Why Does Your Practice Remain Stagnant?

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

During the mid-day offering of the Thrice Yearning Ceremony on April 19, 2024, Teacher Practitioner Xia Lianju provided these profound teachings on the nature of our spiritual progress.

The Weight of Personality and Habit

If you find yourself working diligently in your practice yet feeling as though you are standing still, you must pause to reflect. Why does your progress stall? You must ask yourself: have you truly changed your personality and your ingrained habits? If these remain untouched, your progress will be obstructed by the heavy weight of your past karma. Your personality and your habitual tendencies are great obstacles that cause your precious time to slip away through your fingers like sand.

The Five Poisons that Cloud the Mind

If you find that you are still plagued by drowsiness and a lack of clarity during your practice, you must ask yourself why this is so. Consider these questions deeply:

• Have you truly let go of your greed?Has your anger been extinguished?Has your ignorance faded away?Have you removed your arrogance?Have you resolved your doubts?

These are the Five Poisons. If they remain within you, they act as a great affliction. They are rooted in selfishness and the attachment to a false sense of self. This mindset—where you place your own importance above others—is a heart that lacks equality and compassion. It is the very opposite of the Buddha’s heart.

The Five Desires and the Roots of Suffering

Are you still clinging to the pursuit of wealth? Are you unable to let go of your attachment to family and worldly relationships? Consider the following attachments that often bind us to the cycle of rebirth:

• The Five Desires:
• Wealth, sex, fame, food, and sleep.Worldly Status:
• Are you still preoccupied with your name, your identity, and your position in society?Sensory Indulgence: Do you still crave specific foods, leading to the killing of beings and the accumulation of negative karma?

When you consume the flesh of other beings, your body becomes a graveyard for those you have harmed. How can your spirit remain pure under such conditions? Furthermore, if you do not exercise restraint in your need for sleep, your practice will suffer, and your virtues will be lost. These Five Desires are the five roots that bind us to the lower realms of existence. If these poisons and desires remain within you, it is inevitable that your mind will remain clouded and your spiritual progress will be difficult to sustain.

Returning to Your Original Nature

If you find yourself in this state, you must conduct a thorough self-examination. The obstacles you face are not external; they arise from within. You must adjust your heart and mind, and you must be willing to change your ways. Only through sincere and genuine repenting for your past errors can you begin to improve and return to your original, pure nature. Namo Amituofo.