In the world we experience, what truly constitutes “existence,” and what truly constitutes “form”? Many people believe that only what can be seen with the eyes and touched by the hands is real, while anything invisible is dismissed as unreal. Yet the truth revealed by the Buddha is precisely the opposite: the most fundamental and powerful layers of reality are often those beyond ordinary sensory perception. From dreams and meditative absorption to the subtle resonance between the human mind and all beings, everything points to a profound principle — the state of one’s mind determines the world one inhabits, and one’s virtue determines what one attracts.
💤 Understanding “Form” Through Dreams
🌙 Dream Images: Clearly Seen by Oneself, Invisible to Others
Take dreaming as an example: in a dream, are there forms and appearances? We cannot say there are no forms, because after waking, when we recall the dream, every scene is crystal clear—whom we met in the dream, what they were doing, the condition of the environment—it all feels real. How could that be without form(色相)? Since there is form, why is it that when we are dreaming, people beside us cannot see it? From this we can understand what the Buddha described as the “formless realm(无色界).” It is like dream states or meditative states: one perceives everything clearly and vividly, yet others cannot detect it. Even if someone is next to us, whether they are awake or asleep, they cannot enter our dream; they cannot see the scenes within it. That is the principle.
👁️ Two Levels of Perception — Ordinary vs. Cultivated
🧘 When the Mind Is Pure, One Can Even Perceive Another’s Dream
If a person has spiritual skill—meaning their mind has been purified to a certain degree—then when you dream, they can see it. In the legendary tale The Yellow Millet Dream, a scholar dozes off and has a dream, and the old Taoist beside him, who has meditative power, knows everything the scholar experiences in that dream. How is that possible? Because dream-states are manifestations of the mind(心识所显现出来的境界), and the Taoist could see the manifestation.
🌈 Coarse Form, Subtle Form, Extremely Subtle Form(色有粗色、显色、极微细色)
👑 Buddhas Perceive All — Even the Faintest Thought and the Finest Form
From these examples, we can understand that color-form has levels: coarse form, manifest form, and extremely subtle form—levels that ordinary people cannot perceive. The purity of the Buddha’s and Bodhisattvas’ minds is beyond our imagination. We trust in their profound meditative absorption(甚深禅定): in their state, every extremely subtle thought and phenomenon of all sentient beings appears perfectly clear, instantly understood.
Therefore, awareness and “I” are one. Since they are one, form is also one.
🐾 Moral Cultivation Influences Even the Smallest Creatures
🌟 Virtue Naturally Inspires Respect — Even from Insects and Small Animals
“Even if one cannot personally cultivate supreme virtue to the point where small animals respect and love me…”—meaning that even if we cannot perfect our moral character to the highest level so that little creatures revere us and draw close to us.
After Master Yinguang turned seventy, not a single mosquito, ant, cockroach, or flea could be found in his room. His moral cultivation had reached such a level that these tiny beings revered him and came to protect him; how would they dare to disturb him? Therefore, when we possess virtue and use virtue to influence them, they will never come to bother us.
🌱 Cultivating the Mind Transforms the Environment
💗 A Kinder, Purer Heart Changes How All Beings Treat Us
After seeing and hearing such examples, we ourselves must also apply effort in cultivating virtue—cutting off evil and practicing goodness. If we work earnestly, our mind becomes kinder day by day, more sincere day by day, purer day by day, and more compassionate day by day.
How can we observe this?
We observe it through the small beings in our living environment:
when their numbers decrease and their disturbances lessen, this is something we can rejoice in—it means our own virtue is improving.
Yet it is still not enough. Why? Because we have not completely eliminated all faults. Therefore, every day as we read scriptures, recite the Buddha’s name, and cultivate merit, we dedicate all of it to them. We should regard them as our own brothers and sisters. When we care for them and respect them, they will respect us; when we love them, they will love us.
🌳 Even Plants Respond to Virtue and Care
🎶 Plants Listen, Respond, and Repay Kindness
Not only animals—plants, trees, flowers, and grasses all respond as well. If we cherish and care for them, they grow well, their flowers bloom beautifully and fragrantly—this is their way of repaying and offering to us.
When we harvest vegetables, flowers, or fruits that we planted ourselves, they are willingly offering nourishment to us. Westerners often say that plants enjoy music—this is indeed true. So when we play music, chant the Buddha’s name, or listen to Dharma talks in the vegetable garden, the plants hear it as well. Plants possess spiritual nature—how much more so animals?
🌈 Living in a World of Love, Gratitude, and Harmony
✨ “Truth, Goodness, Beauty, Wisdom” Are Not Slogans — They Are Attainable Realities
We must understand that we should live in a world filled with love, gratitude, mutual support, and cooperation. How beautiful such a life is! “Truth, goodness, beauty, and wisdom” are not mere slogans—we can truly achieve them and enter this state. Why would we not do so?
🩸 Why Take Life Daily Just to Sustain Our Own?
⚖️ Killing Creates Endless Cycles of Revenge and Repayment
Why must we kill living beings every day merely to nourish ourselves? These animals do not willingly offer themselves for you to eat. When you kill them, they resent you; you create enmity with them, and this cycle of hatred will continue life after life, endlessly.
The Buddha reminds us in the sutras:
“If you eat half a pound of its flesh, you must repay eight ounces in the next life.”
“When a person dies, he becomes a sheep; when the sheep dies, it becomes a person.”
Lifetime after lifetime, beings repay each other through killing—how terrifying this truly is!
🌑 Obstacles in Cultivation Come From Past Resentments
🧘 Your Spiritual Road Is Blocked by Those You Have Harmed
A practitioner encounters many obstacles on the path to enlightenment.
Where do these obstacles come from?
They arise entirely from the resentments we have accumulated over countless kalpas, and even within this very lifetime—resentments formed with both sentient and non-sentient beings. These karmic debts turn into immense hindrances.
We are fortunate to still possess a little善根 (good roots) and福德 (merit), allowing us to read the teachings of sages, hear their instructions, deeply believe them without doubt, and follow them honestly and diligently. Only by doing so can we verify that the teachings of the ancient sages are true and not false.
Buddhism teaches: Faith → Understanding → Practice → Realization.
Ultimately, one must realize—only then does the truth fully reveal itself.
Therefore, when we dine, if we can recall these principles, we naturally will feel compassion and will no longer have the heart to eat the flesh of sentient beings.
🔥 Understanding Anger and Transforming It Through Wisdom
😠 Why Do I Become Angry? Understanding the Real Cause
“When I was easily angered in the past, I must reflect: people have shortcomings, and their circumstances warrant sympathy. If they violate reason and offend me, what does that have to do with me? There is fundamentally nothing worth being angry about.”
Why do I lose my temper? I get angry when I see others doing something wrong or offending me. But why do others make mistakes? Why do they offend me? We must reflect deeply.
If someone slanders, insults, or harms me—why does he behave this way? He may misunderstand me; he may not know me; we may lack proper communication. The problem does not lie solely with him—I too may have faults. And if I truly have no fault at all and the entire mistake is on his side and has nothing to do with me, then even more so there is no reason to get angry.
🌍 Seeing Wrongdoing Without Hatred
🧡 People Act Badly Because They Lacked Guidance — Not Because They Are Evil
Sometimes when we see many people committing immoral acts, it is difficult to endure. Why do they behave this way?
The Infinite Life Sutra《无量寿经》 says:
“People of the past did not practice goodness and did not understand morality. There was no one to teach them—therefore, there is nothing strange about their misconduct.”
How gentle the Buddha’s words are!
It is because their parents and elders did not understand virtue and morality and failed to guide them properly, so they commit mistakes and violate the law. When we see or hear this, we should forgive them, not blame them.
In this way, our mind becomes more peaceful, our heart becomes more magnanimous. This is what we should learn. Even if we teach them and they still make mistakes, we must turn inward and reflect:
“Did I teach well enough? Did I teach thoroughly enough?”
Do not shift the blame onto others—look inward and examine oneself.
👪 Parents and Teachers Must Reflect First
📚 Children and Students “Not Obedient” Means We Did Not Teach Well Enough
Many parents tell me that their children no longer listen to them. Many teachers say that their students refuse to follow instructions. I say to them:
“Your children and students have no fault—it is you who did not teach them well. How can you blame them?”
It is true that the environment of society today is extremely corrupted. Wrong ideas and distorted values flood the world, and consequently wrong behaviors are everywhere. How could young people not be influenced and contaminated by such an environment?
These outside factors indeed make young people difficult to teach today.
🌟 Overcoming Obstacles from Within
💎 Utmost Sincerity Can Move Even Metal and Stone
How do we overcome difficulties from within? The ancients said: “Where utmost sincerity reaches, even metal and stone are moved.” If even mosquitoes, ants, flowers, and trees can be touched by sincerity, how could people not be moved? If they are not moved, it means that our sincerity has not yet reached. If we can reflect in this way, our virtue will certainly rise. Only by elevating our own moral character can we influence the younger generation of today. If we ourselves lack lofty virtue yet constantly blame and punish young people, this is not a real solution.
❤️ Transformation Comes from Sincere, Pure, Equal Love — Not Punishment
🌈 True Teaching Is Influence, Not Force
Punishment is not the best method; the best method is moral transformation—using sincere, pure, and equal-hearted love to influence all beings. Buddhas and Bodhisattvas can transform those in the hell, hungry ghost, and animal realms, guiding them back to the right path—how much more so human beings in this world?
We must blame only our own insufficient cultivation and virtue, not others for failing to accept transformation. Only in this way can we accomplish ourselves and help others succeed.
The Buddha said: “One who has not yet liberated himself cannot liberate others—there is no such possibility.”
Therefore, if you wish to guide others, you must first accomplish your own virtue and capability. Only your own virtue can truly influence others and transform sentient beings. The Buddha explained this so perfectly and thoroughly in the sutras; when we read and recite the scriptures, we must not overlook this point.
⚔️ True Heroes Are Never Self-Righteous
🧭 Blaming Others Means One’s Own Virtue Is Not Yet Mature
“There are no heroes in the world who are self-righteous; nor is there true learning in those who blame others. Whenever one fails to achieve results, it is because one’s own virtue has not yet been cultivated, and one’s sincerity has not yet reached.”
There is no such thing as a hero who considers himself infallible. Anyone who is self-opinionated, obstinate, or self-righteous is absolutely not a hero. If people praise such a person as a hero, then it is a title without substance. A true hero never regards himself as unquestionably correct.
✨ Coming Next...
🌱 Next Lesson Preview: How should we face insults, slander, and unfair treatment?
In the next lesson of The Four Lessons of Liao-Fan, we will learn how to transform humiliation into merit, turn resentment into wisdom, and protect our peace of mind through true self-cultivation — instead of anger and retaliation.
Stay with us to discover the path that changes adversity into blessing.
Stay tuned. 🙏 Amituofo 🙏
✨ Essential Questions & Takeaways
How many can you answer? Your score shows how well you've internalized the chapter.
🌙 1. What does the dream example prove about “form” and the “formless realm”?
Daily level: Dreams can be recalled in vivid detail, showing that “form” can be experienced without being physically visible to others.
Inner level: A dream reveals that scenes arise from the mind—clear to the dreamer, inaccessible to those nearby.
Fundamental truth: “Form” has layers—coarse form is commonly perceived, subtle form is privately realized. Thus the “formless realm” is not nothingness, but a level of reality beyond ordinary senses.
👁️ 2. What determines whether someone can perceive subtle phenomena (even another person’s dream)?
Daily level: Some people seem naturally more perceptive, noticing things others overlook.
Inner level: As the mind becomes purer and more settled, it can perceive subtler movements of thought and experience.
Fundamental truth: Mind is the instrument of knowing. The purer and more concentrated it is, the more it can illuminate extremely subtle “forms” and faint thoughts—what Buddhas and Bodhisattvas perceive with perfect clarity.
🐾 3. How can you test whether your virtue and cultivation are improving—through daily life, not theory?
Daily level: Notice whether your life becomes calmer: less irritation, fewer disturbances, more harmony.
Inner level: Your surroundings reflect your inner state—when sincerity and kindness grow, your “field of influence” changes, and disturbances may lessen.
Fundamental truth: Virtue naturally resonates with all beings. Yet continued practice matters: daily self-correction, recitation, merit-making, and dedicating merit to all beings completes the transformation.
🩸 4. Why does killing create long-term karmic entanglement and become obstacles on the spiritual path?
Daily level: Taking life hardens the heart and can leave lingering unrest, making compassion harder to sustain.
Inner level: Harm creates resentment and karmic debt, which can return as difficulties and spiritual hindrances.
Fundamental truth: Killing binds beings into cycles of revenge and repayment across lifetimes—endless enmity becomes the very obstacles that block cultivation. Compassion and restraint are the way out.
❤️ 5. What is the correct method for transforming people—especially children and students—according to this teaching?
Daily level: Punishment rarely changes hearts; people respond better to guidance, patience, and example.
Inner level: If others don’t change, ask first: Was my sincerity sufficient? Was my love pure and equal? Did I teach skillfully enough?
Fundamental truth: True education is moral transformation through virtue, not force. “Utmost sincerity can move even metal and stone”—so if people are not moved, it means my virtue and sincerity have not yet fully reached. Self-cultivation comes first; then influence becomes natural.
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📚 Source: Venerable Master Chin Kung’s lecture on The Four Lessons of Liao-Fan, delivered on April 16, 2001, on Phoenix TV