Today, I’m going to talk about “awareness and experience.” I’ve mentioned this before, but only briefly; I didn’t go into much depth. Awareness and experience is about awakening to the truth—becoming aware of and understanding the true nature of things. When you read Buddhist scriptures, that’s the theory. Everyone recites Buddhist scriptures every day—this is just theory. You might understand the meaning and know what you’re doing, but even if you’re reading the sutras, to truly grasp their essence, you need to uncover their deeper significance. In reality, if you don’t put this knowledge into practice—if you don’t apply it in your everyday life—you won’t develop awareness and experience.
For example, you come and listen to my Dharma Talk every Wednesday, but if you don’t apply the Dharma Door and Buddhist teachings I share with you in your daily life, you won’t develop awareness and experience. It means you haven’t internalised or benefitted from these teachings. If you don’t integrate the teachings into your practice, the sutras become meaningless to you. The principle is simple—these scriptures have been passed down for thousands of years, but if they’re just left in a library, untouched and unread, no awareness and experience will be gained. Without this sense of awareness and experience, you won’t understand the purpose of the scriptures or how to apply them in your life.
It’s like appreciating a piece of classical literature or the work of a great writer—if you don’t actually read it, or if you read it as an outsider without fully engaging with it, how can you gain any benefit? Some people study literature, read many books, and absorb lessons from novels, hoping to avoid similar events in their own lives. Similarly, when they listen to others speak, they gain valuable insights. On the other hand, some people spend all day chatting idly, and afterwards, if you ask them what they talked about, they can’t recall anything—because they haven’t truly engaged or absorbed anything.
So, for those who truly understand learning, it’s important to take valuable lessons from other people’s words, behaviour, and actions. Why can one person remain patient while another flies into a rage? Why is one person like this, and another like that? There’s much to learn from these observations.
You come to my Dharma Talk every Wednesday, but if you go home and remain the same—still getting angry when you feel like it, still feeling unhappy when you want to—then what’s the point of coming? You need to learn with your heart and make sure to integrate these teachings into your actions and everyday life.
If you study many Buddhist scriptures, can recite all the sutras, and even know how to recite the Eighty-Eight Buddhas Great Repentance, but continue to engage in harmful actions, do you think the recitation will be effective? That’s impossible. The Eighty-Eight Buddhas Great Repentance is only effective when a person unknowingly commits wrongdoings and later becomes aware of their mistakes. In that case, reciting it will be beneficial. For example, if you didn’t realise you had committed an offence, reciting the Eighty-Eight Buddhas Great Repentance can help eliminate your karmic obstacles. But what if you plan to rob a bank tomorrow and recite it today to erase your karmic offences? Or if you think you can recite it to eliminate obstacles before deliberately doing something wrong—what kind of logic is that?
You need to be aware and conscious of what you’ve done. If you didn’t know, your offences are less severe. There’s a saying, “One who is unaware cannot be blamed,” and that’s the principle here. However, if you know something is wrong—like bragging—and still choose to say, “Guan Yin Bodhisattva, I am now going to recite the Eighty-Eight Buddhas Great Repentance,” do you think it will have any effect? The repentance text isn’t meant for those who are already aware of their wrongdoing but continue to act improperly, hoping to repent and erase their offences. That simply won’t work. Don’t think that just because you’ve made a mistake, you can repeatedly use the Eighty-Eight Buddhas Great Repentance to erase it. If you steal today and recite the text, then steal again tomorrow and recite it again—what kind of logic is that? That’s ignorance.
The Eighty-Eight Buddhas Great Repentance is intended for mistakes you’ve made in the past, including those from previous lives. You can recite it to eliminate those karmic obstacles, but it doesn’t mean that if you continue to commit wrongdoings and harmful acts in the future, you can simply recite it again to erase those offences. It doesn’t work like that. Let me share a simple example I often use to help you understand. Imagine a clean, white piece of paper. The first time you write on it with a black pencil, you might be able to erase it cleanly with an eraser. But if you write on it a second, third, or even more times, what will the paper look like after all that erasing? Will it still be as clean as it was originally?
That’s why I teach that when you recite the Eighty-Eight Buddhas Great Repentance, it must come from your heart. While reciting, you should genuinely feel the pain in your heart: “I must not make this mistake again. I must not do this anymore. I truly understand now. Guan Yin Bodhisattva, please help me!” Only then will it be effective. It’s not like a bandage that you put on a sprain today and then reuse on another sprain tomorrow. If you keep injuring yourself without taking care and continue applying bandages for every injury, will they still be effective in the long run? It’s the same principle.
People these days think that if they make a mistake today, they can simply recite sutras to erase it and then repeat the same behaviour tomorrow. Do you know what this is? It’s committing a crime. If you do something wrong today and get caught, someone might say, “Since it’s your first offence, we won’t punish you or fine you this time.” When you get home, you should reflect deeply and resolve not to make the same mistake again. But if, a few days later, you repeat the same mistake and get caught again, there will be no mercy—you’ll be fined or sent to jail. You must understand this principle. Practising Buddhism is about applying it in real life. If you recite the sutras without putting them into practice in your daily life, then your practice is meaningless. What does “meaningless” mean? It means empty and illusory—just wishful thinking, unable to solve any real problems.
When practising Buddhism using scriptures, if you genuinely put the teachings into practice, you’ll develop a certain feeling—this is called “awareness and experience.” It means that when you sincerely recite Buddhist scriptures and cultivate your mind—studying and practising the teachings and sutras of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas—you will develop a special sense of awareness and connection. This is what is meant by awareness and experience. It’s when the sutras you recite start to resonate within you, and you feel their effects. “Experience” means receiving and benefiting from it—once you feel it, you benefit from it. For example, if you’re troubled by something in your heart and you recite a sutra, you may come to understand it, accept it, and then no longer feel distressed.
A person is made up of two parts: the physical body and the spiritual body, which is the soul or spirit. If a person’s physical body is in excellent health but their spirit is broken, they may still engage in self-destructive behaviour, such as suicide, because a healthy body alone is meaningless to them. On the other hand, if someone’s physical health is poor but their spirit is strong, they can overcome cancer, illnesses, and all the hardships of life. In this case, the spirit triumphs over the body. Therefore, both the physical and spiritual aspects must be cultivated together. Physically, you should do good deeds and help others—this is how you benefit. Spiritually, you should guide and enlighten others, helping them along the path.
Awareness and perception refer to the understanding and insights you gain from what you feel and observe. This awareness and perception lead to the experience of “awareness and experience.” If you feel unhappy while reciting a sutra but, by the end, you come to an understanding and think, “Ah, I should let go; I’m happy now and no longer troubled,” then you’ve made progress.
Next, I’d like to talk about feelings. There are many different feelings, and some of them aren’t very positive, like restlessness. For example, a restless person might say, “Oh, what should I do about this? I’ve invested all my money. What if things don’t work out?” This is restlessness. On the other hand, there are feelings like calmness, relaxation, peace, and happiness. These are all feelings you experience. When you feel peaceful, you are at peace. When you feel happy, you are in a state of happiness. If someone is caught up in worries, they are in a state of worry. When you’re troubled and can’t find clarity, you’re essentially in a state of mental distress.
Everything in this world—all things, knowledge, and powers—is governed by karmic conditions. If you can’t accept that, you are only tormenting yourself. If you can’t see the true essence of life, you may find yourself constantly questioning, “Why is this happening to me? Why is that happening?” But you shouldn’t ask “why.” There’s no need to question it—everything boils down to the concept of karmic conditions.
Those who don’t understand will ask, “Why is he bullying me? Why am I treated poorly when I’ve been so kind?” There’s no “why.” By the time you figure out all these “whys,” your feet may already be in the grave—and some people still won’t understand even then.
I just mentioned feelings—happiness, worries, and so on—these are all forms of awareness and experience. Awareness and experience refers to the feelings and benefits you receive, an experience that touches your heart. When you cultivate your mind and achieve a state of awareness and experience, these feelings become part of your heart. For example, when you cultivate your mind and experience true joy, letting go of your worries, that feeling enters your heart and becomes a part of you. When you come to my Dharma Talk with worries but leave feeling joyful, that feeling has entered your heart.
Here’s another example: if you come to a Dharma Talk and feel drowsy, and then leave feeling groggy, that feeling also enters your eighth consciousness and your heart. When you feel confused and unclear, you go home and continue feeling groggy. On the other hand, if you feel joy and benefit from learning the Buddha-dharma and it helps you solve problems at home, you carry that feeling with you. It remains in your heart, although how long it stays is uncertain. It’s like a bottle of perfume—a few drops of high-quality perfume can be potent and last for a long time, while cheap perfume may fade before you even step out the door.
It’s crucial that today’s Dharma Talk truly reaches your heart. If your body is here but your mind is wandering, you won’t gain anything. If you allow the teachings to enter your heart and guide your life, your heart will open. What does it mean to open your heart? It means to be happy—to open your mind. When your brows are furrowed and worries surround you, can you feel happy? Your heart is closed off, and when you can’t open it, you remain in a state of depression.
Why do so many children today suffer from depression? It’s often due to family influences—if parents are unhappy and constantly arguing, how can the child not feel depressed? As they grow older, they may think, “If even my parents are like this, what hope is there in the world?” This can lead to two extremes: some give up on everything, while others develop depression.
Remember, it’s not the situation itself that changes you; it’s how you change your mindset and perspective. It’s about how you come to feel the power of the Bodhisattvas. When you recite the Buddhist scriptures and transform your thoughts, you begin to move in the direction of the Bodhisattvas. When you sense that the Buddha and Bodhisattvas are helping you, your heart opens, allowing you to awaken to a higher spiritual state and see the path forward.
Take scientists and researchers as an example—many of them spend years researching a single topic without finding an answer. Then, one day, they suddenly have a breakthrough and exclaim, “Ah, I understand! I’ve finally made it!” Can you imagine the joy they feel? They’ve reached that state of understanding and made a discovery. Their joy comes from reaching that level.
If you don’t practise Buddhism, how can you experience true happiness? If you don’t reach the state of the Bodhisattvas, you might see helping others as a sacrifice, instead of realising that in helping others, you are actually gaining.