The Path of Knowing and Changing Your Ways

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

Everyone understands the principle that one should know their faults and change their ways, yet how many truly possess the courage to change? If you do not know where your faults lie, you have no starting point for change. Consequently, you are left to suffer the consequences of your actions. You remain trapped in the cycle of karmic conditions and the causes and effects, allowing negative causes to manifest as evil consequences in your daily life. This is why so many struggle to leave suffering behind.

The Blindness of Habitual Patterns

This is especially true regarding the faults caused by our own personality. If you lack awareness, you will often cause harm to yourself without even realising it. This happens because you have become far too accustomed to being this way. You have lived with these habits for so long that they feel like a natural part of your existence.

How many times in your life have you truly sat down in stillness to reflect upon your own faults and problems? The more you busy yourself or try to escape from facing your true self, the harder it becomes to see clearly. You gradually lose your way, becoming lost in delusion and unable to be the master of your own life. In this world, this situation is so common that it is the primary reason why suffering continues unabated.

The Essential Process of Purification

In the context of your practice, you must face the problems brought about by your own personality. You must be willing to change your ways. This is the only way to move from impurity to purity. Without undergoing this layered process of washing away your internal filth, the darkness remains, and your true nature stays obscured. How, then, can you speak of reaching an awakened being?

You must undergo a thorough purification. You must work to refine your personality until not even a trace of your old, negative habits remains. When you achieve this, you will no longer manifest the appearance of anger. You will find that:

• Worries and anxieties no longer arise.
• The agitation of the mind ceases.
• Compassion and a heart of inclusion naturally emerge.

The Ultimate Path: Letting Go of the Self

The very best method for changing your ways is to let go of the "self." Do not think about yourself, and learn to forget yourself entirely. The source of all contamination comes from having a "self." As long as you cling to the idea of "I," this body, these feelings, and your own ego-attachment and subjective views, you remain trapped.

If you can let go of the self, you will no longer be pulled by the sensations of this body, by ego-attachment, or by the cycle of ageing and illness. When you discard your attachments and your subjective views, the dust and filth of contamination have nowhere to take root. You will naturally and gradually undergo purification. Your original nature will be revealed, and you will enter the state of an awakened being. You will then be able to live a life of true mastery, where you can save yourself and save others, all while walking the path of Namo Amituofo.

Namo Amituofo