Who Does This Body Serve?

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

On this day, the twenty-sixth of April, 2025, during the first session of the Thrice Yearning Ceremony, Teacher Practitioner Xia Lianju offered these profound insights regarding the nature of our existence.

The Body as a Gathering Place

Within the various spaces of our physical form, many karmic creditors reside. This body is composed of the four elements—earth, water, fire, and wind—brought together by the laws of karma and cause and effect. It serves as a dwelling for countless beings, including karmic creditors from this life and from many lifetimes past. Because we share a common history of grievances and debts, these beings have gathered within us, manifesting as our various cells, internal organs, and the very structure of our physical form.

We must ask ourselves: in this lifetime, to whom does this body truly belong? Who is using it? Is it being used by the beings who seek to settle old debts, by the influence of demon crowds, or is it being used by the Buddha?

The Paths of Confusion and Suffering

When we speak of beings, we are referring to our karmic creditors. If we allow our body to be used by these beings, we remain trapped in the cycle of being reincarnated. We spend our lives caught in the endless process of seeking revenge and repaying grievances, and suffering through the inevitable cycle of birth, aging, sickness, death. We are merely puppets to our past actions, unable to find true peace.

The influence of demon crowds refers to the negative karma we create through our Body, Speech, and Mind. This negative energy attracts external demons to enter our being. It also refers to those karmic creditors who, harbouring extreme hatred, have entered the Demon Realm. If we allow our body to be used by these forces, we live a life dominated by our own personality, ego-attachment, subjective views, and the Greed, Anger, Ignorance, Arrogance, and Doubt. We become consumed by the wealth, lust, fame, food, and sleep, spending our entire lives creating further negative karma.

Giving the Body to Namo Amituofo

The Buddha refers to Namo Amituofo. To give this body to the Buddha means to align our heart, our vows, and our actions with the Buddha's path, following Namo Amituofo to save all beings. Those who follow the Buddha’s every action must be willing to let go of their own personality, their stubborn views, their subjective opinions, and the Greed, Anger, Ignorance, Arrogance, and Doubt. We must also release our attachment to the wealth, lust, fame, food, and sleep.

Only by cultivating a pure and virtuous Body-Mind-Spirit can we walk the Buddha's path. We must engage in diligent practice to rediscover our true self, and by following Namo Amituofo, we can save ourselves and others, ensuring our rebirth in the Western Pure Land.

The Final Lifetime

For those of us practising the Pure Land path, this life is intended to be our final existence in this world. We make the sincere vow to be reborn in the Western Pure Land so that we may never again enter the cycle of being reincarnated to suffer. Therefore, we must realise our true self and take charge of our lives. We must dedicate this body to the Buddha, spending the remainder of our days following the Buddha's path with unwavering devotion.

Namo Amituofo