Self-Achievement and Helping Others Achieve

The achievement of your practice is gained step by step, one footprint at a time. There is no such thing as luck or shortcuts on this path. To truly progress, one must commit to a life of diligent practice and constant purification.

The Path of Diligent Practice

Whether you are listening to the sutras and hearing the Dharma, performing prostrations, chanting Buddha's name, or reciting the Sutras, these are all excellent methods for purification. You must learn to gather your focus inward. Look within, reflect upon your own heart, and cease seeking answers or validation from the external world. Each person must bear the weight of their own laws of karma and cause and effect; no one can bear the consequences of your actions for you.

Turning Inward to Purify the Heart

To maintain a stable and peaceful heart, you must uphold the Precepts. This prevents your mind from becoming agitated or restless. When your heart is settled in meditative concentration, your Wisdom will naturally begin to manifest. Once you truly understand the Truth and the righteous path, you will naturally be able to transform your environment rather than being swayed by it. During this process of purification, you may come to understand your past lives and the karmic causes that have shaped your current circumstances.

The Triple Path of Discipline, Concentration, and Wisdom

When you encounter karmic obstacles, you must immediately bring forth a heart of repenting. This is the most effective way to wash away the stains of your past transgressions. As you remove these layers of defilement, your original purity will begin to shine through. You must be diligent in your daily efforts:

• Chanting Buddha's name:
• Keeping the Buddha’s name in your heart at all times.Performing prostrations:
• Bowing to the Buddha to humble the ego.Change personality traits:
• Actively working to transform negative habits.Cultivating Goodness: Thinking good thoughts, looking for the good in others, speaking kind words, and performing good deeds.

By doing this, you give rise to all roots of goodness and achieve the fruit of Bodhi. Through the diligent practice of Precepts (Discipline), Concentration and Wisdom, you will ensure that your heart remains undisturbed by the fluctuations of the world.

Removing Defilements to Reveal the True Self

Once the defilements are removed, your heart becomes pure. In this state of purity, you can see the true reality of all things. When the illusion of the self is emptied, you will see your true nature. This is the ultimate goal of your practice.

The Bodhisattva’s Vow of Universal Salvation

After you have achieved this for yourself, you must then assist others in achieving the same. This is the essence of the Bodhisattva path:

• Self-purification and purifying others:
• Helping others find the same clarity you have attained.Self-benefit and benefiting others:
• Ensuring that your practice serves the greater good of all beings.Self-saving and saving others:
• Guiding others to leave suffering behind and find happiness.Self-awakening and awakening others: Sharing the light of the Dharma so that all may see their true nature.

This is the true achievement of learning the Dharma, and this is the true achievement of Awakening. Namo Amituofo.