The Wisdom of Letting Go: No More

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

Namo Amituofo teaches us that we must seize every moment of our lives. We are called to dedicate our time, our physical strength, and our resources to the service of all beings, doing so without complaint, without regret, and with a heart full of compassion.

The Rarity of This Encounter

How many can truly appreciate the rarity of this opportunity? To encounter Namo Amituofo manifesting in this world is a hardship among hardships; there is no greater difficulty than this. It is even more rare to truly meet and connect with the Buddha's teachings. If you have found this path, it is only because you have cultivated great merit in your past lives. It is this accumulated merit that has brought you to this moment, where you have the chance to be saved and finally leave suffering behind.

The Obstacles Within

You must no longer harbour anger. When you allow anger to arise, you invite your karmic creditors and various spiritual attachments to manifest before you. This not only causes your physical body to suffer, but it also creates a formidable barrier to your spiritual growth. Life is finite, and the path of diligent practice is not easy. During this process, you may encounter several challenges:

• The manifestation of karma, which clouds your clarity.
• The interference of karmic creditors, who seek to obstruct your progress.
• The difficulty of tempering your own personality traits.
• The presence of demon crowds, who seek to disrupt your focus.

When these obstacles arise, you must listen and follow the teachings faithfully. You must strive to change your personality traits and firmly resolve to stop retreating, stop escaping, and stop indulging in anger.

The Urgency of Our Time

The days of our lives pass with incredible speed. How many opportunities do we truly have to start over? While you are At Hsiang Kuang: A Sacred Sanctuary, alongside Namo Amituofo, Teacher Practitioner Xia Lianju, and Practitioner Su, you must exert yourself in diligent practice. Focus on chanting Buddha's name to eliminate karma and reduce obstacles. By doing so, you can hope to remain free from illness and ageing in this life, ensuring that your spirit never dies and that you are prepared for rebirth in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. This is the most important task of all: to achieve liberation from the cycle of rebirth.

Breaking the Chains of Samsara

Do not allow yourself to fall back into the ocean of suffering and the cycle of rebirth. Once you are caught in that cycle again, when will you have another chance to be saved, to leave suffering behind, and to reach the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss? We must be vigilant against the Five Poisons and the Five Desires:

• The Five Poisons: Greed, anger, delusion, arrogance, and doubt.
• The Five Desires: Wealth, lust, fame, food, and sleep.

These are the five roots of the hells. When you can stop these tendencies and no longer allow them to arise, you are effectively cutting off the causes that lead to the hells. You must cut them off early and stop them in time. The karmic retribution of the hells is a suffering that is difficult to bear. Whenever you encounter obstacles or resistance in your life, if you can transform your heart in that very moment, you can stop the retribution right where it begins. To say "no more" to these negative habits is the conduct of a wise person.

Namo Amituofo