Awakening and the Path to the Western Pure Land

As people grow older, they accumulate a vast array of life experiences. In an effort to avoid suffering, failure, or being taken advantage of, they often build layers of defensive walls around their hearts. This makes it difficult to be sincere and open with one another. Consequently, the mind becomes increasingly stained and turbid, losing its original, inherent purity and Goodness. For those who study the Buddha's teachings with the aspiration of realising their true nature and achieving rebirth in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, this accumulation of worldly experience acts as a significant obstacle.

The Barrier of Worldly Experience

Realising one's true nature requires the shedding of these layers of external packaging. Only by stripping away these artificial defenses can one truly perceive the original nature within. However, the habits formed through social experience are the exact opposite; they add layer upon layer of protection, which only serves to distance us further from our true selves. Therefore, if you truly wish to realise your true nature and be reborn in the Western Pure Land, you must actively engage in purification, and then more purification. The true self is the purest of the pure; only those who are completely unstained can be in sync with it and truly see it.

The Power of the Dharma Body

Those who have achieved Awakening possess a physical body, yet they can perform the work of saving beings in ways that ordinary spirits cannot. While a spirit or a Dharma Body can travel freely without the constraints of time or space, it is the practitioner who has realised their true nature who can truly undertake the work of saving beings in a way that the physical body alone cannot. If one has achieved Awakening and aspires to be reborn in the Western Pure Land, the path becomes natural and free of obstacles. This is because the state of Awakening is synonymous with having reached the Buddha-Recitation Samadhi. The meditative concentration of chanting Namo Amituofo is already perfected, meaning the practitioner is no longer disturbed by karmic creditors, external forces, or demonic interference. For such a person, a place in the Western Pure Land is assured.

The Three Provisions for Rebirth

Faith, Vows, and Practice are the three essential provisions for rebirth in the Western Pure Land. You must possess all three simultaneously for your aspiration to be realised. If you are deeply stained by the world and have developed a sense of weariness toward its suffering, or if you have been tempered by the trials of society and possess the sharp roots to recognise this suffering and vow to seek the Western Pure Land, you must still ensure that your Faith and Practice are perfectly aligned.

If you rely solely on your vows without the foundation of Faith and Practice, it is like fighting a battle on paper—your wish will be difficult to fulfil. Conversely, if you have Faith and Practice but your vow to reach the Western Pure Land is not firm, or if you have the vow and the practice but your Faith is weak and easily shaken, you will struggle. Even if your Faith and Vows are firm, if your Practice is insufficient and you remain busy with the Five Desires and the Six Dusts without purifying your chanting, you will not succeed. In all these cases, the three provisions are incomplete, making it difficult to maintain your focus until the moment your spirit enters the Western Pure Land.

Understanding the Poisons and Desires

Regardless of your current state, if you wish to maintain a firm resolve in this Five Turbidities and Evil World and move toward the goal of Awakening or rebirth in the Western Pure Land, you must have a correct understanding of the various desires and poisons that bind you. Only then can you avoid being misled. Otherwise, you will remain trapped in the cycle of reincarnated existence. The Five Desires are wealth, sex, fame, food, and sleep—often called the five roots of hell. The Six Dusts are sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touch, and thoughts. The Five Poisons are greed, anger, delusion, arrogance, and doubt.

Greed is the leader of these poisons. People are greedy for wealth, fame, food, and sleep, but also for emotional attachments, love, and family. If one does not study the Buddha's teachings and engage in practice, it is almost impossible to escape these cravings. Worldly life is entirely contained within these boundaries, and people have become so accustomed to them that they believe this is all there is to life. Thus, they fall into the trap of samsara, with no end in sight. For practitioners, the primary task is to remove the poisons of the Five Desires, the Six Dusts, and the Five Poisons. These are the supports of confusion; they consume our kind and original nature, lead us to the hells, and distance us from the path of Awakening and rebirth.

The Path of Discipline and Purification

Unless one has already achieved Awakening and can use these things skillfully to save beings, any thought or intention involving them is merely delusion, mixed, and karma. They are filled with emotional attachment, selfishness, comparison, and the desire for gain and loss. These are all illusory appearances. If you understand the importance of Precepts (Discipline), Concentration and Wisdom, you must learn to remove these worldly dusts. Otherwise, how can you expect to achieve Awakening? To practise Discipline means to know what can be done and what cannot, and to act upon it sincerely. This is how you gain the true benefits of the Dharma. You must let go of emotional attachments, selfish desires, and the heart that compares and seeks gain. By raising your awareness and using meditative concentration to stop deluded thoughts, you can avoid being tempted by external environments. Eventually, you may reach a point where no deluded thoughts arise at all, allowing your inherent Wisdom (Prajna) and sharp awareness to break through confusion and reveal the true light of your self-nature.

The Guidance of a Teacher

Is this easy to achieve? It is not. Because we have been in the cycle of reincarnated existence for so long, our karmic habits are extremely heavy. We are accustomed to living in a world of emotion, feeling, and attachment. To dilute and purify these habits, you must have the guidance of a good teacher. A teacher helps you avoid repeating past mistakes, keeps you on the Universal Principle, the Truth, and the Right Way, and helps you reach Awakening sooner. Compassion, Wisdom (Prajna), and a vast mind-capacity are essential practices before Awakening. You must learn to "see through" and "let go" of all obstacles. Only after you have diluted and purified your mind can you enter the state of emptiness—a state of no-self, no-selfishness, no-thought, and no-attachment. Only then can you realise your true nature, remaining forever clear and bright, truly able to let go without an unmoved mind.

The Work of the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre

What does it mean to let go? Beyond the Five Desires, the Six Dusts, and the Five Poisons, it also means letting go of worldly affection, emotional ties, and romantic love. Especially for monastics, before Awakening, one must not engage in emotional attachments, as the arising of such thoughts is highly destructive to the purification process. Only after achieving Awakening can one handle such situations without being moved. These are not just words; they must be executed in reality. Otherwise, you will find it difficult to avoid the karmic forces of birth, aging, sickness, and death, or the interference of karmic creditors and attached spirits.

People in this world live under the control of karma, karmic creditors, and attached spirits. Only by stopping your thoughts and ensuring there is no mental fluctuation can you avoid awakening these forces and falling under their control. This process of letting go and the various methods of purification are all manifestations of the Buddha's blessings, the Buddha-heart, and the Buddha-vow. Once your karma is no longer manifest, and your karmic creditors and attached spirits have been educated and helped through Chao Du, your body and spirit will find peace. With diligent, unceasing practice, you will have the opportunity to achieve Awakening and save beings by leading them to the Western Pure Land. This is the direction in which all students of the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre must strive.

Recorded by the Buddha's disciple, Venerable HaiZe.

Namo Amituofo