The Difference Between Buddhist Practitioners of Ancient and Modern Times

People in ancient times had better spiritual faculties: their minds were simple and practical, they were willing to pay the price for cultivation, they genuinely cultivated and genuinely practiced without regard for personal gain, they could let go and put things down, their afflictions were slight, their craving was minimal, and their sense of renunciation was strong. Modern people are restless and ungrounded, with ambitions exceeding their abilities—empty bellies with lofty hearts, mouths sharper than their minds. They rely entirely on the mind consciousness for broad learning and abundant interpretation, unable to investigate deeply within meditative concentration; they float on the surface of consciousness and cannot penetrate the depths. The manas's investigation and the mind consciousness's interpretation are as different as heaven and earth. Because there is so much interpretation, arrogance blazes fiercely and becomes the heaviest obstruction. 

People in ancient times had a solid foundation in the Buddha's teachings and cultivated well even in the subtle details. Modern people today ignore the foundational Buddhadharma, considering the Four Noble Truths dispensable; they aim too high and reach too far, craving the great and abandoning the small. Because they lack foundational practice, their afflictions cannot be subdued and their mental conduct cannot be transformed; their bodily, verbal, and mental actions are heavy with greed, hatred, and delusion, causing their karmic obstructions to grow ever heavier rather than lighter, and so their study of Buddhism makes no progress. Modern people all look down on non-Buddhist paths, yet apart from the Buddha's right views, they fall short of the non-Buddhists by more than half in every other respect. Those non-Buddhists had a sense of renunciation, pure and simple minds, profound meditative concentration, extremely slight afflictions, strict self-discipline, and moral character—in every respect they surpassed modern Buddhists. 

The non-Buddhists merely lacked contact with the true Dharma of liberation; once they encountered it, many could immediately realize the first fruit up to the fourth fruit. Modern people are in contact with the Buddhadharma their whole lives yet cannot even see the shadow of the first fruit—except for those with false realization of the fruits. How can they compare with the non-Buddhists? The non-Buddhists simply lacked sufficient wisdom and had not encountered the corresponding Dharma; they were just one step short of realizing the fruits and liberation. Many non-Buddhists, upon encountering the Buddhadharma, merely hearing the sound of the Buddha's voice, had their hair and beard fall out, the robe draped over their bodies, and their afflictions severed completely. Despite the harsh living conditions of that era, the non-Buddhists did not mind; they sat in meditation and entered concentration deep in remote mountains and old forests. When they encountered the Buddha teaching the Dharma, tens of thousands or even more would follow the Buddha to leave home and cultivate the path, and extremely many realized the fruits. 

Yet we, in contact with the Buddhadharma year after year, over decades cannot even cultivate the Eightfold Path, do not even possess the most basic desire-realm concentration; our minds are full of the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion; disputes over self and others, right and wrong, arise daily without end; we refuse to endure the slightest hardship and refuse to give up the slightest enjoyment, grasping at wealth, sex, fame, food, and sleep in every way. The theories in our mouths could ascend to heaven, while the conduct of our bodies draws near to the evil paths. If so-called Mahāyāna Buddhists are all like this, they are disgracing the Mahāyāna Dharma and destroying the Mahāyāna Dharma, and hardly anyone can awaken to this fact.