Miscellaneous Discourses on the Dharma (Part II)

Chapter Seven   Relying on the Dharma, Not on Individuals

I. True "Relying on the Dharma, Not on Individuals" Means Not Even Relying on the Buddha

Original text from the Fourteenth Assembly on Entering the Womb in the *Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra*: The Buddha said: "(The Tathāgata) is the Knower of the Path. He is the Discerner of the Path. He is the Expounder of the Path. He is the Opener of the Path. He is the Great Guide. The Tathāgata, the Worthy One, the Perfectly Enlightened One, Perfect in Knowledge and Conduct, the Well-Gone One, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed One, the Tamer of Men, the Teacher of Gods and Humans, the Buddha, the World-Honored One. Sentient beings in the world are ignorant and faithless. They are constantly enslaved by their sense faculties. They see only what is in their palm and do not perceive the great benefit. They neglect what is easy to practice and persistently engage in what is difficult. Nanda, stop! Such is the realm of wisdom. You should now observe with your physical eyes. Knowing that what is seen is all illusory is called liberation."

"Nanda, do not believe me. Do not follow my desires. Do not rely on my words. Do not observe my form. Do not adopt the views of any śramaṇa. Do not revere any śramaṇa. Do not say, 'The śramaṇa Gautama is my master.' However, you should rely solely on the Dharma I have personally realized and attained. Dwell alone in a quiet place, contemplate and examine it, constantly cultivate it diligently. Regarding the Dharma you observe, through diligent mental application, you will achieve contemplation of that Dharma. Dwell with right mindfulness. Be an island unto yourself. Be your own refuge. Let the Dharma be your island. Let the Dharma be your refuge. There is no other island. There is no other refuge."

Explanation: The Buddha said that the Tathāgata is one who profoundly understands the path to be cultivated, who expounds the path, who reveals the path of cultivation, and who is the great guide of the world—the Tathāgata, the Worthy One, the Perfectly Enlightened One, Perfect in Knowledge and Conduct, the Well-Gone One, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed One, the Tamer of Men, the Teacher of Gods and Humans, the Buddha, the World-Honored One. Sentient beings in the world are ignorant and lack the root of faith. They are constantly enslaved by the six sense faculties, seeing only the small benefit in their palm and failing to perceive greater benefits. They neglect the easy practice of the Dharma and instead perpetually create the difficult karma of birth, death, and suffering.

Nanda, stop speaking for now. Regarding such a realm of wisdom, you should now observe the Dharma seen with your physical eyes. Then you will know that all phenomena seen are illusory. This is called liberation. Nanda, do not believe what I say. Do not follow my thoughts. Do not rely on my words. Do not observe my appearance. Do not adopt the views of any śramaṇa. Do not revere any śramaṇa. Do not say that the śramaṇa Gautama is my master.

However, you must diligently contemplate and examine the Dharma I have personally realized and attained, alone in a quiet place. You must constantly and diligently cultivate it. Regarding the Dharma you observe, if you can cultivate it with great diligence, you will achieve contemplation of that Dharma. The Dharma achieved through your own contemplation is personally realized. From then on, you will dwell in the Dharma with right mindfulness. In this way, you yourself can be the island in the river. You yourself are the refuge. The Dharma you have personally realized is the island in the river, it is the refuge. There is no other island. There is no other refuge.

This passage spoken by the Buddha is extremely profound. It instructs disciples that they must realize the truth through personal experience and rely on the Dharma that has been personally verified. They should not blindly believe in or rely on external teachings that have not been personally verified. Regardless of what the teaching is or who said it, it must be examined and tested. Only after examination and personal verification can it be believed in and relied upon. Even the Dharma spoken by the Buddha himself must be constantly examined and contemplated; only after personal verification can it be fully relied upon. This is called "relying on the Dharma, not on individuals," meaning one need not even rely on the Buddha. One must rely on the Dharma, on truth, on facts. If something has not been tested, relying on it is blind and does not give rise to wisdom.

In contrast, sentient beings in the Dharma-Ending Age have little merit and lack wisdom. They insist on relying on individuals. As long as someone becomes famous, they attach themselves without principle to gain a sense of belonging. They lack the ability to examine and discern the Dharma, being entirely governed by emotional attachment. Those who always regard certain treatises as absolute truth should wake up. Judging the correctness of the Dharma based on a famous person's name is complete reliance on individuals, not correct faith. Correct faith is what the Buddha taught: one must observe and contemplate, test and personally verify. Only if it is factual can it be regarded as truth and relied upon. If it cannot be tested or verified, then one should refrain from commenting to avoid creating the evil karma of slandering the Three Jewels.

II. Those with Low Wisdom Find It Difficult to Truly Rely on the Teachings and the Dharma

If one's own wisdom is low, even if one tries to rely on the teachings, one cannot do so properly because one cannot understand the teachings, does not know their true meaning and direction, and often misinterprets them. Relying on misinterpreted teachings and then comparing them to what others say, with the reference point being wrong, will naturally lead to erroneous conclusions. Thus, one cannot accurately judge whether what others say is correct or true.

If wisdom is low and one wishes to rely on the Dharma, it is similarly impossible because one cannot discern the true meaning and direction of the Dharma's principles. One either misunderstands the Dharma principles or has only a vague, unclear understanding. Unable to comprehend the Dharma meaning spoken by others, one cannot truly understand it. Thus, one cannot accurately judge whether what others say is correct or true, and one gains no benefit from the Dharma. If one then likes to assert oneself and judge everywhere, one easily creates the karma of slander, not only hindering one's own path but also incurring the karmic retribution of foolish slander. Therefore, when one's wisdom is still insufficient, one should immerse oneself in study and practice, refrain from judging any Dharma or any person, be a wise person, avoid creating evil karma, and avoid suffering evil retribution.

III. The Issue of Relying on the Dharma, Not on Individuals

If one has personal realization and can observe phenomena directly (through direct perception), then one relies on the true nature of all phenomena, not on any individual. Only the true nature of reality is the true Dharma, the ultimate Dharma. However, the true nature of reality is not something ordinary people can know or verify. Ordinary people have no choice but to rely on the words of others. Yet, the words of others are all flawed and incomplete. Even the Buddha's words have surface meaning (words) and ultimate meaning (meaning), which ordinary people cannot clearly distinguish, so they cannot rely on the ultimate meaning.

In short, only through personal realization can one rely on part of the truth, gradually coming to rely on the complete truth in the future. Great beings of wisdom certainly do this. All Buddhas rely on the true nature of reality. Especially the first Buddha, King Śrīghoṣa (威音王佛), relied entirely on personally verified truth, as there was no one else to rely on. Therefore, we should still strive to cultivate meditative concentration (dhyāna), observe phenomena within that concentration, and strive for personal realization. Relying on individuals is ultimately unreliable. The Buddha warned his disciples, "Your mind is not to be trusted; only when you attain Arhatship can you trust your mind." Even quoting Buddhist scriptures is not necessarily correct. If a Bodhisattva's treatise, such as the *Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra*, conflicts with the Buddhist scriptures, then the scriptures should be taken as authoritative. However, Buddhist scriptures also have different levels, and "relying on the meaning, not the words" is very difficult. Without personal realization, it is hard to understand the true meaning. It shows the state of mind the Buddha must have been in when he gave the Four Reliances on his deathbed, and how deeply concerned he must have felt.

If the Buddha did not verify which Bodhisattva has what level of realization, confirming that they can be relied upon one hundred percent, then they cannot be completely or one hundred percent relied upon. After all, Bodhisattvas do not possess the complete wisdom of a Buddha; their wisdom still has flaws. Even Bodhisattva Maitreya was once admonished by the Buddha for lacking wisdom. All teachings spoken by Bodhisattvas can certainly be relied upon, but not one hundred percent. Their treatises inevitably contain some flaws and shortcomings, which those without the Dharma eye cannot perceive. Even the *Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra* was not personally expounded by Bodhisattva Maitreya in the human realm; it was relayed through another Bodhisattva. If that Bodhisattva's level of realization was not extremely high, his relay could contain errors. Therefore, one sentence relayed by ten people might have ten different meanings. Hence, every learner should still focus their mind on observing phenomena to sever the view of self, and then proceed to realize the mind and see its nature—this is more reliable.

IV. Relying on the Dharma, Not on Individuals

Relying on the Dharma means relying on facts and truth. This is extremely difficult because with insufficient wisdom, one cannot verify and test the facts. It is crucial that teachings do not conflict with the facts; not conflicting with the Buddha's words is very important. Personal realization means verifying the facts and aligning with them. This is the most critical point in practice. The so-called evidence is that you have personally tested it and confirmed it beyond doubt; only then can you believe and follow it. If a teaching cannot be tested or you lack the ability to test it, then it cannot serve as the Dharma or fact you rely on.

Relying on individuals means prioritizing famous people, establishing the right and wrong of the Dharma based on the person, not purely from the perspective of Dharma principles, meanings, and facts. If the person's name is concealed, the vast majority of people would be at a loss regarding the Dharma spoken by that person, unable to make a choice. Such reliance on individuals has great faults. In studying Buddhism and practicing, one must rely on the Dharma and facts, not on individuals. Except for the Buddha, no one else can be relied upon one hundred percent. Otherwise, the Buddha's final instruction, his earnest teaching to "rely on the Dharma, not on individuals," becomes empty words, and we violate the Buddha's teaching and his profound concern.

If the Buddha did not verify what someone said or confirm it as one hundred percent correct, then one must be cautious in making judgments. Only the Buddha alone spoke with one hundred percent correctness and can be relied upon one hundred percent. Others, including Maitreya, the Wondrous Enlightenment Bodhisattva, are not one hundred percent correct. Every sentient being, every Bodhisattva, has more or fewer defects and errors. Without wisdom and sufficient evidence, do not lightly comment. When you have wisdom, use your own direct perception to explain the issue.

Moreover, when commenting on any individual, one must have sufficient and irrefutable evidence, laying out points one, two, three, four, five to clarify the issue. If one cannot do this, it means one lacks direct perception and evidence. Then, one should work diligently in private to improve one's level of wisdom and one's power of observation and wisdom. If one lacks realization and the wisdom of direct perception, one should choose silence and refrain from making judgments. If one insists on speaking without basis, one easily misjudges, and the karmic retribution for erroneous criticism is severe.

If one cannot directly perceive phenomena, one has no choice but to rely on the words of famous people, but this is relying on individuals, not the Dharma. Many people only believe in fame and authority out of necessity, because they lack the wisdom to discern and can only rely on fame and authority. If a famous authority's Dharma meaning contains errors or omissions, later generations will forever follow those errors; no one can make any corrections or amendments to the Dharma meaning. This is how the Buddha Dharma becomes stifled and stagnant. In the secular world, in science and academia, they never rely on individuals; science and technology always leap forward, changing daily. Yet, the rules of relying on individuals within Buddhism have caused the Dharma to fail to develop for thousands of years.

V. Observing the Value and Rarity of Wisdom

"Many highly intelligent people often tend to rely more on intuition than rational thinking when making decisions." This is a worldly perception. Why do none of our many Buddhist practitioners possess such powers of observation and understanding? This includes all Buddhist masters.

Those in society who study philosophy, psychology, and sociology possess extraordinary powers of observation and wisdom, far surpassing practitioners within our Buddhist community. Why is the wisdom within the Buddhist community so diminished? The thinking and observational powers of debaters, both professional and non-professional, are pitiful. They only know how to rely on individuals, not the Dharma. With such weak powers of observation, how can they rely on the Dharma? If all kinds of elites in society were to study Buddhism and practice, what would Buddhism be like?