念佛三昧寶王論

One day, a guest came to visit my secluded hermitage. After exchanging greetings, he asked in most refined language: “I have heard that, for those who cultivate the mind, the Never-Disparaging practice of the Lotus Samadhi and the Pratyutpanna practice of the Buddha-Recitation Samadhi are both unsurpassed, profound, and wondrous gateways of meditation—direct paths to attaining the Way. I beg to hear about this matter.”

I replied: “For a long time I have practiced quietly at Jiufeng, paying no attention to worldly affairs outside and not even reading books. It has now been thirty years since I stayed at Caotang Monastery on Mount Zijie and at the Lingdian Tianfu Lotus Victory Sanctuary. Many times I have rejoiced to receive visits and inquiries from renowned persons, yet I have never heard anyone ask a question such as yours. You wish to reach the dragon ford of the unborn and spread the wings of the great peng to cross the southern sea. I am ashamed that I have not yet attained clarity, but let me attempt a discussion. I shall now divide it into twenty sections to elucidate its essential purport.”

I. CONTEMPLATING FUTURE BUDDHAS TO SWIFTLY ATTAIN SAMADHI

The discriminating dualistic mind readily gives rise to deluded thoughts. Although these delusions are false, illusory, and deceptive, they can nevertheless obstruct. Until these obstructions have been removed, even sages must take care concerning them.

Though inherently endowed with every intonation, it does not speak; though the Dharma-body is empty and vast, it possesses every form and characteristic. It is only because these characteristics are not manifest that it is said to be without characteristics.

Regarding the essential purport of the One Flavor—the single mind—in which every path of speech is cut off, how can its destination be known? The fundamental aim of samadhi sweeps away all views and knowledge and is revealed through both speech and silence. Surely it is not found only in Vimalakirti’s silence and Manjusri’s praise.

Why is this so? Until Indra’s net is spread, how could its thousand jeweled ornaments be seen? Once the net is extended, its myriad eyes all open at once. Before single-minded recollection of the Buddha, one does not see; once recollection of the Buddha arises, it becomes clear that everything is Buddha. To bathe in the great ocean is already to use the waters of a hundred rivers; to contemplate the Buddha’s name is to accomplish samadhi. “One word can bring all things to an end”—this is precisely the meaning. It is like casting a mani jewel into turbid water, whereupon none of the water fails to become clear. Place the thought of Buddha within a distracted mind, and nothing in that distracted mind fails to become Buddha.

When mind and Buddha accord, both disappear. Their mutual disappearance is concentration. Their mutual illumination is wisdom. This state is called the equality of concentration and wisdom. It is also what is meant by: “What mind is not Buddha, and what Buddha is not mind?” Since mind and Buddha are thus, every object and every condition is everywhere samadhi.

Yet most people contemplate only the past Buddha Sakyamuni’s face, round like the moon, and visualize the present Buddha Amitabha’s eyes, clear like the sea, as though extracting a poisoned arrow or entering the palace of bliss. This is indeed an excellent Dharma, but one has not heard of contemplating the radiant, sunlike marks of the Buddhas of the future. This is because people have not understood that the Tathagata, addressing the coarse minds of sentient beings, expounded the subtle wonders of the Buddhas, and they consequently separated sentient beings from the Buddhas. Thus they have not heard about the marks of future Buddhas, and no one contemplates them.

The Vimalakirti Sutra speaks of smelling only the fragrance of the campaka flower and no other scent, and of flowers that adhere to the body and those that do not. This lowers the Lesser Vehicle and raises the Great Vehicle. Lowering the Lesser Vehicle is shown by those who clutch their alms bowls while tears pour down. Raising the Great Vehicle reveals the shared joy of the realm of nonduality. As for the Lotus Sutra, which definitively establishes the Dharma for the sravakas and is king among sutras, everyone fully possesses the fragrance of this campaka flower—the fruit of Buddhahood—although it has not yet become manifest.

Because they have not yet attained complete awakening, people see the Buddhas as supremely honored and sentient beings as utterly base. Thus thoughts of high and low arise, and the deluded mind is stirred. When thoughts of reverence and contempt arise, the one-flavored nature of true suchness becomes concealed.

Such people then regard the myriad ordinary things as mere grass and trees, consider everyone beneath heaven insignificant and worthless, disdain propriety, behave arrogantly toward elders, and freely let their gaze pursue external objects without restraining themselves. This contradicts the Vimalakirti Sutra: “Every act of seeing and every act of reverence is the most precious among offerings.” It also means failing to believe the Lankavatara Sutra, which says: “The intrinsically pure Tathagata-garbha carries the thirty-two marks into the minds of all sentient beings, like a most precious jewel sewn inside a filthy garment.” If so, how could one see that the destitute son begging within the city and the exalted Tathagata are equal and no different?

Only by recollecting all Buddhas of the three times and universally contemplating the holy assemblies throughout the ten directions does one accord with the purport of prajna. Seeing that every sentient being is the Tathagata-garbha and that the very essence of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra is hidden throughout all forms—as a poor woman possesses a precious jewel, as rice is present within the husk, as clearly as an image appears in a mirror—how could one still fear becoming entangled in those eight blameworthy forms of pride?

People do not dare disparage past or present Buddhas, yet they belittle future Buddhas—sentient beings. They truly do not know that this is the root from which offenses arise. To place oneself above a future Buddha is no different from placing oneself above a present Buddha. Apart from sentient beings, how could there be future Buddhas? We should understand: a mother is honored through her child, rice is nourishing because of its bran, and present Buddhas are valued because of future Buddhas.

Therefore, if one supplements one’s practice with the mind of Never Disparaging taught in the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha-Recitation Samadhi will certainly be attained, sooner or later.

—Question: The Lotus is Dharma, while Buddha-recitation concerns Buddha. How could Dharma be taken as Buddha, or Buddha as Dharma? This is a great confusion!

—Answer: There is no confusion at all. Since their root is one, what confusion could there be? Consider the medicines zhi and zhu, medicines of the immortals.

Formerly, while still in heaven, they did not bear the name “immortal.” Only because someone consumed them, grew wings, and flew among the clouds did they come to be called “immortal medicines,” while that person was called an “immortal.” The person and the medicine differ, but their immortal source is one. Without sages, who could delight in the Way? Without a Buddha to awaken to the Dharma, could the Dharma awaken by itself?

Without Buddha, the Dharma cannot be awakened to; how then could the Buddha-Recitation Samadhi arise? Without Dharma, Buddha would not be manifest; how then could the Lotus Samadhi arise? From a single kind of immortality, both receive the name “immortal.” Buddha-recitation and the Lotus alike are called Buddha-wisdom.

Since both are Buddha-wisdom, the unsurpassed, profound, and wondrous gateway of meditation—the Never-Disparaging practice and the Pratyutpanna Samadhi—is awakened to right there. There has never been any difference between them, so what confusion could there be?

II. NEITHER WOMEN NOR THIEVES SHOULD BE DISPARAGED

Question: I beg to hear about the statement, “All sentient beings are future Buddhas.” Women and thieves are of very bad character; how can a practitioner of Buddha-recitation revere them?

Answer: The Dharma-gates taught by the Buddha are of two kinds: the “gate of relative treatment” and the “gate of definitive understanding.”

Under the gate of relative treatment, women and girls are regarded as false and deceptive, while the Tathagata is regarded as supremely true. This means that the Buddha deserves veneration, whereas women should be renounced with revulsion. There are two ways to develop such renunciation toward women: “reproving desire” and “arousing contemplative observation.”

Concerning the reproof of desire, the Sutra in Which the Bodhisattva Reproves Sensual Desire says: “Female beauty is the fetter and shackle of the world; ordinary beings become attached to it and cannot free themselves. Female beauty is the grave illness of the world; ordinary beings suffer from it and do not desist even until death. Female beauty is the calamity and ruin of the world; when ordinary beings encounter it, there is no disaster that does not follow.” If a practitioner has escaped it yet continues to think about it, how is this different from leaving prison and wishing to enter it again, recovering from madness and wishing to become mad once more, or being cured of illness and longing to be ill?

Seeing this, the wise feel compassion, knowing that those afflicted by the madness of deluded inversion will not behold the sun of clarity even at death.

Ordinary beings prize women and willingly become their servants, rushing about and laboring painfully throughout their lives. Amid iron axes and thorny stakes, close to awls and sharp arrows, they willingly endure everything without concern. This is because the intoxicated and deranged always delight in others who are intoxicated and deranged and never regard it as a fault.

If practitioners can abandon this and no longer set their minds upon it, they break the fetters, escape the shackles, leave madness behind, and grow weary of illness. By distancing themselves from the calamity of female beauty, they attain peace and well-being, leave prison forever, and encounter no further disaster.

Regarding women, their words are like honey, but their minds are poison. They resemble a still, clear spring inhabited by a dragon, or a golden mountain and jeweled cavern in which a lion lies. One should know that this danger is not to be approached.

Discord within families comes from women; the destruction of lineages and the ruin of households are also attributed to women’s faults. Women are truly hidden bandits who destroy people’s radiant wisdom. They are like hunters who spread encompassing nets from which beasts have no path of escape; like nets cast high above, into which birds fall and can no longer soar; like nets stretched across rivers, into which fish swim only to end upon the chopping block; or like a dark pit into which a blind person enters, as a moth flies into a blazing fire.

Therefore, wise people clearly recognize this and keep far away, avoiding harm; they become weary and disgusted, avoiding delusion. The Great Ratnakuta Sutra records a verse spoken by the Buddha to King Udayana:

Concerning “arousing contemplative observation,” the Great Ratnakuta Sutra records: [Manjusri said to the god Sususthita: “If a person single-mindedly and intently cultivates and guards the mind, then when lust arises, that person should immediately recognize it and employ skillful means to eliminate it, thereby restoring the mind to purity. How is it eliminated? By giving rise to this thought: ‘This is empty and impure.

This lustful mind arises and ceases; it comes from nowhere and goes nowhere. Within this mind, who is defiled, who receives defilement, and what is the phenomenon of defilement?’ When one contemplates in this way, one sees neither a defiling subject, a defiled object, nor the act of defilement. Not seeing them, one does not grasp them.

Without grasping, there is no relinquishing. Without relinquishing, there is no attachment. Neither relinquishing nor attaching is called the dispassionate, quiescent nirvana.

Then, even if one lets the mind enter the defilements of birth and death, one need not fear the calamities of greed, hatred, and delusion.”] This is called “arousing contemplative observation.”

The gate of relative treatment has now been explained.

Second is the gate of definitive understanding, the ultimate. From the standpoint of having ultimately departed from all delusion and being undefiled like empty space, beings are past and present Buddhas, not future Buddhas. From the standpoint of progressing toward that ultimate state, all sentient beings afflicted by worldly defilements are future Buddhas.

Have you not heard: “To obtain a priceless jewel, one must dive into the deep ocean; to obtain the treasure of wisdom, one must seek within afflictions. The characteristics of the five heinous offenses are the characteristics of liberation; the realm of Mara is suchness, and the Buddha-realm is suchness.” If one rejoices on hearing the voice of Buddha but becomes angry upon hearing the voice of Mara, one cannot enter the “Dharma-gate of sound,” cannot abide in the “true realm of sound,” and cannot awaken to all dharmas. Such a person turns the cart backward while wishing to move forward. How could the Way be discussed with such a person?

To make this clear to you, does not the scripture record this account? In ancient times there was an immortal named Mrgasirsa. Because it was raining and the ground was slippery, he fell while walking along the road.

In anger, he used an immortal spell to cause a drought. Everyone in the kingdom became anxious, so the king sent a woman beloved by many to seduce him. After she succeeded, she rode upon his neck into the city.

Immediately, clouds surged in from the four directions and torrential rain poured down until everything was flooded. Although that immortal possessed spiritual powers that controlled the wind and arts that could overpower nature itself, he could not abandon sensual form because he still saw her as a woman. Yet Sakyamuni, regarding the woman Yasodhara, declared: “In the future she will become a Buddha named Tathagata Endowed with a Thousand Myriad Marks of Light.”

If practitioners of Buddha-recitation see only the lovely face of a young woman and do not contemplate the excellent golden form of the Buddha Marks of Light—seeing her merely as a woman and not as a future Buddha—they lose the essential purport of Never Disparaging. How then could they attain the Buddha-Recitation Samadhi?

Furthermore, in a former life Aniruddha was once a thief. One day he entered a stupa dedicated to the Buddha intending to steal its jewels. Inside the shrine, he saw that a lamp’s wick had burned low and was about to go out. He therefore used a bamboo stick to raise the wick so that the lamp would burn brightly and not be extinguished. The name Aniruddha, meaning “Unextinguished,” originated from this. In the future, he will become a Buddha named Tathagata Universal Radiance, also because of this cause and condition.

A practitioner of Buddha-recitation should not disparage even a thief, much less someone who does not steal. If one sees women and thieves as two future Buddhas radiant like the sun, why worry that samadhi will not be attained?

III. UPON SEEING THOSE WHO KEEP OR BREAK THE PRECEPTS, GIVE RISE ONLY TO THE THOUGHT OF BUDDHA

Question: The case of those who keep the precepts and those who break them is difficult to understand. The Brahma Net Sutra says: “Whoever receives the Buddha’s precepts enters the ranks of the Buddhas.” Monastics who preserve the prohibitive precepts perfectly, like the full moon and like those adorned with jeweled necklaces, are included among the Three Jewels within the seven assemblies and are worthy of reverence. But as for those who do not strictly keep the precepts and whose inverted conduct leads to downfall, how could we disregard their faults or remain indifferent to their offenses? I hope you will explain this for me.

Answer: In the Ocean of Samadhi Sutra, the Tathagata once told his royal father:

“Formerly there were four bhiksus who violated the Vinaya. Overcome by shame, they wished to abandon themselves and cease their practice. Suddenly they heard a voice in empty space saying: ‘You are mistaken in thinking that your violations are beyond remedy.

Although Tathagata King of Emptiness has entered nirvana, his image still remains. Enter the stupa and single-mindedly contemplate the urna—the white hair between the eyebrows—of the sacred image!’ The bhiksus immediately shed tears and wept, saying: ‘If even a Buddha-image possesses such wondrous power, how much more so the Buddha’s true form!’ They then cast themselves to the ground in homage like great mountains toppling.

The presently abiding Perfectly Awakened Ones of the four directions—Aksobhya Buddha in the east, Precious Marks Buddha in the south, Amitayus Buddha in the west, and Wondrous Voice Buddha in the north—are precisely those four bhiksus who broke the precepts.” Therefore, the Tathagata called this Buddha-Contemplation Samadhi the Ocean of the Great Jeweled King’s Precept Category, which can wash away the stains of broken precepts and enable one to realize purity within the dusty world.

Those four bhiksus merely single-mindedly contemplated the precious image, and all became World-Honored Ones. How could a practitioner of Buddha-recitation give rise to doubt or contempt toward a monastic teacher who has broken the precepts?

The Great Collection 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 blood of a hundred kotis of Buddhas to flow. When seeing someone wearing the kasaya, regardless of whether that person keeps or breaks the precepts, one should give rise only to the thought: ‘This person is a Buddha.’” The thought “This person is a Buddha” is the Buddha-Recitation Samadhi. These words from the Buddha’s golden mouth elucidate the profound principle of Never Disparaging. How could anyone dare beat or revile such a person without fear?

The scripture says: “Rather let the mind imitate me; do not imitate the mind.” Seeing a miserly person, give rise to the thought of generosity. Seeing someone break the precepts, give rise to the thought of keeping the precepts. In this way, one is not bound by the realm of the six faults—greed, hatred, and so forth—and one also accomplishes the Dharma-gate of contemplating the six paramitas. If one continues to abide in the discriminating mind, one personally incurs punishment in the dark tribunal of hell. Is this not lamentable? But if one transforms this knowing and seeing, the Buddha-Recitation Samadhi proceeds favorably like a river flowing downstream. Is this not joyful?

IV. EVEN THOSE NOW FALLEN INTO HELL STILL RECEIVE PREDICTIONS OF BUDDHAHOOD

Question: One can believe that those who have broken the precepts may attain Perfect Awakening through contemplation of the Buddha and therefore should not be disparaged. But as for those presently fallen into hell or trapped in the paths of maras and ghosts, who cannot arouse bodhicitta and have no prospect of rebirth in a wholesome realm, must practitioners of Buddha-recitation also revere them?

Answer: Have you not heard: to obtain precious medicine, one must gather it from perilous mountains; it cannot be found in ordinary gardens and courtyards. To harvest the medicine of Dharma, one likewise must enter perilous realms; it does not arise by itself in bland and uneventful places.

The Surangama Sutra describes four kinds of prediction: first, prediction before one has aroused the aspiration; second, prediction when one has just aroused the aspiration; third, concealed prediction; and fourth, prediction given face-to-face. Those presently fallen into hell are people who have not yet aroused the aspiration. The Buddha predicts that in the future they will awaken great wisdom, encounter true spiritual friends, practice the bodhisattva conduct, and ultimately attain Perfect Awakening. Therefore, they cannot be disparaged. This is prediction for those who have not yet aroused the aspiration.

When the Buddha taught the four kinds of prediction, Kasyapa said to him: “From this day forward, regarding all sentient beings we shall give rise to the thought, ‘This is a Buddha.’ If we give rise to even a single thought of contempt, we thereby injure ourselves.” The Buddha said: “Excellent! What you say is entirely correct! No one can measure sentient beings; only the Tathagata can know and measure them. For this reason, I instruct the sravakas and bodhisattvas to give rise toward sentient beings to the thought, ‘This is a Buddha.’” The chapter on Samantabhadra’s Conduct in the Avatamsaka Sutra, in its gate of destroying a hundred myriad obstacles, also employs this contemplation.

Thus, those presently fallen into evil destinies receive the Buddha’s prediction. They are like a house containing treasure: although its door has not yet been opened, that does not impair the jewels within. Or they are like a pearl on one’s forehead: even if a fight drives it beneath the skin so that it can no longer be seen from outside, the pearl is nevertheless not lost.

If one does not regard sentient beings as future Buddhas, one will regard the six sense-objects as bandits. This is like trying to stop Mara’s army while destroying one’s own fortifications—abandoning the thought of Buddha—or like allowing an enemy nation to dwell within one’s own, thereby perpetuating resentment without end—retaining the conception of the six sense-objects and thus undergoing the cycle of birth and death.

Before one’s armor is secure, the battle drums still resound; how could one rest? While sense-objects remain agitated, the mind cannot attain samadhi. If one can induce the unyielding to yield and make the unsubmissive submit, one can unite all beneath heaven under a single authority.

If the six sense-objects are harmonized with the mind, one enters samadhi. Once the banner has been raised and flies aloft, everyone surges forward behind it. When the thought “All are future Buddhas” arises, every obstacle disappears.

Then one may bid farewell to saddle and horse, return joyfully to the countryside and fields, work when the sun rises, and rest when it sets—free from every burden and attachment, living at ease. Even a sage such as King Yao could not surpass us. One sees the people every day yet knows not a single separate person—making no distinctions among their different bodies and seeing only that all are Buddhas.

Only then does one understand that the Buddha’s transforming teaching extends everywhere. If one awakens to every form, sound, fragrance, and so forth as Buddha and regards all sentient beings as future Buddhas, what ordinary appearance could remain before the mind? Just as one visualizes one’s own body as the principal deity, one attains the “Yoga Gate of Wondrous True-Word Contemplation” without seeking it.

Thus, it is present through contemplation; it is not an empty nothingness in which nothing is attained. Only then can one clearly see that the great peng and the tiny insect are the same, and Mount Tai and a goose feather are one. The narrow mind concerning race and lineage is gone, and all anxiety over illusory forms and sensory scenes has ended.

Question: As for those fallen into hell who have not yet aroused bodhicitta, the Tathagata compassionately predicts that they will attain Perfect Awakening, radiate myriad beams of light, and fully possess the ten epithets and so forth. Since this accords with the Buddha’s words, who would dare disbelieve it? Yet they have not originally awakened. Through what do they awaken?

Answer: To say that they have not originally awakened is like saying that at the source of the Yangtze River there is only a bowlful of water. Even one who is deeply deluded still possesses the two views—the view of self and wrong view. If one says, “Apart from thought there is no-thought; apart from birth there is no-birth,” yet takes birth and death as different from nirvana, then the Buddha’s myriad teachings could instruct no one.

But if one clearly knows thought as no-thought and birth as no-birth, so that affliction itself is bodhi, one awakens immediately to the “adornment of the single characteristic.” It is like a colony of bees upon a mountain, whose hive is filled entirely with honey, or a fathomless well in whose depths a precious jewel is already present. These are all inherently existent; they have not newly arisen.

Once one contemplates all beings as future Buddhas, from where could offenses arise? Once one extends the mind throughout every condition and sees everything as Buddha, how could the greed, hatred, delusion, and so forth that formerly arose still remain at that very moment? In the Tathagata-garbha Sutra, the Buddha said to Bodhisattva Vajramati: “Good man, with the Buddha-eye I contemplate and see that, within the afflictions of greed, hatred, delusion, and so forth of all sentient beings, the Tathagata’s wisdom, the Tathagata’s eye, and the Tathagata’s body are fully present, sitting firmly and unmoving in the lotus posture…

They even possess all the Tathagata’s virtuous marks without difference.” He then taught extensively: “All sentient beings possess the Tathagata-garbha,” elucidating it through nine analogies. The Ratnagotravibhaga explains this meaning and concludes with these verses:

“Within withered flowers, Buddhas are concealed;
Even amid foul excrement, the golden body is present.
As precious treasure lies hidden within the earth,
As a lotus seed already contains its tender sprout,

Even within black and burning coal-sludge,
The precious image of the Tathagata is complete.
Within sentient beings still filled with greed, hatred, and delusion,
With deluded thoughts, inversions, and afflictions,

The true suchness of all dharmas, utterly pure,
Is called the Tathagata’s essence.”

These verses fully prove that those still in hell who receive predictions will blaze forth in awakening and naturally penetrate every gateway of samadhi.

Question: Those who apply their minds in cultivation must keep the mind constantly peaceful and pure, entirely cutting off its pursuit of conditions. Yet here it is said that one should extend the mind to encompass every condition and see everything as Tathagata. Where is this taught?

Answer: There is indeed a teaching that says: Let the mind engage the six sense-objects, and through the three karmas simultaneously make the vow “May I enter the realm of the Buddha.” Whenever the mind encounters a condition, it never departs from the Tathagata; therefore it is said, “See all as Tathagata.” This is perfect seeing, not seeing with the physical eye. Thus, the Nirvana Sutra says: “Although sravakas possess the heavenly eye, it is still called the physical eye. Although trainees in the Great Vehicle possess only physical eyes, these are called Buddha-eyes. Why? Because they clearly comprehend that they possess Buddha-nature.”

Furthermore, in the Sutra of the Supreme Heavenly King, the Buddha told the Heavenly King: “A mahasattva bodhisattva, through the power of skillful means, practices prajnaparamita and freely directs the mind toward all dharmas. When the mind engages form, the bodhisattva vows to attain the Buddha’s characteristic of form that is unobtainable. When it engages sound, the bodhisattva vows to attain the Tathagata’s wondrous voice.

When it engages fragrance, the bodhisattva vows to attain the pure fragrance of the Tathagata’s precepts. When it engages flavor, the bodhisattva vows to accomplish the marks of a great person among the Tathagata’s flavors. When it engages touch, the bodhisattva vows to attain the Tathagata’s soft and gentle hands, free from attachment.

When it engages dharmas, the bodhisattva vows to realize the Tathagata’s quiescent mind. When it engages one’s own body, the bodhisattva vows to attain the Buddha’s body. When it engages one’s own mouth, the bodhisattva vows to attain the mouths of the Buddhas.

When it engages one’s own mind, the bodhisattva vows to attain the Buddha’s mind of equality.”

“Heavenly King! When a mahasattva bodhisattva practices prajnaparamita, not a single thought or action passes emptily without being directed toward wisdom. The mind engages all dharmas without clinging to the dharmas contemplated, and at no time does it fail to turn toward the path of bodhi. All practices cultivated by a bodhisattva are accomplished through external conditions. It is like level ground resting upon a vast body of water: if one digs a pond or well, one obtains water; if one does not dig, there is no way to see the water. In the same way, the realm of holy wisdom exists throughout all dharmas. If one diligently cultivates prajna and skillful means, one realizes it; if one does not practice, there is no way to attain it.”

Thus, is the meaning of directing the mind toward all dharmas not important?

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

Question: Movement is yet stillness, and stillness is the master of movement. The ordinary is yet holy, and holiness is concealed within the ordinary. I beg to follow this profound purport. As for the non-self taught by the three teachings—Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism—their principles are said not to differ. What, then, are the meanings of non-self and of choosing the good and following it?

Answer: Regarding the principle of non-self, the three teachings—Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism—have never been different, nor have they ever been the same. Confucianism takes lucid humility as non-self. Daoism takes enduring existence without severance as non-self. Buddhism takes the contemplation that “the five skandhas are all empty” as non-self.

The first two teachings, Confucianism and Daoism, do not fully understand the five skandhas and cannot distinguish the Four Noble Truths, the six paramitas, and the myriad practices. Their levels of sages and worthies will not be discussed here. Buddhism alone describes a sage as one who harmonizes light and mingles with the dust—mingling with the world while living lucidly—always maintaining a gentle and tranquil bearing, compassionate and frugal, and not rushing into competition over worldly affairs. Among the various levels of Buddhist sages, there are differences of depth in their active functioning. This concerns non-self in the three teachings.

Choosing the good and following it concerns the principle of the three natures: good, evil, and morally indeterminate. This principle is present everywhere—in all three teachings—and those who cultivate the mind should choose the good and follow it. This is because, regarding the Dharma of utmost truth, evil produces many harmful consequences, while the morally indeterminate nullifies both good and evil.

Every contradiction and disorder of the Buddha’s principle arises from these two natures—evil and the morally indeterminate—so sages eliminate them and do not follow them. Therefore, the Nirvana Sutra says: “The mind of an icchantika does not engage even a single wholesome dharma, to the point that not one wholesome thought arises.” Thus one knows that, regarding the Buddha-Recitation Samadhi, goodness is the supreme Dharma and the foremost of the myriad practices.

Therefore it is said, “Goodness is king among samadhis.”

VI. THERE IS NO GOOD TO CHOOSE AND NO EVIL TO ABANDON

Question: If one chooses the good and follows it, how is this different from choosing the goodness of the Buddhas while abandoning the evil of sentient beings—choosing Buddhas and rejecting sentient beings? How then can it be said that “contemplating future Buddhas—sentient beings—is the same as contemplating past and present Buddhas”?

Answer: Your very question has already answered me. Why? “Choosing the good and following it” is said only as an unavoidable expedient.

Those of weak wisdom and heavy karmic obstructions cannot see evil as good or delusion as truth, and therefore must make a clear choice. But those who have contemplated future Buddhas in accord with the practice of Never Disparaging see heaven and earth as a single finger without separation, and the myriad things as a single horse without distinction. They see sentient beings as Buddhas and this land as constantly and entirely pure.

Their vision is wholly unlike Sariputra’s view of mud, earth, tiles, and stones and is the same as the Brahma King’s vision of precious adornments. Such persons have reached the ultimate point of choosing the good, where there is no longer any evil to abandon. This is precisely the passage cited by the Tiantai master Zhiyi when, in his exposition of the Lotus Sutra, he explained the wondrous absolute principle:

Its gardens, forests, halls, and towers
Are adorned with many kinds of jewels.”

The Sutra of the Supreme Heavenly King also says: “The place where the Buddha abides is in truth not a defiled land. Because sentient beings are oppressed and bound by afflictions, they see it as impure.” This expresses the same meaning.

The Sanskrit word is namo, translated into Chinese as “to return one’s life in reverent refuge.” The Sanskrit Amita—Amitabha—is translated into Chinese as “Immeasurable Life.” Are not the Buddhas of the three times all Immeasurable Life? Why revere only one Buddha of Immeasurable Life? Now, if we equally contemplate Amitabha throughout the three times—Amitabha of the past, present, and future—and vow to be born together in the Pure Lands of the ten directions, what could not be attained?

Why abandon the swift path for the slow and obstructed one by thinking of only one Buddha rather than seeing all as Amitabha? Only in this way can the flame of samadhi blaze forth, leaving not the slightest mosquito-like trace of false views and knowledge. Only then can the bell of ten years be struck and resound, without ceasing for an instant in reciting the Buddha’s name.

Only then can one clearly see that sentient beings are Buddha. If contemplating Amitabha throughout the three times can be like this, could contemplating all Buddhas and bodhisattvas not likewise be so?

Question: What does it mean that contemplating future Buddhas is no different from contemplating past and present Buddhas? I beg to hear the explanation.

Answer: The Avatamsaka Sutra says: “All Tathagatas share one Dharma-body, one mind, and one wisdom; their powers and fearlessness are likewise the same.” A verse in the Lankavatara Sutra says: “Kasyapa Buddha, Krakucchanda Buddha, Kanakamuni Buddha, and I possess four kinds of equality. I teach the Buddha’s disciples these four equalities. First is equality of designation: all are called Buddha. Second is equality of speech: all fully possess the Brahma voice, like the kalavinka bird. Third is equality of Dharma: all ultimately realize the factors of bodhi and unobstructed wisdom. Fourth is equality of body: all possess the Dharma-body and excellent characteristics of form and sound without difference.”

The Awakening of Faith says: “Because the traveler moves, the direction appears to change, although the direction itself does not truly change.” Thus, in awakening, one need only recognize a single direction and all Buddhas are correctly recognized; in contemplation, one need only contemplate a single Buddha and all Buddhas appear before one.

The scripture says: the water rises upward, but the moon does not descend. Through the causes and conditions of the moon’s light and the water’s stillness, the brilliant moon in empty space appears within the water. Likewise, the Buddha does not come here, nor do I go there. Solely through the causes and conditions of contemplating the Buddha does the Tathagata-moon appear within the water of my mind. Expressing this same meaning, the verse says:

VII. ONE SHOULD NOT EAT THE FLESH OF SENTIENT BEINGS

—Question: Meat is food for human beings. Why do practitioners of Buddha-recitation not eat it?

—Answer: In ancient times, King Sibi personally climbed upon the scales and weighed out his own flesh to save a dove, because he understood that although he and the bird belonged to different species, they shared the same nature of preserving their lives. How could we now eat their flesh to nourish these decaying bodies, heedless of the fear they experience? If we understand that they are all future Buddhas, who would still hunt prey and trap animals, thereby incurring death and downfall like a mayfly entering a flame? In the Buddha’s Words and Mind chapter of the Lankavatara Sutra, it is written:

From this one knows that, if the matter of money were not established, catching and killing would naturally cease.

Therefore, Nagarjuna never looked down upon even a small bird, and eminent monks would not tread upon ants or insects. When asked why, they replied: “They and we are together within birth and death. Who knows whether they may attain Perfect Awakening before us? We should not disparage them.” If even disparagement is improper, how could one seize their blood and flesh for food?

The Ratnagotravibhaga records: [In the Tathagata-garbha Sutra, the Buddha told Sariputra: “Sentient beings are the ultimate truth, the Tathagata-garbha, the Dharma-body, and bodhi.”]

We resemble a dog chasing an object moving before its eyes, not knowing to charge directly at the person moving it; thus the object never stops, for that person is pulling its cord. We know only to contemplate past and present Buddhas but refuse to contemplate future Buddhas—we do not respect sentient beings—and therefore our arrogant and disparaging mind never ceases. If, like a lion, we know to charge directly at the person, the object naturally stops. If we know to contemplate sentient beings as future Buddhas, the arrogant and disparaging mind comes to an end.

Having heard the principle of reverence and contempt, if one tries to change but instead changes reverence into contempt, treating one’s parents as equal to ordinary strangers, one becomes a person of supreme rebellion. But if one changes contempt into reverence, treating ordinary people as equal to one’s parents, one becomes a person of supreme filial devotion. Therefore, the Brahma Net Sutra says: “Beings in the six destinies have all been my parents; filial devotion is called the precepts.” This is what it means.

Regarding seeing sentient beings as future Buddhas, to say “Sentient beings are our parents” describes only what is near. If one can act like the novice monk who saved ants and thereby transformed a short lifespan into a long one; if one can act like the elder Jalavahana, who saved fish and caused celestial flowers to fall like rain; if one can abandon the view that they are merely “sentient beings from beginningless kalpas” and contemplate them only as bodies of future Buddhas; if one knows that pure gold is inherently present within filth and believes that a bright moon lies behind thick clouds—then the “fog” of eating flesh and the “dust and smoke” of birth and death will be swept away by the “wind” of wisdom in the “sky” of samadhi.

The Brahma Net Sutra says: “I am a Buddha already accomplished; sentient beings are Buddhas yet to be accomplished. If one constantly holds such faith, the category of precepts is perfected.” Why not reflect upon this?

Question: I now believe that meat must not be eaten. What about the five pungent plants?

Answer: The Buddha’s teaching is clear. The Great Buddha-Crown Sutra records: [The Buddha told Ananda: “When cooked, these five pungent plants stimulate lust; when eaten raw, they increase anger. Even if those who eat the five pungent plants recite the twelve divisions of scripture, the devas and immortals throughout the ten directions will all avoid them because they detest that foul odor.

Hungry ghosts, seeing such people eat the five pungent plants, come and lick their lips. They constantly associate with ghosts; the sun of their merit gradually sets, and many harmful conditions increase. When those who eat these five pungent plants cultivate samadhi, the bodhisattvas, devas, and immortals of the ten directions will not come to protect them, while the mara kings will find many opportunities to disturb them.” The Buddha further told Ananda: “Those who cultivate the path of bodhi and forever abandon the five pungent plants are called practitioners who follow the most rapidly advancing sequence of cultivation.”] These are words from the Buddha’s golden mouth.

How could they not be true?

As for alcohol, its prohibition should naturally be understood without further discussion.

The Sutra of One Hundred Parables records: Long ago, a poor man traveling along a road found a bag of gold coins. Overjoyed, he immediately began counting them again and again. Before he had finished counting, the owner of the bag suddenly took back all the coins and departed. Only then did the poor man regretfully think, “Why did I not leave sooner?” His heart became sorrowful and distressed, and his appearance was filled with suffering. Those who encounter the Buddhadharma are the same. Although they encounter the Three Jewels, they do not diligently practice and delight only in extensive learning. When death suddenly comes, they fall into the three evil destinies, just like that foolish man from whom the owner took back all the money before departing. The verse says:

The seven sections above all concern contemplating the Buddhas of the future in order to penetrate the meaning of the Buddhas of the three times. If one delights in contemplating Maitreya Buddha, one will be born in the Tusita heavenly palace and meet the Loving One. This is what the lofty Master Dao’an praised.