Discourse on the Pitāputrasamāgama Sūtra (224)

What Conditions Are Required to Attain Buddhahood?

The Wheel-Turning Golden Wheel Monarch made offerings to immeasurable Buddhas and cultivated vast good roots, yet attained only the status of a Golden Wheel Monarch. If we fail to practice diligently and merely recite the Buddha's name once, aspiring to be reborn in the Pure Land upon death and await Buddhahood there, can we truly attain Buddhahood? We have made offerings only to Śākyamuni Buddha, and not even properly at that. In the Pure Land, we encounter only Amitābha Buddha. Can we then attain Buddhahood? Becoming a Golden Wheel Monarch required making offerings to immeasurable Buddhas, let alone achieving the supremely superior fruition of Buddhahood. The Buddha stated in the sutras that for sentient beings to attain Buddhahood, they must make offerings to countless, boundless Buddhas. They must listen to the Dharma beside each Buddha, make offerings to all Buddhas lifetime after lifetime, so that their merit will be complete, enabling them to become the World-Honored One, complete in both merit and wisdom. Therefore, it is impossible to simply recite the Buddha's name, be reborn in the Pure Land, and instantly attain Buddhahood. Without the experience of guiding sentient beings, without having expounded the Dharma, and without having cultivated blessings, one cannot attain Buddhahood so easily.

If it were truly that effortless—if reciting the Buddha's name alone led to Buddhahood—then if disciples sought teachings, how could one teach them? One would be unable to expound even the Hinayana teachings, let alone the Mahayana. How then could one guide sentient beings? Moreover, where would these disciple sentient beings come from? If one has never guided disciples or formed karmic connections with sentient beings, how could there be any disciples? Without guiding sentient beings, there are no disciples; without the assistance of disciples, one cannot establish a Buddha-land nor attain Buddhahood. It is like becoming a king: without ministers or subjects, one cannot rule. Merely arriving in the Pure Land, without guiding sentient beings, without sufficient merit, without the ability to expound the sutras and Dharma, without sufficient wisdom, and lacking both merit and wisdom—one cannot attain Buddhahood.

At the time of attaining Buddhahood, one requires the assistance of countless, boundless disciples to propagate the Dharma together. First, there are the two great chief disciples, both Equal Enlightenment Bodhisattvas, who flank and support the Buddha. Then there are the multitude of Bodhisattvas from the First to the Ninth Grounds, newly enlightened Bodhisattvas, ordinary Bodhisattvas, Śrāvakas, Pratyekabuddhas, and so forth. The number of such disciples must be countless and boundless to establish a Buddha-land. Therefore, to attain Buddhahood, one must make offerings to immeasurable Buddhas, constantly follow immeasurable Buddhas to learn the Dharma, so that one's merit may swiftly become complete and perfect.

There is much Dharma to learn before attaining Buddhahood; it cannot be completed by studying under a single Buddha. The Tripitaka and the Twelve Divisions of Scriptures preserved in Jambudvīpa represent only a tiny fraction of the Dharma expounded by the Buddha. The Dharma the Buddha taught in the Sahā World is as little as the dust beneath a fingernail, while the Dharma he did not teach there is as vast as the soil on the earth. Even so, the Tripitaka and Twelve Divisions in Jambudvīpa appear as an immense ocean to sentient beings; many can read only one-tenth or one-twentieth of it. How much more so when considering the vast amount of Dharma not expounded by countless other Buddhas! The Dharma is truly boundless and limitless. Therefore, we need to make offerings to immeasurable Buddhas, constantly follow the Buddhas in cultivation and study, and perpetually cultivate merit to ultimately achieve the Buddha Way.