The Relationship between Breadth and Specialization

When each person's practice reaches a critical juncture, obstructive conditions will appear—this is precisely the result of practice gaining real strength. If one continues practicing, the obstructive conditions will fade away. When one's practice is not gaining strength, obstructive conditions generally do not appear. Therefore, when you encounter setbacks, do not doubt yourself; press forward bravely.

The sequence of practice is first broad and extensive, then specialized and refined. If one only pursues breadth, it can only be an accumulation of intellectual knowledge in the conscious mind, which has nothing to do with liberation. When it is time to investigate Chan and attain realization, one should set aside all the sutras and devote oneself single-mindedly to investigating Chan. If at this point one still emphasizes reading sutras, it will obstruct the Way. In the past, the Chan patriarchs, upon seeing disciples investigating Chan read sutras, would stop and reprimand them. Nowadays no one dares say anything to their disciples, nor dare they stop others from studying broadly and hearing much, for fear of being accused by their own master. Some people practice until they are seventy or eighty years old, yet their minds are still fixed on broad study and much hearing—and I dare not say anything either; one's own birth and death is one's own to decide. The greatest characteristic of modern people is that they love knowledge and learning, but do not love liberation.