How to Become a Person of the Buddhadharma

Studying Buddhism and practicing cultivation requires merit and wholesome roots. Those who have never planted wholesome roots and merit in the Buddha's Dharma naturally cannot derive benefit from the Buddha's Dharma. Those who neither take refuge in the Three Jewels nor take refuge in the Buddha, even if they possess worldly intelligence and eloquence, cannot attain liberation through wisdom. Therefore, no matter how clever and quick-witted worldly people may be, they still lack the wisdom of the Buddha's Dharma and are not people of the Buddha's Dharma. The Buddha's Dharma can only deliver those who take refuge in Buddhism, have faith in and esteem Buddhism, and are willing to plant wholesome roots and merit in the Three Jewels. Those unwilling to take refuge in the Three Jewels are very difficult to transform and deliver; even if they come to study the Dharma, they are merely doing research, using the Buddha's Dharma as a pastime, and cannot realize the fruits or attain enlightenment so as to gain the benefits of the Buddha's Dharma. Because they lack the root of faith, they also lack the five faculties; without the five faculties there are no five powers, and thus they cannot be complete in the thirty-seven factors of the path. Consequently, they are unable to deeply engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) to realize the fruits and see the mind, and become people of the Buddha's Dharma.