The Reasons Why Those Who Slander the Dharma Cannot Attain Liberation

In a certain sect within the Buddhist community, there are those who exclusively believe in the Hinayana teachings and solely practice the path of liberation. They do not believe in the Mahayana teachings, do not accept the existence of the Tathagatagarbha, and do not acknowledge the manas (the seventh consciousness). Essentially, they are proponents of the six-consciousness theory, recognizing only the six consciousnesses. They slander the Mahayana teachings as non-Buddhist, deny the Mahayana patriarchs and bodhisattvas, thereby not only defaming the Buddha and the Dharma but also the Sangha—thus slandering the entire Three Jewels. Those who slander the Three Jewels are considered offenders in the Dharma, and offenders inevitably face karmic retribution. Cause and effect are clear and unequivocal, never failing even slightly. If one does not repent and eliminate these karmic offenses, one cannot attain the supreme benefits of the Dharma, namely, liberation. If slandering the Three Jewels could lead to the severance of the view of self and liberation, it would imply that the world operates without cause and effect, or that causes exist without effects. Yet, cause and effect have never been absent; the karmic retribution of good and evil has never failed.

If the existence of the Tathagatagarbha is denied, then an Arhat entering Nirvana would become mere annihilation, no different from non-Buddhist paths. For those Arhats who turn from the Hinayana toward the Mahayana, whose Mahayana causes and conditions ripen while in the state of Nirvana without residue—how are they to obtain a five-aggregate body to be reborn in the human realm and continue cultivating the Mahayana? If they cannot obtain a five-aggregate body, then all Arhats would become fixed-nature Arhats; there would be no non-fixed-nature Arhats, nor any Arhats who turn from the Hinayana toward the Mahayana. In that case, wouldn’t the Mahayana teachings specifically expounded by the World-Honored One to Arhats before their entry into Nirvana be rendered futile? Yet, the immeasurable great wisdom of the World-Honored One has always ensured that no effort is ever wasted; whatever is spoken and intended invariably comes to fruition.

If the existence of the manas is denied, claiming that the manas is merely the sixth consciousness (mano-vijñāna) and that there is no separate manas, then when observing and contemplating the five aggregates and eighteen elements, the six sense faculties would lack the manas to observe. One could only observe five sense faculties; the twelve bases could not be fully observed, only eleven; the eighteen elements could not be fully observed, only seventeen. Such an incomplete practice of observation cannot eradicate the view that the manas is the self. How, then, can the view of self be severed? The manas is one of the six sense faculties; it has the function of a faculty and also the function of a consciousness. Denying the existence of the manas causes the practice of observation to be abandoned midway, making liberation unattainable.

How great must the misunderstandings be among those who casually claim to have attained the four dhyānas or to have realized the fourth fruit? Sentient beings, due to their heavy self-conceit, are always prone to overestimating and elevating themselves. They refuse to examine themselves honestly or assess themselves truthfully. Consequently, the world is filled with so-called saints, fragmenting Buddhism, disrupting the monastic order, leaving sentient beings without proper guidance and unable to discern the true from the false in the Dharma! In this Dharma-ending age, the karmic obstructions of sentient beings are so severe—how could there possibly be so many saints abiding in the world? I urge the wise to reflect deeply, consider carefully, and make skillful discernments. Do not merely follow the current!