How Did the First Buddha in the Ten Directions, King of Awesome Sound Buddha, See the Path?

How did the first Buddha of the worlds of the ten directions, Buddha King of Awesome Sounds (Weiyinwang), attain the vision of the Path? There was no other Buddha to teach him that all dharmas are the nature of tathāgatagarbha—how did he, on his own, grope his way to discovering that there exists an unborn and unceasing Ālayavijñāna that gives birth to all dharmas of the five-aggregate world? Although the phenomena of impermanence, change, arising, and ceasing in all worldly dharmas are difficult to realize, they can still be observed through long-term observation. But how was the Ālayavijñāna observed and realized? Under the guidance of the later Buddhas, after many lives and many kalpas, people can come to acknowledge that the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha, is permanent and abiding; yet the first Buddha relied entirely on his own strength to observe the existence of the eighth consciousness—this is truly inconceivable. Every step on the path to buddhahood was walked in a very real and concrete way. How did he manage to do it?

The emptiness of all dharmas can be self-realized and self-verified, but that the tathāgatagarbha gives birth to all dharmas is extremely difficult to self-realize and self-verify, unless someone offers a hint: "There is a thing prior to heaven and earth, formless and originally silent and solitary." The realization of a pratyekabuddha is not really so difficult—as long as one diligently investigates and lets go of everything in the world. But the investigation of the Mahāyāna tathāgatagarbha is far, far too difficult. Therefore, the first Buddha who opened up heaven and earth was one of the sharpest faculties and keenest wisdom.

Just how important is meditative concentration (dhyāna)? What kind of direct perception can it bring, such that the Buddha was able to link all dharmas together and gather and summarize them all back to the tathāgatagarbha? Which is more important: theory, or the observation and contemplation of phenomena? Of course, direct perception is more important. The first Buddha was a pioneer breaking new ground; he had no theory whatsoever to rely on. It was entirely by himself, bit by bit observing and pondering all kinds of phenomena, that he finally arrived at a correct conclusion, thereby forming a theory for later people to rely upon. Even when the dharma of the non-self of the five aggregates is expounded in such detail, countless people still cannot find the entrance. Why is the gap among sentient beings so great? Without the guidance of those correct theories left by the pioneers, later people would be even more like blind men feeling an elephant.

By what means did the first Buddha cultivate and awaken on his own, realizing all dharmas? Profound meditative concentration and wisdom, powerful logical thinking ability, and an indomitable will to bravely explore the truth—these qualities are far beyond what ordinary people can compare with. The first Buddha relied on no one and had no dharma to rely on; alone, through long and unceasing effort, he explored the truths of the world, striving to seek out the facts and truth of the existence of all dharmas. Buddha King of Awesome Sounds had only facts and truth to rely on—and even that he explored out entirely on his own. How should we, the later generations, learn from and emulate Buddha King of Awesome Sounds? The wise should learn from Buddha King of Awesome Sounds: speak according to facts, bravely explore the truth, and one will surely become a Buddha in the end. Had Buddha King of Awesome Sounds been lacking even a little in the power of meditative concentration, he could not have become a Buddha. It was entirely through the merit of meditative concentration that he explored out the whole truth, with nothing and no one to rely on. We, too, should rely as much as possible on our own precepts, meditative concentration, and wisdom.