Verbal Zen Does Not Equal Cultivation and Realization

Practice before enlightenment is divided into many stages, and practice after enlightenment is likewise divided into many stages. If one practices before enlightenment using the methods intended for after enlightenment, one cannot succeed. If one has just attained enlightenment and then practices according to the methods of bodhisattvas who have attained the bhūmis, it will likewise prove ineffective. Holding lofty theories in one's hands and believing that one has already realized them, imagining oneself to be like a sage or like the tathāgatagarbha—this is purely self-deception. Many people, upon seeing the statement "afflictions are themselves bodhi," think that regarding afflictions as manifestations of the tathāgatagarbha constitutes practice, and make no effort to subdue their afflictions. As a result, afflictions remain afflictions, and bodhi remains bodhi; after death they still sink in the cycle of birth and death—what benefit is there in that?

Some people understand that the tathāgatagarbha is beyond cultivation and beyond realization, and then assume that the seven consciousnesses and the five aggregates should also be beyond cultivation and realization, and that since the tathāgatagarbha is originally a Buddha, they might as well just be a Buddha at home. The tathāgatagarbha does not discriminate, so they too must not discriminate; since all dharmas arise from discrimination, if one simply stops discriminating, the mind will be empty and there will be no dharmas—then even if one goes hungry for seven days, one should have no objections.

All dharmas are indeed like illusions and transformations, but this is the realized attainment of bodhisattvas at the stage of the tenth abode and above. If one has not reached this level of practice and does not possess this actual realization, then one should not hang such phrases as "illusion and transformation" on one's lips every day, turning them into mere verbal Zen. The tathāgatagarbha does not keep precepts, so some people think that they too, like the tathāgatagarbha, need not keep precepts, and can roam free and unrestrained, indulging without discipline. They do not realize that their own mind is replete with all greed, hatred, and delusion—how could they possibly roam free and unrestrained? They cannot even give up the pleasure of a good meal, yet all day long they shout lofty, grandiose pronouncements. Empty talk often ruins a nation; those who can talk a foot high but act not even an inch had best practice earnestly and practically, and no longer indulge in grandiose talk while their abilities fall short of their ambitions.