Heavenly Realms Revisited

  Reading the Surangama Sutra chapter on Heavens, I am sometimes hard pressed to figure out how this chapter can truly be understood. For example, I am reading the line in the chapter called The Destiny Gods where it states, "Next are gods who emit light and who--as they shine upon one another with an inexhaustible brilliance-illumine their realm throughout the ten directions, turning it all to crystal." (p.379). In reading this passage, I am lead to wonder, what might these special realms look like, and what exactly is the experience to be conveyed in the sutra? It is certainly a pleasant place, but would people want to bathe in the "inexhaustible brilliance" forever?
   During the discussion group, a member made the interesting observation that people in Taiwan that she knows often see Canada as a kind of paradise from a distance. The perception of Canada is that it is very affluent and affords a lot of different kinds of freedoms for people. However, what isn't mentioned in the travel brochures is that even Canadians have arguments and have their share of unhappiness. This is to say that, when taken from a distance (and compared to one's own place or origin), Canada has many opportunities, yet its people do not always enjoy a carefree lifestyle. In a sense, what one person sees as heaven is often from a distance, and it doesn't necessarily appear the same way to someone who is immersed in it. But this also has to do with how people's perspectives change when they are shifting from one environment to the other. What once seems heavenly is really only the imagined relief of one's own special kind of suffering in this moment.