Quickly Turn Back: Teachings on Awakening

Teachings from Teacher Practitioner Xia Lianju, recorded and transcribed by Namo Amituofo’s disciple, Venerable HaiZe.

My dear children,

The ancient masters often taught us: "Do not fear the arising of thoughts; fear only the delay in awareness." This profound wisdom means that the danger does not lie in the mere appearance of a thought, but in the delay of your recognition. It is the failure to realise that you have already drifted away into a state of distraction that causes the most harm.

The Weight of Every Thought

In this world, every thought and intention of sentient beings is laden with karma and sin. When your mind is constantly filled with delusions and attachments, your thoughts become a chaotic mixture of good and evil. Under such conditions, how can your heart ever attain true purity? If you can cultivate awareness, you must stop the flow of these wandering thoughts immediately. If you fail to do so, you allow these delusions and attachments to continue in an unbroken chain, and with every passing moment, you are creating more negative karma. How can this be good for your spiritual journey?

Every single thought that is not aligned with the truth is an act of creating negative karma. This means that for every such thought, the resulting fruit will be a form of suffering. This state of being is what we call a lack of awareness. If you can transform this continuous stream of thoughts into the constant recitation of the Holy Name "Namo Amituofo", this is what we call having true awareness.

The Path of Awakening

If you are slow to awaken, you will inevitably create much negative karma, but at least you are still within the realm of awareness. However, if you remain completely unaware, the suffering is far greater, as it becomes a continuous, unbroken cycle of misery. In the world today, many people live their lives entirely focused on the pursuit of material wealth and the satisfaction of their desires, while completely ignoring their inner needs.

They mistakenly believe that birth, aging, sickness, death are simply the inevitable paths of life. They live in the midst of suffering, yet they do not even realise that they are suffering. These are the people who lack awareness, and they are the beings who are most in need of the salvation offered by Buddhist education.

Returning to the Right Path

Therefore, if you see those who are unaware, pray that the power of the Buddha may bless them. May they be granted the strength to awaken early and turn back quickly. Without this awakening, the body, the mind, and the spirit will all continue to suffer.

If they can accept Buddhist education, they will begin to understand the nature of suffering. They will see it clearly, and they will develop a sincere desire to leave suffering behind and find true happiness. When they develop a deep weariness for the six realms of rebirth and a genuine longing for the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, they will naturally make the vow to chant the Buddha's name and be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. This is the path of self-salvation through the grace of the Buddha.

Namo Amituofo.