The Most Reliable and Secure Dharma Gate for Practice

Question: For escaping saṃsāra, is it more reliable to attain realization of the fruits by eliminating self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) through cultivation, or is recollection of the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti) and rebirth in the land of bliss (Sukhāvatī) more reliable for escaping birth and death in saṃsāra? Is there a dharma gate that offers maximum returns with relative security?

Answer: The core idea of your question is this: First, how can one be assured of escaping saṃsāra and attaining liberation? Second, is cultivating Pure Land recollection of the Buddha faster and more secure than eliminating self-view? I say: the most secure and reliable way to attain liberation and escape birth and death in saṃsāra is to immediately achieve virtue and capability like that of the noble sages—to have body, mind, and world all like the noble sages. Not only should one's views and insight be on par with the noble sages, but one's meditative concentration (samādhi) and superknowledges should also be on par with them; one's moral cultivation and mind-nature should be on par with them; one's magnanimity, vows, and aspiration should be on par with them; and likewise one's four immeasurable minds of loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity should be on par with them. In short, one must be on par with the noble sages in every respect before one can be liberated and at ease like them, abiding in tranquil nirvāṇa, unconstrained by karmic power. Do you all agree with what I say?

The principles of the Four Noble Truths enable sentient beings to see through and see as empty the five-aggregate (pañcaskandha) world of the Sahā world, and thereby to let go of the various conditions of the Sahā world, single-mindedly recollect the Buddha, seek rebirth in the land of bliss, and have the mind resonate with the Pure Land—then rebirth there is easy. If one has attained the direction of the first fruit and the first fruit itself, rebirth in the land of bliss is even more assured. Without the support of the principles of the Four Noble Truths, recollection of the Buddha becomes absent-minded, stuck in the various conditions of the Sahā world, merely wasting precious time. Therefore, cultivating the Four Noble Truths and recollecting the Buddha are not contradictory; they can merge with and mutually promote each other.

Realizing the fruits and seeing one's true mind both represent a state of mind that has departed from the ordinary person's birth-and-death in saṃsāra; reaching such a state represents profound virtue and capability. Give this profound virtue and capability a name—define it as realizing the fruits through eliminating self-view, define it as awakening to the true mind and seeing one's nature, define it as the stream-enterer (Srotaāpanna) through the arhat (the fourth fruit), define it as bodhisattvas of the three stages of the ten faiths, abodes, and practices, define it as bodhisattvas from the first to the eighth bhūmi. Even if no name is given and no definition is made, as long as these virtues and capabilities are fully present, one has attained liberation and departed from the ordinary person's state of birth-and-death in saṃsāra. Therefore, no matter how sentient beings cultivate, no matter what they cultivate, as long as they can reach such a state, that is enough. Elevate body, mind, and world by eight degrees, by several levels, and the state one abides in is immediately a liberated state. Changing body, mind, and world is fundamental; elevating one's own virtue and capability is fundamental; everything else is merely an accessory. If you cannot elevate your own virtue and capability, cannot change your own body, mind, and world, then none of the other accessories will appear—so what use is there in clinging to accessories? By now, you should know what the most secure and reliable dharma gate of cultivation is, shouldn't you?

All kinds of fruits manifested, fruits attained, and retributions are realized by the tathāgatagarbha. Upon what basis does the tathāgatagarbha manifest these retributions? Based on the cultivator's mind—mental actions and bodily, verbal, and mental actions. If mental actions do not reach that point, if bodily, verbal, and mental actions do not reach that point, the tathāgatagarbha cannot manifest any fruit or retribution. How then could there be the first through fourth fruits, the three stages of the ten faiths, abodes, and practices, and bodhisattvas who have attained the bhūmis? How could there be rebirth in the land of bliss? Any personal definitions and preferences regarding these retributions count for nothing; only what the tathāgatagarbha manifests is real and true. Therefore, rather than disputing and calculating over fruits, it is more practical to cultivate in a down-to-earth manner, in accordance with the Dharma and the principles.