Misconceptions of Mahāyāna Practitioners

Some practitioners of the Mahāyāna do not pay attention to foundational practice, do not attend to the foundational liberation path of the Āgama sūtras, and sever the Mahāyāna and the Hīnayāna completely apart, thinking that this is this and that is that, with little connection between them—the phenomenon of splitting up the Buddha's teachings is very serious. It is like students of middle school courses who regard themselves as lofty and disdain elementary school courses, not understanding that one cannot graduate and advance to middle school without finishing the elementary curriculum; without an elementary foundation, one cannot keep up with or master the middle school courses, and one cannot graduate from middle school either.

These Mahāyāna students despise the thirty-seven factors of enlightenment, the eightfold noble path, and so forth, treating them all as Hīnayāna dharmas practiced by Hīnayāna people, considering them dispensable, and so they skip directly over them to cultivate the eighth consciousness. Because they lack precepts and meditative concentration, even after studying for ten or twenty years or even longer, their body and mind have not changed in the slightest and they have gained no real benefit, yet like jaded "Buddha veterans" they talk glibly and fluently—their learning is so high they could pass the imperial examination as top scholar. However, the theory they have learned is like a castle in the air: the theory is up in the sky while the person crawls on the ground, the two having nothing to do with each other. In such a case, how can one follow the principle and enter the Path? The result of aiming too high is that no dharma can be cultivated successfully, wasting time in vain; at death, because they have no cultivation and no realization, they drift along with the winds of karma, unable to control themselves.

We should all calm down and think about this rationally: should not Mahāyāna students be endowed with the seven factors of enlightenment? Without the factor of investigation of dharmas, one is like a blind person feeling an elephant. Without the factor of joy, it shows that what has been learned has not entered the mind; if it does not enter the mind, the mind does not give rise to joy; if the mind has no joy, the body is not at ease; if the body is not at ease, the mind is not concentrated; if the mind is not concentrated, it is not empty—what wisdom is there to speak of? Should not Mahāyāna students cultivate the four right efforts? If evil is not severed and good not increased, and the mind does not transform, one remains a karmic-obstacle ordinary being bound by fetters; if not even one portion of afflictions has been severed, how can one advance toward the srotāpanna-fruit or even attain it? Without the first fruit, how can one attain Mahāyāna seeing of the mind?

Do Mahāyāna students not cultivate the eightfold noble path? Without right view, what path is being cultivated? Without right thinking, how can one investigate Chan? Without right speech, how can one guard the mind and keep the five precepts? Without right effort, one will run counter to the Path; without right mindfulness, how can one rectify the mind? If the mind is not upright, how can one enter the Path? Without right meditative concentration, how can there be right wisdom? Only when both body and mind are upright can one enter the correct Path. Therefore it is said that those who do not cultivate the thirty-seven factors of enlightenment have not yet entered the gate of practice—they do not count as either Mahāyāna or Hīnayāna practitioners. Nowadays in this world it is very, very difficult to encounter a person who cultivates the Path; people's minds are all restless and impatient, fond of taking shortcuts and pursuing short-term benefits. This is due to sentient beings' shallow faculties from past lives and their lack of merit, compounded by the incitement of those who transmit the dharma, which has created this situation. If it is not reformed, Buddhism will be unable to produce talent.