The Wild Heart and the Path Home

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

The Meaning of the Wild Heart

To be released into the wild is to be cast out into the wilderness. A heart that has not been nurtured by the Buddha’s teachings is like a wild heart, left to roam and gallop across the wilderness. Yet, it often forgets the time for its return, becoming lost upon the earth and forgetting its original home.

It may join a herd of wild horses; though it may gallop as it pleases, it will ultimately face aging, sickness, and death. In the next life, following that wild heart, the spirit enters the womb of a horse, losing the human body and falling into the animal realm.

The Peril of Unchecked Desires

Or, it may be captured by hunters and caged; its wild nature, difficult to tame, endures immense suffering, and at the end of its life, it still faces aging, sickness, and death. In the next life, because of that suffering heart, it will enter the lower realms, finding it difficult to enter the path of goodness.

However, a heart nurtured by the Buddha’s teachings can understand the suffering of being reincarnated and the helplessness of the three evil realms. It understands the true self that it has always possessed. The heart that was once wildly released no longer chases after external phenomena, no longer roams freely in the wilderness, but instead turns inward to collect itself.

The Practice of Returning Home

This heart simultaneously leads the countless cells within the body and the many beings connected to it to chant Namo Amituofo together. Amidst the continuous sound of chanting, this heart, along with the cells and the countless beings, stops its wild galloping and returns to a state of auspicious peace and inner stillness.

The pure instinct and the light of the heart naturally manifest. The space opens up, allowing one to hear the voices of beings and to converse with the Buddha. Through purification, and then more purification, one eventually reaches the state of an awakened being.

A Choice for the Future

Students of the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre, do you wish to let your wild heart roam the wilderness, only to face aging, sickness, death, and reincarnation, or even fall into the three evil realms to suffer, finding it difficult to leave suffering behind or find a way out? Or will you collect your wild heart, stop it from galloping, and practise purification to rediscover your true self, so that your inner light is never extinguished and you dwell forever in the light?

Furthermore, you can lead and teach sentient beings with karmic affinity to do the same, attaining a state where you do not grow old, do not get sick, and your spirit does not die, and by chanting Namo Amituofo, enter the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss to attain infinite life and light? Students, what will you do with this body? What kind of heart will you choose, and where will your spirit return? Namo Amituofo.