The Tathagata's Family Business

The Sacred Business of the Tathagata

My children, can you truly embrace the practice of saving yourself and others, reaching the Western Pure Land and finding one's own Buddha nature as if it were the most vital business of your own family? Can you commit your entire heart, your full energy, and your complete focus to this work, ensuring that every action you take is in accordance with the Dharma? When you dedicate yourself to the Tathagata's work in this way, you do not merely receive the blessings of the Buddha; you also accumulate an immeasurable and boundless wealth of merit.

This merit is not like the worldly wealth that can be counted or measured in material terms. Instead, it possesses the power to accomplish what worldly wealth never could. It is the essential fuel for your journey to be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. It is the foundation for the growth of your virtue, the resolution of your karmic ties with others, and the ultimate realisation of your true nature. Without sufficient merit, it is difficult to clear away the obstacles that prevent you from leaving suffering behind.

The True Nature of Merit

The more you act with a selfless and no-self heart, seeking no reward for your service to all beings, the more your merit will grow. When you offer your time, your spirit, and your physical strength to this noble cause, your store of merit will expand until it becomes truly limitless. Within the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre, the fourfold assembly works together with one heart and one mind to support this family business.

Whether you are a monastic, a lay practitioner, or a volunteer, you are all working for the family business of Namo Amituofo. Your primary task is the purification of your own body, heart, and spirit. You must all strive to wash away the dust of your past attachments and impurities, with the change of personality traits being the most important task and the focus of your diligent practice.

The Foundation of Purification

Some personality traits are obvious and easily seen by others, while others are hidden deep within the subtle layers of the heart. If your negative personality traits remain, it is a sign that you have not yet transformed your karma. Consequently, your karmic creditors remain, and you will continue to face the challenges of ageing, illness, being drowsy, and the difficulty of entering higher states of space. Because these subtle traits often go unnoticed, they become the very obstacles that block your path to becoming an awakened being. Therefore, you must heighten your awareness. You must be diligent in changing your personality traits and never allow yourself to become lax.

To be truly transformed, you must begin by adjusting your heart and refining your character. If you are truly determined to repent for your past mistakes and eliminate these negative traits entirely, you will find that the symptoms of ageing, illness, and being drowsy will begin to fade. Even when you see these improvements, you must not become complacent. Instead, you must be even more cautious in your speech and actions, ensuring that you do not repeat the mistakes of the past. This is a crucial point in your practice.

Resolving the Obstacles of Karma

Before you reach the state of an awakened being, you will inevitably have some remaining attachments. You must cultivate wisdom and allow the light of your heart to shine forth; only then can you sweep away these lingering stains. These impurities often manifest when you are least expecting them. To overcome them, you must be repenting, maintain a constant state of chanting Buddha's name, and allow the Buddha-light to shine upon you, for only through the Buddha's blessings can these deep-seated stains be removed. My children, you must listen to these teachings and put them into true practice if you wish to benefit from them.

Begin with yourself. When you work with sincerity and diligence, your very presence and effort will influence others. As you succeed in transforming your karma and reaching the state of an awakened being, the process of your own effort and the capabilities you manifest will become the very tools needed to save the world and help other beings. My children, the family business of the Tathagata is vast beyond measure. It extends from the smallest molecules of air and the finest grains of dust to the infinite vastness of the Dharma Realm and the countless beings who dwell within it. All of these beings are waiting to be saved, to leave suffering behind, and to be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. They are waiting for you to succeed in your own practice so that you may eventually extend your hand to them. Namo Amituofo.