The True Starting Point of Spiritual Practice

The Buddha's teachings encompass both theoretical aspects and practical cultivation, inevitably providing disciples with a starting point for practice. Having traversed the path himself and standing at the pinnacle, the Buddha is fully capable of guiding sentient beings from all directions at the foot of the mountain, helping them gradually ascend to the mountainside and the summit.

Practicing the Dharma taught by the Buddha is vastly superior to merely worshipping theories that are splendid and lofty yet lack practical, feasible methods. Anyone who cannot provide genuinely workable methods demonstrates that they themselves have not succeeded in cultivation; they have not traversed the path themselves, so how could their followers possibly traverse it?

Those who teach without actual practice often instruct sentient beings to pluck stars from the sky, yet fail to provide them with a ladder. The followers are left pitifully straining on tiptoe, gazing longingly at the starry sky. No matter how hard they strive, the distance to the stars remains unchanged, utterly out of reach. Some even delude themselves into believing they have grasped the stars, when in reality, they have only seized a reflection in the water, obtaining no real fruit. If someone only expounds theory without offering practical methods, one should be wary and avoid pointlessly squandering precious time.

Engaging earnestly in practical cultivation—attaining samadhi through just one method—enables one to easily access any other form of samadhi. This is because all samadhi states are interconnected, and the methods are fundamentally similar. Mastering one method allows one to grasp the others. The real fear is that individuals cannot resolve to commit to a single method and apply it diligently, unwilling to endure hardship or expend the necessary effort. If one dabbles in various methods superficially, like a dragonfly skimming the water, merely touching the surface without depth, then it becomes impossible to achieve success in any single practice.