Practicing Without Following the Proper Sequence Is Futile Effort

Nowadays Buddhist practitioners cultivate without any proper framework or sequence; their methods are all over the place—they cultivate however they please, all based on wishful assumptions. For example, some people are cultivating the contemplation of "like a dream, like an illusion," yet a person who has not realized enlightenment cannot directly observe the functioning of the tathāgatagarbha; they do not even have the most basic preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi), let alone the concentration of the first dhyāna—how could they possibly cultivate the contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) of "like a dream, like an illusion"? Skipping so many stages of cultivation, just how great must their spiritual faculties (indriya) be? Once the contemplation of "like a dream" is completed, one is at the stage of the tenth dedication (daśa-pariṇāmanā), and can immediately enter the first bhūmi; having passed all three checkpoints of meditative concentration, having even passed the checkpoint of birth and death—that is the realization level of an anāgāmin of the Small Vehicle, and by that point one has already cultivated the Buddha path for immeasurable kalpas, with extremely great roots of goodness and merit.

Without attaining the fruits of realization, without seeing the mind, without the concentration of the first dhyāna, one would need countless kalpas to pass through this checkpoint, and along the way must also pass through preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi), eradication of the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa), the second fruit, the concentration of the first dhyāna, the third fruit, seeing the mind, the contemplation of illusion, the contemplation of mirages, the final checkpoint, and only then can one accomplish the contemplation of "like a dream." Skipping so many levels to cultivate the contemplation of "like a dream, like an illusion," even the mind consciousness can hardly achieve a conceptual understanding of it; even if the mind consciousness can understand it somewhat, actually realizing the contemplation of "like a dream" would still require countless kalpas of time—except for those who have come again [as awakened beings].

There are also people cultivating the contemplation of equality, viewing all people, affairs, objects, and principles as equally equal, of one mark of true suchness. What realm is this? What is meant by "equality"? On what basis does equality exist? There are three kinds of dharma of equality: one is the equality of the tathāgatagarbha, which treats all people, affairs, objects, and principles as equally equal, making no distinction of high or low, because the tathāgatagarbha does not discriminate among any dharmas; one is the equality of an arhat who has realized the emptiness of all dharmas, who sees all sentient beings as empty and selfless, and can therefore to a certain extent contemplate all sentient beings as empty; one is a bhūmi bodhisattva who has transformed consciousness into wisdom—whose manas has realized the tathāgatagarbha, and after the successful transformation of the basis (āśraya-parāvṛtti) has realized the equality wisdom (samatā-jñāna), seeing all sentient beings as the nature of the tathāgatagarbha and all dharmas as the tathāgatagarbha, and can therefore to a certain extent treat all sentient beings equally. How can an ordinary being who has not realized the dharmas of the Great and Small Vehicles cultivate the contemplation of equality of bhūmi bodhisattvas, viewing all sentient beings and all affairs and principles as of one mark of true suchness? The gap between them spans nearly immeasurable kalpas of time; such cultivation brings no benefit whatsoever—it is wasted effort.

There are also people cultivating the mind that abides nowhere, striving to keep the mind abiding nowhere amid all the intersections of people, affairs, objects, and principles in the world. But this "abiding nowhere" cannot be achieved without cause; one must realize a certain principle and rely on that principle before one can gradually have a mind that abides nowhere. This takes a very long time: only after afflictions have been eradicated and the equality wisdom (samatā-jñāna) has been realized can one gradually achieve it. Without considerable realization level, without genuine realization of the Buddha dharma, upon what could one rely to make the mind abide nowhere? Even bhūmi bodhisattvas cannot achieve abiding nowhere easily, and cannot do so completely—how could an ordinary being manage to abide nowhere?

There are also people who skip ahead in cultivating precepts, striving to have the mind attach to no mark of precept amid all favorable and adverse conditions in the human world, extinguishing all marks. If one cannot even keep the five precepts well, cannot even practice the precepts concerning bodily conduct, cannot abstain from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, and alcohol, cannot even maintain a vegetarian diet, cannot hold the precepts of speech against false speech, divisive speech, and harsh speech, and the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion in the mind are still very heavy—if one cannot keep the precepts with marks, how can one set aside these marks of precepts, have the mind not attach to the marks of precepts, and cultivate the markless precepts? Even keeping bodily and verbal conduct well amid conditions is not easy—how could one achieve the markless, abandoning the marks of precepts? This is something only bhūmi bodhisattvas can accomplish; how can an ordinary being cultivate the markless precepts?

If one forcibly cultivates in this way, one can only deceive oneself and others, violating precepts everywhere, while believing one's mind has reached the markless and no longer caring about these marks—the result will be retribution in the three evil destinies. In the past, during the Tang dynasty, someone received evil retribution on the spot. There was a Chan master who had genuinely realized enlightenment, with very high wisdom and a pure mind, who wrote the names of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas on the waistband of his trousers. Another person saw this and became quite interested, thinking that since the master did this without any problem, he himself should also have no problem, so he too imitated the Chan master and wrote the names of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas on his underwear and wore them on his body. When the Chan master found out, he felt it was bad, but it was already too late—within a few days that person vomited blood profusely. The evil retribution came so quickly, truly beyond expectation, and the retribution after death will be even more miserable. Therefore, when a Buddhist practitioner's mind is not yet pure, has not eradicated afflictions, has not transformed consciousness into wisdom, they have absolutely no qualification to cultivate the markless precepts; forcibly making oneself not attach to the marks of precepts can only cause oneself to fall into the deep pit of afflictions—apart from this there is no benefit whatsoever.

Sentient beings in the degenerate age are precisely because they are too clever and too quick-witted, floating on the surface, unable to penetrate deep into the manas, unable to bring the manas's functions into play. The mind consciousness understands everything, yet the manas amounts to nothing, and as a result the retribution turns according to the manas. The mind consciousness aims high and cultivates the dharmas practiced by bodhisattvas from the first to the eighth bhūmi, while the manas's character, moral quality, and cultivation have not yet been properly refined—at the time of death, how will the destiny of future lives be decided? According to the mind consciousness or according to the manas? If the mind consciousness cultivates the dharmas of the Buddha stage, can one become a Buddha at death?