Is Learning Buddhism and Cultivating Practice a Matter of Technique, or a Matter of the Mind-Nature? (2)

If studying Buddhism and practicing were merely a matter of technical effort, why is it that some people sit in meditation and practice day and night for thirty to fifty years yet still cannot attain the first dhyāna, while for others the first dhyāna manifests within a year or two? Some people have been enlightened for thirty years and still show no trace of the first dhyāna. Yet others, not long after taking up Buddhism, upon encountering the theory and engaging in a little contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), can realize various fruits of attainment—even though many of the technical terms in the Buddhadharma remain unclear to them, the wisdom of contemplative practice has already arisen.

If studying Buddhism and practicing were merely technical effort, then the bodhisattva's six pāramitās—would they be technical practice or practice of the mind's nature? The perfection of generosity (dāna)—does it belong to the technical level or the level of the mind's nature? Keeping precepts—does it belong to the technical level or the level of the mind's nature? Is forbearance technical or of the mind's nature? Is meditative concentration (dhyāna) technical or of the mind's nature?

As for wisdom—what kind of wisdom does a person of poor mind-nature have? Does such wisdom correspond with that of bodhisattvas and Buddhas? As for diligence, there is right effort (samyag-vyāyāma) and wrong effort; wrong effort belongs to the technical level, while right effort is precisely the cultivation of the mind's nature. Can people with ulterior motives obtain genuine benefit from the Buddhadharma? The true mark of a bodhisattva's accomplishment is loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity; if the mind's nature has not transformed, there will never be the mental conduct of loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity, and the bodhisattva's stages of attainment will never be fulfilled.

Between the arhat and the bodhisattva, whose mind-nature is better? Whose path of practice advances further? Whom does the Buddha favor most? Who becomes a Buddha first? Whose practice is at the technical level, and whose is at the level of the mind's nature? As for those who engage in technical work, did the Buddha not scold them as scorched sprouts and rotten seeds, fallen into the pit of inert emptiness?

The final result of studying Buddhism and practicing must surely be the combination of virtue and talent—having talent, but even more having virtue; without virtue, talent is merely crooked talent, perhaps applied to wrong paths, committing evil karma without even knowing it. There are many talented people in the world, but not all of them necessarily use their talent to create wholesome karma; there are also many who use it to create unwholesome karma. If talent is used to commit evil deeds, it would be better to have no talent at all.

For those who study Buddhism and practice, virtue must occupy first place, placed at the very front; with virtue, one need not worry about lacking talent. If a person has only talent without virtue, no matter how great the talent, it has no proper use. But a person with virtue yet without talent can be cultivated into one possessing both, for with a bodhisattva's mind-nature, through the Buddha's empowering blessings, they swiftly attain the Way. Therefore, studying Buddhism and practicing is not merely technical work; most important is the cultivation of the mind's nature. Only a person who is selfless and without self (anātman) is a true bodhisattva. If within one's heart there is only oneself, only one's own private interests, and one is single-mindedly devoted to oneself, such a person is not a true bodhisattva.

Technical practice is always many times easier than cultivating the mind's nature. With technique, as long as one puts effort into studying and investigating, one can surely dig something out of the texts and gain some harvest; add cleverness and quick wits, and many techniques can be mastered. But what about the mind's nature? Even a hundred years may not suffice to subdue it—innate disposition is hard to change. A bodhisattva who has mastered techniques but has not subdued the mind's nature is still not a true bodhisattva, merely a nominal, fake bodhisattva, an impostor of a bodhisattva, forever unable to fulfill the role of a bodhisattva.

Many people painstakingly engage day and night in contemplative practice, research, and investigation, yet never examine their own minds. However assiduously they study the "science and technology" of the Buddhadharma, they cannot subdue their arrogance and selfishness, cannot truly eliminate self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi), and cannot genuinely see their true mind and attain enlightenment. Such people are not bodhisattvas, even though they have mastered the "science and technology" of Buddhism!

In this present age, how many people study Buddhism merely doing technical work, never applying effort to their own mind-nature. The techniques have been mastered, but their virtue does not match their position; wherever they go, they hype themselves up and indulge their egos, and in the end, wherever they go, chaos follows. Studying Buddhism becomes just about standing out, about indulging the ego—never about subduing the self, never about non-action, never about selflessness and liberating the mind from its afflictions. The more they learn, the more high-profile they become; the more they learn, the heavier their self-clinging grows; the more they learn, the more chaotic the world becomes, until in the end the whole world is thrown into disorder. Many people study Buddhism just to rise above others, to stand on other people's shoulders; they have never thought of extinguishing the self, of letting the self vanish without a trace. Is this eliminating self-view, or strengthening it? If Buddhism develops this way, in the end there will be great chaos in the world.

Therefore, if you wish to truly cultivate yourself into realization, you must grasp with both hands: apply diligent effort on the ground of the mind to make yourself gentle and pliant, and also apply diligent effort in contemplative practice and investigation, striving for genuine realization, becoming a sage in the true sense.