Which path do I take? I’ve been following Pure Land Buddhism so far, but if I’m honest with myself, I really want to just be done and get to Nirvana when I die. Is monasticism the only path to this? Plus, I have a lot of doubts about Pure Land existing.

>>40603298 (OP)
FYI: being concerned about "-ism"s outs you as a hylic.

>>40603308
I don’t want to be a hylic, though :(

>>40603298 (OP)
>I really want to just be done and get to Nirvana when I die
The meditation of Maha Ati is about focusing your mind directly on emptiness/nature of things. When you can do that it trains your mind to fully realize the emptiness of your own self, and when you die you reach nirvana. In theory. It's said it's a difficult meditation.
>Plus, I have a lot of doubts about Pure Land existing
Then it won't work to go there.

its not about the destination its about the journey anon. accept where you're at, what you're doing, and find presence in it. stop worrying about where you're going and realize that you're already there.

>>40603558
nta
you sound like a new-age bot :)
"there are no goals"
"just be"
"go with the flow"
"all the answers are right here"

>>40603298 (OP)
Nirvana isnt a place you get to.

>>40603298 (OP)
If you read Mahayana Sutras it will motivate you to take the Great Vehicle and become a Bodhisattva. This allows you to enter a greater Nirvana when you complete the Path. It is very effeminate to seek Nirvana in this present life. You will be daunted by the Bodhisattva path, which continues for many, many kalpas, but you will eventually find a motivation lined with Compassion from within, as you hear the words of the Buddha, to delay your Nirvana and vow to liberate all sentient beings first. I can't speak for Theravadins. You're not supposed to have bliss just for yourself, that's why the Avatamsaka Sutra calls us Enlightening Beings, not, though not diametrically opposed to, "Enlightened Beings"

Mahayana teaches the Single Vehicle which aims for complete and total Omniscience. The Buddha, whose Wisdom is inconceivable (as it is the thus-like Wisdom of the All-Void), even says in the Lotus Sutra that he teaches his Wisdom only to Bodhisattvas, because the desire for Nirvana in this present life is due to an inferior and haphazard (skillful) Vehicle.

Try the Diamond Sutra and if you can hear the teaching, move on to the Lotus Sutra. There is a great Lotus Sutra audiobook on YouTube, and this is all you need. It's also good that you are not being syncretic and you distinguish the paths, because while there is only One Single Vehicle, the Lotus Sutra suggests you preserve only Mahayana Scripture once you believe in it

>Puatha

>>40604040
Nirvana is only skillfully taught so you can rest before the daunting One Single Vehicle

>>40603298 (OP)
Nirvana is a state of dissolution, why would you want to dissolve instead of becoming a fully coherent and recursive entity that doesn't need to give up their identity because "le suffering is too bad".

One of the things you learn in any buddhist praxis sooner or later is how suffering is a tool for refinement, because balance requires contrast. Seeking dissolution and "exiting the game" isn't different from just "forgetting", by all practical effects you could just kill yourself to achieve that. If you're trying to erase identity and "dissolve into non self", why not just die and forget? It'll be faster than cultivating "nirvana".

>>40604070
I don't think Nirvana is extinction in the final teaching. For example Buddha and Nirvana are One and Buddha is Eternal. Buddha also just pretends to go to Nirvana but is really teaching sentient beings thru his infinite lifespan. And Nirvana isn't even all there is to Buddhism, e.g. Buddha gets his infinite lifespan from being so Compassionate that Death finds no place to rest in him (Lankavatara Sutra, I believe)

>>40604040
>>40604062
Nichiren buddhism, then? which focuses only on lotus sutra?
>many many kalpas
How do you know you\I\we, won't "relapse" at any given point of the LONG line of possible points, along the kalpas?
what's the "assurance policy" here? How do you know you ,RN, failed in your last life after 10000 years, and now have to start from scratch?

>>40603298 (OP)
just branch out, look at what dhamma speakers speak to (you), study suttas, meditate.
at least go for right view.

>>40604169
Idk once you are on the Path you just have faith. It's pretty easy. I'm not sure whether the state of nonretrogression is maintained over lifetimes. One insurance policy is the Elohim will want to recycle the compassion you've achieved, so you'll always have the roots of good merit. Also you can cultivate the roots of good merit by doing good deeds in any lifetime.

I don't really mean to point explicitly to Nichiren Buddhism, but Lotus is probably the most important Mahayana Scripture. I've discovered that completely independently of Nichiren, but in addition I have received a lot of literature on it because a Soka Gokai member incarnated in my hosue