The Journey Home

Words of Namo Amituofo

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

June 29, 2024, Noon Offering

Where is the destination of this life's journey? It is the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. No matter how you have conducted your life in this world, or how you have spent your days, there is one paramount question: when your life reaches its end and your spirit departs from the physical shell of your body, where will your spirit go? The answer must be the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. This is the final destination for the spirit of every practitioner of the Pure Land path.

The Long Journey Through Aeons

Throughout the vast expanse of countless aeons, every spirit has traversed the long and winding road of existence. We have all experienced the relentless cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death countless times. We have travelled through many paths, visited numerous worlds, and wandered across distant planets. Along this journey, we have encountered an infinite number of parents, teachers, and karmic creditors. Regardless of how you have spent your many lives in the past, you have now arrived at this present moment.

A Rare Opportunity at Hsiang Kuang

In this lifetime, you have come to Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre. Here, you have encountered Namo Amituofo, Teacher Practitioner Xia Lianju, and Practitioner Su, who all work together to protect this sacred sanctuary. This is an opportunity that is difficult to encounter even in millions of years. Because you have been blessed with this rare chance, you must ensure that in this very lifetime, you successfully enter the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.

The Path of the Awakened

At Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre, if you are a practitioner who has achieved the state of an awakened being, you are able to save yourself and, in turn, save the world and deliver other beings. Such a practitioner possesses the following abilities:

• You can be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss with complete freedom.
• You can freely travel to and from the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss to assist others.
• You have the capacity to guide other sentient beings into the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.

However, if your practice of chanting the Buddha's name has not yet reached a state of deep concentration, and your mind remains scattered, you are not yet in control of your own destiny. If you are a spirit who must wait for deliverance at the time of death to enter the Western Pure Land, you are still in a position of needing help. You are not yet able to determine the destination of your own spirit.

The Urgency of Diligent Practice

While you still have breath in your body and your human form remains, you must strive with the utmost urgency at Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre. You must work diligently to realise your true nature. To be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss through your own efforts is the true meaning of self-salvation. Do not let this precious opportunity at Hsiang Kuang, which allows you to find the path home, go to waste.

If you fail to change your personality and fail to achieve the state of an awakened being, you will face the suffering of the separation of the four elements at the time of death. Your spirit will then fall back into the cycle of rebirth, facing the dangers of suffering once more. It would be a profound tragedy to miss this path home after having the good fortune to be at Hsiang Kuang.

What is your wish, my children? You must be diligent. You must rely on your own strength to save yourself, and then extend that compassion to save others. The Buddha's power, the Buddha's deliverance, and the Buddha's blessing are all present within your own efforts to save yourself and your practice of chanting the Buddha's name to save others.

Namo Amituofo