The True Starting Point of Spiritual Practice

When the Buddha taught the Dharma, there was not only the theoretical part but even more the practical cultivation part; He certainly gave disciples a point of entry for their study and practice. Because the Buddha Himself was one who had walked the path, standing at the highest peak, He was fully capable of guiding sentient beings from all directions at the foot of the mountain to slowly climb up the mountainside and to the summit.

Practicing the Dharma taught by the Buddha is always far, far better than worshipping theories that are only splendid and lofty but lack a practical, feasible method of entry. Anyone who cannot provide a practical, feasible method shows that he himself has never succeeded in cultivation, that he himself has never walked that path through to the end—so how could those who follow and learn from him walk it through?

When someone without actual practice teaches the Dharma, he is often pointing sentient beings toward plucking the stars in the sky, yet has no way to build them a ladder of clouds. The sentient beings who follow can only pitifully stand on tiptoe gazing up at the starry sky; no matter how hard they strive, their distance from the stars remains exactly as far as before, and there is no way to reach them. Some people even believe they have plucked a star, when in fact it is merely a reflection in the water, and they have not obtained the real fruit. If someone only speaks theory without any method to begin practice, you should be on guard, and not vainly waste your precious time.

In truly genuine, down-to-earth practice, as long as you attain meditative concentration (samādhi) through one single dharma gate, any other kind of samādhi can be very easily entered. Because all samādhis are interconnected, and the methods are interconnected—once you enter through one method, you have also mastered the other methods. The only fear is that everyone cannot make up their mind to find one method and actually put in the effort, unwilling to endure hardship, unwilling to expend energy. If you try every method, yet only like a dragonfly skimming the water, tasting shallowly and stopping there, then there is no way to accomplish any dharma gate.