The Path of Acting Without Acting

The Crucial Point of Practice

On April 4, 2025, during the second session of the Thrice Yearning Ceremony, Teacher Practitioner Xia Lianju provided profound guidance on the concept of acting without acting. When you engage in your spiritual practice, you must begin at the most critical point. It is essential that you do not attempt to overcome your obstacles by meeting them head-on with rigid force, as this often leads to unnecessary friction. Instead, you should learn to be flexible and follow conditions as they arise, or learn to 'see through' and 'let go' of your attachments. By combining your own self-power with the Buddha's blessings, you will be able to break through these barriers and achieve success in your practice.

The most critical point in your practice is often the very thing that prevents you from achieving liberation. It may be a specific personality trait, a habit, or one of the Greed, Anger, Ignorance, Arrogance, and Doubt, or the temptations of wealth, lust, fame, food, and sleep. These are areas where you frequently falter, repeat the same mistakes, and find it difficult to change. If you can commit to thorough repentance and turn towards goodness, you may be able to transform the outcome and ensure your practice bears fruit.

The Essence of Acting Without Acting

Acting without acting refers to a state of heart and action that is selfless, free from personal gain, seeking no reward, and performed entirely for the benefit of all. Those who possess this heart of acting without acting have a luminous mind, free from obstructions. They are filled with energy, strength, and wisdom, sufficient to face any situation that arises in their surroundings.

Strive in the process, yet remain calm and accepting of the results. No matter how hard you work, simply continue to practise with diligence. Do not harbour a mind of discouragement, or a mind focused on success, failure, gain, or loss. All such defiled thoughts must be removed; only a pure heart should remain. A pure heart is a heart of Goodness, compassion, diligence, the Buddha-heart, and the heart that never forgets to chant Namo Amituofo.

The Path to Buddha-Recitation Samadhi

Begin by chanting with intention, and continue to chant without interruption until your thoughts are continuous. Eventually, you will enter a state of chanting without a conscious sense of chanting—a state where you chant and yet there is no chanting, and where there is no chanting yet you are still chanting. This is the attainment of Buddha-Recitation Samadhi, where your meditative concentration is firmly established. This is the initial stage of success in your practice.

A Call to the Students

Students of Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre, how is your practice of chanting today? Are you chanting with a sincere heart, or have you forgotten the Buddha and thus forgotten to chant? Or perhaps you have reached a state where you are not consciously chanting, yet every thought is of the Buddha, your vows are filled with the Buddha, and your every action is guided by the Buddha. This is the mark of one who truly has faith in the Buddha, one who applies themselves diligently, and one who can achieve the state of single-minded concentration required to enter Buddha-Recitation Samadhi. Recorded and transcribed by Namo Amituofo’s disciple, Venerable HaiZe.

Namo Amituofo