I will forgive your misunderstanding of the Amitabha recitation. I'm a practiioner of the Pure Land discipline, and in the West it is virtually unknown that people, from the earliest of Han Dynasty to even now, people have entered into the Pure Land this way.
I am born in the 21st century so am a skeptic at heart, but after decades of investigation on finding the facts and evidence, i can tell you i have it. I have here a tome, massive tome, of people from the Han til the 1930s-50s era, all who practice the Pure Land way.
But i'm not here to shove it down your throat, just wanted to let you know thy misunderstanding and it is understandable and forgivable.
Regarding the "not taking the present life in full", that is also a misunderstanding...this misunderstanding is an age old one that spans all cultures east and west. But a word to the wise is sufficient, the Buddha taught people to take the present life very very seriously, because the future is built on such a thing. Take it from me.
The King of all Buddhist Sutras is the Avamtamsaka Sutra (search it up on Wiki), and at the very end of ending chapters of this profound Sutra, the lesson/Dharma of the Pure Land was expounded in order to complete the entire journey of Buddhahood. So the Pure Land Dharma is no joke.
Have you seen my recent response to Cahlen's vid "Response to Buddhism is Corrupt"? I posted it on my odysee channel (you can find the link on the front page of my account page here on hive/peakd. Its very long, but its worth your time. I also did a follow up vid (also long) called "textbook spirituality", it may be your cup of ice cream.
It's refreshing to get to talk to someone like you with an open mind and inquisitiveness. It's been my great pleasure as an Easterner to be able to converse with people like you, it makes it less lonesome for me.
Take care fella, speak soon!
I’ve never heard of the Pure Land discipline/school(/whatever lol), but I don’t doubt for one second its existence, nor do I doubt the truth in it. I think you have to walk the path to know, and even then, I suspect there is no knowing really attainable for most. Even in the bardo, clear vision is an nearly unattainable feat. Personally, I think most of the religions out there were started by their own Buddha, if Buddha can be defined as “awakened one.” They all get hijacked by greed-laden interests, who don’t want the world of man to realize the simple truths of life. I think there have been destructive powers at work for as long as we’ve been here, working to hide the truth from men tbt they may enslave them to their desires for personal profit. I’m not commenting to get into that right now though, so please excuse me and I’ll move on :)
The only thing I know, is that I exist in some capacity. Maybe it’s all a simulation and my consciousness is on a thumb dive - how would I know? Maybe I’m a physical human on the physical earth…but I don’t know that to be the case. I know that I percieve that to be the case, but my perception is defined internally, by the brain that interprets the signals from my peripherals (ie eyes, nose, touch, etc)…so by the fact that I perceive in the first place, I know that my consciousness exists and is real, but all else I can only grasp at the clues. It’s quite exciting, really :)
I did see the response video. Well, the first 10 minutes or so, but I intend to finish it. I lead a busy life, so I end up with like 30 minutes for watching videos each week - but comment a link to the other one, (or post a link to it in the magick community on hive - this is exactly the kind of discussion I built the community for, the magick of life, spirituality - and buried in all the tiny details of every moment we spend existing - our world is made up of something finer than could ever be conjured by the greatest sorcerer ;) …in any case, I’ll watch it, I enjoy your talks, and now you’ve further piqued my interest.
I gotta get my kids in the bath or I may have said a lot more, but I wanted to get a response out before it loses context. Take’r easy my dude, you’re a legit chiller and I’ll definitely be seeing you around.