When you first start your practice, you have to concentrate on reciting Amitabha Buddha's sacred name; this is using what is pure to triumph over defilement. If you do not practice like this, how can you remove your secular attachments and deluded thoughts? By the meritorious virtues of this sacred name, you can remove the karma of past offenses from the infinite past, and thoroughly cleanse yourself of afflictions and attachments. This is because all of these karmic offenses, afflictions and deluded thoughts are unreal. What a pity that mundane people are lost in these unreal afflictions and never find their way to enlightenment!