Cultivation must have strength, one must use strength to cultivate.
It just happens that today we discuss “The Buddha Speaks of Amitabha Sutra.” We are going to talk about the “Four Right Efforts” from the Thirty-seven qualities related to enlightenment. The so-called “Right Efforts” means real unwavering diligence.
I think cultivation has a very good analogy. Cultivation is like drilling wood to make a fire. Cultivating diligently everyday one is bound to gain enlightenment one day.
Using myself as an example, I wake up at an exact time every morning. Then I drive to the True Buddha Tantric Quarter, which is my old home. When I reach my old home, I enter the Buddhist Hall, light incense, practice the Four Preliminaries, when I finish the Four Preliminaries then I start writing.
I write two pages everyday, at noon I bring my lunchbox, and after eating my lunch I rest briefly.
At one in the afternoon I start replying to letters. The rest I have at noon is also the time I read the letters. Replying letters until 4pm, then it is time for me to end work.
After 4pm I go again to the Buddhist Hall to do evening cultivation. At 5pm I drive home.
This totally disciplined lifestyle has very little changes. From the past to now it has been ten to twenty years.
Coming to America and being in Taiwan, the situation is pretty similar.
If at 4pm there are visitors or special matters, after finishing the special matters I still have to cultivate. Regarding cultivation, in the morning I definitely cultivate the Four Preliminaries and in the night I cultivate Principal Deity Yoga.
Actually, I don’t have any special methods in my cultivation. Some people say “The Guru must have some special methods, we should pay special attention to how he cultivates.”
Actually there isn’t!
I am very ordinary. The only thing that is worth mentioning, is that my heart is very peaceful.
Daily having this fixed routine, never once stopping. When I am overseas, I cultivate in hotels or on planes. So talking about this, I am not great, just ordinary. But in the midst of being ordinary I maintain the Four Preliminaries once a day, one Principal Deity Yoga practice everyday.
Simply put, with perseverance, one can attain enlightenment.
In the past, many people asked, how do you write and publish books so fast?
Is it that you write in the morning, also write in the afternoon, write in the night and do not sleep?
It is not so. I only have a fixed routine that I write everyday, also that I write two pages, just like that.
There is not a single day that I slack off! Therefore my cultivation is the same as how I write, never slacking off even one day.
My books are published up to book seventy-five, now I am writing book seventy-six [Editor’s note: as of May 2026, book 308 has been published]. Fifty days equals one hundred pages, that’s one book. This is “Right Effort”.
I think doing so is no big deal and there is nothing to be proud about. But being able to maintain it is not ordinary.
This is “drilling wood to make fire.”
In the past, I used to think, when will I reach enlightenment?
The Buddha told me, you only need to take one step a day and you will reach. Never walk one thousand steps in a day and then when stopping, stop for twenty years. That is useless.
You only need to walk one step a day, and you will definitely reach your destination. This is a way of cultivation.
You can’t say that you cultivate in the morning, afternoon, night, in the middle of the night, not sleeping for a month. But if you don’t sleep for a month then you will sleep for three years in future! Cultivation in this way is deviating from the norm, it is not normal.
It says here [in Reverend Leguo’s text], if our cultivation already has bad thoughts, we have to quickly eliminate those bad thoughts. Even if we do not have bad thoughts yet we also have to guard against these bad thoughts, like flowing water seeping in. And our cultivation should be like drilling wood to make fire, because drilling wood to make fire has to be done constantly, it cannot be stopped. If you stop then you have to start all over again.
After receiving all these wondrous dharma, we hope you can progress more and more, this is the “Four Right Efforts.”
This human life, just now Master Zheng said that we would all have obstacles in our cultivation. Mainly it is due to past lives having many calamities, creating a lot of karma thus becoming obstacles to cultivation.
I think that my obstacles have now become very subtle, which is that they have become very small. My mind has also become more broad, and won’t get troubled over many small things. It means that worries have become subtle dust that disperses.
A few days ago, during meditation, I returned to the Maha Twin Lotus Pond, and all the scenes from the past appeared vividly before my eyes.
In the Maha Twin Lotus Pond, there are eighteen Great Padmakumaras [Lotus Children], each surrounded by five hundred Medium Padmakumaras, and each Medium Padmakumara is surrounded by five hundred Small Padmakumaras.
I remember that before descending to the human world, these eighteen Lotus Children all put forward their ideas. What method exactly should we use to liberate sentient beings once we go down?
Each of the eighteen Padmakumara shared their own realizations from their cultivation. Every one of them had profound enlightenment and deep insight. So True Buddha School delivers sentient beings in many expedient ways, using many expedient dharma practices to deliver sentient beings.
A little Padmakumara came forward to express his opinion.
He raised his hand and asked, “Although I, this little Lotus Child, have not yet personally attained the sacred fruition of the Tathagata but I already know the principles of becoming a Buddha.” He said, “Now I have a question for the Holy Revered One. Although I have not attained the sacred fruit of the Tathagata, after I am reborn, can I liberate sentient beings? Can I expound the Dharma?”
The great Padmakumara replied, “Even those who have not attained enlightenment can aspire to liberate sentient beings and expound the Dharma. This is called the Bodhisattva’s aspiration.”
Because you know the Buddhist principles, you know the way home, so you can tell others the way home. Even though you have never returned home yourself, you know the way and can point others home. This is called the Bodhisattva’s aspiration.
Just like now, everyone thinks, “Oh dear! How can I ask people to worship the Buddha? I haven’t even become a Buddha myself!”
Some people say, “I have been practicing until now without any response, no feeling, nothing at all. How do I dare to expound the Dharma?”
But it is possible.
Why?
Because you know where the moon is, pointing to the moon is the path. Knowing the principles of becoming a Buddha, you can expound the Dharma. This is called “the Bodhisattva’s aspiration.”
If you have personally attained Buddhahood, achieved the sacred fruition of the Tathagata, and then use your experience to explain to sentient beings, guiding them to perfect enlightenment, this is called “the Tathagata manifesting in the world.”
Therefore, “the Bodhisattva’s aspiration” and “the Tathagata manifesting in the world” are ways for delivering sentient beings.
This little Lotus Child was overjoyed, as he was able to go to the human realm to help sentient beings. Because of this Bodhisattva’s aspiration, a celestial fruit fell from heaven. After eating this fruit, his resolve to follow the Way was strengthened, and he would never waver in his resolve.
In the future, I will write about this celestial fruit in a book. It turns out that the one who bestowed these fruits to all the Padmakumara is the Most Celestially Venerated Golden Mother of the Jade Pond.
I recall that in the past Amitabha Buddha personally entrusted me with the task of visiting Vairocana Buddha at the Mahavairocana Palace in the Dharma Realm, then returning to the Maha Twin Lotus Pond for an assembly.
Afterwards, all the Padmakumara descended to be reborn. This rebirth wasn’t an immediate fall into the human realm, a sudden fall would result in a head injury. So, it was a gradual descent, layer by layer.
We also visited the Maheshvara Heaven, which is the realm of the Mara king [the tempter, who is the leader of the demons]. We met the Mara king, who said, “In the future, I will disguise myself to be just like you.”
He comes to help us, to give us tests. We practitioners will all face tests.
Actually, these tests are very good. They help us achieve satisfactory results, cultivate diligently, and transcend the challenges.
It’s like surfing in Hawaii, the waves rise higher and higher, but as long as we don’t fall, we can keep going and fly even higher.
I can write about these tests when I’m old. I have a hundred trials, but if I pass them all, I will become a Buddha. If I fail, then I’ll try again in the next life!
Therefore, we should not fear difficulties or demons. The greater the disaster or test, the higher we elevate ourselves. Therefore demons are here to help us.
There are many good things about demons. If we fear demons and fail their tests, then we are very ordinary.
When I was in the Maheshvara Heaven, the Mara King said to me, “We are brothers, good friends, or maybe husband and wife. Only by associating with demons can your spiritual path transcend. Without demonic tests, you are merely an ordinary person.”
I hope everyone will not be troubled or afraid of demons, but maintain inner peace and tranquility, and regard demons as nonexistent. You will live a very happy life in this world. No matter how great the demonic difficulties, they cannot hinder the Padmakumara’s faith, because your mind for the way will never change and will never waver. With an unchanging and unwavering resolve, as long as you cultivate daily, you will surely return to the Maha Twin Lotus Pond.
Om Mani Padme Hum