The Conditioned Is Precisely for the Sake of the Unconditioned

Some people say: since all dharmas in the world are illusory false appearances, all unborn, then there is no need for us to strive to do anything anymore; nothing we do has any meaning. Is this way of speaking correct?

This way of speaking is of course incorrect. Only by relying on false appearances can one cultivate and attain accomplishment; before accomplishment is attained, one must strive very hard to cultivate upon these false appearances. All the wholesome deeds performed on the path of learning Buddhism are for the sake of realizing the Path, for realizing the unborn, for realizing the markless and ultimate reality; only after realization does one truly know the unborn, and only then can one attain liberation and become a Buddha. The conditioned is for the sake of the unconditioned. Therefore, before one has the ability to be unconditioned, all meaningful conditioned actions that should be done must be done diligently. Whatever one does, one does for oneself; it is all for one's own benefit, for one's own harvesting of the fruit of the unconditioned. On the surface it may seem that one has benefited others, that others have received one's help, that one has protected and upheld the Three Jewels and benefited the Three Jewels and sentient beings; in reality, it is still oneself who has obtained the greatest benefit. If the Three Jewels do not receive benefit, and sentient beings do not receive benefit, then everything one has done has no benefit and is all useless effort. The so-called benefit can only arise on the basis of having benefited the Three Jewels and sentient beings; if others have not received benefit, one will not gain blessings, merit, or wisdom.

For example, it is said that giving generosity (dāna) to sentient beings brings a return of a thousandfold or more; but if the other party does not accept it, there is not even a onefold return. The other party has not benefited, so there is no return at all. It is like giving ten thousand yuan to empty space: empty space receives nothing and gains nothing, which is the same as having lost ten thousand yuan oneself. What return is there in losing money? One gets not a single cent in return, let alone a thousandfold or ten-thousandfold return. It is like giving ten thousand yuan to the great ocean: the great ocean receives nothing and gains nothing, and the ten thousand yuan will even be ruined; then one has simply wasted ten thousand yuan for nothing, and deliberately destroying printed banknotes is even an offense. It is like giving ten thousand yuan to a great fire: the fire burns it up; the giving not only brings no benefit but is even an offense.

Some people never forget their own acts of generosity, always feeling that they have bestowed favor on others; but in reality it is precisely the other party who has bestowed favor on them. If others were not willing to accept one's charitable giving, by what right would one receive a thousandfold or ten-thousandfold return? By what right would one accumulate bit by bit so many provisions of merit for seeing the Path? In order to let sentient beings accumulate more merit, when the Buddha was about to enter parinirvāṇa, He specially asked several arhat disciples to remain in the world with their physical forms, accepting offerings from sentient beings and providing sentient beings with the opportunity to cultivate great merit. Those arhats actually did not wish to receive offerings from others: first, they found it troublesome; second, it consumes their own merit. But as disciples of the Buddha, first they had to respect the Buddha's arrangement, and second they had to benefit sentient beings. That is why they did not enter nirvāṇa without remainder but remained in the world.

Some people perform the giving of Dharma, posting messages to guide those with affinities into proper study and practice, feeling as if they were doing work for the master, as if others were the ones benefiting while they themselves have put in time and energy and thus feel they are at a loss. They do not understand what the result of their giving of Dharma is, how supremely excellent it is; the great benefit they will ultimately obtain may be beyond counting, beyond calculation. It is precisely because of these merits and blessings that one has done that one can swiftly attain the Buddha Way in the process of study and practice in this life and future lives, sparing oneself the suffering of birth-and-death and saṃsāra for countless kalpas. This retribution cannot be exchanged for treasures as numerous as empty space; the retribution obtained cannot be fully described. Meanwhile, those who have received benefit from one's giving of Dharma are far inferior to oneself in blessings, merit, and wisdom. The greater the benefit the Three Jewels and sentient beings receive from one's giving, the greater one's blessings and merit will be, and in the future one's wisdom will be the highest. As long as one's vision is not short-sighted, one should make truthful observation and consider one's own future and greatest benefit.

A bodhisattva's blessings exceed those of an arhat by ten thousandfold, a hundred-millionfold, immeasurably, because bodhisattvas are together with sentient beings life after life; with every gesture of hand and foot they benefit sentient beings, and at the same time they obtain blessings and merit multiplied by tens of millions, hundreds of millions, immeasurably. Therefore bodhisattvas are wealthy elders whose riches and nobility no one in the world can match. When blessings and wisdom are perfectly and completely fulfilled, they will accomplish the Path through the eight marks of a great man and become the Teacher of Gods and Humans, the Buddha, the World-Honored One.