If you frequently speak about the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas but fail to truly understand and apply their teachings in your life, your merit and virtue will be nearly non-existent. This is why both understanding and practice are essential. What is practice? It is cultivation. And what is understanding? It is cultivating your mind. If someone does not deeply comprehend the Dharma Door they are practising and neglects the foundational principles of Buddhism—neither understanding nor practising them—they will not accumulate any merit or virtue.
For example, imagine someone is about to fall. Suppose you haven’t learned Buddhism before, and you instinctively help them up as a reflex, without any thought of compassion. In that case, you’ve simply performed a kind deed. However, if you feel genuine compassion and think, “Oh no, this elderly person might get hurt. I should help them. They are like my own parents, or perhaps they are a past or future Buddha,” then your mindset reflects a higher level of spiritual understanding. When your state of mind is elevated, your actions align with a higher spiritual realm. If you act with genuine sincerity, the reward is a profound sense of fulfilment. Conversely, if your actions lack sincerity and come from a shallow place, the reward will also be superficial.
We all know that nothing in this world comes without effort. Hoping for rewards without putting in the work is simply impossible. Take the example of my disciple, Yu, who is now regarded as a teacher because of the many questions he has answered. How did he gain so much knowledge? It’s because he spent every day asking me questions and learning. What he learned from me has become his own understanding. The knowledge you absorb today from my Dharma Talk becomes your own, but if you keep it to yourself, you are not truly putting it into practice. What you learn from me today is meant to be applied.
You should seize every opportunity to perform meritorious deeds. In your daily life, strive to accumulate merit and virtue, help others often, and share your understanding of the Dharma. If you don’t teach or assist others, you are not truly practising Mahayana Buddhism. During this Age of Dharma Decline, a Buddhist practice that focuses solely on personal cultivation cannot save others—nor can it save yourself.
Let me make this very clear: if you can put what I’ve taught you into practice, it truly becomes your own. I hope that each of you, like me, will work to guide and awaken sentient beings. I want every one of you to be able to share profound life wisdom with others. Join me on this great aircraft carrier, rescuing and guiding sentient beings. Otherwise, if you stay on your own small boat, you’ll see so many people struggling in the water and simply say, “Oh, how pitiful! Guan Yin Bodhisattva, please save them,” while doing nothing yourself. My goal is for you to extend your hand and pull them up yourself. If you spend your days reciting scriptures solely for yourself, without understanding their meaning or acting on them—and worse, if your recitation lacks sincerity—you will not receive the Bodhisattva’s blessings. You must understand how to awaken yourself before you can awaken others. This is why you must recite with sincerity.
When karmic obstacles surface, the first step is to eliminate them. Only after clearing these obstacles can you cultivate your mind effectively. Otherwise, karmic forces will disrupt you, making it impossible to achieve inner peace. When karmic forces are active, they run wild. Let me give you an example: when someone feels restless and troubled, they might think, “I need to recite scriptures.” While their mouth recites, their heart remains heavy and agitated. They struggle to focus and feel the urge to stand up and do something else. This inability to control the mind is what I call karmic forces running wild. Similarly, someone might sit down to recite scriptures but be consumed with thoughts about family matters. They might think, “I want to recite sutras, I want to recite sutras,” but their mind is entirely preoccupied. This is another example of karmic forces running wild. The mindset you bring to cultivating your mind determines the results you receive. If you cultivate with a compassionate heart, you will experience compassionate outcomes. If you cultivate with a restless, anxious mind, the results of your efforts will mirror that restlessness. Do you understand?
How can a person find peace within? The best way is to cultivate contentment and embrace the joy of simplicity. This is effective for ordinary people. However, for Buddhist practitioners, we should follow the teaching: “eliminate the three poisons—greed, anger, and ignorance.” When you reflect and think, “I already have everything I need in life. Although this issue troubles me, I’m still very fortunate,” your mind will begin to settle. Eradicating greed, anger, and ignorance from your mind also involves avoiding these three poisons. When you let go of greed, you free yourself from the desires that cause suffering. When you stop harbouring resentment toward others, your heart becomes free of turmoil. When you overcome ignorance and release the yearning for things you cannot have, you achieve inner peace. Conversely, if you cannot quiet your mind, you will end up being driven by habitual behaviours—especially bad habits—and fall into the endless cycle of rebirth in the six realms of existence. Take, for example, a woman who marries three times. Why does this happen? Could it be that she has no flaws of her own? Of course, she must have unresolved issues. The first marriage fails, the second ends the same way, and after her third marriage, she divorces again. She’s trapped in a cycle of repetition, isn’t she? She keeps making the same mistakes, refusing to learn from them—don’t you think? The greatest danger lies in a lack of self-awareness.
If a person doesn’t cultivate their mind, it’s like an elderly person climbing a hill, trying to grab onto a railing because their legs can’t support them. When they can’t grasp anything, fear sets in. Life is much the same. Without a railing for support, we stumble and fall, sometimes even plunging off a cliff. That railing, the source of stability and strength, is what learning and practising Buddhism provides. Imagine someone falling from a height. In such a moment, their best chance is to grab onto something to stop the fall. When disasters strike, when your family faces difficulties, or when you’re diagnosed with a serious illness like cancer, your instinct is to hold onto something for support. If there’s nothing there, you’ll continue to tumble down. But what you’re reaching for in those moments isn’t built overnight—it’s cultivated over time. That’s why it’s so essential to study the Buddha-dharma consistently. Without it, your hands will be empty, and your heart will feel lost, with no direction in life. While you may not have physically fallen off a cliff, many of you have likely had dreams of falling from a great height, experiencing overwhelming fear. Isn’t it terrifying? That’s why it’s so important to learn Buddhism. You must remain resolute and unwavering in your commitment. Your heart must be focused. Choose a goal and dedicate yourself wholeheartedly to practising Buddhism.
At the end of life, we leave everything behind. We take nothing with us and gain nothing in the end. Think about it: we can’t truly possess anything. Let me give you a simple example. Life can be divided into three stages: childhood, youth, and old age. In childhood, you might win awards, earn certificates, or receive recognition at school. At the time, you felt so proud and excited, much like the joy of graduating from university. But how much of that excitement do you still feel now? When you started university, did those high school achievements still matter? And as you near the end of your life, will the events of primary school, high school, or even university truly hold any significance? At the end of life, the things you care about most are your family, yet even then, you must leave them behind. You cannot hold onto the money you’ve worked so hard for—you’ll have to let it go. Everything you have is temporary because, eventually, you must part with it all, whether you want to or not. Life is full of such helplessness. Once you leave your body, where will you go? It’s truly pitiful. That’s why you must learn to let go when the time comes. Release attachments when necessary. Show care for those you love from your heart, not just through outward actions. You can love someone deeply without needing to be with them every day.
Many of you come here to learn Buddhism and the Buddha-dharma from me. By sitting here, you’re also bringing blessings and shelter to your families. Isn’t that true? By becoming my disciples, your homes gain peace and harmony. Isn’t that a form of cultivation? Isn’t that what spiritual practice is all about? Do you think sitting here is a waste of time—that you should instead be with your family? On the contrary, because you’re studying Buddhism, practising the Dharma, and reciting Buddhist scriptures, your family naturally receives blessings and protection. Isn’t that a meaningful way of caring for them?
If you want to live a meaningful life and extend your time in this world, don’t waste it. Spend your time reciting scriptures, cultivating your mind, and helping others—that’s how to make life truly worthwhile. Running around aimlessly every day is simply wasting time. What are you trying to achieve? Think about it: if you’re engaging in an activity with me or under my guidance, such as travelling overseas for Dharma events, its purpose is to spread the Buddha-dharma, helping you accumulate merit and virtue. On the other hand, if you’re travelling purely for leisure, it’s simply a way of wasting time. Can you travel to the Heavens? The beautiful scenes I’ve seen in the heavenly realms are far beyond anything you could ever see in your lifetime. These breathtakingly serene and ethereal landscapes resemble scenes from a movie—completely transcendent. Now think about it: when you travel, you spend hours on a plane to visit another country, only to endure another long flight back. Isn’t that exhausting?
When you leave this world and exist as a spiritual being, do you know what you’ll see in the Heavens? Those who have read the Amitabha Sutra know of the Seven-Treasure Pools, the Eight Meritorious Waters, and the golden ground. Imagine a place where everything is made of gold. Would you still pick up a piece of gold to hoard it, any more than you’d bother picking up a pebble on the road? People think the human world is so wonderful, but it’s all illusory and empty. What has the human world truly given you? Has it brought you lasting happiness? No—it only brings sorrow, worry, suffering, and pain. It burdens you with the harsh realities of life: birth, old age, sickness, and death. The hardest truth to accept is that you must die. When you lie in bed, unable to let go of this or that, how do you think that will feel? Stop wasting your time and make the most of it by diligently practising.
Let me set a high standard for you: whenever you do something, ask yourself, “Does this create merit and virtue? Am I practising Buddhism through this? Is what I’m doing correct?” That’s what I do. In everything I undertake, I think, “Am I practising Buddhism? Is this the right thing to do?” Even when you eat, reflect, “By choosing one more vegetarian meal, I’m reducing the harm of eating meat.” When you approach every action with such mindfulness, the Bodhisattvas will notice and think, “This is a good child, a child with spiritual cultivation.”
I hope you cherish this principle I’ve taught you: always think of others first and yourself second. That’s how I live my life. Learn to let go of everything. As long as you remain attached to things like fame, fortune, or even your children, you won’t achieve freedom or transcendence. And nobody knows where your spirit will go when your time comes. Understand? You must truly awaken to this and learn to transcend. If your mind is always attached to the past, you will never find peace. Learn to forget. I’ve said before in Buddhism in Plain Terms that having a poor memory can actually be a blessing. For example, when a painful memory keeps haunting you, the best solution is to let it go and forget it. That’s all for today.