Miscellaneous Discussions on Buddhism (Part One)

Chapter 10: On Cultivation (2)

Twenty: In the Dharma-ending Age, There Can Be No Crash Courses

The path of cultivating the bodhisattva way is long; why be concerned with momentary speed or slowness before your eyes? The goal is achieved over three incalculable eons; as long as one completes the Buddha way in the shortest time within those three incalculable eons, one is the winner. It is like a ten-thousand-meter long-distance race: what wise person cares about being ahead or behind within the first hundred meters? Setting up a long-term plan according to one's physical capacity and ensuring priority arrival at the finish line is what is fundamental; everything else is unimportant.

As the saying goes, if a person lacks long-term consideration, they will surely have near-term worries. The more long-range the goal, the vaster the wisdom, the broader the breadth of mind, the grander the magnanimity, the loftier the aspiration, the stronger the legs, and the fuller the confidence. Do not care about momentary speed or slowness, winning or losing.

In today's Dharma-ending age, there are not so many people of bodhisattva gotra, not so many good vessels suitable for the Path, so absolutely there must be no crash courses for quickly attaining fruition or seeing the mind. Over these past two years I have observed certain phenomena and have become somewhat alerted: crash courses do people great harm; what they produce are all shoddy, counterfeit products, harming the normal, orderly development of Buddhism.

Many people cannot find the point of entry for genuine cultivation and realization; this is a normal phenomenon, showing that their causes and conditions for realization are not yet ripe. As they bump around here and there, they gradually mature themselves, gradually grow their roots of goodness and merit, as well as meditative concentration and wisdom, perfect their bodhisattva qualifications, and cultivate the bodhisattva disposition and virtue—at the very least one must have the moral cultivation of being a proper human being, a human being's character; otherwise, how could one serve as a bodhisattva leading sentient beings? If you lead sentient beings into a mire and none of them are even aware of it—near vermillion one turns red, near ink one turns black—sentient beings unknowingly get steeped in bad habits, yet believe it to be bodhisattva conduct; such consequences are also very frightening.

I have observed some seekers of enlightenment whose character is extremely vile, who simply do not know how to be a decent person and do not even want to be good people. If all such people came to know the point of entry for cultivation and realization, came to know the final result, and all became so-called bodhisattvas in name only, then what would Buddhism develop into in the future? It is truly frightening to think about.

The more someone wants to quickly see the mind, become enlightened, and attain fruition, the less they should awaken, because such an urgent mind always has impure motives; the bodhisattva disposition is still insufficient, and the mind that seeks nothing has not yet been cultivated. Once such a person awakens, they will seek even more, and the mind craving fame, praise, and gain will become uncontrollable. Therefore, matters of cultivation should be like water flowing and a channel forming—natural and spontaneous. For a person whose causes and conditions are ripe, it cannot be held back even if you try; they will certainly awaken naturally, and naturally they are a bodhisattva.

With rapid attainment of fruition and seeing the mind, the accumulation of merit is insufficient, karmic obstructions have not yet been eliminated, afflictions have not yet been subdued; once one approaches fruition and seeing the mind, karmic obstructions will emerge to obstruct, afflictions will manifest to block—obstacles upon obstacles—and it becomes extremely easy to regress in bodhi and the mind of the Path, leaving no strength for subsequent cultivation. Therefore, when causes and conditions are not ripe, one absolutely must not take them in hand and guide them; one absolutely must not pluck unripe melons, lest one harm others, harm oneself, and harm Buddhism.

If Buddhism runs crash courses, they can only be crash courses in disposition, crash courses in the mind of the Path, crash courses in human character, crash courses in meditative concentration—absolutely not crash courses in attaining fruition or crash courses in seeing the mind. If disposition cannot be achieved quickly, human character cannot be achieved quickly, the mind of the Path cannot be achieved quickly, and meditative concentration cannot be achieved quickly, how could attaining fruition and seeing the mind be achieved quickly?

So many people complain to me that cultivation has no point of entry, that they do not know how to investigate Chan or see the mind, do not know how to practice contemplation (vipaśyanā-caryā) to attain fruition. Thinking about it now, that is exactly right: not knowing is normal, having no point of entry is normal. After a period of arduous tempering, when causes and conditions ripen, you will suddenly know and understand everything.

Twenty-one: Neither Studying the Dharma nor Expounding It Can Be Done by Taking Things for Granted

A master in a room admires fresh flowers and then says to himself: "The red flowers are very beautiful." The parrot beside him hears it and repeats: "The red flowers are very beautiful." Is what the parrot said truthful speech? Is it direct perception? Has it realized the redness and beauty of the flowers? None of these. The parrot is merely mimicking speech, knowing nothing of the meaning of the sentence, perhaps not even knowing what it is saying. Therefore, just because someone can expound something does not necessarily mean they have cultivation and genuine realization.

The sutras say that sentient beings at the stage of the ten faiths have already studied Buddhism for several great eons and have encountered many Buddhas; studying and cultivating Buddhism for one incalculable eon only brings one to the level of a first-bhūmi bodhisattva. A bodhisattva at the abode stage who has awakened and seen the mind still has two-thirds of the cultivation eons remaining before the first bhūmi, having already completed one-ninth of the path to Buddhahood—and this already represents an extremely, extremely long stretch of eons of study, which is not at all easy. Clearly, studying and cultivating Buddhism is not an easy matter; for the path-work to advance one level requires an incalculable expenditure of time and energy. So no one may take this lightly, thinking that a bit of understanding amounts to attaining some fruition—there is no such simple thing. If you have not walked that stretch of road and cannot see the road ahead, then of course by imagination it seems very simple and becoming a Buddha is easy; only one who has already become a Buddha knows what the road to Buddhahood is really like, and only what such a person recounts from experience is reliable.

Twenty-two: In Studying the Dharma, You Must Know Why It Is So

While memorizing a text, you must also understand its meaning—know that it is so, and also know why it is so. The process of studying Buddhism is: first read the text, then memorize it, next understand it, then crucially realize the meaning the text describes, and then act in accordance with what you know and have realized. In this way, all the texts become your own, not something learned; from then on you can expound the texts everywhere, and you will always be speaking of the text within your own mind.

If in studying Buddhism one only memorizes and blindly believes, how can one's path-work progress? How can wisdom grow? Having finally obtained a human body and encountered the Mahāyāna definitive dharma (Mahāyāna-nītārtha-dharma), if you do not make good use of your own brain to think deeply and subtly and seek genuine realization, you have obtained a human body in vain and encountered the true Dharma in vain; after decades pass, you remain nothing at all—is that not a pity? You should try your best to change your incorrect, unreasonable ways of studying Buddhism. Do not merely count another's treasures—put treasures into your own pocket; counting for others is useless, and in the end you are still left with nothing. You must cultivate meditative concentration and contemplate the Dharma within concentration; apart from concentration, even understanding cannot reach the mark, let alone realization. Only realized wisdom is ultimate wisdom, wisdom that belongs to you; understanding is unreliable, especially when the understanding does not even reach the mark.

No matter how fluently you can recite the Tripiṭaka and twelve divisions of scriptures, if the manas has not been successfully steeped, in the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava) this theoretical knowledge will be of no use. Theoretical knowledge is, after all, just knowledge; if you have not realized it and do not hold it in your own hands, it simply does not function. That is why I always emphasize to everyone the power of concentration and contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā)—these are far more important than knowledge. Moreover, matters of fruition have nothing to do with theoretical knowledge: no matter how much Buddhist doctrine you can recite, without realization your fruition is zero. A person who has realized the Dharma, even without much theoretical knowledge, has their level of fruition determined by their actual realization.

Twenty-three: Cultivating the Path Cannot Be Separated from Ascetic Practice

Modern people cannot endure hardship, so they find excuses, saying ascetic practice is not the Way. Although ascetic practice is not itself the Way, cultivating the Path cannot be separated from ascetic practice, for it represents a person's ability to shake off various cravings—without a craving mind or craving conduct, the mind is pure and cultivating the Path goes quickly. Read the accounts of Śākyamuni Buddha's past-life cultivation practices and you will know that for immeasurable lifetimes Śākyamuni Buddha practiced austerities, even offering his body to feed a rākṣasa for the sake of obtaining half a verse. When the Buddhas and bodhisattvas cultivated on the causal ground, ascetic practice was their mainstay, and they did not indulge craving. Now in this world the style of cultivation has reversed: it is said that ascetic practice is not the Way, and everyone wants to enjoy cravings while pursuing the reputation and fruition of a sage. Can one have both the fish and the bear's paw?

Some people, because their cravings are heavy and they cannot renounce them, yet want to cover up this mentality, find the excuse that a bodhisattva is a person of great merit who should display their merit to sentient beings in order to gather them in. So such people are fastidious about enjoyment at all times and in all places, as if they had already accomplished realization. If that were so, was Śākyamuni Buddha back then a person without merit, unable to enjoy his merit after leaving home? Were all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions people without merit, unable to enjoy blessings while cultivating, which is why they so cherished merit? Were the twenty-eight patriarchs of the Western Heaven and the six patriarchs of the Eastern Land, all the Chan masters and venerable adepts of past ages, people without merit, unable to enjoy blessings?

Twenty-four: To What Degree of Cultivation Can One Gather In the Mind?

Some say that whether one eats meat is not something to be attached to—that is precisely non-attachment to marks, and gathering in the mind as precept is what is fundamental. But facts and results, cause and effect, do not depend on whether you or anyone is attached or not attached—they will inevitably appear; wishful thinking solves nothing. Only with the ability to gather in the mind can one truly keep the precepts; without that ability, one cannot keep the precepts. What kind of person can gather in the mind, and to what degree of cultivation can one truly gather in the mind—this is the key. It is not that the mind is gathered in just because you think it is, nor that you are free of attachment to marks just because you think you are; such thinking is far too inaccurate and unreasonable. To actually achieve non-attachment to marks, one must realize the corresponding truth and also have deep meditative concentration; only then can one be unattached, break through marks, and gather in the mind. Apart from this, it is all mere lip-service Chan.

You must be clear about to what degree of cultivation one can gather in the mind. Ask yourself honestly: can you gather in your mind? If you can, then any problem can be solved, and whether or not one eats would no longer matter. If being attached to whether or not one eats meat counts as attachment to marks, then not being attached to whether or not one eats meat would mean the mind is already free of attachment to marks. Since one is already free of attachment to marks, then one should be able to eat anything without fussing—plain white rice would suffice, or with a plate of pickled vegetables, or raw vegetables without meat; anything would do. A person truly unattached to what they eat should be able to eat any leftovers, so long as the belly is filled and one can apply effort to the Path—caring nothing about the rest. Genuine non-attachment should be like this, not the claim that one need not avoid eating meat.

Twenty-five: Cultivation Means Cultivating a Mind of No-Self

Genuine cultivation is cultivating the mind; cultivating the mind means working on your own mind-ground, emptying out all the self-centered thoughts, expelling the self from the mind—the emptier the better, the cleaner the self is expelled the better, until there is no self in the mind. It is not about directing effort outward to cultivate others, making others and other dharmas conform to your own self-nature. The aim of cultivation is to reach no-self at every level—the more no-self the better; the more no-self, the more accomplishment; the more no-self, the more liberation; the more no-self, the more ease; the more no-self, the closer to Buddhahood; and with complete no-self at the end, one becomes a Buddha. Then fill the mind with the welfare of sentient beings and the welfare of Buddhism—just not with self-interest. In the end you will discover that you have still gained all benefits, gaining the great benefit of liberation. This benefit is won through a mind of no-self and conduct of no-self, not obtained through conduct driven by various petty selves.

So every day, from the moment you open your eyes in the morning until your thoughts cease at night, at every moment introspect on your own mind, introspect on every thought and idea. If you find that your thoughts are all about self, involving your various self-interests, then contemplate the disadvantages of self-orientation, reprimand yourself, persuade yourself, settle yourself, and do not let the self in your mind run rampant to encroach on others and other dharmas, favoring the self and excluding others.

Let the mind be as simple, pure, clean, fresh, and unhardened as an infant's, untainted by a speck of dust; thus body and mind are nourished, pure and supremely soft, and the tathāgatagarbha will give us a complete transformation—a mold of a selfless sage takes shape, the sage is born, the sagely mind is accomplished, and the sagely body is at ease. Only then can one become the honored one of the desire realm, the honored one of the form realm, the honored one of the formless realm, the honored one of the three realms; the supremely sublime retribution is obtained without seeking it, and even when obtained, one does not cling to it or abide in it.

View sentient beings as one body with yourself, give rise to the great compassion of no-self, and use the selfless mind to rescue suffering sentient beings in all worlds. Our future has only this one thing to do—no worldly affairs, no disputes over worldly benefits, no contests over power, fame, or status—everything is Buddha's work and bodhisattva work, everything is selfless work benefiting others. Since this is so, we had best start right now, not wait until we become sages to begin; the fruit of sagehood will not come by waiting.

Twenty-six: A Buddhist's Diligence Should Not Fall Short of the Non-Buddhists'

In the Buddha's time there was a non-Buddhist called the Long-nailed Brahmin (Dīrghanakha). In order to debate with his nephew Śāriputra, he resolved to study several major non-Buddhist treatises, vowing not to trim his nails until he had mastered them, and so he was known as the Long-nailed Brahmin. If a non-Buddhist could apply himself so diligently for a worldly, meaningless debate, having no time to trim his nails and going years without cutting them, then how have we Buddhists been applying ourselves? Each day brewing tea, chatting, strolling the streets, tidying up, eating meals, family reunions, then health regimens, yoga and qigong, shooting the breeze and boasting with Dharma friends, then sleeping soundly—at the end of the day, how much time has gone into cultivating the Path?

How many Buddhists in this world are as diligent in practice as the non-Buddhists? Probably very, very few. How many Buddhists, like the non-Buddhists, have seen through the world and set aside the secular to cultivate the Path? Probably very, very few. Among any three people there must be one who can be my teacher; we really should learn much from the non-Buddhists—their strengths and virtues, that spirit of letting go, that spirit of diligent effort, that spirit of taking the world lightly. If Buddhists had this spirit, combined with correct Dharma principles, it would be hard for them not to attain the Way.

And when such diligent non-Buddhists met the Buddha, they were liberated; with pure precept-conduct, meditative concentration complete, and wisdom fine, upon encountering the appropriate Buddhist teaching, with one focused reflection they would attain fruition. That is genuine realization, not mere understanding. Can we Buddhists of today manage that? Unable to keep the precepts, unable to develop meditative concentration—no matter how long they are steeped in Mahāyāna Dharma circles, they never come close to realization and awakening; at most they gain a bit of intellectual understanding. How great is the gap between the inner path and the outer path? Some people even look down on non-Buddhists. Non-Buddhists like those—if I could encounter them, how easy teaching them would be; it would never wear on my heart; at most they simply could not make the great resolve. Even the great resolves Buddhists make advance and retreat by turns, none of them reliable.

Twenty-seven: The Meaning of "Forgetting Bodhicitta and Cultivating Various Good Dharmas Is Māra's Work"

Bodhicitta is of two kinds. One is the innate, unborn-and-undying bodhicitta, which can serve as the basis of reliance for all sentient beings and all good dharmas—this refers to the self-natured fundamental mind, the eighth consciousness, which is both conditioned and unconditioned. The other is the bodhicitta that arises from later cultivation of various good dharmas, the aspiration to liberate oneself and liberate others; it is issued by the seventh consciousness mind relying on the bodhi self-nature, is of a nature of arising and ceasing, and moves gradually from the conditioned toward the unconditioned.

When sentient beings first give rise to bodhicitta, it is often simple and pure; but over the long course of cultivating the Path, they may forget their original resolve. Although still cultivating various good dharmas, their purpose is no longer pure, mixed with private thoughts and private desires, contrary to the bodhi of self-nature and the original resolve. These private thoughts and desires manifest as aims directed toward personal benefit rather than selflessly serving Buddhism and sentient beings—one's private gain outweighing the interests of Buddhism as a whole and of sentient beings.

Then good dharmas of liberating beings cultivated with such a selfish mind carry the nature of Māra, because Māra kings and Māra followers all have intense craving; they do not necessarily refrain from doing good deeds, but the purpose of their good deeds is impure, with benefit accruing to themselves, so the results are often not good—the appearance of goodness concealing an evil substance. Therefore, any good karma undertaken for the benefit of oneself or a small clique is Māra's work.

Twenty-eight: A Bodhisattva's First Priority Is Severing the Three Fetters

A bodhisattva is never apart from sentient beings. As long as one resolves to attain Buddhahood and not enter nirvāṇa without remainder, one will be together with sentient beings life after life. Bodhisattvas are divided into different levels. First, a bodhisattva who has not eradicated the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) cannot leave sentient beings even if they want to: bound by the three fetters, they cannot avoid the three evil destinies and cannot separate from the beings of the three evil destinies; returning among humans and gods, they cannot separate from human and divine beings. After eradicating the view of self and the three fetters, up to a bodhisattva before the bhūmis, wherever they go they are with sentient beings and cannot leave them. A bodhisattva after the bhūmis, having made the ten inexhaustible vows, is bound by the power of those vows and cannot enter nirvāṇa without remainder, and so must also remain with sentient beings. The key is which kinds of sentient beings a bodhisattva at each level should be with—this question must be handled well. When a bodhisattva makes vows, they must think clearly about what kind of vow suits them, so as to avoid regret in the future.

Every bodhisattva's first and foremost task is to sever the three fetters—and to sever them truly, leaving no residual fetters. Only then can one speak of liberating sentient beings, selecting, relatively and according to conditions, the beings with whom one resonates. One may vow to liberate beings in the Sahā world, on Earth, never leaving the Earth or the Sahā world; yet if one's three fetters are not severed, at death one follows those fetters to the three evil destinies. Clearly one vowed to liberate beings, yet one cannot even liberate oneself and still needs other bodhisattvas to liberate one—how can one speak of liberating sentient beings? Whether studying Buddhism, doing good deeds, or making vows, everything requires considerable wisdom; one cannot act on a surge of hot blood, doing whatever impulse suggests without considering consequences—that will not do.

Twenty-nine: The Bodhisattva's Ten Inexhaustible Vows

The Buddhas descend into the world to universally liberate sentient beings, manifesting the eight marks of attaining the way; the contents should be memorized: descending from the Tuṣita heaven, entering the womb, abiding in the womb, birth, leaving home, attaining the Way, turning the Dharma wheel, and parinirvāṇa. Therefore a Buddha is certainly a renunciant, counted among the saṅgha, not a layperson. In the Flower Adornment Sutra (Avataṃsaka Sūtra), the Buddha taught bodhisattvas to make the ten inexhaustible vows; one of these vows is that a bodhisattva must have vast superknowledges—this is required study. Without superknowledges, one can neither achieve one's own accomplishment nor liberate sentient beings. But superknowledges are best cultivated after entering the bhūmis; cultivating them after awakening is also quite a stretch, and before that, cultivating superknowledges is not encouraged.

If a bodhisattva's capacity of mind is too small, they cannot make such vast vows; even if made, they cannot fulfill them. As vast as the mind's capacity is, so vast is the bodhisattva's enterprise. Each of us sentient beings has only one thing to do in future lives: liberate ourselves and liberate others, life after life—always Buddha's work, with no pursuit whatsoever of worldly things in the three realms. So now we must train our minds to be as unattached as possible to worldly marks, not to pursue personal worldly gain, not to compete with others for worldly survival benefits—including wealth, sex, fame, food, and sleep; form, sound, smell, taste, and touch; including family and relatives, everything and anything—letting go in the mind as much as possible. Then the mind becomes empty, pure, and vast; vast to the degree of the tathāgatagarbha, and that is the ultimate.

"When the realm of sentient beings is exhausted, then my vows will be exhausted." Can the realm of sentient beings be exhausted? When will it be exhausted? I recall that in the sutras someone asked the Buddha whether the realm of sentient beings could be exhausted, whether sentient beings could all be liberated, and the Buddha seemingly did not answer. It is not that the Buddha did not know or could not answer, but that the number of sentient beings is truly boundless and beyond counting. Each bodhisattva's task is extremely heavy; even after becoming a Buddha, one must forever be busy with the work of liberating beings. The multitude of beings in the worlds of the ten directions is immeasurable and boundless, and there are simply far too many worlds without Buddhas, without bodhisattvas, without the Buddha-dharma; the beings in those worlds suffer greatly, waiting for us bodhisattvas to resolve to liberate them.

When we in the future have the ability to liberate beings, everything must be considered for sentient beings; do not fight with one another for personal gain. If bodhisattvas beat each other bloody over their respective followings and over fame and status, what will become of those sentient beings? Where have the great bodhicitta vows made in the past gone? We should now make great vows as much as possible, so that in future lives we do not forget bodhicitta—everything for the accomplishment of our own path-work and the accomplishment of sentient beings, not for worldly gain.

If sentient beings' roots of goodness and merit are not ripe, they cannot encounter the Buddhadharma. We should all do our utmost to plant many roots of goodness for beings, so that their roots of goodness ripen soon. If beings' roots of goodness are unripe and merit lacking, even with the Buddha before them it is useless. If the realm of sentient beings were exhausted and there were no more beings, what use would a Buddha have for a Buddha-land? Buddhas accomplish countless Buddha-lands precisely for the purpose of liberating beings; with no beings left, would a Buddha still retain form and abide in the world? Then He would no longer retain form, and Buddha-lands would be useless too. So, looking at the future prospect, what is there for us now to fight over? All dharmas are empty; they only serve a temporary use—there is no need to be attached.

Thirty: Be a Qualified Disciple of the Buddha

In school, a qualified student is surely a "three-good student" with all-round development in virtue, intelligence, and physique. In Buddhism, a good disciple of the Buddha should be one with all-round development in precepts, concentration, and wisdom, complete in the six perfections—a practitioner in whom ability and disposition are perfectly united. A person of both virtue and talent is a very rare, precious find. If someone has only a certain ability but a disposition that is unwholesome and unyielding, such a person cannot be given important responsibilities; if the disposition is wholesome but ability is lacking, they can still be used reluctantly and be trained; if both ability and disposition are no good, they absolutely must not be used.

Disposition is manifested in no-self. Before eradicating the view of self, some people have a heavy self-nature, others a light one; those with slight self-nature naturally find it easier to eradicate the view of self and attain fruition than those with heavy self-nature. One who always wants to control others is a person of heavy self-nature; one unwilling to be managed, unwilling to obey leadership, is also a person of heavy self-nature—an unharmonious disposition, all the mischief of the self. A person of slight self-nature is relatively easygoing and agreeable, rather indifferent toward certain people and matters, not much concerned with their own position and power. In a group, most problems come from these people of heavy self-nature; without a strong leader, the group will fall into chaos.

A Buddhist group surely has Dharma-protecting deities upholding it; the deities know each person's disposition perfectly well—what disposition this person has, what aims, what role they can play, the deities know it all. So what role a person should take in the group, the Dharma-protecting deities will manage; some people, heavily selfish, would harm the group, and the deities will find ways to remove and isolate them.

Thirty-one: Recognize the Impermanence of the World

The entire world is constantly arising, ceasing, and changing, finally all becoming empty void—let alone our small flesh bodies, which certainly cannot exist independently, changing even faster, even less able to endure. Every day we cling so tightly to ourselves and everything around us—there is truly no need.

Everyone will sooner or later vanish and perish. While life remains, focus on the great matter of birth and death; do not quibble over unimportant trifles. Eating, drinking, and bodily functions are unimportant; fame and gain are unimportant; whether life is prosperous or agreeable is unimportant. What matters is what to do after death, what to do in the next life. Once life ends, every experience of this life becomes passing clouds before the eyes, all meaningless; all the fierce disputes, the gossip of self and others, also vanish like smoke and become trivial. Better to spend more time attending to what you can carry into future lives, storing up more provisions for later lives; what cannot be taken along, do not waste thought on anymore.

When you feel life is smooth and at ease, the family harmonious and happy, career successful, fame and power growing, and you feel satisfied because of it—that is when craving succeeds, and also when you are lost; the direction of pursuit is wrong, and you have lost your center of gravity. When one day all this disappears, there will be pain and a sense of loss, dejection and desolation. Better, in your prime years, to pursue the path-work: not attaining, yet attaining everything; attaining everything, yet not attaining—liberated and at ease within, yet without any feeling of liberation, without any feeling of ease—this is bliss.

Thirty-two: The World Is Empty; Craving Is Useless

The vastness of the world, of Buddha-lands, of the universe is beyond the imagination of the mind consciousness; at most we are like ants. What is there in an ant's world? What is there in an ant's life to pursue, to fuss over, to take pride in? What is worth fighting over in an ant kingdom? What is there in each ant's five aggregates (pañca-skandha) worth clinging to and craving?

Yet the ants the Buddha saw were truly far too attached to their five aggregates: through the advent of seven Buddhas, the ants remained ants—this is precisely the manifestation of the ants' foolishness and attachment. What difference is there between us and the ants? Immeasurable Buddhas have appeared in the world, and we remain beings of the six destinies, just as foolish and attached, with ignorance just as heavy. Are we not ashamed? Do we not reproach ourselves? Do we not have the two wholesome mental factors of shame and remorse (hrī-apatrāpya)?

Wisdom is above all else; liberation is more important than anything—however much hardship must be paid to obtain it, it is worth it. Otherwise, like the ants, one remains foolish and pitiable forever, while still thinking oneself so grand!

Many people have studied Buddhism for so long yet are still interested in mountains and rivers, traveling everywhere, craving the scenery before their eyes, not knowing to cherish precious time for cultivation. They do not know how far an ant-like self can walk: however well a colony of ants walks, day and night without rest, it can hardly cross a desert, let alone leave a country. Even by airplane we can hardly leave the airspace above the Earth. Better to open your own mind, broaden your horizons, embrace the entire great thousand worlds, explore the infinite mysteries of the universe, make yourself omniscient and omnipotent, become a true sage and a capable one like the Buddha, possessing boundless capacity of mind and wisdom, virtue, and ability.

Studying and cultivating Buddhism, in the end, means realizing that all dharmas are empty—even emptiness itself is empty. The five aggregates are empty, the eighteen realms are empty, the self is empty, all dharmas are empty, the Buddhadharma is empty, becoming a Buddha is empty, and even Buddha is empty. Empty out in the mind all dharmas and all marks, and empty out even the concept of emptiness—just as taught in Guanyin Bodhisattva's Dharma gate of perfect penetration through the ear faculty: both the emptier and the emptied must be emptied to the end, and even the dharma of emptiness is not retained—then you have arrived home. So from now on, we should train ourselves to see ourselves as empty, to see as empty all people, affairs, and things related or unrelated to us—though this is very hard to achieve.

Ordinary beings give rise to craving in favorable circumstances and easily reflect in adversity; too much adversity stirs anger, and a few individuals give up on themselves. The normal environment for cultivation should be: sometimes favorable, sometimes adverse, with adversity somewhat more than favorable circumstances. The benefits of this are, first, eliminating karmic obstructions, and second, keeping the mind-ground awake, not easily beguiled by favorable conditions; only then can the mind of the Path be firm, and one can gradually see through both adversity and favorable circumstances, removing attachment very quickly.

Thirty-three: With Craving Too Great, One Cannot Be Reborn Anew

Before the carp leaps over the Dragon Gate and is reborn anew as a dragon deity, how long must it build momentum, how much energy and great merit must it accumulate, how much power must it have, before it can leap in one bound and in an instant be reborn anew?

Many people, having accumulated little strength and paid little price, hurriedly leap—only to leap not at the Dragon Gate, nor become one of the dragon clan, remaining the same old carp. Some even smash themselves black and blue, maiming their bodies, without gaining a single dragon scale. Refusing to give up any craving whatsoever, yet fantasizing about transforming oneself into a sage in one shake—this is modern people's greatest craving.

Many people are unwilling to truly change their appearance and leave home, unable to let go of worldly craving, so they find the excuse that leaving home means leaving the household of afflictions, that it does not depend on whether one wears monastic robes or shaves one's head, that leaving home in mind is the true leaving of home. This excuse is made far too grandiosely, completely covering up their own psychology of being unable to let go of worldly craving; and yet insisting on having the status of a renunciant is truly great craving.

Thirty-four: Practitioners Should Habituate Themselves to Introspecting on Their Own Minds

Thoughts themselves are functions of the conscious mind, mental factors (caittas); discovering thoughts means the conscious mind discovering mental factors—this is introspection. Intelligent people should all be habituated to introspection without realizing that this is introspection. People habituated to introspection all have self-control; they can examine themselves, supervise themselves, manage themselves, and grow by themselves—everything is automatic and self-motivated, requiring no oversight or supervision from others. Such people are suited to be leaders, or at the very least do not need to be led.

A person studying and cultivating Buddhism should be an awakened person, and should all the more constantly introspect and reflect inward, examining themselves three times daily. Only thus can one gradually correct faults and renew oneself and subdue afflictions. If one is not habituated to introspecting on oneself, one will not discover the aspects of one's bodily, verbal, and mental actions that are not in accord with the Dharma; then one cannot correct oneself, change oneself, or elevate oneself. In that case, whether one's mind holds more Buddha-thoughts or more scattered thoughts should be very clear. Introspection takes no effort; the key is habit—form a good habit, and it becomes natural and spontaneous.

Thirty-five: Why Cultivate Forbearance?

Among the bodhisattva's six perfections, one is the perfection of forbearance (kṣānti). What is cultivating forbearance for? Some say it is for subduing thoughts; some say for subduing the mind of anger; some say for breaking through marks; some say for accumulating merit, dissolving karma, and taming the self; some say for departing from marks so the mind abides nowhere; some say for according with sentient beings; some say for nurturing compassion; some say for opening up and eliciting prajñā wisdom; some say for enduring others' insults and cultivating the practice of no-self; some say for breaking the four marks. All these sayings are correct; they should be combined to be complete.

Thirty-six: Only by Combining Breadth and Specialization Can There Be Achievement

When each person's cultivation reaches a critical juncture, obstructing conditions will appear—this is precisely the result of cultivation gaining strength. Continue cultivating, and the obstructions will fade away. When cultivation is not gaining strength, obstructions generally do not appear. So when you meet setbacks, do not doubt yourself; press forward bravely.

The sequence of cultivation is first breadth, then specialization. If one only pursues breadth, it is merely the accumulation of knowledge by the mind consciousness, unrelated to liberation. When it is time to investigate Chan and seek realization, one should set aside all the sutras and concentrate on investigating Chan. Reading sutras intensively at that point obstructs the Path. The Chan patriarchs of the past, seeing disciples investigating Chan read sutras, would stop and reprimand them. Nowadays no one dares say anything to disciples, not daring to stop others from broad study and wide hearing, fearing being labeled by their own students. Some people cultivate until seventy or eighty years of age and their minds are still on broad study and wide hearing; I dare not say anything either—each person's own birth and death is their own to decide. The greatest characteristic of modern people is that they love knowledge and learning but not liberation.

Thirty-seven: The Buddhadharma Runs Counter to the Worldly

If you want thoughts of the Buddhadharma to become the dominant thought in your mind, then of course you must regard the Dharma as paramount, not treating other worldly people, affairs, and things as important; place all your mental effort, or the great majority of it, on the Buddhadharma, with as little attention elsewhere as possible. Place yourself lowly; regard your own five-aggregate body as nothing at all, worthless, without a single skill; amid the crowd, you may let people feel you are a bit foolish, leaving no other impression. Do not show off outwardly, boasting how capable you are—your literary and artistic cultivation, your skill at the qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting, your singing and dancing, your elegant prose, your skill in art and editing, your mastery of poetry and verse, your savvy for power, your talent for promotion and planning, your connections with some dignitary, your handsome appearance, your being second to none, and so on and so on—throw all of it aside, forget who you are; all day long, apart from the Buddhadharma, just muddle along, be a living dead person—as long as you are alive it is fine, loving nothing in the world. Then your thoughts will all be the Buddhadharma, the dominant thought will be clear, and you will absolutely not fail to attain the Way. "Only when worldly thoughts are beaten to death can your transcendental Dharma body come alive."

Most people cannot do this. The Buddhadharma is precisely about departing from and going against the worldly—what can be done? Enjoying the worldly on one side while also having realization of the Dharma on the other, having both the fish and the bear's paw—that is impossible; one must first transcend the world before one can enter it.

Studying Buddhism and cultivating the formless dharma, the mind must gradually detach from the worldly dharma of marks; only with the mind apart from the worldly and apart from marks can it gradually become pure and unconditioned, resonating with the unconditioned dharma of the transcendent world. If even the most ordinary worldly festival draws your attention and you go along with the flow, your mind tightly bound to the worldly—if you cannot take things a bit lightly, how can you attain liberation? A practitioner must in the end transcend the ordinary and leave the worldly; therefore we must not cling too tightly to worldly dharmas, sinking deep into the worldly realm unable to pull ourselves out, running contrary to the Path—when could we ever step onto the great road of liberation?

Thirty-eight: The Capacity of Mind of the Greatly Wise

When we think through problems, we should open up our lines of thought as much as possible, not confining ourselves to fixed patterns; repeatedly contemplate and verify our views—after verifying from the positive direction, verify again from the reverse direction; only after verifying without error from every angle may we tentatively trust ourselves, and even then it is not necessarily correct. Because great wisdom is connected with roots of goodness from past lives—that is, to become an extraordinary great sage, one must have innate wisdom from former lives; great wisdom cannot suddenly arise for no reason in some single life. And a person with innate bone and innate wisdom-eye does not worship authority, does not worship fame, is not confined to printed words, and can certainly leap out of the confines of these frames and stand out.

Only by not engaging in authority-worship can the capacity of mind be opened; once the capacity of mind is opened, the field of vision also broadens accordingly, what is seen becomes vast, unconfined by known, established theories; only then can one's contemplative wisdom be unique, deep, sharp, and vast, and only thus can one touch and realize ultimate reality (dharmatā-citta) and discover the originally existing facts. Wisdom follows the capacity of mind: as vast as the mind is, so vast is the wisdom; when the mind is as empty as the tathāgatagarbha, wisdom can come ever closer to the tathāgatagarbha, and Buddhahood has its appointed time.

Thirty-nine: Daily Cultivation Practice

Recollection of the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti) and prostrating to the Buddha serve, first, to cultivate merit and, second, to cultivate concentration. Prostrating with the body crushes down the arrogant mind—this is merit. In cultivating concentration, do not count quantity, only quality; quality means the mind abiding in one object, not scattered, not confused. So recite slowly—mind reciting, mind listening, mind thinking, mind remembering. Prostrate slowly—body unhurried, mind gathered, either attending to the body's movements or thinking of and remembering the Buddha, body and mind as one. Breath calm and even, seemingly present yet seemingly absent, thoughts unified, every thought unforgetting. Over time, success comes naturally, and one will have the ability to investigate the huatou, to investigate the Tathāgata of one's own mind.

Each month, examine your level of practice in the bodhisattva's six perfections: how much has the perfection of generosity (dāna) been practiced; how much craving and stinginess have been abandoned; has the attachment to your own money, property, and things loosened; have you become more magnanimous toward others; how is your keeping of the precepts—do you keep them grudgingly, feeling precepts are a constraint, or do you keep them spontaneously without feeling constrained, or need not keep them at all, having no mind to violate them at all? The last is the mind already subdued, not attached to external objects, having returned to the inner world.

Regarding the perfection of forbearance (kṣānti): can you now tolerate all people, affairs, and things, without stirring up disputes, inwardly tranquil, feeling indifferent toward people, things, and objects that do not accord with your wishes; especially regarding the Dharma—can you accept and patiently endure profound teachings you do not understand, slowly pondering their meaning?

Regarding diligence: check whether the worldly dharmas in your mind are gradually decreasing, whether you increasingly yearn for and practice the Buddhadharma; whether in generosity, keeping precepts, cultivating concentration, and cultivating wisdom you are very active and diligent.

Regarding cultivating concentration: check whether your mind has settled down, whether chasing after objects and distraction have decreased; whether you can sustain contemplation of one principle for a long time; whether you have decisive faith in the dharma you cultivate, remembering it in every thought without forgetting.

Regarding cultivating wisdom: check whether you understand all the content that should be cultivated for accomplishing the Buddha way, whether you understand each step; whether you understand the content of seeing the mind and seeing nature; whether you understand the principle of liberation; whether your understanding of the principle of suchness (tathatā) keeps increasing; whether the characteristics of the tathāgatagarbha are becoming ever clearer, and so on.

Forty: The Method of Cultivating Concentration

Cultivating concentration is also a daily practice we must do. Cultivating concentration makes the body healthy, the spirit joyful, body and mind unified, the manas reducing its chasing after objects, energy not leaking outward, the mind gathered, the power of concentration strengthened, and wisdom thereby developed. When energy leaks outward, it is like a large wooden board pressed hard against the ground—the ground shows only a very shallow mark; but if the energy is concentrated, like an awl striking a single point, the tip penetrates deep into the ground. Our mind consciousness is the same: the more concentrated, the more it can contemplate profound dharma principles; the mind not scattered, and the contemplation very deep and thorough, thereby reaching correct conclusions and developing the potential of wisdom.

Cultivating concentration includes two kinds. One is stillness concentration: body, speech, and mind all unmoving—gathering in body and mind, closing the mouth without speech, the mind not wandering in thoughts, breath circulating through the whole body, expelling bodily obstructions, body light and spirit refreshed, mind tranquil and concentrated, energy abundant, body robust. The second is concentration in motion: since body and mind spend most of each day in activity and movement, this should be well utilized; do not indulge yourself with the mind consciousness chasing objects without pause, wasting precious time. In activity, not only must you do well what must currently be done, but the mind should also rest on right mindfulness. Right mindfulness means recollection of the Buddha, recollection of the Dharma, recollection of the Saṅgha, recollection of the precepts, reciting sutras, reciting mantras, investigating a principle, investigating a huatou, investigating a gong'an, and so forth. Begin with recollection of the Buddha: the mind recites the Buddha, thinks of the Buddha, remembers the Buddha. Walking, standing, sitting, lying down, every thought merged as one with the Buddha; when the power of concentration is complete, switch to investigation. Then, set yourself a daily schedule: sit in meditation cultivating concentration for over an hour, and contemplate for over an hour while seated. The rest of the time, entirely recite the Buddha's name or a mantra, transforming the mind consciousness so it does not grasp at external dharmas.