What Are Gradual Cultivation and Sudden Enlightenment?

Before sudden enlightenment, there still needs to be a process of gradual cultivation, and this gradual cultivation is different from the gradual cultivation after enlightenment—the two are of entirely different natures. The gradual cultivation before sudden enlightenment is the practice of the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment and the bodhisattva's six perfections, the cultivation of precepts, meditation (samādhi), and wisdom, and the full development of the four roots of goodness—heat, summit, patience, and the foremost worldly dharma—only then can one suddenly awaken to the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna teachings. If this issue is illustrated with an analogy, the principle will become clearer. For example, in felling a thousand-year-old tree, the trunk is very thick; to bring the trunk down, one needs to saw through it bit by bit with tools. This process is equivalent to the process of gradual cultivation, and when at last the old tree is brought down in one fell swoop, this is equivalent to sudden enlightenment. Therefore, without gradual cultivation there is no sudden enlightenment.

The processing after the tree is felled—such as stripping the bark, cutting it into boards, sanding, polishing, waxing, and coloring—resembles the gradual cultivation after enlightenment. Finally, assembling the boards into pleasing furniture and craftworks is equivalent to the ultimate sudden enlightenment and attainment of buddhahood. Felling an old tree is extremely laborious and arduous, requiring patience, endurance, and physical strength; the tools must be sharp, and the skill must be solid. This is equivalent to the provisions needed for seeing the path; without sufficient provisions, there is no seeing the path. Some people, as they cultivate, fall back, drop out, or come to a standstill, while some simply turn around and leave. On this path of cultivation, the further one goes, the fewer the people: of the ten thousand who first resolve to practice, hardly any persevere, and of those, perhaps not even one attains the Way. Thus sages are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns—extremely rare and precious—and when one encounters them, they should be cherished.

Some people mix up the gradual cultivation before enlightenment with that after enlightenment, believing there is no gradual cultivation before enlightenment, and that cultivation is a matter for after enlightenment. But a sudden enlightenment without gradual cultivation does not even count as intellectual understanding/interpretive awakening; it is entirely emotional thinking and mental conjecture, imagination and speculation, without the slightest benefit of merit—unless one is a bodhisattva on the bhūmis with extraordinarily great roots of goodness who, due to a deep foundation from previous lives, can directly achieve sudden enlightenment. Gradual cultivation before enlightenment is precisely the process of transforming the ordinary person's mind-nature into the mind of a sage; it is the process of being reborn with a completely new body and mind, the process of metamorphosis before the carp leaps over the dragon gate. Without this process, how can the metamorphosis occur? Therefore, to observe whether a person has genuinely awakened, one must observe their mind-nature and observe their bones—not look at the superficial gloss, eloquence, or grandiose talk. The essence is what matters most.

Gradual cultivation is to gradually bring one's body and mind closer and closer to the body and mind of the sages; only when one reaches the standard of the sages can one suddenly awaken and see the path. This is the process of cultivating the mind. If the mind does not change—if one's mental conduct is not that of a sage—one cannot become a sage. Therefore, gradual cultivation is very important; it is the key step for giving rise to wisdom acquired through cultivation. Before this, there is only wisdom acquired through hearing and wisdom acquired through reflection, which are very shallow and cannot withstand the karmic obstructions of birth and death. Only when the wisdom acquired through cultivation is complete can the wisdom attained through realizing the path arise; only from then can one be freed from the karma of the three evil destinies, sever afflictions, and escape the suffering of saṃsāra.