Chan Practice Requires the Fulfillment of Causes and Conditions: When Conditions Are Complete, Success Comes Naturally

When the precepts, meditative concentration, and wisdom have not yet been well cultivated, and the six pāramitās have not been fulfilled, it is not yet the time to investigate Chan—so hold off on Chan investigation for now; meditative concentration must keep up. If meditative concentration is poor, one cannot truly apply the mind to contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā). With insufficient meditative concentration, one may still research out a result, but body and mind derive no benefit and there is no experiential use of merit, which is truly a pity. If the bodhisattva's six pāramitās are not yet fulfilled and one rushes into Chan investigation, things often go contrary to one's wishes. As your teacher, I will not pull seedlings to help them grow, and you should not pull your own seedlings to help them grow either. A small sapling that has just broken through the soil—if it is pulled up to a meter tall, can that seedling still survive? If the seedling dies, there is no hope for the small tree, let alone the great tree. If in this life of studying Buddhism one is left with merely intellectual understanding / interpretive awakening, not only is this life's person wasted, but in future lives this person will also find it hard to become a person of talent. Pulling seedlings to force growth may ruin more than one life—the next life's pillar of strength may fail to be accomplished, and the opportunity to become a pillar will be lost.

Quite a few people have urged me to quickly hold a three-day Chan retreat. I asked why they wanted to hold one, and they said that guiding participants in Chan investigation for three days would bring enlightenment. Let me ask you all: could I really enable everyone to attain enlightenment in three days?

Chan Master Xiangyan served as an attendant beside his master for eighteen years, and even with such indriya and such favorable conditions, he did not attain enlightenment. Now, sentient beings in the age of the Dharma's decline have no meditative concentration and cannot keep the precepts; the bodhisattva's six pāramitās are unfulfilled—could three days of opportunity bring them enlightenment? If so, when the Buddha was in the world, how many people in the Saha world during the age of the Dharma's decline would have attained enlightenment?

However, in three days I could make everyone "awaken"—it is not impossible. It is a matter of a single sentence, not difficult. But after everyone awakened this way, what would each person become? What would the Saha world become? What direction would the Buddha-Dharma take?

In ancient times there was a Chan master whose disciple blocked his path on a narrow road, threatening him with a knife, demanding that the master reveal the hidden meaning. Facing such a situation, the master was not the least bit afraid, yet refused to answer directly. He simply pushed the disciple away, saying: "You come over here; I am going over there." This is a master who takes full responsibility for his disciples, engaging in no buying, selling, or bargaining, and never showing off how many disciples he has delivered or how capable he is. When a disciple's causal conditions are fulfilled, he will naturally awaken; when the conditions are not fulfilled, he must continue to supplement the conditions of the six pāramitās and cultivate precepts, concentration, and wisdom—never granting favors.

There are many such examples from ancient times. Only such a master is a good Chan master who takes responsibility for Buddhism and for sentient beings. Only in this way can one repay the four kindnesses, without seeking personal fame.

When the Buddha-Dharma flows for a long time, defects arise. In fact, defects began as early as one hundred years after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa; it began to deteriorate little by little, when the conditioned dharmas of arising and ceasing were described as a water crane—this already pained Ānanda so deeply that he could not bear it, and he entered nirvāṇa and departed. If Ānanda were to come to today's world, where the Buddha-Dharma has been transmitted for over two thousand years, I estimate he would not want to stay even a single day, nor would he want to know of or tolerate any evil dharma or evil habit. Fortunately, he had the ability to leave whenever he wished, so he could be free of vexation by not seeing it. But what should bodhisattvas who lack such ability do? They can only tolerate, accept, and then find ways to transform the evil atmosphere—there is no way of retreat.