Universal guiding and awakening of all beings is the essence of compassion. A person who achieves this possesses the wisdom of a Buddha. This wisdom is reflected not only in saving oneself but also in saving others—it is the embodiment of the Buddha’s wisdom and spirit within them. However, achieving universal guiding and awakening requires practical application. Learning from the Third Ground Bodhisattvas involves understanding the critical importance of practice.
As you cultivate the path of the Bodhisattva in this world, you must continually engage in practice. Remember, practice means guiding and awakening others, and true understanding arises from practice. The most meaningful achievements and deepest insights are attained through dedicated practice, so it is essential to commit to practice. When practising the Bodhisattva path in the human world, you should constantly reflect on how to deepen your practice and learn from the Bodhisattvas in their efforts to awaken all beings.
If you face setbacks in helping others today, it doesn’t matter—tomorrow, you can try again and discover new ways to assist them. Through the process of helping others, you also gain the wisdom to help yourself. Only when you immerse yourself in practice and attain deep understanding can you achieve true insight, complete liberation, and become a Bodhisattva capable of awakening others. This is what is meant by “liberating oneself while liberating others.”
To “resolve the mental afflictions of countless sentient beings” requires a Bodhisattva to have unshakable faith: “I must completely cure the mental afflictions of all beings.” Among all ailments, mental afflictions are the most challenging to overcome. Who in this world is free from worries? Everyone experiences them, as the Human Realm is inherently a realm of suffering. For a Bodhisattva to awaken others, they must first possess unwavering faith in their ability to address these afflictions. This involves striving to eliminate all harmful tendencies and negative influences that cause harm to others or oneself.
A person who cannot repent, control themselves, or awaken cannot truly be considered human. To resolve the mental afflictions of countless beings, one must first heal their own. How can you cure others if you have not cured yourself? To transcend worldly desires and the cycles of birth and death, you must liberate both body and mind from the shackles of attachment and craving. Attachment and craving are the very bonds that keep beings trapped in the cycle of birth and death. Without attachment and craving, there is no birth and death. Freeing yourself from these desires allows you to transcend entirely.
In the human world, the ties that bind us most tightly are those born of attachment and craving. To free yourself, you must first remove the desires within. All forms of love, even for children or cherished ones, arise from karmic conditions coming together. For instance, the people you hold dear—your children or loved ones—are connected to you through karmic ties formed in past lives. Like guests at a banquet, they gather for a time and then part ways. Can you stop them from leaving? When the banquet ends, everyone departs, leaving only emptiness behind. Learning to let go is essential.
These attachments are ultimately illusions. Can you hold on to them forever? They are fleeting, disappearing as suddenly as they arrived. Human desires are entirely illusory. The suffering of separation from loved ones serves as a lesson for us to understand this truth. All things are the result of karmic conditions coming together. To achieve true liberation, you must let go of all desires, as everything is ultimately an illusion. Once you come to this understanding, the ties that constrain you will naturally dissolve.
Don’t think too highly of yourself, nor feel overly helpless—none of it truly matters. Coming into this world is like stepping onto a hired stage for a brief moment; your role is simply to travel your journey well. Life is like a banquet—it begins in the morning and ends at night, with each day reflecting the journey of an entire lifetime. In the morning, you arrive well-dressed, looking your best, polite and presentable—this represents your youth. By the afternoon, fatigue sets in, and you grow weary—that is old age. By the evening, you can no longer rise; you fall asleep and depart—this marks the end of your life. It’s all an illusion, so don’t take it too seriously.
To practise Buddhism is to seek the ultimate truth. Only Buddhas and Bodhisattvas can fully explain the principles of the universe, as the Buddha-dharma reveals the origins of all things. To walk the Buddhist path, you must transcend the bonds of worldly attachment, craving, and the cycle of birth and death, focusing wholeheartedly on the pursuit of wisdom and virtue within the Buddha’s teachings. While I could expand on these ideas endlessly, due to time constraints, I will summarise: you must dedicate yourself entirely to seeking the wisdom and virtues embodied in the Buddha’s path.
When following the Bodhisattva path, it is essential to focus on how Bodhisattvas use their wisdom and compassion to guide and awaken sentient beings from suffering. Strive to understand their virtues and learn how they guide others toward liberation. Only then can you cultivate and realise compassion and wisdom so vast and boundless that it mirrors the emptiness of space. Though space may appear empty—devoid of substance—it holds infinite potential. As I have explained before, what seems empty is not truly empty but contains profound meaning. Within this space, you must nurture virtuous capacity.
When we speak of “compassion and wisdom,” it refers to cultivating both a compassionate heart and profound insight. While everything is inherently empty, within this emptiness, we must uncover the wisdom and compassion needed to save all beings. As I’ve explained before, when truth is taken to its extreme, it can appear as illusion, and when illusion is examined deeply, it can reveal truth. Everything contains elements of both truth and illusion—even within emptiness, there are traces of illusion. For example, when someone intends to deceive you, don’t they first present something genuine to gain your trust? The key is to use what appears illusory as a path to cultivate what is true.
Cultivate and realise compassion and wisdom as vast as space, and thoroughly address the countless afflictions of sentient beings. By employing compassion and wisdom, you can save and heal others, freeing them from their boundless suffering and mental afflictions. What can resolve the infinite troubles of sentient beings? It is the Bodhisattva’s heart of compassion. Only compassion can save sentient beings, and it must be paired with wisdom. For instance, I use wisdom to guide and awaken others, adapting teachings of varying depths to suit each person’s unique capacity. Infinite compassion means using boundless kindness to benefit all sentient beings.
A Bodhisattva comes into the human world with the mission of saving sentient beings—one person, a hundred people, a thousand people, or as many as possible. If someone comes seeking help, you do not turn them away. A Bodhisattva saves as many as they can, bringing immeasurable benefit to sentient beings.
Gather your body and mind in a peaceful and tranquil environment. This means drawing in and calming your six sense bases in a setting where you feel a deep sense of tranquility. However, this tranquility does not necessarily require being in a completely silent place; rather, it is about allowing your heart to find peace on its own. Why is it that some people can recite Buddhist scriptures even in noisy surroundings, while others lose focus at the slightest sound? True stillness comes from calming your heart. As the saying goes: “A calm heart naturally brings coolness.”
“Contemplating the Buddha-dharma” means focusing your mind entirely on the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, practising in accordance with their teachings, and following the guidance of your Master. It involves cultivating concentration through the combined strength of forbearance, endurance, and perseverance. You must integrate the Bodhisattvas’ states of mind into your practice. If you aspire to become a Bodhisattva, you now have a clear goal: use perseverance, forbearance, and endurance to build focused mental strength. For example, if someone insults you and you refrain from retaliating, this demonstrates forbearance. If someone doubts your ability, prove them wrong with your perseverance.
“Transcending the scattered boundaries of beings in the Realm of Desire” is achieved through forbearance, endurance, and perseverance. By contemplating the Buddha-dharma, practising according to its teachings, gathering your body and mind, and cultivating boundless compassion in a tranquil environment, you develop the compassion and wisdom needed to heal the afflictions of the world, which are as pervasive and intangible as emptiness itself. As you free yourself from the bonds of craving, attachment, and the cycle of birth and death, you rise above the Realm of Desire and enter the state of the Four Sagely Paths. Do you understand? Even in the human world, it is possible to attain the state of the Four Sagely Paths. You must aspire to reach the state of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
I have given this world another name: the “Realm of Manifestation,” meaning the realm where karmic conditions take form and are revealed. As people often say, “True colours are revealed,” which means the original nature of things comes to light. Why is it called the “Realm of Manifestation”? Because everything you have done in past lives manifests in this world, unveiling your true essence. You must live with a heart as vast as the universe—a Bodhisattva’s heart, capable of encompassing all. With this universal heart, navigate the Realm of Manifestation, cherishing every moment and every second.
You must understand that among all things one can possess, contentment is regarded as the finest and most virtuous by the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. For example, even if you were to possess the entire world, humanity, great wealth, or all material things, it is only contentment that the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas consider the highest and most excellent. In other words, among all the material wealth of this world, contentment stands out as the most precious and valuable treasure. Do you understand?
The Buddha-dharma taught by the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas speaks directly to life in the human world. Contentment leads to true possession. Only when a person is content can they achieve genuine ownership of what they have. When you are content, you cherish what you have and find joy in it. For example, if you are content with your spouse, you will truly appreciate them, care for their needs, and feel happiness in your relationship. In being content, you truly “possess” them in a meaningful way. However, if you are not content, you may find them irritating, be dissatisfied with everything about them, and ultimately lose them. Thus, it is only through contentment that you can truly hold on to and appreciate what you have.
I am sharing these words of wisdom from the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas with you. You must study it well—these are fundamental principles for living a meaningful life.
Contentment brings happiness and lasting joy; contentment allows for true possession. Even if you lack material wealth, you hold the treasure of the Dharma. This treasure is what people refer to as “fulfilment.” What is fulfilment? It is the state of feeling that you have everything you need. When you are content, remind yourself by saying: “I am content. I am content. I am content.” Repeat it three times.
For example, look at your house and say: “I am content with this house. I am content with this house. I am content with this house.” When you do this, your worries will fade away, and you will truly feel that you possess your home. Because when you no longer feel the need to replace it, you find joy in it, and everything about it becomes yours. However, if you are dissatisfied with your house and decide to sell it, it will no longer be yours, and you will lose it.
Similarly, when death approaches, you will be confronted with the burden of all the wrongs you have committed throughout your life. In your final moments, every evil deed you have accumulated will resurface, like rust that forms on iron and eventually corrodes it. Rust arises from the iron itself and ultimately destroys it. Likewise, evil originates within a person and turns against them, causing harm.
The negative qualities within a person are created by their own actions and become obstacles to their well-being. For instance, a person who smokes develops the habit themselves, and over time, it leads to lung disease, corroding their own body. In this way, all the harmful tendencies within us are self-created and eventually harm us in return.