The Relationship Between Expansiveness and Specialization

When each person reaches a critical moment in their spiritual practice, hindering conditions will arise; this is precisely the result of diligent cultivation. Continuing the practice further will cause these hindering conditions to fade away. When practice lacks diligence, hindering conditions generally do not appear. Therefore, when encountering setbacks, do not doubt yourself, but press forward courageously.

The sequence of spiritual practice is first extensive, then specialized. If one merely pursues breadth, it only amounts to the accumulation of intellectual knowledge, which is unrelated to liberation. When it is time to engage in Chan meditation for direct realization, one must set aside all scriptures and focus wholeheartedly on meditation. At such a time, emphasizing the reading of scriptures again will obstruct the path. In the past, Zen patriarchs, upon seeing disciples engaged in meditation reading scriptures, would stop and reprimand them. Nowadays, no one dares to say anything to disciples; they dare not prevent others from pursuing extensive learning and wide knowledge, fearing they might be labeled. Some people practice into their seventies or eighties, yet their minds remain fixated on extensive learning and wide knowledge. I dare not say anything either; one's own life and death are in one's own hands. The most prominent characteristic of modern people is their fondness for knowledge and scholarship, but not for liberation.