How to Attain the Perfect Fulfillment of Worldly Dharmas in the Fastest Way

Almost everyone pursues worldly dharmas, hoping to be the most outstanding and excellent in the world—the most talented, the most wealthy and noble, the most wise, the most virtuous, the most cultivated, the most respected, with everything most perfect, including family members and relatives. So how can one achieve this goal, and achieve it in the fastest way?

The answer is to come and cultivate, to cultivate wholeheartedly and earnestly, cultivating with as much self-abandonment as possible. Only cultivation—this single path—can swiftly and perfectly fulfill one's wishes; there is no other way, for no other way can remove greed, anger, and delusion, and neither one's virtue and cultivation nor worldly dharmas can be brought to perfection. You see, the Buddha is the supreme honored one of the three realms, perfectly endowed with all dharmas, including worldly dharmas. In worldly dharmas, in whatever respect He is the most, the very pinnacle, with no one surpassing Him. Compared with the Buddha, a bodhisattva is not the most, but compared with all worldly people, a bodhisattva is the most in every respect, surpassing all worldly people. Whatever worldly people hope for and admire, bodhisattvas all possess and are fully endowed with—it is merely a matter of whether the bodhisattva chooses to manifest it and make use of it.

Only when cultivation is practiced well will one's merit, wisdom, talent, wealth, relatives, and so forth all be complete, perfect, and wonderful, including one's aesthetic sense, eloquence in language and writing, unobstructed eloquence in debate—every kind of refinement will be elevated. We must devote our minds as much as possible to the Path and stop applying our minds to worldly affairs, for the losses outweigh the gains. When one's cultivation advances, the mind becomes extremely subtle and fine, the senses keen and intelligent; whatever one does, inspiration will arise, and one will have a spirited, quick-witted quality. Cultivating the Path is the greatest and fastest shortcut to obtaining supreme worldly dharmas.