How Should Buddhist Practitioners Truly Seeking Liberation Proceed?

Buddhists who genuinely seek liberation should carefully examine the various sensations within their minds during daily life, scrutinizing what they crave, what matters to them, and what consumes their thoughts and energy. Once identified, they should analyze the nature of this mentality, its significance, and its consequences. Then, they must find ways to counteract their cravings and sensations. By doing so, their practice will remove obscurations, and progress on the path will accelerate.

Our habits of greed accumulated over countless eons are deeply ingrained and difficult to recognize, for they have become second nature. Only those who have overcome and subdued these habits can perceive greed in themselves and others. It is like living long in a fragrant courtyard without noticing the scent, or dwelling near a cesspit without detecting the stench. Only those outside the fragrant courtyard can perceive its fragrance, and only those beyond the cesspit can smell its foulness.

The scope of greed is vast; any attachment within the desire realm constitutes greed. Masters of poetry and literature, painters who wield their brushes with ease—most are reborn in the ghost realm to indulge their passions, for such pursuits belong to greed. How much more so for other attachments, especially romantic love, which inevitably leads to rebirth in the ghost realm. Those who frequently paint horses, capturing their likeness with uncanny skill, are reborn in the womb of a horse after death. Those who often write ghost stories, achieving great vividness, are reborn as ghosts. Whatever occupies one’s mind constantly, one will accompany after death. A painter wholly absorbed in painting horses, with a mind attuned to horses, will be reborn as a horse. Those who immerse themselves in writing tales of ghosts and spirits, their minds resonating with such beings, will become ghosts after death. By contrast, if we recite the Buddha’s name, our minds resonate with the Buddha, and we will be born near the Buddha. A mind aligned with virtue leads to rebirth in a virtuous realm; a mind aligned with evil leads to rebirth in an evil realm.

When karmic retribution in the ghost realm ends, if some merit remains, one is reborn in the animal realm. When karmic retribution in the animal realm concludes, those with residual merit may return to the human realm. Thus, the time spent in a human body is exceedingly brief, while the duration in the three lower realms is immensely long. For every sentient being, suffering predominates, and joy is scarce. Therefore, we should plan for future lives, enjoying fewer pleasures now to preserve more merit for later. Only with abundant merit can we swiftly regain human birth.

Those with profound roots of virtue and merit dwell near the Buddha, guided and influenced by Him, progressing swiftly in their practice. Even without the Buddha, those near bodhisattvas free from afflictions or near arhats also advance rapidly—just as he who stays near vermilion gets stained red, and he who stays near ink gets stained black. Gross greed may still be observable with careful attention, but subtle greed is pervasive and nearly impossible to detect except by those who have eradicated afflictions. How rare is the opportunity to attain a human body! How fleeting is the time spent in human form! How exceedingly scarce and difficult it is to attain liberation and realize fruition in this human life! For those of us who have already obtained this human body, how should we seize this precious opportunity to diligently cultivate and realize even a small measure of liberation? This is a question we should ponder deeply and often.