死亡還是往生
Death or Rebirth
人類對 Sukhavati 最大的誤解，莫過於認為這是死亡後靈魂的歸處。雖然死亡後求生西土是傳統佛教徒的想望，然而 Sukhavati 的存在，是一種精神文明的終點與成就。
在以碳基且具新陳代謝的生命而言，死亡的定義是「熵減」停止的過程。
然而這種停止並不代表其純意識與精神活動的停止，而 Sukhavati 正是能使這種活動透過「蓮花化生」而能繼續運作，不因肉體死亡而受限，這正是 Sukhavati 最珍貴、最不可思議之處。
這種「繼續」才是生，是生命真實存在的本質，而不僅是身體的繼續，所以往生Sukhavati正是這樣的價值。
而真正的死亡，是當精粹的意識與精神活動的停止時，才是Sukhavati 定義的死亡；但如果肉身的死亡，能使意識更為清明，甚至繼續成長，那就是另一種｢生｣的開始，如同破繭而出的蝴蝶展開新生。所以佛教稱覺醒者的死亡稱為「往生」，其含意為此。
The biggest misconception most people have about Sukhavati is that Sukhavati is the home of the souls after death. Although going to Sukhavati after death is the aspiration of traditional Buddhists, the existence of Sukhavati is the end and achievement of a spiritual civilization.
For a carbon-based and metabolic life, death is the process by which entropy decreasing stops. However, it does not mean the cessation of pure consciousness and spiritual activity. They continue to operate through the the synthesis of the rebirth from the lotus in Sukhavati without the restriction of physical death,and that is the most precious and incredible thing about Sukhavati.
This kind of continuation is “real life”, the essence of the existence of life, not the continuation of the physical body,and that is the value of the rebirth in Sukhavati.
The real death (as defined in Sukhavati) is the cessation of the spiritual activity of pure consciousness, but if the death of the physical body can make the consciousness clearer and even continue to grow, it is the beginning of another kind of “birth”, like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon. That is why in Buddhism the death of an awakened person means “rebirth”.