Good evening, fellow Buddhists and disciples of the Guan Yin Citta Dharma Door from all over the world. Master is teaching you the “Buddhism in Plain Language” today. The most important thing is to help you become enlightened and understand your true nature.

In this world, each of us sometimes does not know ourselves. We can know others, but we cannot know ourselves. Just like a person who has many problems but does not know it, and only slowly knows it when others tell him, “Oh, I am still like this?” In fact, if you do not know yourself, you cannot find your own karma and cause and effect. Therefore, anyone who studies Buddhism must start from truly knowing oneself. If you do not even know yourself, you do not know how much energy and ability you have to do certain things – how big your appetite is today, what you can do today… Only by understanding yourself can you understand others. So if a person does not even know the various abilities in himself, and does not know what he can do at all, how can he understand Buddhism? Therefore, only by truly learning to know oneself can you be a good person throughout your life. It is not just about being a Buddha, but also about being a human being. You must know yourself – how many shortcomings do I have? I am a person who is easily influenced by others; I like to pass on what others say; I like to do something before I really understand it… Then this is a person’s problem.

Therefore, those who truly learn Buddhism must understand themselves, and then they can control themselves; only after they have controlled themselves can they have no self – forget themselves. Therefore, those who learn Buddhism are willing to endure hardships, always thinking about others, and everything for sentient beings. Just like a mother at home, she always thinks about her children and others in her mind. The mother has suffered a lot. Because her heart thinks about others, she is respected by others. In fact, people who know how to think about others have already possessed the infinite realm. When you make friends, if a person starts talking about himself – talking about his feelings, talking about himself, this person does not have the infinite realm.

Only by letting go of yourself can you truly understand sentient beings. In the past, many disciples followed their masters to learn Buddhism. They meditated, chanted sutras, and kowtowed every day. They said, “Can I become a Buddha this way?” The master told them, “You can’t become a Buddha by meditating, and you can’t become a Buddha by chanting sutras.” So many disciples asked the master, “Then how can I become a Buddha?” The master told them, “Because Buddha never thought about becoming a Buddha.” This philosophy tells us that we only need to work hard and not ask for the harvest. How can many people become respected people? How can a Buddhist learner become a bodhisattva? Because he has no self. He has never thought, “What should I do today? Is it for my future, my fame, my profit…”, because he has forgotten everything.

Only when there is no self-image can there be a Buddha image. How can a selfish person have a Buddha image? So the Buddha never thought about becoming a Buddha, but he became a Buddha. A kind person never thought about taking advantage of others, but he finally became a respected person. What did the Buddha think about? The Buddha only thought about: how to save sentient beings? How to give alms to others? How to make everyone’s heart full of wisdom and wisdom? Buddhas and Bodhisattvas think about how to help others and make things convenient for sentient beings every day. If we think about giving up ourselves every day, think more about others, serve others in everything, think every day “I should do more for him, I should help him, I should take responsibility”, and then silently give every day, and do not boast about ourselves, slowly just understand, tolerate, and forgive in responsibility, and have no desire or greed in learning Buddhism, this is desirelessness. A person who gives without desire is a future Bodhisattva.

As human beings, no matter what we do, we should not imagine “what I can do, what I will become in the future, what I want to get”, everything is just a dream. In this world, only by treating sentient beings sincerely, loving sentient beings sincerely, and being tolerant of others sincerely, can we give up all our Buddha hearts, and you will obtain the Buddha nature of sentient beings, because you have saved the Buddha nature of sentient beings. Many people say every day “I want to become a Buddha, I want to achieve it in this life, I want to get… I can achieve it in this life, I can change myself”, but in fact, Buddha does not have such needs. Because no matter what happens, Buddha has no desire for us, so when we do things and live as human beings, we should not always plan for ourselves. People who can truly think for others and live for others have the power of vows. Do you think many people have the power of vows? They have the power of vows. Where is the power of vows? The power of vows is in the heart. The power of vows is not told to others, but is cultivated silently with sincerity.

The way to practice aspiration: If you have aspiration today, you still need to practice it; when you practice this aspiration, you can achieve the right result. Buddha never thought about becoming a Buddha, nor did he think about helping others, but Buddha is doing Buddha’s work every day, saving sentient beings, how could he not become a Buddha? We humans want to be a good person, as long as you do good things every day, and don’t think “I am a good person”, aren’t you a good person? So how do merits come? Silently work hard.

If a person can get rid of his physical faults and the greed, anger, and ignorance in his heart, he is actually practicing diligently on the path of Buddhism.

Most people learn Buddhism and worship Buddha with a purpose. If you ask for something, it means you want to get something, and then you will have a mind of gain and loss. No matter what good deeds I do today, I did not ask for anything. I think it is right to learn from Bodhisattvas, it is right to learn from Buddhas, and it is right to give to others. I do not have any conditions in exchange for myself, otherwise I cannot achieve Buddhahood. Why do many people give up but cannot get anything? Because when they give up, they think about getting it back. If a person can get it directly, it is actually that he has given up. Buddha has never thought about getting anything from us, but Buddha has been helping us. Isn’t this our blessing? Isn’t it the blessing given to us by Buddha because we do good deeds ourselves? Therefore, as a human being, we must learn to have infinite virtues, and then we will have infinite blessings. How do infinite virtues come from? It is from keeping precepts. Where does infinite virtue come from? That is because you give without any selfishness. When a person gives without selfishness, you have morality.

People who learn Buddhism should not live for themselves, be good people, and help others more. When you help others selflessly, don’t you get anything? On the surface, some theories are empty. It is not easy to achieve a selfless and selfless state of mind! But in real life, there are many people who do selfless and selfless work. This is what Master often tells you. A mother has no self. She takes care of her children and family without selfishness. She doesn’t want to get anything from this family at all. She just gives blindly. This is the selflessness and selflessness of a mother. Therefore, mothers all over the world are very respected and are called great mothers. When a person gives selflessly, you break your “self-image”. Just like many people do a lot of good things, people say: “You have done so many good things, and your merits are immeasurable!” “No, I didn’t do anything. I don’t have merits, and I don’t have virtues.” Do you actually have merits? Yes. Do you need to talk about it yourself? This is a way to learn Buddhism and be a person.

Merit and virtue are in your inner thoughts and actions. How do you get your merit? When you just think about helping others, you have merit. “I want to help him, I want to save him, I want to support him.” This is merit. When you really do it, your virtue will come, because your morality makes you spend time and sacrifice your own interests for the benefit of others. Then you are in the state of no form. Not for yourself, but only for others, which means that you already have the precepts in your inner consciousness. What is the precepts? “Precepts” is the precepts of precepts, and “Tao” is the Buddhist way. If a person wants to achieve the Buddhist way, he must observe the precepts. When you restrain your selfish desires to help others, you have the precepts.

Many people have too many selfish thoughts in their lives and in their daily lives. Every day, they have too many greed, delusions, and fantasies. They want this, ask for that, and cannot control their thoughts at all. What is a mind? When someone tells you something, your mind moves. This is called a mind. What is a thought? When you see delicious food or beautiful things, you want to possess them, then a thought comes out; when you do not understand something, you will have a distracting thought. When a person has a mind, he is actually using cause and effect to do his own behavior.

Cause and effect are very severe, and they are a shadow that cannot be shaken off. A person who does not have a pure mind will definitely create causes and results. Nowadays, we always ask, “What will be the result?” You know the result best. If you stole something today, you were caught by others; if you spoke ill of others today, you were scolded by others. The result is the fruit that is produced. If you produce good deeds, you will have good results; if you are pure, you will have pure results; if you are harmonious today, you will have harmonious results; if you truly observe the precepts, you will get the fruit of the precepts. A person who observes the precepts well will often have people say to him, “You observe the precepts well.” “How come you are not angry? How can you let go? How can you think clearly about everything and let go of everything?” In fact, this person knows very well in his heart, because today is today and tomorrow is tomorrow. Is today the same as tomorrow? No. Is tomorrow the same as next week? No. Is next week the same as next month? No. Is next month the same as next year? No. Everything is changing, so it is called impermanence.

We are stupid because when we can’t figure things out, we still try hard to get into it, and try hard to think about it. Every day, we violate the precepts with our thoughts and intentions. Do you think that there is a day when you don’t violate the precepts? Even if you are driving and see a pretty girl, you look at her a little longer, you violate the precepts; if you see a handsome guy today and you look at him a little longer, you violate the precepts; if you are a Buddhist today and you think you should take a little more, you also violate the precepts. Everything is caused by your thoughts and intentions.