Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (204)

The Importance of Listening to the Sūtras and Hearing the Dharma

By what means did the Buddhas of the ten directions and three times attain unsurpassed, complete, and perfect enlightenment and accomplish the Buddha Way? All of them relied on the contemplation of all dharmas as being like a dream, and achieved accomplishment through the three doors of liberation: emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness. First one hears the true Dharma of the contemplation of all dharmas as like a dream, then engages in right deliberation (manasikāra), and cultivates practice in accordance with the correct principle of that deliberation, passing through the four steps of hearing, contemplation, cultivation, and realization. If one does not listen to the sūtras and hear the Dharma, one will not have right mindfulness with which to deliberate, and being unable to deliberate and contemplate in accordance with reality the true nature of all dharmas, one will not have the practice of right effort, will not be able to realize the true nature of all dharmas, will not be able to realize the contemplation of all dharmas as like a dream, will not be able to enter the first bhūmi, and will not be able to attain all the subsequent liberations.

If one wishes to realize the illusory nature of all dharmas, realize the intrinsically pure mind, and realize unsurpassed, complete, and perfect enlightenment, one must begin with listening to the sūtras and hearing the Dharma. After hearing the Dharma, one must gather the mind and deliberate according to the true meaning. Based on the Buddha's authoritative statements (āptavāda), one gains faith through verification with body and mind; when the faculty of faith is firm and one knows that this Dharma will certainly lead to liberation and the accomplishment of the Buddha Way, one will then certainly practice with courageous diligence, never retreating from the great path of bodhi, and therefore will certainly realize the fruit of bodhi. First one realizes the fruit of the Hīnayāna bodhi, realizing that the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) and eighteen realms are illusory, that there is no self or person; then one awakens to the Ālayavijñāna mind, realizing that the Ālayavijñāna neither arises nor ceases, and understanding that all dharmas are born from the Ālayavijñāna, that the self is illusory and all dharmas are illusory, that everything is of the nature of the Ālayavijñāna and nothing else exists besides it; therefore all dharmas are empty, and one can reach the fruit of the first bhūmi; then in sequence one realizes the second, third, and fourth bhūmis, and finally attains the fruit of the Buddha bhūmi, entering the ultimate and perfect great nirvāṇa. Such is the sequence of cultivation.

If one does not listen to the sūtras and hear the Dharma, and does not delve deeply into the treasury of the sūtras, one will not know how to practice diligently. Delving deeply into the treasury of the sūtras and deliberating with right mindfulness in accordance with reality—merely delving into the treasury of the sūtras is not enough; deliberating with right mindfulness is very important, for it enables the faculties of faith and diligence to grow unceasingly. The Buddha said that by relying on this, one can realize unsurpassed bodhi. In particular, the Dharma gate of all dharmas being like a dream and like an illusion, as taught by the Buddha in this sūtra, when contemplated deeply in meditative concentration (samādhi), enables one to realize the contemplation of all dharmas as like a dream, and thereby one can enter the first bhūmi.