On Investigating the Final Sentence

The final phrase is the phrase that cuts off the entire stream of birth-and-death. What is the stream of birth-and-death, and how can it be cut off? To understand the final phrase, one must first ponder this question. Only after attaining the first dhyāna, after realizing the second fruit, and after passing through the illusion-like contemplation and the mirage contemplation, does one begin to investigate the final phrase, pass through the critical pass of birth-and-death, become a third-fruit person, realize nirvāṇa with remainder (sopadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa), and thereby gain the ability to emerge from the stream of birth-and-death within the three realms.

The koans and phrases concerning the final phrase are all like secret codes, pointing to the key to resolving birth-and-death. This requires one's own investigation; it cannot be plainly stated by others. Even if it were plainly stated, one would gain not the slightest benefit from it, and it would moreover block the gate of one's own awakening. Without the first dhyāna, without having passed through all the checkpoints, without having severed afflictions, it is impossible to investigate it out. Without the preceding foundation, one cannot understand the final phrase: a Small Vehicle practitioner must be a second-fruit person, and a Mahāyāna practitioner must have passed through the illusion-like contemplation and the mirage contemplation before being able to understand it somewhat, and then proceed to investigate it. If one does not cultivate meditative concentration (samādhi), it is impossible to realize any dharma; without the first dhyāna, the mirage contemplation is very hard to realize, let alone the various subsequent contemplative practices (vipaśyanā-caryā)—do not even think about them.

One must understand, with regard to many dharmas, to what degree one's own intellectual understanding has reached, and just how great the distance is from realization. For some dharmas, if one understands them prematurely, they become very difficult to realize later. When causal conditions such as meditative concentration are insufficient, it is best to keep them all wrapped up and not attempt to understand them; otherwise realization becomes impossible. If it is all just understanding, how can birth-and-death be brought to an end? Understanding and interpretive awakening (intellectual understanding) are still different; all of this one must come to know oneself, and one must have the wisdom to judge and make choices. The Buddha-dharma absolutely cannot be treated vaguely—a difference of a hair's breadth leads to an error of a thousand li. It is just that serious.