念佛三昧寶王論

A guest of profound faith came to see me, bowed, and respectfully asked a question in words that were refined, free, and open.

The guest asked me: For those who cultivate the mind, if we speak of the direct and swift path to Buddhahood, both the Never-Disparaging practice of the Lotus Samadhi and the Pratyutpanna Buddha-Recollection Samadhi tradition are unsurpassed, profoundly wondrous gates of meditation. I beg to hear their meaning.

I replied: For a long time I have merely sat quietly with palms joined amid the Nine Floral Mountains, attending to matters apart from the world. Later, by imperial decree, I was summoned from Caotang Monastery on Mount Zigai to oversee the Lotus Dharma practice center at Tianfu. In nearly thirty years, none of those who came to inquire about the Way has ever posed a question like yours. You are one who wishes to cross to the shore of the Unborn and also to spread your wings and soar southward. I am no man of outstanding talent or penetrating understanding, but I shall attempt to discuss the matter. Let me present twenty gates to elucidate the essential principle of this tradition.

GATE I

RECOLLECTING FUTURE BUDDHAS SWIFTLY ACCOMPLISHES SAMADHI

When discussing the mind, it appears divided in two because deluded thoughts arise. All deluded thoughts are false, yet confused people remain continually entangled in them and cannot free themselves. This is why the sages are concerned.

Although wondrous words are proclaimed, they remain non-preaching; although the Dharma-body is empty, it is still complete with the excellent marks. If those marks were not revealed and those words were not perfectly expressed, how could one know where the one-flavored principle, complete with all marks, and the path beyond words of non-preaching ultimately lead?

The purpose of this samadhi tradition is to enable those of weak capacity to understand that the nondual Dharma gate encompasses both speech and silence. It includes not only Vimalakirti’s silence but also Manjusri’s praise. Why is this so?

Before the jeweled net is spread, how could its thousand precious jewels be seen? When the net’s main cord is raised, all its myriad meshes open and become manifest. One who bathes in the great ocean has already used the waters of all the hundred rivers; one who recollects the Buddha’s name will certainly accomplish samadhi.

Herein lies the single statement that encompasses everything. It is also like casting a water-clearing jewel into turbid water: the turbid water cannot fail to become clear. When the thought of the Buddha is placed in a distracted mind, that distracted mind cannot fail to become Buddha.

Once accord has been attained, both mind and Buddha are forgotten. The forgetting of both is concentration; the illumination of both is wisdom. At the very moment concentration and wisdom are equal, what mind is not Buddha, and what Buddha is not mind?

Since mind and Buddha are thus, every object and every condition is samadhi.

Yet people in the world commonly recollect the full-moon countenance of the past Buddha Sakyamuni and contemplate the eyes, blue as a clear sea, of Amitabha Buddha. Like removing a poisoned arrow and ascending to a palace of bliss, I too regard these as ultimate teachings. But for a long time I have never seen anyone recollect future Buddhas. Why? Because we do not understand that the Tathagata spoke of the subtlety of the Buddhas in relation to the coarseness of sentient beings. Consequently, we imagine that sentient beings exist outside and far removed from the Buddhas. Thus, we never hear of recollecting future Buddhas, for who would be willing to recollect them?

The Vimalakirti Sutra records that one who smells the campaka flower does not perceive other fragrances, together with the account of flowers adhering or not adhering to the body. This is the Mahayana Dharma of suppression and exaltation: it suppresses the Lesser Vehicle where the bowl is abandoned in bewilderment, and exalts the Great Vehicle where all roam together through the nondual Dharma gate. The Lotus Sutra, king of all sutras, completes the teaching concerning the sravakas and reveals the principle that every fragrance is campaka and that neither the Great nor the Lesser truly adheres.

Those who lack keen faculties will think that the Buddhas are the Most Honored Ones while sentient beings are lowly creatures. They thereby establish superior and inferior and give rise to deluded discrimination. Once reverence and arrogance arise, the Way of the one reality is concealed. Before such a person, the myriad beings appear as worthless grass, and all under heaven seems lighter than the tiniest unit of weight([1]). He raises a many-tiered banner of towering pride; his eyes follow the wings of a great swan and his mind wanders through distant heavens, impossible to subdue. Such a mental course contradicts the teaching in the Vimalakirti Sutra that “reverence for all is the supreme Dharma offering.”

Furthermore, if one does not believe the Lankavatara Sutra when it says, “The intrinsically pure tathagatagarbha transfers the thirty-two marks into the minds of all sentient beings, like a priceless jewel wrapped in a filthy garment,” how could one see that the lowliest beggar in the city is equal and nondifferent from the Invincible Tathagata? If one recollects all Buddhas of the three times and universally contemplates the World-Honored Ones of the ten directions, this certainly accords with the Prajnaparamita Sutra of the Principle’s statement: “All sentient beings possess the tathagatagarbha,

and the essential nature of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra pervades them all.” If one clearly understands the meaning of the poor woman pregnant with a king and the grain of rice within its husk and bran, how could one incur reproach for the eight kinds of pride([2])?

Everyone looks down upon future Buddhas, yet no one dares look down upon past or present Buddhas. They do not know that this is the source of wrongdoing, because they fail to recognize that these very sentient beings will become Buddhas in the future. We know that a mother is ennobled through her child and that rice is extracted from husk and bran.

If one’s cultivation accords with the mind of Never Disparaging in the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha-Recollection Samadhi will soon be accomplished.

Question: The Lotus is Dharma, while Buddha-recollection concerns the Buddha. How can one take Dharma as Buddha and Buddha as Dharma, confusing them in this way?

Answer: There is no confusion! They are originally a single gate, so what could be confused? It is like the medicinal herb atractylodes and the immortals.

Formerly, at the ends of heaven, there was no term “immortal.” Because those who consumed that medicine grew wings and flew into the clouds, it came to be called immortal medicine, while those persons were called immortals. Although the people and the medicine differ, their immortal quality is one. Without a sage, who could delight in the Way?

If Dharma is not awakened to by a Buddha, Dharma cannot awaken to itself. Since Dharma without Buddha does not awaken, the Buddha-Recollection Samadhi arises. Since Buddha without Dharma cannot be understood, the Lotus Samadhi arises.

Although immortals and immortal medicine bear two different names, both are designated by the same word, “immortal.” Buddha-recollection and the Lotus are alike called Buddha-wisdom. Since their Buddha-wisdom is identical, one awakens right here to the unsurpassed, profoundly wondrous gate of meditation of Never Disparaging and the Pratyutpanna Samadhi. They have never differed, so how could there be confusion?

GATE II

COURTESANS AND ROBBERS MUST NOT BE DISPARAGED

Question: All sentient beings are future Buddhas. Yes, I respectfully accept and believe this statement. But courtesans and bands of thieves and robbers are all lowly and wicked people. Should practitioners of Buddha-recollection show reverence toward them too?

Answer: The Buddha’s exposition and teaching are of two kinds: the provisional gate of relative treatment and the definitive gate of ultimate understanding.

1. In the provisional gate of relative treatment, women are false and deceptive, while the Tathagata is supremely true. Therefore, the Buddha is worthy of reverence and worship, while women should be regarded with revulsion and abandoned. How is revulsion and abandonment practiced? There are two ways: first, censuring sensual desire; second, releasing the mind.

a. Censuring sensual desire: The Sutra in Which the Bodhisattva Rebukes Sensual Desire says: “Female beauty is the chain of the world; ordinary people become infatuated and attached and cannot free themselves. Female beauty is a grave illness of the world; ordinary people are afflicted by it and cannot escape even unto death. Female beauty is the calamity and ruin of the world; ordinary people who pursue it will certainly suffer distress.

“After a practitioner has abandoned female beauty, if he still thinks of and remembers it, this is like leaving prison and then wishing to enter prison again; recovering from insanity and then wishing to become insane again; recovering from illness and then wishing to fall ill again. When the wise see this, they feel compassion, for such a deluded person will soon perish.

“Ordinary people esteem female beauty and willingly become its slaves. Thus, they pursue it their entire lives and suffer bitterness on its account. Even if placed upon a platform of sharp iron stakes or a thousand keen blades, they willingly endure it and do not consider it harmful.

Such madmen delight in insanity, and there is no use blaming them! If practitioners can abandon female beauty and pay it no heed, they break their chains, detest madness, become weary of illness, escape ruin and calamity, safely leave prison, and remain free from affliction. A woman’s words are like sweet honey, but her heart is like poison.

She is like a still spring with quiet waves in which a dragon lies concealed, or a golden mountain with jeweled caves in which a lion makes its lair. One should know this is a dangerous place and must not draw near.

“Discord within families is all caused by women; the destruction of clans is likewise women’s offense. They are truly hidden bandits who extinguish a person’s bright wisdom. They are like traps spread by hunters, from which few animals escape; like a dense, high, and broad net into which flocks of birds fall and cannot fly free; like a fishing net in which fish are caught and have their bellies opened and skin stripped away; like a blind person falling into a dark pit; and like a moth flying into a flame. Therefore, the wise clearly understand and keep far from sensual beauty. They do not allow it to harm them; detesting and loathing it, they are not deluded by it.”

In the Maharatnakuta Sutra, the Buddha spoke these verses to King Udayana:

Sharp-bladed mountains,

Poisoned arrows of torment—

From women arise

All forms of suffering.

Though adorned with flowers

And fragrant perfumes,

When fools behold their bodies,

Thoughts of craving arise.

Like a bird crossing the sea,

Its wings tiring midway,

At death they surely fall

Into the Avici Hell.

In this very life they see

Suffering gather in their bodies;

Good friends keep far away,

And heaven is forever lost.

Better to enter an iron prison,

Walk upon a mountain of blades,

Or lie upon a blazing furnace

Than draw near female beauty.

Like birds seeking food

That know not to avoid traps,

Those infatuated with women

Are likewise brought to harm.

Like fish in the water

That plunge headlong into a net,

They are caught by the fisherman

And bring ruin upon themselves.

Women are like fishermen,

Deception is like the net,

And men are like fish

Caught within that net.

b. Releasing the mind: The Maharatnakuta Sutra records: “Manjusri said to the deva Susthita: If a person single-mindedly and diligently guards himself, then when lustful thoughts arise, he immediately recognizes them and at once employs skillful means to dispel them, restoring purity to body and mind. How should he dispel them? He should think thus: The mind of sensual desire is empty and impure. Seek the place where that mind arises and ceases: whence does it come and whither does it go? Examine within it what is defiled, who is defiled, and what constitutes the phenomenon of defilement.”

While observing in this way, one sees neither a defiler nor one who is defiled, nor does one see any act of defilement. Because nothing is seen, there is no grasping. Because there is no grasping, there is no relinquishing. Because there is no relinquishing, there is no attachment. Because there is neither relinquishing nor attachment, this is called dispassion, quiescence, and nirvana. Yet if one also lets the mind roam among the defilements of birth and death and pays no attention to the afflictive dangers of greed, anger, and delusion, this too is called releasing the mind.

2. The definitive gate of ultimate understanding([3]): If one ultimately abandons every delusion and remains undefiled like empty space, one is already a Buddha of the past or present, not merely a future Buddha. Have you not heard: “To seek a priceless jewel, one must descend to the bottom of the deep sea; one who wishes to obtain the treasure of wisdom must first seek it within the afflictions”?

The characteristics of the five heinous offenses are themselves the characteristics of liberation; the suchness of the Buddha realm is the suchness of the demon realm. If one rejoices upon hearing the word “Buddha” but becomes angry upon hearing the word “demon,” one has not entered the Dharma gate of sound, does not abide in the true limit of sound, and has not awakened to the nature of all dharmas. Such a person turns his carriage north while wishing to travel to the southern land of Yue.

How could one discuss the Way with him?

Let me explain further so that you may understand. Does not a sutra say: “Long ago there was an immortal named Deer-Hoof. One day, because the ground was slippery from rain, he fell.

He immediately used a spell to cause a drought, and the people of the land all suffered this disaster. The king summoned a courtesan to seduce the immortal and then rode upon his neck into the city. At that moment, clouds gathered from the four directions and torrential rain poured down.

Although the immortal possessed magical powers enabling him to travel through the air and cross the seas, he was then rendered helpless and could do nothing. That immortal was a former incarnation of Sakyamuni Buddha. The courtesan was a former incarnation of Princess Yasodhara, who, in the Lotus assembly, received a prediction of future Buddhahood under the name Tathagata Complete with a Thousand Myriad Marks of Light.” Therefore, if practitioners of Buddha-recollection see only the courtesan’s beautiful appearance and fail to remember the brilliant golden excellent marks of her future Buddha-body, they have lost the principle of Never Disparaging.

Would their Buddha-Recollection Samadhi not then be false?

In a former life, Aniruddha was the leader of a band of robbers. When he entered a monastery to steal the jewel from the forehead of a Buddha image, he used the tip of an arrow to stir the lamp offered to the Buddha, preventing its pure light from going out. Because of this event, Aniruddha is translated as “Unextinguished.” In the future he will become a Buddha named Tathagata Universal Light. Practitioners of Buddha-recollection dare not disparage even thieves and robbers, much less those who do not steal or rob.

These are bright examples of two future Buddhas. Why, then, should you worry that samadhi will not be accomplished?

GATE III

REGARD BOTH KEEPERS AND BREAKERS OF THE PRECEPTS AS BUDDHAS

Question: You have thoroughly explained the two preceding difficulties. The Brahma Net Sutra teaches: “When a person receives the Buddha’s precepts, he immediately enters the rank of the Buddhas.” Monastics wear the precepts like the bright moon and like a jeweled necklace. They participate in the rank of the Three Honored Ones([4]) and belong among the Seven Assemblies([5]); they are truly worthy of reverence. But if people do not observe the precepts with purity and rigor and instead commit misconduct, is it wrong for us to despise them? If we beat or revile them, do we incur an offense? Please analyze and explain this.

Answer: In the Ocean of Samadhi Sutra, the Tathagata told his royal father: “Long ago, there were four bhiksus who violated the discipline. They felt ashamed and believed themselves beyond redemption. Suddenly, they heard a voice in the sky say: ‘You have violated the discipline and believe yourselves beyond redemption, but that is incorrect.

Although Tathagata King of Emptiness has entered nirvana, his image still remains. You should enter the stupa and contemplate the white hair-mark between the brows of that precious image.’ The bhiksus followed these instructions. Moved to tears, they said to one another: ‘If even the Buddha’s image is like this, how much more so the true Buddha!’ Then they threw themselves to the ground like collapsing mountains.

Today, those four bhiksus have all attained Perfect Awakening in the four directions: in the east, Aksobhya Buddha; in the south, Buddha Jeweled Mark; in the west, Amitayus Buddha; and in the north, Buddha Wondrous Voice. For this reason, the Tathagata called this Contemplation of the Buddha Samadhi the Great Jeweled King Ocean of the Precept Category, for it has the power to wash away every defilement and offense of violating the precepts and restore purity.” Those four bhiksus became Heroes of the World through contemplating a precious image.

How, then, could practitioners of Buddha-recollection still harbor doubts about monastics who have broken the precepts?

The Mahasamnipata Sutra says: “If kings or officials beat or revile monastics, whether they keep or break the precepts, they incur an offense equal to causing the bodies of ten billion Buddhas to bleed.” Upon seeing those who wear the kasaya, whether they keep or break the precepts, one must regard them all as Buddhas. Regarding them as Buddhas is precisely the Buddha-Recollection Samadhi. The profound meaning of Never Disparaging’s practice, spoken by the Buddha himself, is assuredly so.

How could we beat and revile others without fearing the consequences? A sutra says: “Be the master of the mind; do not let the mind become your master.” When seeing a greedy and miserly person, one should give rise to the thought of generosity. When seeing someone who breaks the precepts, one should give rise to the thought of keeping the precepts.

By doing so, one will not be bound by the six sense objects, for one has accomplished the contemplation gate of the ultimate six paramitas. If one abides in a discriminating mind, one brings upon oneself the punishments of hell. Is that not lamentable?

If one can remain free of discrimination, then right there is the Buddha-Recollection Samadhi, flowing like water in a river.

GATE IV

EVEN THOSE IN HELL ARE NOT EXCLUDED FROM PREDICTIONS OF BUDDHAHOOD

Question: Those who break the precepts attain Perfect Awakening through contemplating the Buddha and therefore must not be disparaged. I firmly believe this. But what of those in hell or among hungry ghosts, whose bodhicitta has not arisen and who knows when they will find peace and bliss? Should practitioners of Buddha-recollection show them the same reverence without distinction?

Answer: Have you not heard people say, “If one wishes to gather potent medicine, one must venture into dangerous mountains and forests; it cannot be found in secure places”? This Dharma medicine likewise comes forth from dangerous places; it is not obtained without cause. Thus, the Surangama Sutra mentions four kinds of predictions:

1. A prediction received before bodhicitta has arisen.

2. A prediction received as soon as bodhicitta arises.

3. A secret prediction.

4. A prediction given in one’s presence.

Though beings may presently dwell in hell or among hungry ghosts, before their bodhicitta has arisen the Buddha may still predict that they will become Buddhas in the future. They will surely develop vast aspirations, encounter true spiritual friends, practice the bodhisattva conduct, and attain Perfect Awakening. Therefore, we must not disparage them. This is a prediction given before bodhicitta has arisen.

When the Buddha taught the four kinds of predictions, Kasyapa addressed him:

“From this day onward, we shall regard all sentient beings as World-Honored Ones. If we give rise to a disparaging mind, we shall surely injure ourselves.”

The Buddha said:

“Excellent! What you say is entirely correct. No one can fathom the mental nature of sentient beings; only a Buddha penetrates it completely. For this reason, I instruct bodhisattvas and sravakas to regard sentient beings as Buddhas.”

The Samantabhadra’s Practices and Vows chapter of the Avatamsaka Sutra teaches that this very perception breaks through a million kinds of obstructive gates. Thus, when beings in the evil destinies receive the Buddha’s prediction, it is like a treasure concealed within a house: although it has not yet been uncovered, the house remains valuable because it contains that treasure. It is also like a jewel on one’s forehead driven deep within during a fight: the jewel in the forehead has not thereby been lost.

If one does not recollect sentient beings as future Buddhas, one will take the six sense objects as bandits. It is like defending against a demon army while tearing down one’s own city walls, or oneself sustaining an enemy nation so that it continually rises in hostility. While the bandits remain unsubdued and the sound of gongs and drums still reverberates, how can one rest peacefully upon a high pillow?

Only one who can make the unsubmissive submit and the unyielding yield is capable of unifying all under heaven. What further need is there for fluttering banners? Where have the swift-flying generals gone?

Our soldiers abandon their horses and return to fertilize the fields; they work when the sun rises and rest when the sun sets. Without even needing a sage like King Yao, the people dwell in peace, unaware of the benefits of sage transformation. If one can awaken that forms and sounds are Buddha and recollect sentient beings as future Buddhas, one will not establish ordinary objects before the mind.

Or, if one contemplates oneself as the principal deity, the profound and wondrous contemplation gate of mantra-yoga will naturally be understood without concern. What exists through thought is not nonexistent. Thus, the great peng bird and the tiny wren are equal, and Mount Tai and a strand of hair are one.

There is neither the strangeness of leveling a lofty mountain nor the distress of lengthening a duck’s legs([6]).

Question: Even though those in hell have not yet developed bodhicitta, the Tathagata, Dharma King, pardons their offenses and predicts their Buddhahood. His thousand myriad rays illuminate everywhere; his ten epithets shine in perfect clarity. The Buddha’s words are true—who would dare disbelieve them? But by what means may those who have not awakened be roused?

Answer: As for those who have not awakened, the great root of their delusion lies precisely in perceiving duality, just as the source of a long river begins in a tiny stream. If one establishes non-thought apart from thought and the unborn apart from birth, then birth and death become different from nirvana. Even if the Buddhas were innumerable, they could not instruct such a person.

But if one understands thought as non-thought and contemplates birth as unborn, so that affliction itself is bodhi, then right here one awakens to the adornment of the single mark. It is like seeing a swarm of bees upon a mountain peak and knowing there is a hive filled with honey, or like the seven treasures within a well—how could one deem them worthless? All these have been present from the beginning; they did not first come into existence now.

When one recollects future Buddhas, offenses have no basis from which to arise. Release the mind throughout every conditioned object, and everywhere it will see the Tathagata. The principle that the Way is born from greed, anger, and the like is exactly this.

In the Tathagatagarbha Sutra, the Buddha told the bodhisattva Vajramati: “Good man, with the Buddha-eye I observe all sentient beings amid the afflictions of sensual desire, anger, and delusion. Within them all are the Tathagata’s wisdom, the Tathagata’s eye, and the Tathagata’s body, seated solemnly and immovably in the full lotus posture, endowed with excellent qualities and marks no different from my own. Broadly speaking, all sentient beings possess the tathagatagarbha, which I explain through nine analogies.” The Ratnagotravibhaga explains this and concludes with verses:

Buddhas within withered flowers;

Pure gold within foul excrement;

A precious treasury beneath the earth;

A sprout within a fruit’s seed;

Within an old and tattered garment,

An image fashioned of pure gold;

An ugly, impoverished woman

Pregnant with a wheel-turning king;

Within a mold of black clay,

A beautiful and precious image.

Sentient beings’ greed, anger, and delusion,

Their deluded thoughts and afflictions—

Within all objects of defilement

The tathagatagarbha is present.

Even beneath the Avici Hell,

All possess the Tathagata-body.

The pure Dharma of true suchness

Is itself the Tathagata’s essence.

According to the texts cited, if one understands predictions of Buddhahood for those in hell, the gate of samadhi naturally becomes fully accessible.

Question: The mind of a person of ultimate virtue is tranquil and pure, having severed all grasping at conditions. Yet you now speak of releasing the mind to range throughout everything, seeing the Tathagata in every conditioned object. Where did the Buddha teach this?

Answer: The Buddha also taught one to direct the mind toward the six sense objects and the three kinds of karma, while continually making wondrous vows to enter the realm of the Buddhas. If every conditioned arising remains inseparable from the Tathagata, this is called seeing the Tathagata. Such seeing is called perfect vision; it is not seeing by means of the physical eyes. Thus, the Nirvana Sutra says: “Although sravakas possess the divine eye, it is called the fleshly eye. Although students of the Mahayana possess only fleshly eyes, theirs are called Buddha-eyes. Why? Because they clearly know that they themselves possess Buddha-nature.”

In the Sutra of the Supreme Deva King, the Buddha taught the Deva King: “A great bodhisattva practices prajnaparamita through the power of skillful means and freely directs the mind toward all dharmas. Directing the mind toward all forms, the bodhisattva vows to attain the Buddha’s form, because nothing is attained. Directing the mind toward all sounds, the bodhisattva vows to attain the Tathagata’s wondrous voice.

Directing the mind toward all fragrances, the bodhisattva vows to attain the pure fragrance of the Tathagata’s precepts. Directing the mind toward all flavors, the bodhisattva vows to attain the foremost mark of a great person among the Tathagata’s flavors. Directing the mind toward all tactile objects, the bodhisattva vows to attain the Tathagata’s soft and gentle hands.

Directing the mind toward all dharmas, the bodhisattva vows to attain the Tathagata’s quiescent mind. Directing the mind toward one’s own body, the bodhisattva vows to attain the Buddha-body. Directing the mind toward the mouth, the bodhisattva vows to attain the Buddha’s mouth.

Directing the mind toward the intellect, the bodhisattva vows to attain the Tathagata’s impartial mind. Deva King, when a great bodhisattva practices prajnaparamita, not a single thought or action is in vain; all are directed toward omniscience. Although the mind ranges throughout all dharmas, it does not cling to them, but contemplates all dharmas as tending toward the path of bodhi.” The bodhisattva’s cultivation of every practice is established through external conditions, just as earth rests upon water: if one digs a well, water immediately appears; if one does not dig, how could there be water to use?

Likewise, the realm of noble wisdom pervades everything. If one diligently cultivates the skillful means of prajna, one will attain that realm; if one does not cultivate, how could it be attained? Is not the principle of the mind’s conditioning vast indeed?

GATE V

CONTEMPLATING EMPTINESS AND NON-SELF, CHOOSE THE GOOD AND FOLLOW IT

Question: Stillness is present within movement, and movement itself is still; the noble is present within the ordinary, and the noble is concealed within the ordinary. I have now heard this lofty principle. Furthermore, the Three Teachings share the principle of non-self without essential difference, for all choose what is good and follow it. What does this mean?

Answer: Although the Three Teachings use the same term “non-self,” their principles differ. For example, among the Master Confucius’s four abstentions, the meaning of luminous virtue together with humility is precisely non-self. The non-self of Daoism—Laozi and Zhuangzi—is greatness that never acts as ruler.

The non-self of Buddhism is the contemplation that all five skandhas are empty. The first two teachings do not clearly understand the five skandhas; how, then, could they know the Dharma of the Four Noble Truths, the six paramitas, and the myriad practices? They have never even heard of the stages of sages and worthies.

Yet in “softening one’s light and mingling with the dust” and “cherishing softness and guarding stillness”([7]), they returned to simplicity and dared not place themselves above the world. Each of their founders was a sage, so why must we closely debate the relative depth or shallowness of their teachings? Thus, the meaning of non-self in the Three Teachings is clear.

To choose what is good and follow it concerns the principle of the three natures([8]), which pervades everywhere. Cultivators of the mind should choose the good and follow it. This is because the unwholesome does not benefit the supremely true, while in the indeterminate both good and evil are lost. Confusion concerning the Buddha’s principle is caused entirely by the unwholesome and the indeterminate, and therefore sages select these and cast them aside. The Nirvana Sutra says: “An icchantika’s mind does not engage with any wholesome dharma and does not give rise to even a single wholesome thought.” Thus, we know that the Buddha-Recollection Samadhi is the supreme wholesome Dharma, foremost among the myriad practices, and is therefore called the King of Samadhis.

GATE VI

NO GOOD TO BE CHOSEN, NO EVIL TO BE ABANDONED

Question: If one should choose the good and follow it, why not choose the goodness of the Buddhas and abandon the evil of sentient beings? If so, how could recollecting future Buddhas be the same as recollecting the Perfectly Awakened Ones of the past and present?

Answer: There is no need to alter your question; it itself becomes my answer. Why? “Choose the good and follow it” is merely a teaching given from necessity, because ordinary beings possess weak wisdom and cannot immediately accept that good is present within evil and truth within delusion.

Hence it must be stated in this manner. If one can recollect future Buddhas in accordance with Never Disparaging’s practice, heaven and earth are a single whole, the myriad things are nondual, all sentient beings are Buddhas, and this land is perpetually pure. This differs from Sariputra’s vision of earth, stones, sand, and gravel, and accords with Brahma’s vision of precious and magnificent adornments.

This is the ultimate point of choosing the good, where there is no evil that can be abandoned. This is precisely the passage cited by Tiantai’s Wise Master Zhiyi to demonstrate the wondrous principle of the absolute in his commentary on the Lotus Sutra:

When sentient beings see the kalpa ending

And a great fire blazing fiercely,

My Buddha-land remains peaceful,

Ever filled with devas and humans;

Its gardens, forests, and lofty halls

Are adorned with every kind of jewel.

The Sutra of the Supreme Deva King says: “In truth, the Buddha’s dwelling place contains no impure or wretched land. Sentient beings see impurity because their merit is meager.”

The Sanskrit Namo was translated by the Chinese during the Tang dynasty as “I entrust my life.” Amitabha is translated as “Infinite Life.” Surely the Buddhas of the three times do not include only one Buddha of infinite lifespan. Now, you and I shall recollect the Amitabhas of the three times and be born together in the Pure Lands of the ten directions. What could prevent this, and why would you wish to retreat?

It is also like the fierce flame of samadhi, which prevents the mosquitoes and gnats of deluded views from drawing near—deluded views no longer remain within the Buddha-Recollection Samadhi. Ten recollections resound like striking a great bell and are no different from invoking the Buddha’s name with a distracted mind—distraction is no different from concentration. Recollecting Amitabha Buddha extends to all Buddhas of the three times; what difference could there be among recollecting the Buddhas and bodhisattvas?

Question: Please clearly explain the principle by which recollecting future Buddhas is the same as recollecting past and present Buddhas.

Answer: The Avatamsaka Sutra says:

All the Tathagatas

Share a single Dharma-body,

One mind and one wisdom;

Their powers and fearlessness are likewise the same.

A verse in the Lankavatara Sutra says:

Kasyapa and Krakucchanda,

Kanakamuni are all myself;

Because there are four kinds of sameness,

I explain this to the Buddha’s children.

The four kinds of sameness are:

1. Sameness of name, because all are called Buddhas.

2. Sameness of speech, because all possess the mark of a pure voice like that of the kalavinka bird.

3. Sameness of Dharma, because all attain the Dharma of the factors of bodhi and unobstructed wisdom.

4. Sameness of body, because their physical bodies, marks, and excellent characteristics do not differ.

The Awakening of Faith says: “Depending upon direction, there appears to be turning, but in reality direction does not turn.” Likewise, one who awakens need awaken in only one direction, and all directions naturally become correct. A practitioner of Buddha-recollection need recollect only one Buddha’s name, and all Buddhas become present.

A sutra says: “Water does not rise upward, nor does the moon descend. Because the sky is clear, the moon in empty space casts its reflection upon the water. That Buddha does not come, nor does my body go. Through the causes and conditions of Buddha-recollection, the precious moon of the Tathagata appears in the pure water of my mind.” As the verse says:

The bodhisattva is like the bright moon,

Traveling through ultimate emptiness;

When the water of sentient beings’ minds is still,

Bodhi appears within it.

GATE VII

ONE MUST NOT EAT THE FLESH OF SENTIENT BEINGS

Question: Meat is food for human beings, yet practitioners of Buddha-recollection absolutely refuse to eat it. Why is this?

Answer: Consider how King Sibi saved a dove by suspending his own flesh upon a balance. Although the king and the bird differed, how did their lives differ? Therefore, one must not eat the flesh of animals to nourish this decaying body, foolishly remaining unafraid of the offense. If we understand that the myriad creatures are future Buddhas, who would dare wield a sharp knife against fish or release hawks before rabbits, harming oneself like a moth plunging into flame and thereby seeking one’s own death? The Buddha’s Words and Mind chapter of the Lankavatara Sutra says:

Those who kill beings for profit

And those who pay money to buy meat

Both create evil karma

And after death enter the Screaming Hell.

The Buddha’s words are indeed true. Were it not for this money, there would no longer be people who live by killing, such as fishermen and butchers. A bodhisattva such as Nagarjuna did not dare disparage doves or sparrows, and eminent monks would not tread upon insects or ants. When asked why, they replied: “These creatures are together with us in birth and death. Who knows whether they may attain Buddhahood before us? How could we dare disparage them?” If one must not even disparage them, how much less should one eat their flesh?

The Ratnagotravibhaga cites the Tathagatagarbha Sutra, in which the Buddha told Sariputra: “Sentient beings are the ultimate truth, the tathagatagarbha, the Dharma-body, and bodhi.”

I say that a vicious dog knows only to chase the clod of earth and not the person who threw it, so it continues chasing without end. Likewise, if one recollects only past and present Buddhas but not future Buddhas, arrogance and contempt will never cease. If, like a lion, one seizes the person directly, delusion naturally ends.

This is the principle by which both contempt and reverence return to a single source. If reverence changes into arrogance, one will rebel even against close relations such as one’s parents and regard them as strangers. Conversely, if arrogance is transformed into reverence, one will show filial respect to everyone as one would to one’s parents and honored relatives.

Thus, the Brahma Net Sutra teaches: “Sentient beings in the six destinies are my parents; filial piety is a precept.” This statement also encompasses the same meaning. To regard sentient beings in the six destinies as future Buddhas is a more immediate expression of the statement that all sentient beings are one’s parents. If one can act like the novice monk who used his robe to stop the water and save a colony of ants, thereby prolonging his short lifespan, or like Jalavahana in the Golden Light Sutra, who saved a multitude of fish and was showered with celestial flowers, then one can transform the view of sentient beings held throughout many kalpas and recollect them as bodies of future Buddhas.

Knowing that pure gold lies within filth and believing that the bright moon exists behind clouds and mist, the haze of meat-eating and the dust and smoke of birth and death will be scattered by the wind of wisdom throughout the space of samadhi.

In the Brahma Net Sutra, the Buddha says: “I am a Buddha already accomplished; sentient beings are Buddhas yet to be accomplished. By constantly maintaining such faith, the category of precepts is fulfilled.” Could this be attained without Buddha-recollection?

Question: I accept and believe that meat must not be eaten. But what of the five pungent plants([9])?

Answer: In the Surangama Sutra, the Buddha told Ananda: “These five pungent plants, when cooked, arouse lust; when eaten raw, they increase anger. Thus, even if those who eat these five pungent plants can expound the twelve divisions of the scriptures in this world, devas and immortals will keep far from them because they detest the stench, while ghosts will delight in licking those people’s lips. Such people continually dwell together with ghosts; their merit and virtue diminish day by day, and they gain no benefit whatsoever.

When those who eat the five pungent plants cultivate meditation, bodhisattvas, devas, and benevolent spirits of the ten directions will not come to protect them, and the mighty Demon King will watch for an opportunity to harm them.” The Buddha told Ananda: “Those who cultivate the path of bodhi and do not eat these five pungent plants are said to observe the first gradual stage of advancing cultivation.” These are the Buddha’s own teachings and must be accepted with the utmost sincerity.

The harm caused by intoxicating liquor need not even be mentioned.

The Sutra of a Hundred Parables records: Long ago, a poor man walking along a road found a bag of money. Delighted, he sat by the roadside and counted the coins. Before he finished counting, the bag’s owner returned, reclaimed it, and carried it away. The poor man regretted that he had not quickly departed, and his heart was filled with sorrow. Likewise, people who encounter the Buddhadharma but do not diligently practice, delighting only in hearing much and learning broadly, suddenly reach the end of their lives and fall into the evil destinies. How are they any different from that man whose bag of money was reclaimed and carried away by its owner? The verse says:

Today they do this task,

Tomorrow they do another;

Absorbed, they do not perceive suffering,

Unaware that the bandit of death approaches.

Bustling about with many affairs—

Ordinary people are all like this,

Just like that man counting money;

This matter is likewise so.

Notes:

[1] Zhui and shu: Extremely small units of weight, almost negligible.

[2] Eight kinds of pride: pride, great pride, pride beyond pride, pride of self, overweening pride, inferior pride, deviant pride, and arrogance.

[3] Definitive understanding: Choosing the ultimate Dharma.

[4] The Three Honored Ones are the three venerable refuges: Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.

[5] The Seven Assemblies: bhiksus, bhiksunis, siksamanas, sramaneras, sramanerikas, upasakas, and upasikas.

[6] The Zhuangzi says: Although a duck’s legs are short, lengthening them causes it distress; although a crane’s legs are long, shortening them causes it sorrow.

[7] “Cherishing softness” means maintaining gentleness and yielding.

[8] The three natures: wholesome, unwholesome, and indeterminate.

[9] The five pungent plants: onions, chives, garlic, shallots, and asafoetida.