Can One Follow the Dharma Without Understanding the Classics?

Before sentient beings have cultivated to a certain stage and given rise to wisdom, it is impossible for them to truly understand the sūtras. Many people believe they have understood the Buddhist sūtras, but in fact they are merely interpreting the meaning according to the words, which is far removed from what the World-Honored One intended to express. When a person trusts himself too much, he often misleads himself. The Buddha said in the Sutra of Forty-two Chapters: 汝意不可信，证阿罗汉果才可信汝意。This was said to his śrāvaka disciples; if he were speaking to Mahāyāna bodhisattva disciples, the Buddha might instead say: Your mind is not to be trusted; only after realizing the tathāgatagarbha may you trust your own mind. Or he might say: Only by possessing the seed-wisdom of Consciousness-Only and entering the household of the Tathāgata can you trust your own mind. Because by that time, one has already realized the true reality of all dharmas, and wisdom has been developed and become relatively deep and penetrating. Before that, sentient beings should at least cultivate to the point of having the Dharma-selecting eye, so that they can discern right from wrong in some dharmas. Only with the Dharma-selecting eye can one have the teacher-selecting eye; the two depend on each other. It is evident that most sentient beings have not cultivated to the point of having the Dharma-selecting eye, and so they judge both dharmas and teachers incorrectly. They judge teachers based on reputation and external appearances, not on the teacher's wisdom. Because they themselves lack wisdom in the first place, they cannot discern how deep or shallow a teacher's wisdom is. Whether sentient beings are overly self-confident or overly trusting of a teacher, they will mislead themselves. One should skillfully contemplate the Dharma, skillfully discern teachers, and correctly assess one's own level of wisdom. Most important of all is to cultivate more merit; when merit is complete, errors will be few, and wisdom will arise.

The Heart Sutra is a very short sūtra of only a little over 260 characters, yet when ten people read it, there are ten understandings; when a hundred people read it, there are a hundred interpretations. Everyone says to rely on the Dharma, not on persons, so in studying the Mahāyāna Dharma one should first rely on the Heart Sutra. The Heart Sutra is the general outline of the Mahāyāna Dharma; only by understanding the Heart Sutra can one well realize bodhi. But given the current situation, where each person understands it differently, how can one rely on the Heart Sutra? Everyone thinks they are relying on the Dharma, yet their understanding of the Dharma is mistaken—so how can they truly rely on it? Everyone believes their own understanding is correct, but there is only one correct Dharma. With a hundred people having a hundred understandings, perhaps ninety-nine of them are mistaken. How can this be called relying on the Dharma? The Buddha everywhere taught true emptiness and wondrous existence, yet some people deny true emptiness and others deny wondrous existence. These two kinds of people hold views that are inherently contradictory and opposed to each other, yet they can still blend together and mutually affirm one another—isn't that strange? Why does this happen? The reason is that sentient beings do not understand what their own views actually are, and they lack the power of discernment regarding the Dharma. That is why wrong views are now so rampant and erroneous dharmas can spread so widely, while sentient beings remain unaware of it. In the Dharma-ending age, sentient beings have meager merit and are willing to be misled. If sentient beings do not cultivate their merit, the future of the true Dharma is worrisome—it may perish rapidly. At that time, sentient beings will be even more mired in burning affliction, unable to extricate themselves.

True emptiness refers to the tathāgatagarbha—real yet empty in nature; within its mind-essence there is not a single dharma, yet it can manifest all dharmas. Wondrous existence means that although the dharma-marks of the five aggregates and eighteen realms exist, in substance they are nonexistent—they are all illusory dharmas manifested by the tathāgatagarbha. Even though these are illusory dharmas, one cannot say they do not exist, because sentient beings are using them every instant and every moment: they use the five aggregates to eat, dress, and walk, and to live their lives. Sentient beings live within the illusory eighteen realms—seeing false forms, hearing false sounds, smelling false scents, tasting false flavors, feeling false touches, and cognizing false dharmas. Seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and cognizing are all functions of the five aggregates, so one cannot deny the surface-level existence of the five aggregates. Although the five aggregates are not a real existence, they still have this mode of illusory existence. Everyone clearly uses the five aggregates every day, yet still says the five aggregates do not exist. If one could genuinely accept in one's heart that the five aggregates are indeed illusory, that would be wonderful—that would be the elimination of self-view and the realization of the fruit of an arhat. May all sentient beings be so. But denying even the illusory appearance of the five aggregates also cannot eliminate self-view, because if one cannot engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) on the illusory nature of the five aggregates and eighteen realms, one cannot realize the fruits.