Zen Meditation Naturally Comes to Fruition When Causes and Conditions Ripen

When the cultivation of precepts, meditation, and wisdom is not yet complete, and the six paramitas are not fully perfected, it is not yet time to engage in Chan investigation. One should slow down and focus on Chan meditation, which must keep pace. If Chan meditation is inadequate, one cannot genuinely engage in contemplative practice. Insufficient meditation may yield some intellectual understanding, but the body and mind receive no benefit and gain no merit or practical application. This is truly regrettable. When even the six paramitas of a Bodhisattva are incomplete, rushing into Chan investigation often leads to outcomes contrary to one's wishes. The master does not force your growth prematurely, and you should not force it upon yourselves either. Imagine a small seedling just emerging from the soil—if you forcibly pull it up to a meter tall, can that seedling survive? If the seedling dies, there is no hope for it to become a small tree, let alone a great one. If one's Buddhist practice in this life is reduced to mere intellectual understanding, not only is this lifetime’s potential wasted, but it also becomes difficult for this individual to become a capable person in future lives. Forcing premature growth may ruin not just one lifetime; the potential to become a pillar of the Dharma in the next life may be lost, forfeiting the opportunity entirely.

Many have urged me to quickly organize a three-day Chan retreat. I asked them why. They said that guiding people in Chan investigation for three days could lead to enlightenment. Tell me, everyone, can I enable people to attain enlightenment in just three days?

Chan Master Xiangyan served as an attendant to his master for eighteen years. With that level of capacity and those ideal conditions, he still did not attain enlightenment. In this Dharma-Ending Age, sentient beings lack meditative stability, cannot uphold precepts, and have not perfected the six paramitas. How could a mere three-day opportunity lead them to enlightenment? If that were possible, how many in the Saha World during this Dharma-Ending Age would attain enlightenment while the Buddha was in the world?

However, it is not impossible for me to enable everyone to awaken within three days. It could be done with a single phrase—it’s not difficult. But after awakening in this manner, what would become of each person? What would become of the Saha World? What direction would the Dharma take?

In ancient times, there was a Chan master whose disciple blocked his path in a narrow passage, threatening him with a knife, demanding that the master reveal the secret meaning. Facing such a situation, the master remained unafraid and refused to answer directly. He simply pushed the disciple aside, saying, “You move aside, I’ll pass.” This was a master acting with the highest responsibility toward his disciple—engaging in no transactions or deals, boasting neither about the number of disciples he guided nor his own abilities. When a disciple’s conditions and causes are ripe, awakening occurs naturally. If the conditions for the six paramitas are lacking, one must continue to perfect them, cultivating precepts, meditation, and wisdom, never bestowing enlightenment as a favor.

There are many such examples from ancient times. Only Chan masters like this, who take responsibility for Buddhism and sentient beings, can repay the Four Profound Kindnesses, without seeking personal fame or reputation.

As the Dharma has been transmitted over time, flaws have arisen. In fact, these flaws began just one hundred years after the Buddha’s parinirvana, when the Dharma started to deteriorate bit by bit. When the teaching of the conditioned and impermanent was distorted into the “water old crane” fallacy, it pained Venerable Ananda so deeply that he could not bear it and entered parinirvana. If Ananda were to come to this world today, after the Dharma has been transmitted for over two thousand years, he likely would not wish to stay even a single day, unwilling to witness or tolerate any trace of corrupt teachings or practices. Fortunately, he had the ability to depart at will, avoiding what would trouble his eyes and heart. But what about Bodhisattvas who lack such ability? They have no choice but to endure, accept, and then find ways to transform these corrupting trends—there is no other path.