The Boundless Heart: Teachings from Teacher Practitioner Xia Lianju

Recorded and transcribed by Namo Amituofo’s disciple, Venerable HaiZe.

The Infinite Expanse of the Boundless Heart

The Boundless Heart is a heart without limits. It is a state that cannot be measured, for it is the very essence of our original nature. This heart is naturally vast and infinite. However, it is our human tendency to calculate, to compare, and to rank things as high or low that causes this heart to become restricted and finite. Originally, our nature is boundless and vast. It may appear empty, yet it contains everything within it. How is it that when human confusion arises, we take that which is inherently boundless and transform it into something limited and small?

The Boundless Heart encompasses infinite Wisdom, infinite virtues, and infinite auspicious characteristics. This is truly magnificent. This is the nature of the Buddha. Why is it that we establish statues of the Buddha within the temple for people to respect and prostrate before? It is because when people behold the infinite, auspicious characteristics of the Buddha, they can give rise to a heart of learning and a heart of devotion to the Buddha. It provides the heart with a sense of refuge and support.

Returning to Our Original State of Being

In truth, every person and every being can be exactly like the Buddha. We are all originally Buddhas. The Buddha possesses no afflictions or worries, and certainly, the Buddha is never selfish or self-interested. The Buddha does not pine for home or family, nor does the Buddha distinguish between high and low, superior or inferior. The Buddha is perfectly good in every way and follows the needs of all beings with complete ease.

Even when people do not listen to the teachings and consequently suffer, the Buddha does not utter a single word of blame. This is because the Buddha understands that the hearts of sentient beings are currently restricted and trapped. A heart that has become limited will eventually be submerged by even greater, more overwhelming waves of limitation. This state of limitation is not gentle, kind, compassionate, or wise. Instead, it is composed of anger, stubbornness, ignorance, greed, arrogance, and doubt.

The Turbulent Waves of the Mind

These negative energies, which act like turbulent waves, bring only pain, sorrow, depression, and suffering. When a larger wave of negative energy emerges, it covers over the smaller waves of negativity. It leaves these smaller waves with no power to resist, causing them to be absorbed into the larger, more destructive force. It is much like a great wave swallowing a smaller one, only to form an even larger, more dangerous surge. Whether these waves originate from within yourself or from others, they are never a positive phenomenon.

However, if every wave of the mind were instead filled with compassion, gentleness, goodness, warmth, wisdom, gratitude, generosity, and a willingness to help others—if they were filled with the energy of believing in others, speaking well, seeing the good, and thinking of the good—then even the smallest wave would fill one with immense joy. If these great waves of goodness were to merge with smaller ones, they would form an even greater wave that eventually returns to the vast ocean of the true nature. If the positive energy within these waves can be spread everywhere, it allows goodness and joy to flourish in every corner of the world.

The Urgency of Our Spiritual Practice

If we consider the ocean to be our own heart, and if that heart is a mixture of good and evil—sometimes producing good waves and sometimes bad—then that heart can never find peace. It remains constantly trapped in the conflict between good and evil. If the heart produces waves, but they are all waves of goodness, they will eventually return to stillness, and the heart will find moments of true peace. However, if the heart is constantly producing waves of evil—waves that threaten to swallow a person whole—then one must be extremely careful. This is the nature of a demonic heart. It creates immense negative karma, and the result is only suffering.

To be with the Buddha is the greatest blessing one could ever hope for. There is nothing more fortunate than this. Today, the fourfold assembly of disciples at Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre finds themselves in this very situation. Do you realise this? If you truly understood, you would be clinging to the Buddha with every ounce of your being. How could you still fail to follow the Buddha’s words? How could you allow Practitioner Su to say that if you do not treat one day as two, the Buddha will depart? The fourfold assembly must reflect, feel shame, and repent. If there is a personality trait that needs to be changed, you must change it immediately. No one can change it for you; you must rely on yourself to transform your own character. No one else can do this work on your behalf.

The Four Immeasurables of the Buddha

You must cultivate the Boundless Heart: infinite compassion, infinite mercy, infinite joy, and infinite selfless giving. This is known as the Four Immeasurables—Compassion, Joy, and Selfless Giving. This is the original heart of the Buddha, and it is a heart that every disciple and every sentient being originally possesses. If you can rediscover this original heart—the Four Immeasurables—that is the moment of Awakening. Namo Amituofo.