World Weariness

There’s a feeling I get when I look to the west and my spirit is crying for leaving.

Led Zeppelin, “Stairway to Heaven”

There comes a day for all of us when we world weighs really heavily on our hearts. We become weary, everything feels grey, or pointless.

…and lo! she was shrunken: a slender elf-woman, clad in simple white, whose gentle voice was soft and sad. ‘I pass the test’, she said. ‘I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel’.

J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

In my opinion, this melancholy is not something like clinical, medical depression. It is a pain that comes from seeing the cold, brutality of the world, the endless cycle of greed, violence, injustice, and ill-will, and the fleeting moments of joy that are soon gone. The shadow of life weighs down the heart, and it’s hard not to feel sad.

This is why, I think, the Pure Land of Amida Buddha is such a vital part of the Buddhist tradition. Regardless of how you interpret it, the Pure Land represents something entirely different from the world we slog through: peace, goodwill, light, and so on. The Dharma of the Buddha is embodied in the many facets of the Pure Land:

“Moreover Shāriputra, in this country there are always rare and wonderful varicolored birds: white cranes, peacocks, parrots, and egrets, kalavinkas, and two-headed birds. In the six periods of the day and night the flocks of birds sing forth harmonious and elegant sounds; their clear and joyful sounds proclaim the five roots, the five powers, the seven bodhi shares, the eight sagely way shares, and dharmas such as these. When living beings of this land hear these sounds, they are altogether mindful of the Buddha, mindful of the Dharma, and mindful of the Sangha.

The Amitabha Sutra, translation by City of 10,000 Buddhas

As Shan-dao the 8th-century Chinese-Buddhist monk once wrote, the Pure Land and Amida Buddha call to us, and bring us away from the pains of this world. In the same way, the Parable of the Burning House in the Lotus Sutra shows Shakyamuni Buddha doing the same thing. The Buddhas have stepped out of the “burning house” into the cool safety of the forest, and call us to do the same.

How exactly one does this is up to the follower, but having a sense of direction, as embodied by the Pure Land that resides in the West is vital.

When the Elves in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth became weary, they want went West across the sea. In the same way, the Buddha Dharma offers us a similar refuge if we choose to take it.

Namu Amida Butsu
Namu Shakamuni Butsu