What Kind of Buddhist Practitioner Can Attain the Fruit of Realization in the Present Moment?

The method of contemplation taught in the Sūtra on the Samādhi of Sitting Chan is precisely a teaching of contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), with a clear line of thought, though somewhat coarse. With meditative concentration plus contemplative practice, one attains the fruits of realization and attains various kinds of meditative absorption (samādhi), cultivating both samādhi and prajñā together. It was the same when the Buddha was in the world: after hearing the Dharma, his disciples practiced meditative concentration and contemplative practice, and then attained the fruits of realization. This is the path of cultivation, and it is highly efficient. It was the same in the Tang and Song dynasties: Chan masters ascended the hall to give teachings, the assembly cultivated meditative concentration and contemplated Chan through deliberation (manana), and then awakened to the true mind and saw their nature.

The non-Buddhists all had skill in meditative concentration. When they met the World-Honored One, as soon as he taught the Dharma, they could immediately contemplate and practice, and thus attained the fruits of realization. So do not merely look at the final step of their realization—gaining wisdom the moment they heard the Dharma. Before that, their meditative concentration had already been accomplished, their minds had already been purified, and the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment had already been cultivated; all that was lacking was right view and right knowledge. When the World-Honored One taught the Dharma, he supplied their right view and right knowledge, and so they attained realization on the spot. Do not look only at the seventh pancake someone eats—look at the fact that they had already eaten six pancakes.

The Chan patriarchs of the past were all masters of cultivating meditative concentration. Their disciples all had meditative concentration, and the bodhisattva's six perfections had all been fully cultivated—they had already eaten six pancakes. When the Chan master ascended the hall to give a teaching, the disciples seated below would awaken. Eating the seventh pancake, they were full.

We must not look only at the results of those who have achieved attainment; the most important thing is to look at their process of cultivation, including what level they had reached in past lives, how they cultivated, and what kind of spiritual faculties they had. Those whose faculties are already excellent can awaken suddenly the moment they hear the Dharma, without gradual cultivation, because previously, or in past lives, they had already cultivated gradually and had already completed that stretch of the journey. To take only the final segment of a practitioner's path of cultivation is a serious case of quoting out of context, and it does great harm to people.

Those new to Buddhism should read more about the Buddha's Jātaka deeds, and consider the path of cultivation the Buddha walked from the moment he first made his resolve; this should be a great inspiration to us. To study Buddhism means to study everything about the Buddha.