The Sequence of Teaching the Dharma

When teaching the Dharma, one must not only suit the spiritual faculties of sentient beings, but should also go beyond those faculties, guiding and elevating the faculties of sentient beings. Because the spiritual faculties of sentient beings vary in a thousand different ways, one cannot teach only Dharma of a low and shallow level; profound Dharma and even more profound Dharma should all be taught. Teaching it is not necessarily for the sentient beings present now—it is also for sentient beings of later generations, and for those of great spiritual faculties. Those whose faculties are insufficient, once they have heard it, may just let it go; if they do not understand, they should hold it in doubt, but should not readily draw conclusions.

When I teach the Dharma, I must first lay the groundwork, attending to sentient beings of every level—the high, the middle, and the low—and attending to both this life and future lives; what is considered above all is the development of Buddhism as a whole. Therefore, it is impossible to fully accommodate the specific circumstances of every sentient being, and of course there will be some people, or even many, who do not resonate with it. I am fully aware of all these situations in my mind; I have my own arrangements for everything, and the Buddha is also supervising from behind. Śākyamuni Buddha has an overall and comprehensive arrangement for the Buddhadharma in the Sahā world, which we do not know. We need only abide calmly, temporarily absorbing the Dharma that resonates with ourselves, and for the time being set aside the profound Dharma and pay it no heed.

When the World-Honored One had just attained the Way in the Sahā world, he taught the Huayan Sutra (Avataṃsaka Sūtra) to bodhisattvas of great resolve. The immeasurable hosts of devas and the disciples among humans—especially the śrāvaka disciples—were as if deaf and mute. The World-Honored One knew this, yet he still had to teach the Huayan Sutra, laying out the entire Buddhadharma of the Sahā world and explaining the path to buddhahood clearly, so that his disciples would understand the entire sequence of Buddhist practice and have a clear picture in their minds.

Only after finishing the Huayan Sutra did the World-Honored One begin to teach his disciples the coarsest and shallowest Buddhadharma, leading the assembly in practicing the four Āgamas, starting from the elimination of self-view and the realization of the first fruit.

My propagation of the Dharma is the same: I must also lay out all the Buddhadharma that sentient beings need to cultivate, explaining clearly the crucial points of practice, and only afterward lead everyone to begin cultivation from the foundation, from the coarse and shallow Buddhadharma. The online propagation of the Dharma before this was not true propagation of the Dharma; it was only a stage of groundwork and warm-up. The true leading of the assembly in practice has not yet begun.