The Necessity of Changing One's Personality

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

The Inseparable Bond of Karma and Personality

Karma and personality are deeply intertwined, following and relying upon one another. When your personality arises, you can clearly see your karma manifesting. Conversely, when your karma is hidden or dissolved, your personality tends to become calm and balanced. When you have changed your personality to the point where it no longer dominates your actions, you have reached the stage of transforming your karma.

Your personality is the primary enemy of your spiritual practice. It is something you have brought with you from birth, which naturally manifests in your daily life. This indicates that you possessed this same personality in your past lives. Once external conditions—such as people, events, or environments—arise and trigger your personality, it is a sign that your karma is in motion.

The Path of Pure Practice

Whether your personality leads to negative or positive outcomes depends on its impact:

• If your actions harm yourself or others, this is considered negative karma.
• If your actions do not harm others and instead bring benefit to them, this is considered good karma.

However, whether it is good karma or negative karma, it is still karma. It all proceeds through the fluctuations of your every thought and intention. In contrast, chanting Namo Amituofo is the practice of pure karma. Although it still involves the act of thinking, chanting allows you to receive the Buddha's blessings, which work to purify your body, heart, and spirit. This is the most important aspect of your practice.

The Urgent Need for Self-Transformation

At the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre, the necessity of changing one's personality is emphasised repeatedly. This is because the problems brought about by a rigid personality disturb your inner peace and become a significant obstacle to your practice. If your personality remains unchanged, your karma will continue to manifest, leading to aging, illness, and pain. Eventually, you will face the suffering of the elements separating at the time of death. Therefore, you must change quickly, and then change again.

Cultivating a Pure and Harmonious Nature

To truly progress, you must work diligently to remove the following obstacles:

• The Five Poisons: greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, and doubt.
• The Five Desires: wealth, sex, fame, food, and sleep.
• The rigid attachments of ego, personal views, and subjective opinions.
• The stubborn personality traits that lead you to believe you are always right while others are wrong, or the tendency to be defensive and unteachable.

When you have changed to the point where your personality is entirely transformed, you will become naturally compliant and filled with Dharma joy. By doing so, you can stop the processes of aging and illness, and gain the great benefit of the spirit never dies and rebirth in the Western Pure Land. Through your own diligent practice of chanting and purification, combined with the Buddha's blessings, you will surely find success in your spiritual journey. Namo Amituofo.