The Buddha's most original Buddhist teachings are the Tripiṭaka and the Twelve Divisions of the Scriptures

The so-called "original" should refer to all the Dharma that the Buddha taught during the forty-nine years, encompassing the three vehicles—Great, Middle, and Small: the liberation path of the Small Vehicle arhats and the Middle Vehicle pratyekabuddhas, and the path to buddhahood of the Great Vehicle tathāgatagarbha Dharma. Of course, the Middle and Small Vehicles are also a small part of the path to buddhahood, the initial part, and are part of the Mahāyāna Dharma. The entire path to buddhahood is threaded throughout by true suchness, buddha-nature, and tathāgatagarbha. It is merely that through the Āgamas alone one can only attain the Small Vehicle fruit of arhatship and obtain the wisdom of liberation from the world of the three realms, but cannot obtain the Buddha's wisdom of all aspects (sarvākārajñatā). Therefore, attaining arhatship solely by studying the Āgamas is not ultimate; on that basis, one must continue cultivating and studying prajñā and Yogācāra in order to continually advance one's progress on the path and ultimately become a buddha. Thus, the Buddha's most original Buddhist Dharma is the Tripiṭaka and the twelve divisions of the scriptures; there is no such thing as "original" versus "later"—whatever Dharma leads to buddhahood is spoken by the Buddha. There is no need to fragment the complete Dharma of attaining buddhahood into pieces.

Yet some people say that only the Āgamas are the Buddha's original Buddhist Dharma, and that the other Mahāyāna teachings are not spoken by the Buddha but were fabricated by later people. But if a sect collects certain materials to become that sect's history, each has its own historical records, which are then passed down through transmission—who can prove that one sect's historical transmission is genuine while other transmissions are not? On what basis should we believe that what one sect has verified through textual research is the true history, consistent with the facts of what actually happened at the time? Is it because of supernatural powers, or because of immense wisdom? Is it because the great practitioners of successive generations possessed extraordinarily penetrating eyes of wisdom and the Dharma eye? If not, on what basis should one trust one's own judgment?

If one is not among the great practitioners of successive generations and does not possess the eye of wisdom or the Dharma eye, on what basis does one judge that Theravāda Buddhism is the most original teaching spoken by the Buddha, while the other Mahāyāna sūtras—the Tripiṭaka and the twelve divisions of the scriptures—were not spoken by the Buddha? On what basis does one slander the most precious treasure that the Buddha painstakingly transmitted over forty-nine years? If the Buddha had only taught the Āgamas during his forty-nine years, by what did the Buddha attain buddhahood? Could one become a buddha merely by cultivating such an extremely shallow Dharma as the Āgamas? For such a shallow Dharma, why would the Buddha need to teach it repeatedly for forty-nine years? Who can prove that the Buddha only taught the Āgamas during his forty-nine years and never taught the Mahāyāna Dharma? Who has opened their eyes and witnessed the entire historical background and process of the Buddha's teaching and transformation in those days?

Those who slander the Mahāyāna Dharma and deny the Mahāyāna Dharma, and those who spread the Theravāda Buddhist doctrines that contradict the Mahāyāna Dharma, commit offenses that surge to the heavens. If anyone has ever spread Theravāda Buddhism to resist the Mahāyāna Dharma, they should quickly make public repentance; otherwise, the causes for the hells have already been established and cannot be changed, and the evil retribution will inevitably befall them and cannot be escaped. Those who slander the Mahāyāna are the greatest evildoers in the world; among all evil dharmas, their offense is the heaviest, surpassing even those who kill, commit arson, and commit the ten unwholesome deeds beyond forgiveness.

Those who slander the Mahāyāna are those who blind the eyes of sentient beings; those who slander the Mahāyāna are cutting off sentient beings' path to liberation. Those who cut off sentient beings' path to liberation will themselves, life after life, fall into the Avīci hell. The foolish and ignorant actually dare to resist the Buddha's Mahāyāna Dharma; when the evil retribution arrives, they can only experience endless suffering and torment, forced to bear those unbearable pains. Such is the fate of those who assist in spreading slander of the Mahāyāna Dharma. Those with a bit more clarity in their minds should quickly repent; otherwise, once the evil karma is set in its form, there will be no further opportunity for repentance and reform.

All sentient beings want to be human and want to be human again in their next life; all fear the suffering of the three evil destinies and wish to gain liberation from the three evil destinies and escape them; all want to eliminate self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) and sever the three fetters; all want to attain the fruits of the path. But what do they do every day? Their bodily, verbal, and mental actions all correspond to the three evil destinies. Clearly they wish to rely on the Buddha's teachings to attain liberation, yet they intentionally or unintentionally slander the Buddha's teachings—is this not ignorance? Each day they live by relying on the pure river's water, yet they intentionally or unintentionally splash filth into that river—is this not ignorance? All illnesses are easy to cure, except the illness of ignorance, which is hard to treat. That is why the Buddha taught the Dharma in the human and heavenly realms to deliver sentient beings, and did not go to the animal realm to teach the Dharma.