Buddhist Sūtras and Hīnayāna Treatises

For the practice of the Small Vehicle, one should take the Āgama sūtras taught by the Buddha—especially the Saṃyuktāgama—as the standard. The treatises written by others all contain more or less incorrect points, whose details are inconsistent with the Buddha's teachings. Even the treatises composed by arhats (the fourth fruit) deviate somewhat from what the Buddha taught, and cannot be accepted in their entirety.

The errors and disputes in those Small Vehicle treatises are even more numerous than the disputes among the ancient Yogācāra scholars. Even for such a simple dharma, they still argue back and forth with differing opinions—this shows that the practice of the Buddha's dharma is by no means easy. Because the levels of practice in the Small Vehicle's path of liberation are relatively low, there are many people who write books and compose treatises, and the content is rather disorganized, with quite a few each speaking their own version. All of this is brought about by the karma of sentient beings in the Sahā world; such situations do not exist in other worlds.

The Buddhist sūtras say that after attaining the first fruit, one must develop first dhyāna meditative concentration (samādhi) in order to sequentially eliminate afflictions such as greed, hatred, and delusion, and only then can one become an arhat liberated by wisdom (paññāvimutti). Yet those Small Vehicle treatises claim that an arhat liberated by wisdom need not have first dhyāna, nor even preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi). To claim that one can eliminate afflictions and attain the fourth fruit without cultivating any meditative concentration at all is sheer fantasy.

If in this life we do not diligently cultivate practice, lay a solid foundation, and achieve some accomplishment, then in future ages the Buddha's dharma will evolve into even greater confusion, making it virtually impossible to distinguish right from wrong, and one could very easily fall into the pits set by the Māra king and be unable to get out. The Māra king's tricks are extremely numerous—impossible to guard against completely. Therefore, we should still make the vow to take refuge in the Three Jewels, rely on the Buddha's power for protection and rescue, and walk the correct path of liberation. In this world, Māra's obstructions are everywhere; if one's merit is even slightly deficient, one will be obstructed, and one may not even know it—and even if one knows, one lacks the power to break free. Cultivating more merit, strengthening the power of meditative concentration, and subduing karmic obstructions are the most crucial things. Then, when karmic obstructions manifest, one will have the ability to break through and get out.