People who study Buddhism often hear about the Dharma, some hear that their hair has turned white when they were young, some hear it from the south to the north, and visit the great monks everywhere, but I don't know if you have ever thought about it: we have listened to the Dharma for so long, and how much of it has been used in our hearts now? How much has your behavior changed and improved? If you find that you have not made any progress, or even become more and more numb as you listen to the Fa for more and more time, and the people around you dislike you more and more, then you need to review.

Why has I listened to the Fa for so long and so much, but I haven't made any progress? The reason is simple, there are several situations in which you may not benefit from hearing the Dharma.

Many people don't pay attention when they listen to the Fa. Every time I come to listen to the Dharma, I sit in the temple with my body and think about my family or work, and I don't listen to it at all. It's like a container, the mouth of the bottle is upside down, and of course the bottle can't hold water! So no matter how many times you listen to it, you won't listen to it.

There are also people who are quite attentive when listening to the Fa, and they take notes very seriously, but after the class and out of the Buddhist hall, their hearts begin to run out; Think about it anyway, if you have notes, and you have senior brothers and sisters to sort out the tapes, it's good to look at them when you have time, and in the long run, you don't have to worry about it, you don't remember it, and you don't use it to think and practice! Therefore, we should let go of all the outer edges, listen attentively, not forget the Dharma that is being taught, remember it with our hearts, feel it, practice the theories that are being taught, and do so that we can have some appreciation of the Dharma that is being taught. Shakyamuni Buddha also said, "I will tell you the method of liberation, and how to liberate depends on yourself." It's like people often say, "The master introduces the door, and the cultivation is in the individual," which means the same thing. Listening to the Dharma, hearing the Dharma, practicing the Dharma, purifying karma, practicing good deeds, and how to practice all of these things should be kept in mind. If you don't keep the Fa you have heard in mind, it is like a container with loopholes, and no matter how much water is poured into it, it will flow out.

Some people memorize what they hear, and remember it very clearly, but they don't use it to observe their own body, mouth, and mind, or to check their own minds, but they use it as a standard to observe whether others are diligent or not, and they often come to analyze their brothers and even their own teachers. Studying the Fa without correct knowledge and mindfulness in this way is not only useless to oneself, but also causes a lot of negative karma.

In areas where Buddhism is popular, the practice of studying Buddhism is very prosperous, and there are often many people who study Buddhism as a study. There is nothing wrong with studying the Dharma as a scholar, but in practice, you can't talk about the Dharma you hear or study it in your head. Buddhism emphasizes "self-reflection", Buddhism seeks inward, Buddhists are internal believers, and the Dharma that is heard from the outside is to reverse it and use it in their own hearts. The Dharma has to be kept in the heart, and if you want to be liberated, you have to rely on your own heart, and if you study or criticize others as an academic, then the Dharma you listen to is meaningless!

Of course, don't listen to the Dharma with greed, hatred, ignorance, and suspicion, and don't listen to the Dharma for the sake of increasing fame and wealth. If so, it's like a poisonous container that turns anything into poison, and this kind of listening is not good for us!

If we can properly examine our motivation for listening to the Dharma and the state of our listening to the Dharma, then no matter how many Dharma you have heard, even if you only hear a wonderful word of the Dharma and use it to concentrate on practice, you will be able to achieve something!

You must know that every opportunity to listen to the Dharma is not easy to get. As "people" of the six realms, we are much luckier than other beings in this regard, we have the opportunity to touch the Dharma, we have heard about the Dharma, and we have enough intelligence to think about the Dharma. However, people often have the habit of being a "human", because in the world, it is inevitable that they have to fight for their families, jobs, and careers, so it is indeed very difficult to find the time to practice.

Whenever we are given a small opportunity to meditate or practice the Dharma, we know that this opportunity is like the metaphor of the Buddha: it is like a light suddenly appearing in the dark sky and briefly illuminating the path a little bit ahead of us. Because our minds are clouded by ignorance and cannot find a way to liberate ourselves, if we don't give ourselves a chance to practice, we will never get a pause in our minds. Now that we have encountered the Dharma, relying on the blessings of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, as well as the desire to practice in our previous lives, we have a chance to pause our minds.

The direction of the Dharma is always for us to get rid of our ego and develop bodhichitta for the benefit of sentient beings, so that we can be free from the suffering of samsara. If we judge whether our practice is good or bad in terms of the number of people we listen to, the amount of time we practice, and so on, and our disturbing habits continue unabated, then I am afraid that we are not practicing diligently as we do. The Buddhist scriptures say: "Reason can be enlightened, but things must be gradually cultivated." The final test of true Dharma listening is whether our attachments are decreasing, whether our afflictions are decreasing, whether the standards by which we used to judge others are also decreasing, and so on. If our ego and self-slowness are increasing on the path of practice, then we need to reflect on whether our perception is correct.