The Wandering Sage and the Eternal Buddha-Name

On February 8, 2019, Venerable Yongning visited the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre to share teachings on the nature of true practice. Through the story of a wandering sage who transformed a village, the Venerable illustrates how the simple, unwavering recitation of the Buddha-name serves as the ultimate path to deliverance in this age of the Dharma’s decline.

Venerable Yongning speaks:

"Like the rare Udumbara flower, the True Teachings appear only once in a great while. From the era of the True Dharma, through the era of the Semblance Dharma, and now into this age of the Dharma’s decline, the teachings have been passed down from generation to generation. This transmission is unborn and undying. The essence of the Dharma is to regulate the heart, to bring it into balance, and to settle it into meditative concentration. Only those who possess this meditative concentration can be considered true practitioners. What one sees while in a deep meditative state is entirely different from the external world. What is revealed in that state is not the mundane; it is the Truth that transcends the secular world—the absolute reality of being reincarnated. It is seen clearly, and it is seen profoundly.

The Practice of Every Moment

Every single place is a place of practice. Holding a piece of paper is practice; serving in the kitchen is practice; speaking a single word is practice. Whether the things your eyes perceive cause your heart to fluctuate is practice; offering sincere praise is practice. You must cultivate this heart of practice in your daily life. It is not about merely going through the motions of rituals; it is about the gradual, step-by-step refinement and regulation of your own heart. When your mind-capacity expands, everything changes.

Consider an old man, dressed in tattered rags, emitting the pungent odour of someone who has not bathed in ages. Yet, this old man always wore a smile. Whether he had food to eat or not, it made no difference to him. He did not care about the judgmental gazes of others. When people pointed fingers at his nose, he looked but did not see; he remained unmoved by the provocations of others. Externally, he appeared to be nothing more than a beggar, yet he was completely at ease. He was often heard muttering to himself. Once, a child asked him, 'What are you chanting?' The old man simply replied, 'Namo Amituofo.'

The Power of the Buddha-Name

All his external behaviours might have seemed like madness, but he never once let go of the Buddha-name, Namo Amituofo. The child asked him, 'Are you happy because you chant this?' The old man answered, 'Indeed, I am!' The child learned this phrase and began to chant it with joy. Soon, all the children playing in the village felt a sense of peace and happiness in their bodies and minds because they chanted this Buddha-name, and they even inspired their parents to join in the chanting. The old man eventually wandered to other villages, spreading this Buddha-name everywhere he went. He was free of all attachments, and he never once felt any affliction regarding his physical body. He would lie down on the earth, treating the insects and the grass as his family, and he even guided these insects and plants to take refuge in the Buddha. All sentient beings, as well as the very space he inhabited, were saved by the magnificence of the Buddha-name.

A Legacy of Deliverance

The old man wandered everywhere. He was not a formal practitioner, yet his heart was more like that of a true practitioner than anyone else. He saved sentient beings without any conscious intent, and the number of spirits he delivered was infinite. The process of saving beings was sometimes smooth and sometimes difficult, but the old man was never hindered by these circumstances. Everything was simply left to follow the Law of Cause, Condition, and Effect. No one knew where the old man came from, and no one knew his true age, for even he did not know. He simply used this body with complete freedom.

In his final days, the old man arrived at a village where the people were indifferent to the Buddha-name. One day, the sound of the Buddha-name resonated throughout the entire village. Everyone began to search for the source of the sound. They found him under a tree on the earth, and the air was filled with a pervasive, sweet fragrance. It turned out that the old man’s inner state was exactly like that—he had already reached a state of total stillness. He chose to manifest his rebirth in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss in this village that did not believe in the Buddha. The sound of the Buddha-name did not cease for an entire month, and the earth where he passed away remained fragrant for that same month. Through this, the old man saved the entire village. The people of the village spread this legend everywhere, and thus, the Buddha-name was propagated far and wide.

The Path of Freedom

The Buddha’s teachings save sentient beings through various external manifestations. In this age of the Dharma’s decline, under the leadership of Practitioner Su, the void and the universe have been opened. Through different manifestations, Practitioner Su remains at ease. The ease of learning the Buddha’s teachings and the ease of saving sentient beings are available to everyone. With a compassion that is free from self-attachment and free from discursive thought, one finds eternal joy in the Dharma. Namo Amituofo."

This message was recorded by the disciple Shi Faxin.