Awareness—the capacity to perceive and the ability to awaken—is of the utmost importance in your spiritual life. It is the inner light that allows you to see the path clearly. Without this awareness, you will find it nearly impossible to identify your own erroneous views and misguided behaviours. Even when a true spiritual friend offers you wise counsel, you may find it difficult to accept or implement their guidance. Consequently, your practice will struggle to make any meaningful progress.
Conversely, when you possess true awareness, you can actively discover your own mistakes. You are able to catch your wrong thoughts and actions the moment they arise. Because you have this clarity, you can stop these negative tendencies immediately and replace them with wholesome ones. This is how your practice truly begins to advance.
The Path of Diligent Correction
There are those who are slow to awaken. While they may not be able to identify their own errors initially, they can still make progress if they are willing to listen. When a true spiritual friend points out their faults, they have a choice to make:
If they are willing to change: Even if it is difficult, the fact that they can change shows that their practice is moving forward.
If they are unwilling to change: They remain stuck in the same place, effectively standing still.
If you refuse to change your ways, you will continue to create negative causes. These will inevitably lead to evil consequences, and your practice will remain stagnant. This is why awareness is so vital; it is the key to breaking the cycle of your own limitations.
Chanting with a Clear Mind
For those who have made the vow to be reborn in the of Ultimate Bliss, your chanting of the Buddha-name is the most important work of your life. If you can achieve success in your practice during this lifetime, you will be able to maintain a clear mind at the moment of death. You will not be confused; instead, you will be able to focus your heart entirely on chanting Namo Amituofo, and you will be led by Amitabha Buddha to the Western Land.
A practitioner who possesses this awareness—both during their life and at the final hour—is a true devotee. They understand the terror of the cycle of rebirth and, because of this, they practise with great diligence. They ensure that their chanting becomes a continuous, flowing stream that never stops, 24/7. They chant until they reach the state where there is no chanting and yet the chanting is always present. In this state, they have absolute certainty that they will be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.
The Danger of a Wandering Mind
Those who lack this awareness do not truly perceive the terror of the cycle of rebirth. Because they do not feel the urgency, they fail to practise with diligence. Their chanting of the Buddha-name becomes intermittent—sometimes they chant, and sometimes they stop. They lack the meditative concentration required to keep their mind steady, and they are easily led astray by external circumstances. Because their mind is scattered and unstable at the moment of death, they lose the precious opportunity to be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.
A Rare Opportunity for Liberation
At the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Goombungee, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, Practitioner Su, as an awakened being, can freely travel to and from the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. Practitioner Su is able to discern the wishes of the deceased spirits residing in the Western Land of Nature. If a spirit truly wishes to be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, Practitioner Su can lead them there.
This is a way to fulfil the deepest wishes of all beings. Even if a spirit was unable to chant the Buddha-name at the moment of their passing, they can still be saved. Through the process of , they are led from the Western Land of Dharma Nature into the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. This is a rare opportunity, difficult to encounter in millions of years, and it is a testament to the boundless of Namo Amituofo.
