The Profound Meaning of the Diamond Sutra from the Consciousness-Only Perspective (14)

How does the Tathāgata skillfully protect and be mindful of all bodhisattvas? A sentient being begins cultivation from the ten faiths (śraddhā) stage of an ordinary person, advancing through the ten abodes, ten practices, and ten dedications, then onward to the ten bhūmis, and the stages of equal enlightenment and wondrous enlightenment—fifty-two stages in all. At every stage, one cannot be apart from the Buddha's blessing and protective mindfulness; otherwise, one would be obstructed by karmic hindrances and unable to continue upward cultivation. This is why the Buddha's grace is said to be vast and mighty—without attaining buddhahood, there is no way to repay it. Can the Buddha truly protect and be mindful of so many sentient beings? Of course He can, because the Buddha is also called the One of Omniscience (sarvākārajñatā), with wisdom, virtue, and capability perfectly complete; there is not a single dharma in the mundane or supramundane world that He does not know or understand. The Buddha knows the minds of every sentient being in the worlds of the ten directions, knows the events of each sentient being's countless kalpas, and even knows exactly how many raindrops fall when it rains simultaneously throughout the worlds of the ten directions. Since the Buddha can know the minds of sentient beings, He can protect and support their cultivation, helping them cross every threshold until they attain buddhahood.

Beginning from the ten faiths stage, the bodhisattva cultivates faith in the Three Jewels: understanding the Buddha's thirty-two major marks and eighty minor marks, the causes and conditions of His cultivation of the bodhisattva path over countless kalpas, the merit and significance of the Buddha's ten epithets, and the formation and scope of Buddha-lands, so as to give rise to a heart of aspiration. Then one comes to understand the basic content of the Tripitaka and twelve divisions of scriptures taught by the Buddha, and the meaning of the three refuges and five precepts. Then one comes to understand the Sangha Jewel—what ordinary monks, monastery-holding monks, and noble monks are, as well as the Three Jewels of unified essence and the Three Jewels of self-nature. In this way, one progresses from blind faith to reverent faith and devout faith, and finally arrives at correct faith: believing that the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha truly abide in the worlds of the ten directions, believing that all sentient beings in the ten directions possess true suchness and buddha-nature and can all attain buddhahood, and that oneself can also attain buddhahood—thus being fully endowed with the confidence to attain buddhahood, and the ten faiths stage is brought to completion. How long this cultivation takes depends on the depth of one's wholesome roots and merit, and on one's diligence; and all of this cultivation cannot be apart from the Buddha's protection and blessing.