What Do All Buddhas Do When There Are No Sentient Beings to Liberate?

There is no world, nothing at all, not even emptiness. The world exists because of sentient beings, due to their karma, due to their conditions, due to the power of their vows; if there are no sentient beings, there is no karma, no conditions, no power of vows—how could the world exist alone? Sentient beings possess the five aggregates and the eighteen realms; without the five aggregates, there would be no eighteen realms. When there is no world, there is only void and stillness, but not even void and stillness exist, for void represents the world, and stillness represents a state—without a world, there is no space and no state.

After sentient beings attain Buddhahood, there are no more sentient beings to deliver. What do the Buddhas do in their Buddha-lands? There is nothing to do, no mind to use; they only enter samadhi. Entering samadhi for a long time is no different from entering nirvana—the result is the same, there is no distinction. Since the Arhats no longer engage in any worldly endeavors, what can the Buddhas possibly do? Entering samadhi all day—what is the use of samadhi? Whatever the Buddhas do is useless, and doing nothing is even more useless; entering samadhi and entering nirvana are no different. When sentient beings are together, they can still contend with one another; after attaining Buddhahood, the mind is absolutely peaceful, with nothing to do.

After attaining Buddhahood, the only thing to do is deliver sentient beings. If there are no sentient beings to deliver, there is absolutely nothing to do. After attaining Buddhahood, everything is superfluous. So why are we doing so many things now? It's equally meaningless. Gathering together now and contending with each other—what's the point? What is there to contend or fight over? Nothing is of any use. We should start restraining ourselves from now on. We should strive not to commit even a single unwholesome dharma; we can practice wholesome dharmas, but ultimately even wholesome dharmas become superfluous, so we cease even wholesome dharmas. Only then can the mind increasingly abide in non-action, and the attainment of Buddhahood will be swift.