Waking Up Suddenly: Teachings on Letting Go

The Illusion of Attachment

When will the fourfold assembly of the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre suddenly wake up? When will you realise that all things in this world are merely illusions, and thus learn to truly let go? We often cling tightly to the past, fearing that if we release our grip, we will lose everything. Yet, it is precisely because we cannot let go and because we fear loss that we end up losing so much more. Our precious life, which is meant for spiritual growth, slips away day by day. We remain stagnant, failing to make progress, or worse, we regress into old habits. True awakening is to let go completely, until one is unstained by even a single speck of dust. Only then can you say that you have truly woken up.

The Pain of Awakening

When does this sudden awakening occur? It often happens through the pain of suffering. It is in the midst of deep anguish that we are jolted awake. We begin to realise that our sins are heavy, and we finally understand the urgent need to change our ways. Because we have failed to transform our personality traits, we have spent accumulated lifetimes forming countless grievances with countless beings. We have spent endless days trapped in the suffering of mutual retribution, where both parties endure the bitter fruits of past actions. Because of this realisation, you must resolve to change your past mistakes and put in the work to transform your personality traits.

The Path of Transformation

You must be careful and cautious, constantly heightening your awareness. Do not allow the following negative influences to manifest again:

• The Five Poisons:
• Greed, Anger, Ignorance, Arrogance, and Doubt.The Five Desires: Wealth, lust, fame, food, and sleep.

Every time these personality traits arise, you plant a negative cause. This inevitably brings a chain of physical and mental suffering as the consequence. Because of this realisation, you must change your ways immediately. If you can change thoroughly, until not even a trace of these negative traits remains, you will cease to plant negative causes. By doing so, you will avoid the evil consequences that follow.

Returning to the Original Nature

Suddenly waking up, you will see that all things are empty. In truth, these attachments never existed in your original nature. We were only stained by our own delusions and attachments. Now, through pure practice, we hope to find our original nature once again. This is the only Truth. Recorded and transcribed by Namo Amituofo’s disciple, Venerable HaiZe.

Namo Amituofo