The Purpose of Life is...

Depends on who you ask...

Christians

If you ask a Christian about the purpose of our lives, he'd say, "To live as sinlessly as possible, to ask for forgiveness when we sin, and to accept the Savior into our lives in order to gain entrance to heaven." Ah, heaven. So that's it, eh? The purpose of our lives is to seek some type of reward which is payable after our lives are over. Our lives are a means to an end, which can only be obtained when we're dead? Are we so desperate to be rid of our aches, pains, and uncertainties (especially our uncertainties) that we build a place in our minds called "heaven" and aim for that?

Is there a downside to Heaven itself, once we make it that far? I don't think the holy rollers have thought this one out very carefully: What would it be like once we're There. For one thing, the structure of our consciousness would have to change. Once we've lived a life based on a 24-hour "day," which is the basis of a 70-year succession of such days, we'd go nuts once we're thrust, with no preparation whatsoever, into an infinite existence where such days are meaningless. I mean, what could occupy our minds - and this I especially ask of those whose minds are forever occupied with petty, trivial things?

After a few millions years of playing harps, singing celestial songs, walking streets of gold, and hanging around with boring, straight-laced goody-goodies, we might long for the stimulation of the Lake of Fire. In short, I think we'd become bored of heaven.

Buddhists

I'm not going to pretend that I know how Buddhists define life's purpose. But...I will tell you what this Buddhist thinks.

In a nutshell, the purpose of our lives is to become fully-enlightened Buddhas, who in turn have a purpose of helping others become fully-enlightened Buddhas. This might sound like nothing more than a glorified pyramid scheme, but maybe that's what reality is. [Note: In a closed system, pyramid schemes can't work; but in an open system...that's another story.]

The critical question becomes: If everybody in the universe becomes a Buddha, would that mean that life would no longer have any purpose?

Exactly, but to understand that calls for a bit of background.

A bit of background

In the earlier teachings of Shakymuni Buddha, it was believed that being reincarnated was a bad thing. The purpose of religious practice was to atone for the sins of past lives, thereby making it unnecessary to be reborn into this physical world of hardship. The Buddha himself didn't have to be reborn, but he chose to out of his great compassion to lead others to Enlightenment. If there were no others to lead (that is, if everyone was already a Buddha), it would not be necessary to be reborn into the physical world.

What other world is there? There was an Enlightened One named Void King Buddha, whose name helps answer that question. The ultimate goal of Buddhist practice is to become Nothing (King of the Void) - or (put another way) to become extinguished. I'll put this in modern terms: "The universe consists mostly of empty space, which even pervades and makes up most physical entities. If one can become nothing and, by virtue of that becoming, become part of the great pervasive universal nothingness, then one can be everywhere at once. Then we would no longer be confined to a mere existence in one physical location, having only one physical body."

Once we become “one with everything,” one particular problem is very neatly solved: The need to find something to do (that is, a need to find a purpose). Individual isolated entities have this need; universal, integrated entities don’t. For after we reach a point where we don’t have to reincarnate, then we don’t worry about what to “do.” Instead, we just are. We are everywhere at once, and totally aware of all possibilities (but without any desire to act any of these out).

Maybe Shakespeare was right when he wrote: “To be or not to be, that is the question.” I would rephrase that: “To be or not to be, that is the goal.”

There is far more of nothingness (void) than of everything else. But here we have to be careful with what we mean by void. I can only hint at that by recalling wise words I'd once heard: "One of the biggest mistakes we make as human beings is to assume that what we mean by ‘mind' is encompassed only within the confines of our crania."

Why we need not worry

We don't have to worry about becoming Buddhas only to find out we don't have anyone left to lead to Enlightenment. All Buddhas have the power to create an infinite number of emanations of themselves, in order to be able to preach salvation (simultaneously) on any of the infinite worlds in the 10 directions. These emanation Buddhas are constantly hard at work throughout the universe, yet they still have so much work of conversion and teaching on their hands. So we don't have to worry about running out of souls to save once we've attained Buddhahood.

The attainment of Buddhahood is both a path and a final destination. And it is the joy of the law which sustains our efforts, and in fact propels them, as we tread this path and finally arrive at our destination.

Though Shakyamuni Buddha has a life span which far exceeds the known age of the universe (so much for the Big Bang theory), he did not tire of his pursuit nor become bored once attaining his goal. It is inherent in the nature of the law of enlightenment that we don't tire, but instead are energized by our practice. That's fortunate, in light of what the Buddha said [page 231, Lotus Sutra, the Burton Watson translation]:

"This life span of countless kalpas I gained as the result of lengthy practice. You who are possessed of wisdom, entertain no doubts on this point! Cast them off, end them forever..."

To me, those are among the strictest words he used in the entire teaching called the Lotus Sutra.  However, he quickly follows with these words of encouragement:

"Though in fact alive, he [the Buddha] gives out word he is dead, yet no one can say he speaks falsely. I am the father of this world, saving those who suffer and are afflicted. Because of the befuddlement of ordinary people, though I live, I give out word I have entered extinction. For if they see me constantly, arrogance and selfishness arise in their minds. Abandoning restraint, they give themselves up to the five desires, and fall into the evil paths of existence.

"Always I am aware of which living beings practice the way, and which do not, and in response to their needs for salvation I preach various doctrines for them. At all times I think to myself: How can I cause living beings to gain entry into the unsurpassed way and quickly acquire the body of a Buddha?"

Steven Searle, just another member of the Virtual Samgha of the Lotus

Contact me at bpa_cinc@yahoo.com