This is a weighty question. Suppose there is no future life, we could then go around willy-nilly in this life and not worry about any consequences. But what if there is one, then, what should we do

　　There is a popular slogan that we need to “care for our future generation.” However, in truth it is not only our future generation but also our “future life” that we should direct our attention to. If we were to live without such considerations, we might end up being wildly unscrupulo…

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