The Profound Meaning of Consciousness-Only in the Diamond Sutra (14)

How does the Tathagata diligently guard and remember all Bodhisattvas? A sentient being begins cultivation from the Ten Faiths stage of an ordinary person, progressing through the Ten Abodes, Ten Practices, Ten Dedications, and further to the Ten Grounds, Equal Enlightenment, and Wonderful Enlightenment—fifty-two stages in total. At every stage, they cannot do without the Buddha's empowerment and mindful guarding; otherwise, they would be obscured by karmic obstacles and unable to advance through gradual cultivation. Thus, the Buddha's grace is boundless, and only by attaining Buddhahood can one repay it. Can the Buddha truly guard and remember so many sentient beings? Certainly, because the Buddha is also known as the All-Knowing One, perfectly endowed with wisdom and virtuous capabilities. There is not a single dharma in the mundane or supramundane realms that the Buddha does not know, not a single dharma that the Buddha is unaware of. The Buddha knows the thoughts of every sentient being in all ten directions, and is aware of every event in every sentient being's countless kalpas. Even when it rains simultaneously in all ten directions, the Buddha knows the exact number of raindrops. Since the Buddha can know the minds of sentient beings, He can protect and support their cultivation, helping them overcome every obstacle until they attain Buddhahood.

Bodhisattvas begin their cultivation from the Ten Faiths stage by developing faith in the Three Jewels, understanding the Buddha's thirty-two major marks and eighty minor characteristics, the causes and conditions for cultivating the Bodhisattva path over countless kalpas, the merits contained in the Buddha's ten epithets, and the scope of the Buddha-lands' formation, thereby giving rise to an aspirational mind. Next, they comprehend the general content of the Three Baskets and Twelve Divisions of Scriptures taught by the Buddha, the meaning of the Three Refuges and Five Precepts, and then understand the Sangha Jewel—what constitutes an ordinary monastic, a supporting monastic, a supreme truth monastic, as well as the Three Jewels in One and the Self-Nature Three Jewels. In this way, they progress from blind faith to reverent faith and then to correct faith, which means believing that the Three Jewels of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha truly exist in all ten directions, that all sentient beings in the ten directions possess the Suchness Buddha-nature and can attain Buddhahood, and that they themselves can also attain Buddhahood. When they fully possess the faith to attain Buddhahood, the Ten Faiths stage is completed. The duration of this cultivation depends on the depth of an individual's roots of virtue and blessings, as well as their diligence. All of this cultivation cannot be separated from the Buddha's protection.