Teachings from , recorded and transcribed by Namo Amituofo’s disciple, Venerable HaiZe, on the sixteenth of May, two thousand and twenty-five.
As a practitioner, you must deeply understand the suffering of all beings. You must also understand that the Buddha has no selfish intent, yet works tirelessly to save all beings from the endless cycle of suffering. Learning from the Buddha is not a task that can be accomplished in a single morning or evening. It is, however, a journey that you can undertake one step at a time, moving forward with every single footprint you leave on the path.
The Weight of Karmic Obstacles
Beings suffer because they are trapped within their own suffering, unable to find a way out. Often, this is because their past and have manifested before them, leaving them unable to take charge of their own lives. In particular, through their Body, Speech, and Mind, they frequently create negative causes. Because they lack self-awareness, they repeat these mistakes again and again. When the resulting retribution manifests, the suffering they endure is truly boundless.
Breaking Free from the
You must open your mind-capacity. You must understand that beings fall into the —greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, and doubt—because they follow their own personal desires and impulses. By doing so, they violate the Universal Principle, the Truth, and the Right Way. They create the karma of the five roots that lead to the hells: wealth, lust, fame, food, and sleep. Consequently, they fall into the Three Evil Realms to suffer.
Therefore, you should learn to open your mind-capacity to tolerate the offences and faults of others. If you receive counsel before you have created negative karma, or when only minor faults have appeared, you should be able to accept the teaching with a humble heart and stop the evil from being created further.
Seeing the Buddha-Nature in Others
At the same time, when you see or hear of the faults of others, you should open your mind-capacity. You must realise that before one reaches an awakened being, one does not yet understand the true reality of all laws of the world. Furthermore, everyone is entangled by their own karma. You must recognise that the true nature of the other person is, in essence, a Buddha. It is only because they have lost their way and become deluded that they create karma.
You must still treat them with courtesy and respect. Do not look down upon them or treat them with arrogance; instead, you should be able to tolerate their shortcomings. If they can receive guidance from a true spiritual friend, be counselled to understand their suffering, and develop the wish to leave suffering behind, they can then take up the Buddha-name and practise with diligence and persistence. Under the Buddha's , they can quickly eliminate their spiritual obstacles. This is something that all students of the Hsiang Kuang Buddhist Centre must do, and do with haste.
The True Meaning of
Opening your mind-capacity allows you to see the goodness, the benefits, and the merits in others. You should think well, look for the good, speak well, and act well. You must learn to accept the goodness in others. When someone performs well, you should be able to rejoice and praise them without a trace of jealousy. Within the perspective of the One Body, you should view the goodness of others as your own goodness. If they are well, you are also well. Furthermore, because of their goodness, the entire group is uplifted.
If you can truly achieve this, it is the manifestation of true compassion. It is treating yourself, the beings within our bodies, and others with compassionate kindness. You will be able to purify yourself again and again, becoming better and better, and you will be able to establish a Buddha-land within your own heart. As a practitioner of the , you take the salvation of all beings as your own responsibility. You are one of these beings, and the beings within our bodies are also among them—they are the first objects to be saved. In this process, you are also one of the beneficiaries. Namo Amituofo.
