One cannot transcend life if one does not first know what it is. In the first place this transcendence is not a negating of life, but a completion of it - a completion of many kalpas of practice and what can be nothing less than living. Let us put this into perspective:

There are four different lengths of kalpas. A regular kalpa is approximately 16 million years long (16,798,000 years), and a small kalpa is 1000 regular kalpas, or 16 billion years. A medium kalpa is 320 billion years, the equivalent of 20 small kalpas. A great kalpa is 4 medium kalpas, or 1.28 trillion years.

From this all-too-brief overview, it is evident that Buddhism is a religion about living - and living a lot. The question is how to ensure that all this living is humane, gentle, and full of love and meaning? I would like to reiterate Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s approach to this issue:

“Buddhism, dismissed as passive and world-weary, is on the decline because in looking for deliverance from existence, it overlooks issues arising from existence. Truly, how can Buddhism be accepted by society, if it departs from the reality of life and becomes unpatriotic, unfilial, and unfriendly?” (Fu Chi-ying, 1996, p. 154).

A Buddhist is a vehicle first for the living, and then for the dead. It is the living that need Buddhism most urgently. Only by attending to the living with our full strength can we attend to the dead competently.