To Whom Does This Body Belong?

This is a record of an interview with Venerable Yongning, who sought Chao Du at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia. He now resides in the Western Pure Land. This account reflects upon his spiritual journey and his profound insights into the nature of existence. Recorded by the disciple Shi Faxin on August 11, 2019.

Venerable Yongning speaks:

"Namo Amituofo. I am Yongning. If you were a tree, how would you conduct your life? Would you strive to grow thick and sturdy, hoping your lush canopy might offer shade to those passing beneath? Or would you yearn to bear an abundance of fruit, eager to share the harvest with others? When your leaves wither and fall, leaving you bare and exposed, would you have the wisdom to appreciate a different kind of beauty in that starkness?

Think about it—when monkeys leap upon your branches, shaking and trampling you with reckless abandon, could you maintain your composure? Or would you secretly wish for them to fall or simply vanish? When birds arrive to build their nests, carrying mud and twigs in their beaks, making hundreds, even thousands of journeys back and forth just to construct a home, you witness their devotion to the next generation. They spend weeks incubating eggs with the warmth of their own bodies, and when the chicks hatch, they feed them insects one by one, eventually teaching them to fly. To a great tree, this entire process is but a fleeting moment of a few weeks or a month. What, then, is the true nature of this attachment to a 'home'?

The Witness of the Ancient Tree

A tree’s life is long. It watches lives pass by—coming and going, birth and departure, death occurring across countless different species. Does the tree feel anything in its heart? I have seen young couples courting beneath the shade, only to return years later as an elderly, grey-haired pair, or perhaps one pushing the other in a wheelchair, trying to recapture the memories of their youth. Have you ever truly looked at this? Every different form of life that passes before our eyes eventually transforms, and in the end, their destination remains unknown. Do you truly intend to remain a tree forever, standing as a 'tree spirit' for a hundred or a thousand years? And then what?

In truth, there are so many questions in life that demand an answer. We cannot simply drift through existence as if it were a passing breeze. If you choose to just drift along, then every rebirth and every physical form you take becomes utterly meaningless. In which lifetime will you finally decide to awaken? I use the metaphor of a tree to pose these questions to all beings across the ten directions. You celestial beings, you who dwell in the Four Sacred Realms—after maintaining such beautiful states of being, what have your spirits truly contributed to this vast void?

The Futility of the Ten Directions

There is not a single realm within the ten directions that is worth our lingering. When the opportunity arises to hear the Buddha-name and attain rebirth in the Western Pure Land, you must not doubt, you must not hesitate, and you must not let the moment slip away. Pride, complacency, inferiority, or feelings of lowliness—these are all false perceptions. Once you have made the firm decision to be reborn in the Western Pure Land, these concerns become incredibly small and insignificant.

There was a time when I, Yongning, sincerely wished to help all beings, yet I mistakenly entered the Demon Realm. It was a harrowing experience. Today, I follow Practitioner Su, having been saved through Chao Du and awakened within the vastness of the universe. I hope to help many more people awaken to this truth. The body is merely a body; it does not belong to you, nor does it belong to the void. In reality, it is nothingness. True existence is the attainment of the spirit—it is that which is unborn and undying. Chant the Buddha-name, contemplate the heart, and contemplate the state of no-mind.

Namo Amituofo."