The Kingdom of God is the Pure Land

It is by being touched by suffering that one learns to understand and to be compassionate. If in the Kingdom of God there is no suffering, there will be no understanding and compassion either, and without that you cannot call it the Kingdom of God or the Pure Land of Buddhism. This is something very clear, very simple. So my definition of the Pure Land of the Buddha, the kingdom of God, is the place where there are plenty of opportunities for you to learn to be understanding and to be compassionate. When you have a lot of understanding and compassion, you are no longer afraid of suffering. — Thich Nhat Hanh, Pure Land, The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh

Suffering thus is essential to understanding birth and death, being and nonbeing. Indeed, the nondual reality consists of suffering and not-suffering, be it among Children of Light or lost sheep or even Buddhists. Even Hasidim who are moderates know this truth called nondual reality, as do moderate Sufi mystics.

When we chose neither left nor right, we get close to the nonduality of politics. YMMV

What I am saying is that the path of moderation is the nondual path. It is not a complicated bunch of mumbo-jumbo that New Age gurus sell at fair market value. Rather, the path of nonduality is free to anyone to understand.

Even the birds and the bees know of nonduality. Even in a world of survival of the fittest, the strong may prey on the weak but the weak often escape their destiny if the strong fail to act, be it due to error or fate.

Sometimes this only proves that the universe is nondual in nature. Thus in the Kingdom of God, there is still suffering.

Without suffering there cannot be understanding and compassion. Without God to smite Sodom and Gomorrah, there can be no Israel. Without Israel there can be no Babylonian captivity. Without captivity there can be no freedom. Without freedom, the imprisoned suffer.

This is why I know that the Kingdom of God is the Pure Land, even the three kingdoms of glory of the Latter Day Saints. Indeed, the New Heaven and the New Earth is the Pure Land.

Without a Soul to Save, Only the Good Life Awaits (satire)

I'm pretty sure the fact that The Book of Mormon is in the English of King James version makes it a difficult read for me.

What if, instead of the Celestial Kingdom, I'm fine with rebirth in the Terrestrial Kingdom?

I'm not sure if a Mormon can understand that. In Buddhism, the reason why there is no baptism is because the metaphors about water refer to how the multitude of Buddhists are a part of mighty ocean of wisdom and love.

However, the goal of an earnest Buddhist is not to be reborn in the Six Realms of Desire but to escape rebirth itself through meditation and related acts of mindfulness.

I suppose meditation is mysterious to a Mormon who equates baptism and giving up worldliness with achieving the Celestial Kingdom in the Afterlife.

Nobody in America can really fathom how sitting on your ass achieving calmness of mind is supposed to lead to nirvana, let alone Enlightenment, except perhaps a Buddhist.

Yet that calm mind leads to the clarity of mind to realize almost the same thing that a Christian knows to be true: seeking fame and glory does not lead to a truly good life and neither does seeking riches.

In this way is Buddhism almost on the same page as Christianity. For, even without baptism, I can avoid the delusions that chasing fame may lead to, and also avoid the pitfalls of financial success.

After all, the Buddhist principle of no-self implies that there is no soul to save. Instead, there is only a good life to make my own.