Miscellaneous Discussions on Buddhism (Part One)
Chapter Twelve: The Buddha's Dharma and Non-Buddhist Paths
I. The Two Paths of Cultivating Buddhahood and Heading Toward Nirvāṇa
There are two paths one can follow in studying Buddhism and cultivating practice. What are the two paths? The first path is like the first Buddha, Awesome Sound King Buddha (Vīṇābhīṣaṇarāja Buddha), who was resolute and wise, courageous in exploring the truth, relying little on or not relying on others' theories, developing the potential of his own wisdom, and attaining the accomplishment of wisdom. The second path is, on the basis of accepting existing theories, striving earnestly to realize them personally and attaining the accomplishment of wisdom.
When the first Buddha was in the world during its wild and uncultivated age, before any truth had been discovered, he alone, with immensely persevering willpower and a fearless, resolute spirit, dared to explore the truth, opening up frontiers and transforming boundless wasteland into the Buddha-lands of the ten directions. He was also like a pratyekabuddha in an age without a Buddha: with a single moment of doubt about worldly phenomena, he stirred up the wholesome roots and bodhi seeds from his own past lives, resolved to explore the origins and destiny of sentient beings' lives, discovered the twelve links of dependent origination and the ten links of dependent origination, and realized the source of life—one being the non-real ignorance, the other being the real eighth consciousness.
Truth is objective law; truth is objectively existing principles; truth is the reality of how the world operates; truth is an unshakable fact; truth is a law that does not shift according to anyone's will; truth is the guiding lamp that leads sentient beings to liberation; truth is the ship that carries sentient beings to the other shore. Truth has always existed; it is merely that no one has discovered it. With immense wholesome roots and courage, Awesome Sound King Buddha embarked on the arduous path of exploring truth, thereby discovering and proving all truths within and beyond the world, blazing a trail to truth for later generations. Later generations aspiring to liberation, following this path, can reach the endpoint of liberation.
Awesome Sound King Buddha has already blazed the path toward liberation and nirvāṇa for later generations, so later generations need not carve out their own unique path or independently develop a path to buddhahood. However, along the already-developed path of truth, there remain some branching, winding side paths where one may lose the way and fail to see the navigation markers. This requires each person to emulate Awesome Sound King Buddha's resoluteness and wisdom in exploring truth, to dare to practice and explore, until breaking through difficulties and stepping onto the great way.
The second path of the Buddha's cultivation is, on the basis of accepting the truths already discovered by the Buddhas, to then find ways to verify one by one that these truths are indeed correct and genuine principles—that they can all be personally realized, discovered, and repeated. Thereby one's wisdom and liberation become equal to those of the Buddhas who first discovered the truths. Why, after accepting, understanding, and comprehending the truth, must one still verify it? The first Buddha was the one who explored and discovered the truth; in the process of exploration, every discovery was itself a proof. Thus, when Awesome Sound King Buddha discovered the truth, he could declare: "This is the truth; I have proven it." But can the second Buddha and the subsequent Buddhas, as well as sentient beings of future ages, who have learned of the truths discovered by the first Buddha, say "I have discovered the truth, and the truth is indeed so"? Certainly not. Belief is not equal to realization, nor does it mean one has attained the same wisdom. Only through repeated testing and proof can one know why it is so, thereby also attaining wisdom. Only then can one be said to have mastered the truth and obtained the truth.
What do the two words "indeed verified" represent? They represent having personally proven it, having actually experienced it, having tested it. Only what has been tested, conforms to the truth one has understood, and is consistent with the premise, so that there is no more doubt in the mind and the bond of ignorance has been severed—only then can one say it is indeed so. At this point, one's wisdom is equal to that of the first Buddha. But is the path one has walked the same as that of the first Buddha? Are the price paid and the hardships endured the same as those of the first Buddha? Neither is the same. The pioneer who opens up new territory is the most toilsome, pays the greatest price, and endures the most.
In the boundless space and time of the worlds of the ten directions, there is only one Awesome Sound King Buddha—there is no second, nor a third. What kind of wholesome roots, merit, wisdom, willpower, resoluteness, fortitude, and other qualities that ordinary people lack did the first pioneer possess? Regarding the great truths, the macroscopic truths, although no one has surpassed the first Buddha, in specific, microscopic truths, every sentient being can fully explore and discover them on their own; there is no need to rely entirely on the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, in every matter. Yet this too is something only those with deep wholesome roots, merit, and wisdom can accomplish.
The Buddha-dharma that Śākyamuni Buddha left behind in the Sahā world is only as much as the soil in his fingernail, whereas the Buddha-dharma not yet left to sentient beings is as abundant as the soil of the great earth. There are still extremely many truths that require sentient beings of great resolve and great wisdom to develop, excavate, and explore. As long as something is truth, as long as it is fact, regardless of whether the Buddha spoke of it or not, whether he left it behind or not, truth is truth and fact is fact; it does not depend on the Buddha's attitude. Of course, the Buddha would never deny truth or disregard the reality of facts.
We need only learn Awesome Sound King Buddha's mode of thinking, his way of exploring truth, his methods of handling problems, as well as his personality, character, and bodhisattva disposition, and accumulate wholesome roots, merit, and wisdom like his. Then, with the guidance of the light of the Buddhas and the Buddha-dharma, we can surely develop even more subtle and finer truths. Faith is also a manifestation of wholesome roots, merit, and wisdom. With these three, one will be invincible and will surely realize all truths soon.
II. The Austerities of Non-Buddhists Are Not the Path
When the Buddha was in the world, there were ninety-six kinds of non-Buddhist paths, and their practice centered on austerities, renouncing everything of worldly phenomena. Our diligence and spirit of enduring hardship in studying Buddhism now fall far short of theirs. They left their hometowns and dwelt in the mountains; their eating, clothing, living, and travel were extremely harsh—some even ate grass and cow dung, and some deliberately starved themselves until they were skin and bones. All this was done to eliminate karma, believing that once karma was eliminated they could escape saṃsāra. However, this is a wrong view (mithyā-dṛṣṭi) and a view of observances as supreme (śīlavrata-parāmarśa). What they renounced was everything; the worldly mind was completely gone—no matter how thoroughly they let go, it was gone. But did they attain accomplishment? The Buddha said: relying on austerities to eliminate karma—can that karma ever be completely eliminated? If the renunciatory austerity practices of those non-Buddhists could lead to accomplishment, then Śākyamuni Buddha would not have had to toil so hard to emerge from the land of constant radiance (prabhūtaratna—actually the Land of Eternally Tranquil Light, the abode of the Dharmakāya) and come to the human world to attain the way through the eight manifestations of a Buddha, spending forty-nine years laboriously delivering sentient beings.
When the World-Honored One first left home, he followed a non-Buddhist teacher, cultivating austerities and the four dhyānas and eight samādhis. After the Buddha had fully cultivated the four dhyānas and eight samādhis, he realized this was not the path—it could not give rise to wisdom and could not lead to buddhahood. He then abandoned the austerities, sat in meditation beneath the bodhi tree, and contemplated the Buddha-dharma. One night, upon seeing a bright star, he awakened to the way and became a Buddha. Therefore, cultivation requires correct theory as guidance; it cannot succeed through the simplistic notion of mere renunciation. We must know why to let go, what to let go of, and how to let go. We must cultivate according to the methods taught by the Buddha, and must not recklessly follow methods and theories invented by any individual. All our cultivation theories and principles must accord with the Buddha's teachings in order to succeed, because the Buddha is one who has already accomplished the way, and all the methods he taught are entirely correct and without error; those of others are not—they are like crossing a river by feeling for stones, and they simply cannot get across the river. Apart from the Buddha's teachings and the sūtras, one will accomplish nothing. Buddhist disciples, remember this well!
III. The Reason Non-Buddhists Could Realize the Fruits Quickly
Why was it that the non-Buddhists during the World-Honored One's time, without having taken refuge or received precepts, could realize the fruit of the arhat upon hearing the World-Honored One expound the Dharma, and could even enter nirvāṇa on the spot? Whenever a Buddha accomplishes the Buddha-way and delivers sentient beings, it is like staging a play: there must be a theater troupe, a whole cast, to cooperate with the World-Honored One in performing the play; the World-Honored One cannot perform a one-man show. Before descending to the human world, the World-Honored One had already begun making arrangements in the inner court of Tuṣita, sending many people to be born into the human world in advance to await his descent.
They came to be born in the human world, distributed across all strata and all corners—even among the ninety-six kinds of non-Buddhist paths there were some. They manifested among the non-Buddhists, leading them in cultivation together, serving as the influencing assembly. The World-Honored One would, according to conditions, manifest to deliver them into the Buddhist gate; after entering the Buddhist gate, some became the World-Honored One's right and left arms, assisting him in propagating the Dharma. Some were only converted by the World-Honored One shortly before his parinirvāṇa, thereby influencing a large group of non-Buddhist disciples to enter the Buddhist gate, demonstrating the excellence of the Buddha-dharma. These non-Buddhists were not only arhats manifesting; there were also great bodhisattvas manifesting. Only at the very end did the World-Honored One reveal their true identities. That is why they could quickly realize the fruits when the World-Honored One expounded the Dharma and converted them.
The second reason is that the non-Buddhists of that time all wanted liberation from saṃsāra and escape from birth-and-death; their mind of renunciation was very strong—they merely lacked the correct method of cultivation. Most of them had renounced the secular world, had already cultivated away the five hindrances, had already given rise to deep meditative concentration, and had fully accomplished the four dhyānas and eight samādhis. So their faculties were excellent. Although they had not received the five precepts, there was absolutely no violation of precepts in their bodily, verbal, and mental actions. They lacked only the final contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) wisdom not yet complete, which required the World-Honored One's guidance with the correct principles of liberation.
Based on the above principles, when they listened to the World-Honored One explain the path of liberation, the wisdom of liberation could manifest, and they quickly realized the corresponding fruits. It may seem easy, but in fact they had also cultivated for long kalpas, paid a great price, abandoned all worldly phenomena, and single-mindedly sought liberation from birth-and-death. Now, if we wish to realize the fruits and attain liberation, we should examine whether our own conditions are complete: Do we have the mind of renunciation? How much of the worldly phenomena in our minds have we departed from? How is our meditative concentration? To what degree has our mind been purified? Compared with those non-Buddhists, how far do we still fall short?
If our mind is not as pure as that of the non-Buddhists, then we must follow the sequential stages of liberation practice taught by the World-Honored One, cultivating the thirty-seven aids to the way. Only after cultivating well these sequential and auxiliary methods of practice toward the Dharma can we realize the way. This includes taking refuge in the Three Jewels and upholding pure precepts, thereby restraining our body and mind, making our own mind pure, and with the mind stilled, attaining concentration. In our present age of the Dharma's decline, people's minds are turbid and evil, heavily defiled; information is chaotic, mental engagement with objects is very heavy, and the mind is hard to still—so cultivating concentration is very difficult. Universally, the power of concentration is insufficient and cannot compare with the non-Buddhists of the World-Honored One's time; realizing the fruits is truly extremely difficult. The World-Honored One said that during the period of the True Dharma, sentient beings could succeed and attain liberation merely by upholding the precepts; in the period of the Dharma's decline, upholding the precepts alone cannot bring liberation—let alone not receiving and not upholding the precepts, which makes liberation even more impossible.
How many people not only uphold the five precepts and the eight precepts of purification, but also strictly uphold the bodhisattva precepts, yet cannot even catch a glimpse of liberation. Because these people do not uphold the precepts with the mind—there are no precepts in their minds—they only uphold the precepts with their bodies, while their minds still greedily cling to worldly phenomena as before. In this way it is very hard to cultivate concentration, and then there can be no wisdom of contemplative practice—how could they succeed? Therefore, we must not see that those non-Buddhists realized the fruits without taking refuge or receiving precepts and conclude that we too can refrain from taking refuge and receiving precepts. That would violate the World-Honored One's teachings and will not work; our faculties are far inferior to those non-Buddhists. Although we have studied the inner path of the Buddha-dharma and our mental disposition is utterly different, we should still follow the World-Honored One's teachings: first cultivate the sequential Dharma and auxiliary methods of the path, strictly keep the precepts, take refuge in the Three Jewels, and rely on the blessings and protection of the Three Jewels, the Dharma protectors, and the dragons and devas to attain liberation.
IV. The Difference Between Buddhism and Other Religions
There are many religions in the world, but none can enable sentient beings to escape the suffering of birth-and-death in saṃsāra; they are merely spiritual faiths, because within them there is no substantive content for sentient beings to rely on and thereby attain liberation. Buddhism is not like this. Buddhism is an education that teaches sentient beings to truly understand the essence of life. The Buddha toiled to come to this evil world of the five turbidities and, over forty-nine years, propagated the Dharma and delivered sentient beings, enabling them to understand the substantive meaning of life from many different aspects, to understand the origin and destination of life. Relying on this to cultivate and study, sentient beings can recognize the meaning of their own lives and the lives of all sentient beings, and recognize the root of birth-and-death in saṃsāra over countless kalpas.
Thereby they will awaken to their own minds, and thus go to seek the source of their own lives, to thoroughly liberate themselves from the suffering of birth-and-death and walk the path of ultimate liberation, ultimately perfecting their own merit and wisdom and becoming the perfectly and ultimately awakened World-Honored One. Moreover, they will lead immeasurable hundreds of millions of sentient beings to likewise escape birth-and-death in saṃsāra, perfectly awaken to all dharmas, and realize the supreme great nirvāṇa. Other religions mainly lead people toward goodness—being good people, doing good deeds, treating others with kindness—with the ultimate goal of ascending to heaven to enjoy blessings. But when the blessings are exhausted, they will still fall into the three evil destinies to suffer. Those religions do not touch upon the six destinies of saṃsāra; they have not revealed to sentient beings that there is saṃsāra through the six destinies, nor do they know the root of the six destinies' saṃsāra. Therefore, they cannot enable sentient beings to rely on them to escape the suffering of birth-and-death in the saṃsāra of the six destinies.
