Have You Truly Changed Your Personality?

Practitioner Su reminds the fourfold assembly daily of the importance of changing one's personality traits. These teachings are heard often, and many practitioners truly desire to change. However, we must pause and reflect: have you truly changed? If so, to what extent has this transformation taken root within you?

The Illusion of Superficial Change

Many practitioners believe that if they have managed to avoid losing their temper for a period of time, they have successfully changed their personality. They feel a sense of accomplishment, believing that their anger has been subdued. Yet, unexpectedly, in a moment of carelessness, the seeds of anger arise once more, and they find themselves losing their temper just as they did before. This indicates that the change was not genuine. It shows that the transformation has not yet reached the deepest levels of the heart.

The Requirement for Absolute Purity

True change, where one no longer loses their temper, requires that the heart be completely free of even the slightest trace of resentment. As long as there remains a single lingering mark upon the heart—a subtle thought of anger, a fleeting impulse to lash out, or a behavioural tendency toward impatience—the change is incomplete. If such traces exist, how can one claim to have truly changed? True transformation is a state of being where the mind is no longer moved by these afflictions.

The Path to Lasting Transformation

To achieve a change that leaves no trace, one must diligently apply the following practices:

• Cultivate Compassion:
• Nurture a heart of boundless kindness toward all beings, which naturally softens the sharp edges of the ego.Perform Prostrations and Repentance:
• Regularly perform prostrations to the Buddha to repent for past misdeeds and dissolve karma that fuels our negative traits.Focus on the Good: Train your mind to actively look for the good in every person, think only of their virtues, and speak only of their positive qualities.

By consistently practising in this way, you will truly "give rise to all roots of goodness and achieve the fruit of Bodhi." Only through this profound inner work can you achieve a transformation that is complete, leaving no trace of past afflictions behind. Namo Amituofo.