The Buddha's Most Original Dharma Is the Tripitaka and the Twelve Divisions of Scriptures.

The so-called "original" teachings should be all the Dharma that the Buddha proclaimed during the forty-nine years, including the Three Vehicles of the great, middle, and small vehicles — the liberation path of the small vehicle arhats and the middle vehicle pratyekabuddhas, and the path to buddhahood of the great vehicle tathāgatagarbha Dharma. Of course, the middle and small vehicles are also a small part of the path to buddhahood, the initial part, and are part of the Mahāyāna Dharma. The entire path to buddhahood is threaded throughout by true suchness, buddha-nature, and tathāgatagarbha. However, through the Āgama sūtras alone one can only attain the arhatship of the small vehicle and obtain the wisdom of liberation from the worlds of the three realms; one cannot obtain the Buddha's omniscience/wisdom of all aspects (sarvākārajñatā). Therefore, merely studying the Āgama sūtras and attaining the fruit of arhatship is not ultimate; on that basis, one must continue to cultivate and study prajñā and Yogācāra in order to continuously advance one's practice of the Path and ultimately become a Buddha. Thus the Buddha's most original Buddhadharma is the Tripiṭaka and the twelve divisions of the scriptures; there is no "original" versus "later" — whatever Dharma leads to buddhahood is spoken by the Buddha. There is no need to fragment the complete Dharma of attaining buddhahood into pieces.

Yet some people say that only the Āgama sūtras are the Buddha's original Buddhadharma, and that the other Mahāyāna teachings are not spoken by the Buddha but were fabricated by later people. But if a sect collects certain materials to form that sect's history, each has its own historical records, which are then passed down through transmission — then who can prove that one sect's historical transmission is genuine while other transmissions are not? On what basis should one believe that what one sect has researched and verified is the true history, consistent with the facts of what actually happened at the time? Is it through supernatural powers, or through immense wisdom? Is it that the great practitioners of successive generations possessed extraordinary wisdom-eye and dharma-eye? If not, on what basis should one trust one's own judgment?

If one is not one of the great practitioners of successive generations, lacking the wisdom-eye and dharma-eye, on what basis can one judge that Theravāda Buddhism is the most original teaching spoken by the Buddha, while the other Mahāyāna sūtras of the Tripiṭaka and the twelve divisions of the scriptures are not spoken by the Buddha? On what basis does one thus slander the most precious treasure that the Buddha painstakingly transmitted over forty-nine years? If the Buddha had only taught the Āgama sūtras during those forty-nine years, how could the Buddha have become a Buddha? Could one become a Buddha merely by cultivating such an extremely shallow Dharma as the Āgama sūtras? For such a shallow Dharma, why would the Buddha need to teach it repeatedly for forty-nine years? Who can prove that the Buddha only taught the Āgama sūtras during those forty-nine years and never taught the Mahāyāna Dharma? Who has opened their eyes and witnessed the entire historical background and process of the Buddha's teaching and transformation back then?

Those who slander the Mahāyāna Dharma and deny the Mahāyāna Dharma, and those who propagate the Theravāda Buddhist doctrines that contradict the Mahāyāna Dharma, commit offenses that reach to the heavens. If anyone has ever propagated Theravāda Buddhism to resist the Mahāyāna Dharma, they must quickly make public repentance; otherwise, the causes for the hells have already been established and cannot be changed, and the retribution of evil will inevitably befall them — there is no escape. Those who slander the Mahāyāna are the greatest evildoers in the world; among all evil dharmas, their offense is the heaviest, surpassing even those who commit murder, arson, and the ten unwholesome deeds beyond forgiveness.

Those who slander the Mahāyāna are those who blind the eyes of sentient beings; those who slander the Mahāyāna are cutting off sentient beings' path to seeking liberation. Those who cut off sentient beings' path to liberation will themselves, life after life, fall into the Avīci hell. When the retribution of evil arrives for the foolish and ignorant who dared to resist the Buddha's Mahāyāna Buddhadharma, they can only experience endless suffering and torment, forced to bear sufferings that are unbearable. Such is the fate of those who assist in propagating the slander of the Mahāyāna Dharma. Those whose minds are still somewhat clear should quickly repent; otherwise, once the evil karma is fixed, there will be no further opportunity for reform.

All sentient beings want to be human, and want to be human again in the next life; all fear the suffering of the three evil paths, and wish to attain liberation from the three evil paths and escape them; all want to eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) and sever the three fetters, and all want to realize the fruits of the path. But what do they do every day? Their bodily, verbal, and mental actions all correspond to the three evil paths. Clearly they wish to rely on the Buddha's teachings to attain liberation, yet intentionally or unintentionally they slander the Buddha's teachings — if this is not foolishness, what is? Every day they live by relying on the pure river water, yet intentionally or unintentionally they pour filthy water into that river — if this is not foolishness, what is? All illnesses are easy to cure; only the illness of foolishness is hard to treat. That is why the Buddha taught the Dharma and delivered beings in the human and heavenly realms, and did not go to the animal realm to teach the Dharma.