Do Not Wait: A Call to Diligent Practice

Teachings from Teacher Practitioner Xia Lianju, recorded by Venerable HaiZe on May 28, 2023.

My dear children, do you often feel a deep desire to break through the limitations of your current practice, yet find yourself lacking the heart or the strength to truly move forward? Perhaps you believe that you are already working hard to overcome your obstacles, yet you find yourself trapped in a cycle of recurring illness and pain. You feel as though you have recovered, only to see the same ailments manifest again and again. This cycle is a reflection of the unresolved karmic seeds within your consciousness.

Consider your temperament. Has your temper improved compared to the past? While you may have made progress, you likely find that you still cannot eliminate your anger entirely. When you encounter situations that do not align with your expectations, you may still feel a spark of irritation. Even if this fire is much smaller than it once was, it is still a manifestation of anger. This lingering anger creates significant consequences for your practice:

The Subtle Shadows of the Mind

• It deepens your state of being drowsy
• during meditation.It allows external influences to enter your space
• more easily.It triggers the recurrence of old illnesses that you thought were long behind you.

As the days pass at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre, the suffering of beings remains undiminished. There are countless souls still waiting to be saved. As time flows by, have you allowed your compassion to grow alongside the days? Are you truly striving for purification for the sake of helping all beingsleave suffering behind?

The True Purpose of Practice

Perhaps you are waiting for a sign, or perhaps you are still clinging to attachments that you cannot see through or let go of. You must understand that the purpose of your practice is not merely to seek personal comfort. It is to develop your true self—to reveal the innate capabilities that you have always possessed—and to put into action the work of save beings and teach beings.

If a being could know even one minute earlier that the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre is a place where Namo Amituofo leads beings to the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, they would be saved one minute sooner. They would be spared one minute of unnecessary suffering. Within a single minute, you could perform Chao Du to help many beingsleave suffering behind. Never forget that you, too, are one of the beings waiting to be saved.

A Call to Fierce Diligence

Do not wait. You must diligently practise to see their true nature as soon as possible. Remember that the first beings you must save are those closest to you: your own karmic creditors who seek balance for past harms, the attached spirits residing within your body, and even the demon crowds that test your resolve.

These are the beings that require your immediate attention and compassion. You must remember that practice requires you to be fiercely diligent. You must be wholeheartedly and sincerely devoted, offering your efforts without holding back even the smallest fraction of your energy. Only through such thorough purification can your original nature be revealed, allowing you to truly see their true nature.

Namo Amituofo