In 'The M-Word' - http://maitre-light.blogspot.com/2007/04/m-word.html, I spoke about people who want/hope to be born in pureland.
I also mentioned that perhaps we should all start to think about working on purifying our minds FIRST before thinking about being born in a Pureland.
Actually, there's no need to go around searching for a paradise or pureland.
As I said in 'What Do We Expect?' - http://maitre-light.blogspot.com/2010/03/what-do-we-expect.html,
"If the hearts and minds of the people are pure, the world will be pure."
And as I quoted Ajahn Maha Boowa in 'Where's God?' - http://maitre-light.blogspot.com/2009/08/wheres-god.html,
"We need not struggle to find happiness and contentment in other places or other realms - which is merely creating images to deceive ourselves, causing us to develop a strong craving which promotes the cause of suffering that becomes the greed which burns us and causes us so much misery.
The happiness that is known and experience in the heart is a happiness which is already sufficient and complete."
And,
"If we look for suffering, we'll find suffering. If we look for happiness, we'll find happiness. Whatever we really look for, we find.
Afterall, these things all exist in the world, don't they? So why shouldn't we be able to find them?"
So, where's Pureland?
It's right here - in this world - in the hearts and minds of us ALL.
"The deluded person recites the Buddha's name seeking rebirth there (i.e. the Pureland);
While the wise person purifies his own mind."
- Mahayana Sixth Patriarch Sutra
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"Reborn = re-Birth = SUFFERING ( cos you are born again )."
**As The Buddha taught :
"From ignorance as a requisite condition come fabrications...
From birth as a requisite condition, then old age & death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair come into play.
Such is the ORIGINATION of this entire mass of stress & suffering." - SN 12.35
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"All phenomenon begins from, and depends on the mind.
Heaven, Hell, or Pureland Paradise?
You decide."
"A beautiful world can only be seen through the eyes of a pure, happy and contented heart."
"Fools, men of little intelligence, give themselves over to negligence,
But the wise man protects his diligence as a supreme treasure.
Therefore, one should NOT be negligent, nor be addicted to sensual pleasures.
The man who meditates with diligence attains much happiness."
- The Buddha, Dhammapada verse 26, 27.
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"The ordinary man always sees the darkness and the misery of this world,
But the yogi sees the grand beauty and the real nature of the world."
- Venerable Dr K Sri Dhammananda.
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"The wise one dispels negligence by means of mindfulness;
He ascends the Tower of Wisdom.
And being free from sorrow, looks at the sorrowing beings.
Just as one on the mountain top looks at those on the plain below,
So also, The Wise One (The Arahant) looks at the ignorant."
- The Buddha, Dhammapada verse 28
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"While the fool enslaves himself,
The Wise seeks his way out."
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*** Read "Heaven or Hell" - http://maitre-light.blogspot.com/2008/01/heaven-or-hell.html
