Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (224)

What Conditions Are Needed to Attain Buddhahood?

A Golden Wheel-Turning King had already made offerings to immeasurable Buddhas and planted so many roots of goodness, yet he only became a Golden Wheel-Turning King. If we do not cultivate diligently, but merely recite a single Buddha's name and, at the end of life, attain rebirth in the land of bliss (sukhāvatī), waiting there to become a Buddha—can we really attain Buddhahood that way? We have only made offerings to Śākyamuni Buddha, and even those offerings have not been made well. Upon arriving in the land of bliss, we would only encounter one Buddha, Amitābha—could we thereby attain Buddhahood? Even to become a Golden Wheel-Turning King one must make offerings to immeasurable Buddhas, let alone achieve the far more supreme retribution of accomplishing the Buddha Way. The Buddha said in the sūtras that for sentient beings to attain Buddhahood, they must all make offerings to Buddhas as numerous as immeasurable and boundless, listen to the sūtras and hear the Dharma beside every one of those Buddhas, and make offerings to the Buddhas life after life, so that their merit becomes complete and they become the World-Honored One who is doubly honored in both merit and wisdom. Therefore, it is impossible to say that by merely reciting a Buddha's name and reaching the land of bliss one attains Buddhahood. One would not even have sufficient experience in liberating sentient beings. The Buddha's teachings have never said such a thing, and without having cultivated blessings, it is impossible to attain Buddhahood so easily.

If there really were such an effortless thing as attaining Buddhahood by reciting a Buddha's name, then if the disciples wanted to listen to the Dharma, yet one could not even expound the Hīnayāna teachings, much less the Mahāyāna teachings, how would one liberate sentient beings? Moreover, where would these disciple-sentient beings come from? Having never liberated disciples, having never formed affinities with sentient beings, how could one possibly have disciples? Without having liberated sentient beings, there are no disciples; without the assistance of disciples, one cannot establish a Buddha-land, nor can one attain Buddhahood. For example, to be a king, if there are no ministers and no subjects, one cannot be a king. Having only been to the land of bliss, without having liberated sentient beings, one's blessings are incomplete; unable to expound the sūtras and speak the Dharma, one's wisdom is incomplete; with neither blessings nor wisdom complete, one cannot attain Buddhahood.

At the time of attaining Buddhahood, one must have immeasurable and boundless disciples assisting in propagating the Dharma. First, the two great disciples on the left and right are bodhisattvas of equal enlightenment (samatā-sambuddha stage) who attend and protect the Buddha at His side; there are also the many bodhisattvas from the first bhūmi to the ninth bhūmi, as well as bodhisattvas who have just attained enlightenment, ordinary bodhisattvas, śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, and so forth. These disciples should all be immeasurable and boundless in number in order to establish a Buddha-land. Therefore, one who wishes to attain Buddhahood must make offerings to immeasurable Buddhas and constantly follow immeasurable Buddhas to study the Dharma, so that one's merit may soon be perfectly complete.

Before attaining Buddhahood, there is much Buddhadharma to be learned; it cannot be learned entirely at the side of a single Buddha. The Tripiṭaka and twelve divisions of teachings preserved in Jambudvīpa are only a very small portion of what the Buddha taught. The Dharma the Buddha expounded in the Sahā world is as scant as the dirt under a fingernail, while the Dharma He never taught in the Sahā world is as abundant as the soil of the great earth. Even so, the Tripiṭaka and twelve divisions preserved in Jambudvīpa already appear as vast as an ocean to sentient beings; many people can only read one-tenth or one-twentieth of them—let alone the immense amount of Dharma that Buddhas have never spoken. The Buddhadharma is truly vast and boundless. Therefore, we need to make offerings to immeasurable Buddhas, constantly follow the Buddhas in study and practice, and constantly cultivate merit, so that we may ultimately accomplish the Buddha Way.