The Arrogance of a Devout Life

This is a record of an interview with Liu Shaoping, who sought Chao Du at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia. She now resides in the Western Dharma-Nature Land. This account reflects upon her life approximately 1,000 years ago, during the Northern Song Dynasty. Recorded by the chief writer, Fa Ning, on February 20, 2026.

Liu Shaoping speaks:

"Namo Amituofo. It has been so long—I cannot even say how long—since I last heard the six-character Buddha-name. Perhaps it has been a hundred years, perhaps a thousand; no one can say for sure. But I remember clearly that my very first memories on this earth were connected to 'Namo Amituofo.' Standing here now, seeing Namo Amituofo again, I am so overcome with emotion that I cannot even find my voice. All I can do is prostrate myself, bowing again and again before the Buddha. My face is already streaming with tears, and I have no words to express the depth of my gratitude."

A Living Buddha in Our Midst

"This is also my first time meeting Practitioner Su, the one people call the 'Living Buddha' in the human world. Whether we call this the human world or the Western Dharma-Nature Land, Practitioner Su is a Buddha in the flesh who can freely traverse all spaces. That is how I understand it, and I believe it to be true. I am so grateful to Practitioner Su—deeply, profoundly grateful. If there were no one with such spiritual attainment in the human world, just look at the countless wandering spirits, the old souls who have drifted for trillions of years—none of them have a way home. None of them know each other, just drifting in this vast space. Who knows how many more thousands of years it would have taken to encounter the Buddha again?

I have been in the Western Dharma-Nature Land for less than a day by human reckoning, yet I have already adapted quite well. I must have had a strong Buddhist affinity; looking back at my story over the past millennium, it is certainly true. My journey began with 'Namo Amituofo.' Even in my darkest times, I remembered the Buddha. But as the years dragged on, I became lost, gradually accepting my reality, losing my centre, and forgetting the Buddha. I wandered through the mountains and forests, forgetting the direction from which I came."

From Wealthy Merchant to Humble Devotee

"My name is Liu Shaoping. I used this name for nearly eighty years. In my final days, I lived quietly in the mountains. Not many people would remember me, Liu Shaoping, but many would remember the old woman I became. People used to say that 'Old Mother Liu' was a person with a radiant smile who left a deep impression. She loved to chant 'Namo Amituofo' and would tell everyone she met along the road what the Buddha-name was for. By then, she chanted the Buddha-name quite well; her sincere smile came from the fact that she truly had no more afflictions from her chanting.

You might look at Old Mother Liu—scavenging for scraps, covered in dirt—and never guess that in her youth, she was a wealthy female entrepreneur, running her own cloth shoe business in the coastal regions of Wenzhou. How did someone who lived such a life end up scavenging in her old age? Well, I am that Old Mother Liu, and I shall tell you my story."

The Northern Song Dynasty and a Life of Change

"Whether it was a hundred or a thousand years ago, I, Liu Shaoping, as the eldest daughter in a family with no sons, naturally inherited the family business: selling shoes. It was the early Northern Song Dynasty. The political situation was stable, and the national economy was thriving. Our family's craftsmanship was quite famous at the time. Relying on our family's surplus grain and the excellent traditions passed down through generations, my cloth shoe business flourished. I lived a life of comfort, never worrying about food or clothing, for nearly twenty years. By the time I was twenty-five, I had not yet married. I thought I would never marry and intended to guard the family property for the rest of my life. Who would have expected that one day, a family would arrive with betrothal gifts! I was caught off guard, but my elderly parents were overjoyed and prepared to send me off. They did not care which family the property would eventually belong to; they were simply happy to see their precious daughter marry into a good home.

The groom was the son of a local official, just starting his own career in the bureaucracy. It was not a high position, but it was a stable 'iron rice bowl.' We were well-matched in status, and so we began our new life together. My cloth shoe business remained a well-known local enterprise, so a life of total leisure was impossible. A few years later, both my parents passed away, and I lost all connection to my original family. I devoted myself entirely to my shoe business."

Finding the Path to the Pure Land

"By the time I was nearly forty, we still had no children, and we had long since accepted our fate. I began to frequent temples, and my life took a different turn. The six-character name 'Namo Amituofo' sounded increasingly resonant in my ears. Each day, I felt more Dharma-joy. I often sent the cloth shoes I made to the temple for the monastics to wear, and I began a life of Generosity and Goodness. Such a life was incredibly happy. I had no worries about food or clothing, no burdens in life, and fortunately, at the age of forty, I found the meaning and direction of my life: to study the Buddha's teachings.

The temple was called Jingguan Temple. It was not large, but the environment was simple and bright. The dignified and pure atmosphere made it feel like a small Pure Land on earth. As a woman, I participated in daily visits and volunteer work at the nunnery at the foot of the mountain. There, I learned to recite the Infinite Life Sutra and came to know my future home: the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss. Everything happened so naturally."

The Turning Point of Impermanence

"As the saying goes, disaster and fortune can change in an instant. Life is full of impermanence. My good days came to an end when my husband suffered setbacks in his official career. Because he offended a local official by refusing to bow to power and fighting for the people's interests, he lost both his position and his wealth. After our home was raided by the authorities, we were left penniless and had to start over. My cloth shoe business had long been handed over to others while I was volunteering at the temple, so there was little I could do. We were indifferent, lacking the strength to fight for anything. We decided to walk away from it all and live a simple, peaceful life.

We made a decision that ordinary people could not understand: to move into a temple and entrust ourselves to the Buddha. This was also the end of our marriage. This was a mutual understanding. It is quite miraculous; we truly stepped onto our own paths of practice and never saw each other again. He went north, and I stayed in the south, never to be heard from again. I naturally moved into the nunnery at the foot of the mountain. I did not shave my head to become a nun; I stayed as a volunteer or lay practitioner. I handled daily chores, worked in the kitchen—I did whatever was needed. After all, I was over fifty and knew my time might be limited, so I became a person of few desires."

The Life of an Old Wanderer

"Morning and evening, I followed the group in their daily lessons; the rest of the time, I quietly managed everything. Everyone grew accustomed to me, from 'Mother Liu' to the 'Old Mother Liu' I became in my later years. I grew used to the title. People came and went, and I was content, much like when I first encountered the Buddha's teachings in my youth. Looking back on my life, it is truly inconceivable: from the precious daughter of my parents to a wealthy female boss, to a wife, to letting go of the secular world to study the Buddha, and finally, even letting go of my marriage to live a simple life. From beginning to end, I held onto the principle of 'being at peace with whatever happens.' So, how did Old Mother Liu end up scavenging and wandering the world?

When I was nearly seventy, society began to view me as a 'human treasure.' Although I was old, my physical strength remained excellent—a benefit of years of chanting the Buddha's name. At that time, a nun in the nunnery contracted an infectious disease and had to move to the suburbs, dozens of miles from the city, to live. For a sick nun to drag her ailing body to such a distant place to start over was no simple task. I decided on the spot to accompany her. After all, at my age, what was there to worry about? So, carrying the Dharma-joy given to me by Namo Amituofo, I left. We built two small huts in the mountains outside the city, with a path in between where we ate and gathered. I took care of her daily needs, beginning a simple and pure life in the mountains. Not long after, we discovered that the main road nearby was busy with people. We would occasionally go out to show ourselves, selling wild fruits and vegetables from the mountains to buy small necessities.

This life lasted for five years until the nun passed away after a severe illness. I stayed by her side for days without closing my eyes, constantly chanting, 'Namo Amituofo, Namo Amituofo, Namo Amituofo.' We had relied on each other for five years. After she passed, I began the life of a 'lone old wanderer.' Old wanderers have their own blessings, and I began a pure life of scavenging and chanting. This is the portrait of my life: at peace with everything, without too many attachments."

The Hidden Arrogance

"Haha, this Old Mother Liu had no worries, but I did have a habit that no one knew about: arrogance. In the Buddha's teachings, it is called 'arrogance,' and it was deeply rooted, though hidden from others. It is hard for people to imagine, and I myself was not very clear about it. I only remember that in my old age, I was still happily doing what I loved: chanting the Buddha's name and scavenging. However, before I died, I felt my life coming to an end. Although I had no major illness, I could feel my strength fading bit by bit. When I had no strength left, I allowed myself to settle down and enter the next stage. Even then, I could still recite the Buddha-name intermittently, knowing that no matter how my life had gone, I ultimately had to seek rebirth in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss. On this point, I never wavered.

But before I died, I was interfered with. For a moment, I could not hold onto the Buddha-name; it was as if the 'I' suddenly became greater than the Buddha. It turned out that although I lived a fulfilling and happy life, satisfied and without desire, this 'I' had always been very large. This was the arrogance in my bones. Because my life had been too smooth, without the usual worldly afflictions, and I was willing to accept any change, my arrogance stemmed from my experiences and achievements. I felt that I could give up everything in this life, but I could not let go of this 'I.' I began to cling to my identity as a 'Buddha-chanter,' as a carefree old woman, and as I looked back on the traces of my life, they appeared so clearly that I could not grasp the Buddha-name, falling instead into retrospection."

The Realisation of Karma

"Standing here now, looking back at all of this from the Western Dharma-Nature Land, I see my state at that time more clearly: I had been targeted by my karmic creditors. This is the portrait of life; where there is personality, there is karma, and there is a time when karmic retribution arrives. When I had no afflictions, I had injected 'arrogance' into my heart. Although my thoughts were often for the sake of others, I could not let go of the little things I had done. No matter how well I did, no matter how well I chanted, I was still orbiting around my own 'goodness.'

After I died, I spent a very long time in those mountains. This area was full of practitioners. The world after death is also full of practitioners sitting in meditation, chanting, or practicing Zen, yet no one could escape the cycle of rebirth. I, too, sighed there, wondering how it was possible that I could not be reborn in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss. I had honestly chanted 'Namo Amituofo' for half my life, done nothing improper, and had no emotional attachments or worries.

But looking back, many practitioners had practiced much better than I, yet they still had not been reborn; they remained in that space, chanting and meditating. Many were eminent monks with great meditative concentration. After arriving at the Western Dharma-Nature Land and listening to Practitioner Su's Dharma talks, I finally understood. I had practiced for a lifetime without letting go of myself—my identity, my feelings. Therefore, I could not be in sync or share my heart with Namo Amituofo. Naturally, because of my own attachments, I remained in that space of chanting, and even after becoming a spirit, I could not chant the Buddha-name. I stayed there for a very, very long time, clinging to the thought, 'I am still a practitioner.'"

The Light of Deliverance

"This time, the reason I arrived at such a magnificent place as the Western Dharma-Nature Land is that there was a great radiance in our mountains. It was a golden light—very bright yet gentle—that bathed the entire forest and the entire land. We saw it, and we knew immediately that this was the light of salvation. I began to raise the Buddha-name, and even heard the sound of chanting in my ears. I had not felt this way for so long. It was as if my long-held sincerity had finally sprouted after a long time, finally receiving a response. I chanted the Buddha-name even more diligently, chanting without stopping. The Buddha soon took us away, bringing us to this Buddha-land—the Western Dharma-Nature Land established by Practitioner Su under the guidance of Namo Amituofo, located at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia. All these changes happened so quickly that it took me a day to slowly adapt. Today, I have adapted, and I see my past clearly. I know I still have much to practice, so I dare not have a shred of arrogance or self-satisfaction.

Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su, you are truly great! For so many of us spirits, this is only possible because of Practitioner Su's sincere vows, sincere desire to save the world, and compassion equal to the Buddha's. Whether it is the countless beings and demon crowds saved in the Western Dharma-Nature Land for so long, or Practitioner Su's great Chao Du in mainland China today, it is all the result of Practitioner Su's endless sincerity and compassion, in sync with the compassion of Namo Amituofo.

It is a great pity if people in this era do not know about the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia; their lives would be lived in vain. To be able to connect with the Buddha while Namo Amituofo is personally residing here, and to be able to practice at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre, is a tremendous blessing accumulated over many lifetimes, incomparable to anything else. Liu Shaoping's heart is very calm now, and I feel happy for the vast number of Chinese people. I hope everyone can chant this 'Namo Amituofo,' enter the golden light, and come to the Western Dharma-Nature Land. This is the first step to liberation from birth and death. This Buddha-name was buried deep in my heart; although I almost lost it, I am very fortunate that my good roots, blessings, and Causal Conditions were sufficient at this moment to reconnect with the Buddha. I sincerely want to share such a good thing with everyone.

'Namo Amituofo is residing at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia; everyone, come and find the Buddha!' I visualise myself shouting this in space. Although my spirit is unable to move on the lotus seat, my heart is very sincere and is working hard to spread this message. Liu Shaoping prostrates three times to Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su. From this moment on, I must practice diligently and not fail the great compassion of Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su!"

Namo Amituofo.

Liu Shaoping