Practicing Buddhism Results in Longer Life?

[Dolce Vita]

I think whether a person's life an be prolonged depends on the Karma and the prayer that the person makes. When a person starts to practise Dharma, he/she will collect merits and purify negative karma. If the prayers that person makes is to bring Dharma and benefit all sentient beings, his/her life could be prolonged. If the motivation is to fulfill personal desires, I think one's life span might not be prolonged.

For this nun, probably because she could do so much for Dharma and sentient beings, that's why she has a long life for good reason. Some people however might die young even if they practise Buddhism because they will benefit more people if they are reborn in that future generation.

[hope rainbow]

Practicing Buddhism Results in Longer Life - not necessarily true.

I heard that for some phowa practice, it actually shortens one's life so that one can go to the pureland faster, only Vajrayogini's phowa practice does not shorten one's life when practising it.

So, Practicing Buddhism may actually shorten one's life! Of course long or short is not good or bad, it is really subjective, because if life in samsara is shortened so that we can go to pureland quicker, that is defenitely better.

But just to answer the question, the answer is "BOTH".

Never think of that before , i guess it is because most of us though that having a long life is the best/meritorius result to get from practicing dharma ~ while actually shortens one's life so that one can go to the pureland faster is much much more benefit to ones ! thanks mana ~!

Naga Seeker, my thoughts exactly!
I also approached this topic with the bias thought that a longer life would be preferable than a shorter life...
hehehe...

[KhedrubGyatso]

According to Buddhism, there are two main causes of long life . The substantial cause is our past karmic actions and the imprints deposited carried over into this present life.The supportive or environmental cause depend on our accumulation or depletion of merits.
Besides the above,  genetics,the physical environment, the natural laws of nature and the whole body of scientific laws such as physics, chemistry etc are also contributory factors.
We know we can prolong life through the intervention of medical advancement and technology which can protect us from external agents of harm such as germs, diseases, deadly insects and wild animals , natural disasters etc, with varying degree of success.
I think it is perhaps more exciting and meaningful to relabel the topic ' Practicing Buddhism results in Happier and more Useful Life ? After all that is the purpose of life. Without it , longevity is not such a big deal and no meaning.