Practice to Know – When Practice Is Not About Becoming a Buddha, But About Recognizing Our Own Foolishness

A dharma talk by Venerable Thích Chân Quang: Practice is not about becoming someone lofty and exalted, but about recognizing that we are still foolish. Only when we clearly see our own faults does wisdom truly begin.

Have you ever asked yourself: "What am I practicing for?" If asked, many people would answer: to become a Buddha, to become a saint, to attain something lofty and extraordinary. But today, Venerable Thích Chân Quang offers a definition so unexpected that it startles us all.

The Buddha defined practice in the simplest way

In the original Nikaya sutras, the Buddha taught that we practice in order to end ignorance. Hearing this, many people feel deflated. Becoming a Buddha or a bodhisattva sounds so lofty, while "ending ignorance" sounds too plain. What does it even mean to "end foolishness"?

We practice to end foolishness, and ignorance is precisely that foolishness.

Yet after many years of practice, the Venerable realized that this is the most accurate definition of all. We cannot end our foolishness in a single lifetime. Simply recognizing that we are still foolish is already great progress.

Knowing we are foolish – a great turning point

Why? Because until now, we have never known that we are foolish. We always assume we are clever. Look at two people on motorbikes who collide, then stop in the middle of the road to argue. They quarrel, block traffic, and annoy so many people. Everyone who sees them thinks: how foolish. But if you told them they were foolish, they would react immediately. They cannot see their own foolishness.

A foolish person who knows they are foolish has already begun to develop wisdom. A foolish person who does not know they are foolish simply remains foolish.

So the practice, according to the Venerable, is not aimed at glowing auras or supernatural powers, but at looking inward and clearly seeing our own faults. The more we practice, the more faults we see in ourselves. That is precisely the sign of progress.

Cause and effect (karmic law) lies in the smallest things

In daily life, we tend to overlook small actions: parking a car so it juts a few inches into the road, wearing an image of the Buddha too low, below the head, or using the Buddha's image as mere decoration. But according to cause and effect (karmic law), everything is measured with strict precision. A person who commits such small acts will receive corresponding results, perhaps a life full of obstacles without ever understanding why.

A bhikkhu sees danger in every small fault.

This is what the Buddha taught. So be careful even with details that seem unimportant.

Practicing in the practice center to illuminate our own faults

Some people say: "I already know the sutras by heart and chant at home. I don't need to go to a practice center." But the Venerable warns that this is complacency. When we do not interact with anyone, we cannot see our own faults. Only when we have brothers and sisters in practice, with friction and feedback, do we recognize our own shortcomings. That is a great opportunity for practice.

This is why entering the practice center is a long step forward. When we begin practicing, we gain the first real result: knowing our own faults. And when we know our faults, we know repentance. Repentance is an essential practice. Great masters repent every single day, because they see so many faults within themselves.

When we see our own faults, we see the world with different eyes

Once we clearly see our own faults, we will look at others with compassion, sometimes even with a gentle smile, seeing how they love each other with words of praise that are mostly technique, mostly lies. The Venerable tells the story of a beautiful girl who broke up with her boyfriend because she thought he was poor, when in truth he had rushed home from work and looked disheveled. She was beautiful, but her heart was not yet truly beautiful. The rule is this: the mind/heart manifests in appearance. An ugly face may reflect an ugly mind/heart, but a beautiful face does not guarantee a good one. Compared to the celestial nymphs of the heavenly realms, even a Miss World is nothing. But we live in this world, still full of greed, hatred and delusion, so even the beautiful among us are not yet perfect.

So we practice in order to know. Not to become someone else, but to return to ourselves and clearly see what remains ignorant, what remains flawed. Knowing we are foolish is only a beginning, but it is the beginning of wisdom. Let us start today: look inward, see our faults, and repent. That is the true path of transformation.