In the Infinite Life Sutra, it mentions the states of eating and walking meditation in the Pure Land, but in fact, all of those sentences and words are nothing but the Return to Self-nature. In fact, all of the scenes and images in the Pure Land are nothing but the expression of the Return to Self-nature. The sutra compares reading sutras to eating and then walking to digest what we eat. The purpose of our study of Buddhism is to attain a pure mind. When the mind is settled, wisdom arises. Therefore, the word "eating" means the Self-nature is constantly settled, the word "walking meditation" means the Self-nature is constantly giving birth to wisdom. The Self-nature is constantly settled, the Self-nature is constantly giving birth to wisdom, which is fundamentally enlightened. Fundamentally enlightened and fundamental enlightened are the fundamental nature of the True Mind. Once our mind returns to the Self-nature, constantly settled, constantly wise, it is called Return to Self-nature. When we read a sentence or a word in a Buddhist sutra with a mind that does not cling to appearances, and then gives birth to concentration and wisdom, then that is called being in accordance with the principle. Now, if we finish reading the entire sutra, then samadhi and wisdom arise, the wisdom in Self-nature naturally manifests, we understand the true meaning of the Tathagata, in the mind truly attain true enjoyment, corresponding to the True Nature, then that is also called "Returning to Self-nature". "Returning to Self-nature" is also called "mind attainment", "mind attainment" is the Self-mind clearly understanding, the Self-mind realizing in accordance with the principle of True Nature. If we study Buddhism but cannot "Return to Self-nature", cannot attain true enjoyment in Buddhism, then studying Buddhism is not appropriate, not that Buddhism is not appropriate!

What is "Constantly Concentrated Self-nature"? Self-nature is inherently constant. If the mind is always concentrated, not scattered, not shaken by external realms, it must correspond to Self-nature. In Buddhism, the elephant is often used as an example to describe the realm of constant concentration. We see that the elephant's steps are very steady, slow, and graceful, as if it is always in samadhi. When an elephant walks, stands, lies, sits, or sleeps, whatever it thinks is in samadhi, there is never a moment when it is not in samadhi. Therefore, we do not need to sit cross-legged to be called samadhi. We are samadhi when we walk, stand anywhere, or lie down and sleep. The mind is never not in samadhi, never scattered, that is called constant samadhi. Normally, when we practice reciting Buddha's name, we are often interrupted by external circumstances, unable to recite continuously, because our mind is not always in samadhi. Venerable Master Chin Kung told a story about a lay Buddhist who once helped Dharma masters organize many Dharma assemblies throughout the country and abroad, advised many people to recite Buddha's name, and went to help many people recite Buddha's name at the time of death. But he himself did not have time to recite Buddha's name. Every day he was too busy with things like building a Buddha recitation hall, visiting the sick, advising people to recite Buddha, propagating the Dharma to benefit living beings, etc. All day long he ran back and forth, had too many external circumstances, and worried too much that he had no time to sleep. At that time, someone warned him: “If you don’t calm your mind and recite Buddha’s name, you will die an unsightly death!” He was a person who was well-versed in the Pure Land Dharma, and often advised others to concentrate on reciting Buddha’s name to seek rebirth in the Pure Land. Of course, he immediately reflected and repeatedly refused external circumstances, closing the door to practice meditation. But fundamentally, he could not be at peace. One time he fell ill and wanted to stay home and recite Buddha’s name for a few days, but unexpectedly, the phone kept ringing from morning to night without stopping. When he cut the phone line, someone came to his house and knocked on the door to look for him. Finally, in an accident on the road, he died suddenly. When he died, there was not a single relative or fellow practitioner by his side to help. After he died, he was immediately taken to a cold room in the hospital. When relatives came to receive the body and removed the veil covering the face, it was just as the warning said: “Death is very unsightly.” This story is a mirror of the car in front that overturned, causing us to think carefully, hoping not to follow in the footsteps of the previous car. We practice the Dharma of one recitation of Buddha’s name, determined to be reborn in this life, we must clearly distinguish between big and small matters in our hearts. What is the biggest and most important thing in life? We must constantly recite the Buddha’s name to maintain a steady mind, and regard the Amitabha Buddha’s name as a talisman, not allowing external circumstances to interrupt it. People of superior faculties can naturally recite constantly, and can walk, stand, lie down, sit, and do all kinds of work without external circumstances interrupting the Buddha’s name in their hearts. However, people of inferior faculties whose minds are not steady are easily influenced by external circumstances. Therefore, if we clearly know that we are of inferior faculties and want to achieve the path of enlightenment, we must temporarily reject external circumstances. It is best to have no external conditions, do not take the initiative in external conditions, never be distracted by them, great matters are not as good as small matters, small matters are not as good as no matters. Once caught in external conditions, they will follow us forever, there is no way to escape.

What is the eternal wisdom of the Self-nature? Shakyamuni Buddha once taught: “All sentient beings have already become Buddhas.” This shows us that our True Mind has never been scattered, and is forever still and constant. However, we are not like Buddhas at present because we use our conscious mind, not our True Mind. Every day, we use our conscious mind to contact external conditions, causing our mind to be scattered and not steady, so we do not have the patience to continuously recite the Buddha's name without interruption. Furthermore, most of us often use our emotions, not our reason, to learn Buddhism, only like to listen to simple Dharma, not like to listen to profound Dharma, so our wisdom does not always grow. The troubles of ordinary people all come from this! We must know that if the Buddha's teachings were too simple, the reasoning would be difficult to fit together, and the listener would only be able to perceive the Buddha's teachings in a vague, imaginary way, unable to understand them accurately, clearly, distinctly, and profoundly. The listener might even misunderstand the entire meaning of the Buddha, causing the Buddha's teachings to become non-dharma, causing the Buddha's teachings to become a demonic realm, causing the listener's Bodhi mind and aspiration to be reborn as a Buddha to disappear in an instant like clouds or smoke. Why does this problem exist? Because the listener of the Buddha's sutras uses emotions, not reason. The Buddha uses reason to speak the truth, while ordinary people use emotions to listen, thus causing great disaster.

What are emotions? Emotions are the eight consciousnesses, which are deluded thoughts. For example, we now see lectures on the Pure Land Dharma posted online. They say that rebirth is not real, no one has seen Amitabha Buddha come to guide the dying to rebirth. Many people, upon hearing such comments, do not believe that Amitabha Buddha manifests to guide the dying to rebirth, do not believe in the appearances of those reborn. They say that the Three Pure Land Sutras do not mention these appearances. Actually, they are mistaken, and they have caused others to be mistaken. Let us read the chapter on the Rebirth of the Right Person of the Infinite Life Sutra, and we will see the sentence: “This person, when his life ends, will have a form like the Buddha, each and every one of them dignified, and will be born in a precious land.” What does this sentence say? Those who are reborn will have beautiful appearances on their physical bodies, soft bodies, fresh and rosy complexions, warm crowns of their heads, etc. Some people even stand to be reborn, sit to be reborn, etc. These are all beautiful appearances that appear on the physical bodies of those who are reborn. People who recite Buddha's name and are reborn in the Pure Land because they have left the eight consciousnesses and attained the Unconfused One Mind, so they can see the Buddha appear to guide them. How do they see the Buddha? With their own True Mind and Original Nature, not with the eight consciousnesses. We ordinary people only use the eight consciousnesses, so even if we sit right next to people who are reborn, we have no way to see the Buddha or Bodhisattva. Is it because we cannot see that we deny what others see? We cannot see the Buddha, so we cannot be reborn. Others see the Buddha, so they are reborn. This is a natural principle! For example: A person with good eyesight can of course see everything that is presented before their eyes, but a blind person cannot see anything. Due to the power of Amitabha Buddha's protection and acceptance at the time of death, that person's mind is pure and not scattered, so he sees the Buddha come to guide them to be reborn. But the masses at the scene, because of their confused minds, cannot see the Buddha. People who recite Buddha's name and attain the Unconfused One Mind are like people with good eyesight, while those with delusions, discriminations, and attachments are like blind people who cannot see. In other words, whenever our mind is constantly calm and wise, we will see Buddhas and Bodhisattvas; as long as we still use the eight consciousnesses, we still cannot see Buddhas and Bodhisattvas appearing to guide us to rebirth.

We must know that the Forty-Eight Great Vows of Amitabha Buddha only come down to one vow: to guide sentient beings to rebirth in the Pure Land! Therefore, Amitabha Buddha has the title of Guide and Teacher. Seeing Amitabha Buddha means rebirth, rebirth means seeing Buddha. If one of these two things is not true, then is Amitabha Buddha's Great Vows just a name without reality? If a Pure Land practitioner does not believe in seeing Buddhas being reborn, then what is the point of reciting Pure Land sutras and chanting Amitabha Buddha's name every day? Therefore, we must know to use reason, we cannot use our conscious mind to judge the state of mind of those being reborn. The state of mind of those being reborn is constantly calm and wise. As for the mind of ordinary people, we are constantly generating delusions, discriminations, and attachments. What is reason? The Shurangama Sutra says: “Eternally abiding True Mind.” Reason is the True Nature, the unmoving True Mind, the everlasting True Mind. Each of us has an everlasting True Mind, which in the Buddha does not increase in the slightest, and in ordinary people does not lack in the slightest. That True Mind is inherently constant, not scattered, not defiled, not pure, not born, not destroyed, not coming, not going. Therefore, only when our mind is constantly steady and unmoving, will reason be present. Whenever the mind moves, it is ignorance, not wisdom. If we know how to use the unmoving True Mind to learn Buddhism, we will soon attain Self-nature. Although we ordinary people have an unmoving True Mind exactly like the Buddha, we do not know how to use it, only using delusions, discriminations, and attachments, so we often give rise to delusions, create karma, and suffer. This is a very unjust matter. Buddhas and Bodhisattvas use the True Mind, we use the deluded mind. The difference is simply a difference in the way we use our minds! We study Buddhism to understand that there is no difference between Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and we. It is only because of the different ways we use our minds that these different appearances appear.

The Buddha said: “The countless Dharma doors are just one Dharma.” Buddhas and Bodhisattvas appear in the world and speak of countless Dharma doors to teach living beings, but in fact, all of those Dharma doors are just one Dharma. That one Dharma is to teach living beings how to use the True Mind like the Buddha. Therefore, once we clearly understand and know how to use the True Mind and no longer use the deluded mind, we will immediately restore our instincts like the Buddha. In ordinary language, the True Mind is reason. Reason is the mind that is not ignorant, it is the Self-nature that is always wise. In the chapter on the Appearance of the Tathagata in the Avatamsaka Sutra, the World-Honored One clearly stated: “All sentient beings possess the wisdom and virtues of the Tathagata, so all sentient beings have already become Buddhas.” Although we truly have the True Mind of constant concentration and constant wisdom, because of excessive delusion and attachment, it cannot function at present. We are currently ordinary beings who have not yet attained enlightenment. If we cannot function with the True Mind, how can we see the Buddha appear to guide others? We definitely cannot see the Buddha. Only when we attain the Self-nature of constant concentration and constant wisdom can we see the Buddha appear to guide rebirth. Even Arhats, Pratyekabuddhas, and Bodhisattvas cannot always see the Buddha, so how can we see it? When the Great Saints wanted to see the Buddha and hear the Dharma, they practiced the Eight Consciousness Samadhi, standing still in one place, concentrating their minds for ninety days and ninety nights without interruption to attain constant concentration, then they could see the Buddha appear in the middle of the void.

The Amitabha Sutra also says, if a good man or woman single-mindedly recites the Buddha's name for seven days and seven nights without interruption, and attains the Unconfused One-Mind, they will see Amitabha Buddha and the holy assembly appear right before them. Why does reciting the Buddha's name have such early results? It is all due to the mighty blessing of Amitabha Buddha that the person reciting the Buddha's name has a constant concentration and wisdom, so he or she can quickly see the Buddha, hear the Dharma, and attain the Unsurpassed Patience. In the past, in the Dong Lam Lien Xa of the First Patriarch Hui Yuan, at Lu Shan Mountain, there were a total of one hundred and twenty-three fellow practitioners, all of whom saw with their own eyes Amitabha Buddha, Guan Yin, Mahasthamaprapta, and the holy assembly manifest holy forms. Why were they able to see? Because they all recited the Buddha's name, were blessed by the Buddha, and quickly attained the state of One Mind without Distraction. Their minds were always calm and always wise, so while they were still alive, they saw with their own eyes the holy forms of Buddha and Bodhisattva appearing to guide others to rebirth. Afterwards, all one hundred and twenty-three of them also passed away one after another, leaving behind beautiful and rare signs, just as the Great Infinite Life Sutra recorded: "When this person's life ended, his appearance was like that of the Buddha, each and every one of them dignified, and he was born into the precious land."