“Sentient beings are innumerable;

I vow to help them all.”

Having embraced this vow, how much of our day is spent fulfilling it? And how much is spent working, studying, eating, sleeping, socializing and relaxing, or frittering time away in front of a TV and on the Internet? Little wonder that while we remain in samsara, at the most, all we can manage is helping a few individuals to ease their current suffering. Despite good intentions, our help turns out to be as useful as sticking a bandage on a hemorrhaging wound. Plus, in their next lifetime, we won’t be around to apply another bandage as karmic wounds reopen and the suffering resumes. But as soon as we got to the Pure Land, we’ll begin energetically, skillfully, unceasingly helping beings. How? By teaching the way to heal—to permanently suture—the wound as we show all beings how to end their endless rebirths. They will then liberate themselves from the cycle of rebirth. Forever. This is how we help all beings.