西方合論

Chapter IX

CULTIVATION AND PRACTICE

Alas! The dust of passions has accumulated over many kalpas, and the ocean of craving has stretched vast through many lifetimes, like a sword corroded by rust, like a jewel covered by defiling mud. Unless the sword is polished, its rust cannot be removed.

Only when the defiling mud is wiped away can the jewel shine brightly. To attain purity of mind, practitioners need only eliminate afflictions and defilements. Those who have awakened must constantly maintain discerning contemplation, while those who remain deluded must apply themselves all the more diligently to taming their minds.

Those bound by the shackles of craving should also grieve and lament the swift passage of the days and months. Confucius said: “One who is foolish yet does not study will remain of lowly station.” Now, practitioners who wish in a single lifetime to transcend the results of countless kalpas are, through ten recollections, gathering up a journey of myriads of kotis. How could this be accomplished through vague thought, ordinary views and understanding, a mind filled with afflictions, and defiled verbal karma?

If one does not undergo a period of diligent cultivation, one must resign oneself to suffering and bondage for many kalpas; but if one practices in accordance with the Dharma, one will escape Mara’s net.

1. Pure awakening.

2. Pure faith.

3. Pure contemplation.

4. Pure mindfulness.

5. Pure repentance.

6. Pure vows.

7. Pure precepts.

8. Pure abode.

9. Pure companions.

10. Pure indeterminacy.

1- Pure awakening

Practitioners who wish to be born in the Pure Land of True Recompense must sincerely investigate and realize the truth in accordance with the Dharma. Why is this so? Because awakening is the guide who leads the deluded, just as one traveling through a pitch-dark night needs a torch to illuminate the road. Awakening is a map directing practitioners into the pure land, just as one traveling ten thousand miles must clearly know the route and every stage of the journey. Awakening is the commander of all cultivation practices, just as warriors eagerly charging into a fortified battlefield must obey the orders of their commander.

1. Awakened practitioners can clearly know that even in a defiled place there is constant purity, because they do not relinquish purity.

2. Upon hearing of the inconceivable purity of the Buddha-land, practitioners do not become timid or afraid.

3. Within ultimate emptiness, knowing that cause and effect are never lost, practitioners cease all evil dharmas, and evil dharmas never arise again.

4. Practitioners know that the land over there neither comes nor goes, and that this land likewise neither comes nor goes.

5. Awakened practitioners know that the measure of the Buddha’s body pervades all space, and that the measure of sentient beings’ bodies also pervades all space, just as, through the karmic power of beings in hell, not only does one person fill the entire hell, but many people likewise each fill the entire hell.

6. Practitioners hear of practices carried out over immeasurable and innumerable kalpas as though hearing someone else describe events occurring in the brief moment of a finger snap, for their minds are without fear.

7. Practitioners cultivate the ten wholesome deeds and the three meritorious practices without becoming attached to the human or heavenly realms.

8. Practitioners are like dreamers who suddenly awaken and recall the events in their dreams without forming views of existence or nonexistence.

9. As though seeing their native home with their own eyes, practitioners no longer entertain questions of belief or disbelief.

10. Knowing that all dharmas are without self, practitioners accord with the true nature and practice for the benefit of sentient beings, proceeding directly toward Buddhahood without weariness or fatigue of mind.

Once bodhisattvas have entered this gate, they attain pure wholesome dharmas and may be born wherever they wish. In its discussion of the highest grade, the Contemplation Sutra states: “Understanding the profound meaning, their minds are utterly unafraid before the truth of the ultimate meaning.” The Commentary states: “The truth of the ultimate meaning is the true characteristic of all dharmas. This true characteristic cannot be expressed by the path of language and is precisely where the activities of the mind come to an end.” In its discussion of the highest grade, The Meaning of the Six Recollections states: “A mind that is quiescent and unmoving is called mindfulness.” The Subcommentary states: “The principle of the truth of the ultimate meaning is unmoved by duality;

conventionally, this is called mindfulness.”

In India, those who realized the first ground, the Ground of Joy, and attained rebirth included Vaidehi, Sudhana, Nagarjuna, and others. In this land (China), awakened masters who attained rebirth included Master Huiyuan, Zhiyi, Yongming, and others. Accounts of rebirth are recorded in great numbers throughout the sutras and treatises and cannot all be transcribed here.

When the treatises speak of those who are born in that land in order to seek awakening, they are referring to people of middling and lesser capacities. Some even say: “Those who awaken to their own Buddha-nature need not vow to attain rebirth.” This refers to bodhisattvas of the tenth ground and above. If it were said that those awakened to the truth of the ultimate meaning, though their fetters have not yet been completely severed, should never vow to attain rebirth, then masters such as Nagarjuna and Asvaghosa would also have been people who rubbed their eyes and saw illusory flowers in the sky, needlessly making much ado when there was nothing amiss.

2. Pure faith

The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom states: “If a person’s mind possesses pure faith, that person can enter the Buddha-Dharma. Without faith, that person cannot enter the Buddha-Dharma, just as an oxhide that has not yet been softened cannot be folded. A person without faith is likewise.” Furthermore, a sutra states: “Faith is the hand. Just as a person with hands who enters a mountain of treasures can freely take up the jewels, while one without hands cannot take hold of anything, so too is faith.”

Long ago, Wang Zhonghui asked Wuweizi:

– How should one be mindful of the Buddha so that the practice becomes uninterrupted?

Wuweizi replied:

– Once faith has arisen, practitioners no longer give rise to any doubt. That is uninterruptedness.

Zhonghui rejoiced exuberantly and then took his leave. Before long, Zhonghui attained rebirth. He returned to express his gratitude to Wuweizi.

Therefore, if practitioners have not yet been able to attain sudden awakening, they should plant the faculty of faith deeply and firmly, without fear or wavering.

1. Believe that the truthful words proclaimed from the Tathagata’s golden mouth assure that one will attain rebirth.

2. Believe that one’s own mind is vast and all-pervading, fully endowed with such pure merit and virtue.

3. Believe that cause and effect always follow one another as a shadow follows the body.

4. Believe and know that this body and all worlds lack any true substance, like shimmering heat haze or illusory flowers in the sky.

5. Believe that the world filled with the five kinds of defilement contains dreadful sufferings of cold and heat, while all manner of foul and overpowering stenches rise everywhere, unbearable even for a single moment.

6. Believe that all dharmas are mind-only, just as the mouth produces saliva when one thinks of a sour plum.

7. Believe that the power of mindfulness is inconceivable, just as the power of karma is inconceivable.

8. Believe that the lotus womb is inconceivable, just as the maternal womb is inconceivable.

9. Believe that the Buddha has immeasurable bodies, immeasurable lifespan, and immeasurable light—all inconceivable—just as the body of an ant, the lifespan of a mayfly, and the light of a firefly are themselves inconceivable.

10. Believe that this body will certainly die.

If people are fully endowed with such a faculty of faith, then whenever they lift a foot or set it down, they are mindful of the Buddha.

Therefore, one should know that the single word faith encompasses those of superior, middling, and lesser capacities alike. Nevertheless, faith differs in depth. If the power of faith is not profound, then, like a bird without wings, one can never soar.

3- Pure contemplation

The defilements of sentient beings, from beginningless time, pervade all dharmas, like oil permeating noodles, or like pure gold still concealed within ore. Practitioners cultivating pure karma should train in these contemplations, polishing away habitual tendencies to establish a foundation for pure wholesome dharmas and build a bridge to rebirth in the Pure Land.

1- Contemplation of purity

The practitioner contemplates the excellent marks of the Buddha, as presented in the sixteen contemplations of the Sutra on the Contemplation of the Buddha of Infinite Life.

2- Contemplation of impurity

The practitioner observes that body and mind are impure, and contemplates that this world and this land are all impure. Therefore, the practitioner gives rise to disenchantment.

3- Contemplation of impermanence

The practitioner observes that all dharmas are unstable. For example, when a lustful man sees a beautiful and graceful woman, he feels attraction. When a jealous woman sees her, she feels displeasure. But when one who practices the contemplation of impurity sees that beautiful form, one sees it as the manifestation of various impurities, no different from wood or earth.

4- Contemplation of composite formation

The practitioner observes that this body, this world, and this seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing are all devoid of any true essence, like gathering timber to build a house, piling up earth to make a foundation, or assembling colors to create decoration.

5- Contemplation of antidotes

The practitioner should examine which affliction is strongest within oneself and which contemplation should be applied as its antidote. Medicinal herbs, foods, and beverages that are slightly cooling, bitter, and astringent are medicine for illnesses of heat, but are not medicine for other illnesses. Medicinal herbs, foods, and beverages that are slightly bitter, sweet, and warming are medicine for illnesses of cold, but need not be used for other illnesses. The practitioner should contemplate in this way and apply the appropriate antidote.

6- Contemplation of shame and moral dread

The practitioner contemplates that, throughout immeasurable kalpas until now, all sentient beings have been our parents, brothers, and sisters, yet men and women have engaged in sexual relations with one another and killed one another without ever understanding this. It is like a young owl eating its own parents, or cattle, goats, pigeons, and sparrows mating with their own kin. They themselves do not know, but when others see them committing such vile acts, they feel ashamed for them and ridicule them. The Buddhas and bodhisattvas see us in the same way; by inference, we should understand this. Therefore, we should give rise to intense remorse.

7- Contemplation of every thought

The practitioner observes, at all times: How many thoughts recollect the Buddha and recite the Buddha’s name? How many thoughts are devoted to benefiting sentient beings? How many thoughts are defiled or pure, dull and drowsy or restless and agitated?

8- Contemplation of equality

The practitioner contemplates all forms as a single form, for there is neither beauty nor ugliness. The practitioner contemplates all sounds as a single sound, for there is neither praise nor disparagement. The practitioner contemplates all feelings as a single feeling, for there is neither gratitude nor resentment. The practitioner contemplates all meanings as a single meaning, for there is neither shallow nor profound.

9- Subtle contemplation

The practitioner observes: From where does the thought that recollects the Buddha and the Dharma arise? Where will it go?

10- Contemplation of the Dharma realm

The practitioner contemplates that a single hair, a mote of dust, a blade of grass, and a tree each fully contain immeasurable pure Buddha lands.

In practicing contemplation, the practitioner takes the first contemplation, the contemplation of purity, as primary and the remaining nine contemplations as supports. It is like a person searching for a precious jewel within a stone: unless the stone is broken open, that person will never obtain the jewel.

4- Pure recollection

The Buddha-recollection Dharma gate is called the Samadhi of One Practice because one’s resolve must be firm and decisive. If one cannot maintain recollection of the Buddha, the practitioner’s mind will scatter in every direction, and samadhi will never be attained.

1. Recollection with a gathered mind

In every place, the practitioner gathers the mind and recollects the Buddha without forgetfulness. Even when falling asleep, one must bind the mind to this recollection while sleeping. The practitioner recollects the Buddha without interruption, allowing no other thought to intrude.

2. Courageous and vigorous recollection

It is like a person infatuated with beauty who hears where a courtesan lives. Although he must cross perilous mountains and deep streams, and although ghostly apparitions may flicker along the road or there may be lairs of ferocious tigers, he resolves to reach her and feels no fear.

3. Recollection with profound resolve

Although the great ocean is vast and deep, its bottom can still be reached. Although the path to awakening is exceedingly long and distant, the practitioner will never cease cultivating until the ultimate goal is attained.

4. Recollection through visualization

In every thought, the practitioner sees the Buddha’s thirty-two excellent marks and eighty subsidiary characteristics.

5. Recollection that brings the mind to rest

Through recollection of the Buddha, the practitioner relinquishes every kind of mind: the mind craving fame, the mind seeking official rank, the lustful mind, the worldly mind, the clinging mind, the arrogant mind, the self-justifying mind, the mind that discriminates between self and others, and the mind caught up in right and wrong.

6. Recollection with sorrowful tears

Whenever contemplating the Buddha, every hair on the practitioner’s body stands on end, and the five viscera feel as though they were being cut and torn, like a loving mother separated from her young child or bereaved of an exceptionally intelligent child.

7. Recollection born of indignant resolve

It is like a poor scholar who fails the imperial examination. Ashamed of his own abilities, he lives in seclusion. Whenever he remembers his failure, he feels as though he no longer wishes to live.

8. All-pervading recollection

Throughout all the practitioner’s seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing, down to every pore, bone, and marrow, there is nowhere that does not recollect the Buddha.

9. Investigative recollection

Upon uttering a single recitation of the Buddha’s name, the practitioner immediately investigates that sound to its ultimate source.

10. Recollection of true reality

The recollecting mind clings neither to existence, nor to nonexistence, nor to both existence and nonexistence. Even with regard to neither existence nor nonexistence, it clings to no side whatsoever. This is the highest grade of the Dharma gate of Buddha-recollection. If one can recollect the Buddha in this way, the practitioner will certainly behold the Buddha in this very life.

5- Pure repentance

The earlier mind that committed transgressions is like a bank of dark clouds obscuring empty space. The later mind that extinguishes transgressions is like a blazing torch dispelling the gloomy darkness. It is also said: “Although a garment has been soiled for a hundred years, if it is washed for a single day, it can become clean.” Therefore, practitioners wishing to cast off grave obstructions should diligently and earnestly repent.

1. Inner repentance

The practitioner repents of the impure causes within mind, mentation, and consciousness.

2. Outer repentance

The practitioner repents of the impurity of all forms, all sounds, and all dharmas.

3. Repentance in terms of phenomena

The practitioner repents of the twenty-eight realms, the twenty-five modes of existence, and the eighty-four thousand kinds of defilements and fetters that have obstructed such practices and karmic activities as studying and cultivating the Dharma, beholding the Buddha, and benefiting sentient beings throughout countless kalpas.

4. Repentance in terms of principle

From the time of entering the Path until the present day, the practitioner repents of the inverted and deluded views one has embraced, the sutras and treatises one has studied, the profound doctrines one has heard, and the errors of contrivance, cessation, allowing, annihilation, and so forth, which have obstructed the Buddha’s undefiled wisdom.

5. Repentance for the past

The practitioner repents of evil karma created from beginningless time until the present day. For example, although one does not steal in this life, if nothing one seeks turns out as wished, this means the karma of stealing has not yet been exhausted. Although one does not engage in sexual misconduct in this life, if one encounters family members and associates who are not as one wishes, this means the karma of sexual misconduct has not yet been exhausted.

Although one does not speak falsely or disparage the Dharma in this life, if others half believe and half doubt whatever one says, this means the karma of disparaging the Dharma and speaking falsely has not yet been exhausted. By observing all causes within all their results, the practitioner will know that there is no evil one did not commit in previous lives. Whatever the evil karma may be, the practitioner should repent of it all.

6. Repentance for the future

The practitioner restrains all evil dharmas from this very day onward into the future, never creating them again.

7. Repentance of the present

The practitioner repents of the various karmic sufferings of birth, aging, illness, and death in the present life. The practitioner repents of the various karmic afflictions: the karma of lifting and setting down the feet, of opening the mouth and stirring the mind, and of all the subtle karmic acts that cannot possibly be fully enumerated.

8. Repentance in every ksana

Within a single thought are ninety ksanas, and within one ksana are nine hundred instances of arising and ceasing. At each arising and ceasing, the practitioner repents.

9. Ultimate repentance

At the stage of equal enlightenment, there remains one portion of ignorance, like a wisp of smoke. The practitioner must cleanse it completely away.

10. Repentance throughout the Dharma realm

Within Dharma-nature, there is neither self nor person. The practitioner repents universally on behalf of all sentient beings throughout the ten directions and the three times.

If the practitioner can repent truly in this way, all obstacles will be entirely dispelled, and without leaving the place of enlightenment, the practitioner will behold the Buddhas.

6. Pure vows

The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom states: “Seeing the immeasurable purity and adornments of the worlds of the Buddhas, the bodhisattvas make vows:

– There are Buddha-worlds entirely free from suffering and distress, in which even the names of the three evil destinies do not exist. Having seen this, a bodhisattva makes this vow: ‘When I attain Buddhahood, my world likewise shall be free from suffering and distress, and even the names of the three evil destinies shall not exist.’

– There are Buddha-worlds adorned with the seven treasures, where pure light shines constantly by day and night, without sun or moon. Having seen this, a bodhisattva immediately makes this vow: ‘When I attain Buddhahood, my world likewise shall always possess pure light and such adornments.’

– There are Buddha-worlds in which all sentient beings practice the ten wholesome deeds and possess great wisdom; clothing, food, and drink are provided according to their thoughts. Having seen this, a bodhisattva immediately makes this vow: ‘When I attain Buddhahood, the sentient beings in my world likewise shall all have clothing, food, and drink.’

– There are Buddha-worlds inhabited entirely by bodhisattvas who possess the thirty-two marks, like the Buddha’s form-body, and whose light penetrates everywhere. There are not even the designations of shravaka or pratyekabuddha, nor are there any women. All profoundly and subtly practice the Buddha Way, travel throughout the ten directions, and teach and transform all beings. Having seen this, a bodhisattva immediately makes this vow: ‘When I attain Buddhahood, the sentient beings in my world likewise shall be so.’

– There are immeasurable Buddha-worlds possessing purity and adornments of this general kind. The bodhisattva likewise vows to obtain them all.”

For this reason, it is said that through vows one obtains the immeasurable worlds of the Buddhas.

Question: When the practices and vows of bodhisattvas are pure, they naturally receive the corresponding purity. Why must they establish vows so that they may later be born in a pure land? When farmers harvest rice, what need is there to await a vow?

Answer: If practitioners cultivate merit without vows, they have no destination toward which to proceed. A vow is like the driver of a cart, capable of bringing practitioners all the way to their destination. Likewise, when gold is melted down to make ornaments, the result depends entirely upon the artisan, for gold has no fixed form of its own.

The Buddha said: “There are people who cultivate a little merit through generosity and a little merit through observing the precepts, yet know nothing of the Dharma of meditation. When they hear of wealthy and happy people in the human realm, or hear of the heavens of the desire realm and the heavens of the form realm, they give rise to a mind of aspiration. After their lives end, they are born in those realms.

In much the same way, bodhisattvas who cultivate the vow to be born in a pure land will later attain birth there.” Therefore, one should understand that vows bring about an excellent result.

Furthermore, adorning a Buddha-land is a great undertaking. If practitioners possessed only the merit of practice, their cultivation could never accomplish it; therefore, the power of vows is also necessary. Although an ox has the strength to pull a cart with ease, it still needs a driver in order to reach its destination. The practitioner’s vow to be born in a pure land should be understood by analogy. Merit is likened to the ox, and the power of vows is likened to the driver.

Question: If people do not make vows, do they gain no merit?

Answer: Although they gain merit, it is not equal to that of those who make vows. Making vows can augment merit. By constantly recollecting the Buddha’s name, one’s merit increases greatly. For this reason, practitioners cultivating birth in a pure Buddha-land should make great vows.

1. One does not vow for the sake of a field of merit; one vows to become a refuge for all sentient beings. Therefore, the practitioner seeks birth in the pure land.

2. One does not vow for the sake of relatives and attendants; one vows to adorn the abode of all Tathagatas. Therefore, the practitioner seeks birth in the pure land.

3. One does not vow because of the suffering of illness; one vows to become a physician who heals the diseases of the festering sores of ignorance and the like throughout all worlds. Therefore, the practitioner seeks birth in the pure land.

4. One does not vow for the station of a wheel-turning sage-king; one vows to turn the Dharma wheel of the Buddha Tathagatas and become a great Dharma king. Therefore, the practitioner seeks birth in the pure land.

5. One does not vow for the sake of the desire realm; one vows to leave behind all subtle pleasures of the five desires. Therefore, the practitioner seeks birth in the pure land.

6. One does not vow for the sake of the form realm; one vows to leave behind all attachment to the savor of meditative absorption. Therefore, the practitioner seeks birth in the pure land.

7. One does not vow for the sake of the formless realm; one vows to shatter all subtle currents and attain the Buddha-body endowed with immeasurable marks and excellent characteristics. Therefore, the practitioner seeks birth in the pure land.

8. One does not vow for the sake of becoming a shravaka or pratyekabuddha; one vows to employ the two adornments of merit and wisdom for the benefit of all sentient beings. Therefore, the practitioner seeks birth in the pure land.

9. One does not vow for the sake of one world or even a thousand worlds; one vows to take upon oneself the suffering of sentient beings in endless worlds and eradicate the suffering of sentient beings throughout all worlds. Therefore, the practitioner seeks birth in the pure land.

10. One does not vow for the sake of sentient beings during one incalculable kalpa or even a thousand incalculable kalpas; one vows, throughout immeasurable incalculable kalpas, to take upon oneself the suffering of sentient beings and eradicate all their suffering. Therefore, the practitioner seeks birth in the pure land.

If one can make such great vows, then at the final moment the practitioner will certainly attain what is described in the Sutra of Samantabhadra’s Practices and Vows. Therefore, one should understand that vows are the vessel that crosses the ocean of suffering of birth and death, and the wise guide who leads the way to the Land of Ultimate Bliss.

7. Pure precepts

All pure dharmas take the precepts as their foundation. It is like people constructing a house: they must first select level ground; or like a painter depicting rivers and mountains: the painter must first clean the silk thoroughly and only afterward apply the colors. In the same way, the precepts stand foremost among wholesome practices and are the first gateway into the pure land. A person who does not observe the precepts is like an ugly, wicked, and debased woman who wishes to serve Lord Shakra—she could certainly never succeed.

1/ The precept against stinginess and greed

The practitioner carries out the two practices of generosity—giving wealth and life, and giving the Dharma—without any reluctance or attachment.

2/ The precept against violating the prohibitions

The five precepts, the precepts of moral discipline, and even the undefiled precepts—all these precepts are fully upheld by the practitioner.

3/ The Precept Against Anger

The practitioner employs patience to discipline the three karmic activities of body, speech, and mind. If others utter harsh words or savagely beat the practitioner with knives or clubs, the practitioner merely contemplates that these are dharmas arising through causes and conditions, brought about by karma; regards them as the repayment of a debt; regards those people as spiritual teachers; and regards the experience as one would regard wind, frost, cold, or heat.

4/ The Precept Against Heedlessness

The path of birth and death is exceedingly perilous, with no safe place in which to shelter. It is like a person carrying a bowl filled to the brim with oil while walking upon a suspended rope. That person dares not turn to look either right or left, nor dare think of anything else whatsoever.

5/ The Precept Against Distraction

The practitioner gathers in the sense faculties and severs all conditioned mental images, like shielding a lamp flame from the wind or like a bird brooding over its eggs.

6/ The Precept Against Ignorance

The practitioner employs wisdom to sweep away delusion, like a person who works by the light of the sun. When night falls, all work ceases. It is also like a person who wishes to look upward and therefore must open the eyes. If blind or asleep, that person could never behold the splendid mountains and rivers...

7/ The Precept Against Arrogance

One should not become arrogant because of eloquence. One should not become arrogant because of understanding and awakening. One should not become arrogant because of victory in debate. Everything the practitioner has attained is like a speck of dust upon the earth or a stain upon the surface of a mirror. One should not flaunt this stain before others.

8/ The Precept Against Concealment

The Buddhas are present everywhere; bodhisattvas and divine beings are likewise present everywhere. Therefore, we can never conceal our transgressions. It is like someone standing in sunlight who tries to flee from his shadow, someone amid waves who tries to avoid getting wet, or someone standing in a sandy expanse who tries to avoid the dust. None of these attempts at escape can ever succeed.

9/ The Precept Against the Unprofitable

All amusements and diversions are unprofitable; all poetry and literature are unprofitable; all worldly entanglements are unprofitable; and all talk of liberation that exists merely on the lips is unprofitable. The practitioner should remain far removed from all such things.

10/ The Precept of Non-Abiding

The observance of the precepts as described above is solely for the earnest aspiration to be reborn in the Pure Land in order to benefit sentient beings, and not for the pursuit of fame or the rewards of birth among humans or devas, or the attainments of the two vehicles. A bodhisattva who practices pure precepts in this way can guide sentient beings to rebirth in the Pure Land. Why is this so? Because among all sentient beings, though some may be ignorant and obstinate, there is no one who does not honor and revere the virtue of moral discipline.

8. Pure Places

Those who study the Way and have resolved to transcend the mundane should abandon unwholesome places. If they cannot do so, their weariness with the world has not reached its utmost degree. If their weariness with the world has not reached its utmost degree, their joyful aspiration for the Pure Land has likewise not reached its greatest intensity.

Nagarjuna said: “The mind of a bodhisattva does not esteem the station of a wheel-turning sage-king, nor does it delight in the blessings and rewards of the heavenly and human realms. A bodhisattva remains mindful only of the Buddhas.” Therefore, according to the earnestness of one’s joyful aspiration, one attains rebirth in a Buddha-land. Nowadays, people cannot relinquish even the slightest agreeable circumstance, much less the station of a wheel-turning sage-king.

They are like a person whose legs are bound yet wishes to walk, or a bird whose wings are tied yet wishes to soar. Whether advancing or remaining, they are bound; both states of mind merely circle endlessly.

1. One should remain far removed from bustling, noisy, and tumultuous places.

2. One should remain far removed from teahouses and wine shops.

3. One should remain far removed from places of oppressive heat.

4. One should remain far removed from places where the appointment and dismissal of officials and affairs of the imperial court are discussed.

5. One should remain far removed from places of emotional attachment and entanglement, and from places frequented by acquaintances.

6. One should remain far removed from poetic and literary societies where people compete in composition and scrutinize words and phrases.

7. One should remain far removed from places where past and present affairs are satirized and people vie with one another in comparing merits and faults.

8. One should remain far removed from places where meaningless doctrines are expounded.

9. One should remain far removed from places where commentators compete over names and characteristics in order to flaunt their meager intelligence.

10. One should remain far removed from places where those of the various schools hold deranged views, falsely claim sudden awakening, and scorn the precepts.

The places listed above merely disturb the Way and are no different from the armies of Mara; therefore, one should remain far removed from them. If practitioners can leave these places behind, they will accomplish all endeavors of the Way.

9. Pure Companions

Without companions, no opportunity for awakening can arise. Without companions, no unwholesome dharma can be restrained. It is like a cart with two wheels: if one wheel is discarded, the cart must tilt and overturn.

Thus, even worldly writings and frivolous doctrines must receive common assent before they are regarded as correct; how much more so for those resolved to seek the causes and conditions of the unsurpassed Great Way. A sutra states: “Although the nature of wind is empty, when it blows through a sandalwood forest or a champaka forest, the wind carries a rich fragrance. When it blows through a filthy place or a place where human corpses lie, the wind carries a foul stench.” It is also like placing a clean robe in a chest of incense: when the robe is taken out, it too is fragrant.

If it is placed in a foul-smelling place, the robe also reeks. Companions are generally the same. Therefore, those who practice the Way must know how to distinguish purity from defilement when choosing companions.

1. One should associate closely with companions who delight in peaceful, secluded places in mountains and forests, for they can restrain the practitioner’s restless mind.

2. One should associate closely with companions who strictly uphold the precepts, for they can diminish the practitioner’s unbridled desires.

3. One should associate closely with companions of vast wisdom, for they can carry the practitioner beyond the shore of delusion.

4. One should associate closely with companions who possess perfect retention of the teachings and scriptures, for they can resolve the practitioner’s doubts.

5. One should associate closely with companions who are quiet and austere, for they can lead the practitioner to serenity and simplicity.

6. One should associate closely with companions who are humble and patient, for they can dissolve the practitioner’s arrogance.

7. One should associate closely with companions who are upright in mind and truthful in speech, for they can curb the practitioner’s faults.

8. One should associate closely with companions who are diligent and courageous, for they can help the practitioner swiftly attain the fruit of the Way.

9. One should associate closely with companions who regard wealth lightly and delight in giving, for they can break the practitioner’s miserliness.

10. One should associate closely with companions whose compassionate minds protect living creatures and who do not begrudge even their own lives, for they can shatter the practitioner’s rigid attachments to self and others, and so forth.

If no such pure companions are available, the practitioner should set others aside, dwell quietly alone, and personally cultivate the work of the Way, establishing sacred images as teachers and taking the sutras and treatises as companions. The practitioner must resolutely keep far away from those who indulge in amusements and diversions. It is like someone entering a flower garden: if no beautiful flowers are available, that person would certainly not plant foul-smelling weeds, for they provide no benefit when appreciated. Such things only increase disgust.

10. Pure Non-Fixation

The faculties of sentient beings may be sharp or dull and differ in countless ways. The practices set forth above can be fully accomplished only by those of superior faculties and keen capacities. Therefore, the Tathagata established special skillful means, opening the gate of the nine grades and distinguishing three levels of practice: superior, middle, and lower.

1. A practitioner may understand the ultimate truth yet still be wholly unable to subdue the afflictions; or a practitioner may not deeply understand the ultimate truth but may be able only to read and recite the scriptures.

2. A practitioner may give rise to faith merely by relying on the words of another, may develop faith through another person, or may give rise to faith upon falling into poverty, humiliation, and utter disgrace.

3. A practitioner may contemplate a golden image, or may contemplate any single characteristic at will.

4. Early in the morning, a practitioner may perform ten recollections, one hundred recollections, or even one thousand recollections.

5. A practitioner may repent only of deeply ingrained, coarse habitual tendencies and the ten unwholesome deeds.

6. A practitioner may vow to attain rebirth in the Pure Land out of fear of birth and death, or may make that vow upon encountering suffering and calamity. The practitioner, however, must not aspire to be reborn as a human or a heavenly being in order to enjoy meritorious blessings.

7. A practitioner may observe only the eight precepts or the five precepts, or may even observe only the precepts against killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, and false speech.

8. If the practitioner cannot entirely withdraw from noisy and bustling places, it is enough always to give rise to a mind of disenchantment.

9. If worldly dharmas cannot be severed immediately, it is enough that the practitioner not follow along with them.

10. In speaking of the lowest grade, the Contemplation Sutra states: One may perform only ten recollections at the time of death.

Of the practices set forth above, if a practitioner can sincerely accept and uphold even a single one, that practitioner will attain rebirth in the Pure Land. Faith and doubt, however, must not be intermingled. If doubt arises, none of the practices will be accomplished. It is like a person traveling alone along a distant road in the darkness of night: that person must not give rise to doubt. Therefore, one who hears the Dharma but gives rise to doubt is inferior to one who has not heard it. Why is this? The one who has not heard merely lacks the opportunity to hear the Dharma and thus encounters no obstruction, whereas the doubter creates an obstruction for himself.

Notes:

(1) Doing, stopping, allowing, and extinguishing are the four ailments of those who seek the perfect realization of the nature of awakening.

1. The ailment of doing: “Doing” means giving rise to a mind of deliberate contrivance.

The ailment of doing is the error of seeking Perfect Awakening by undertaking practices through the original mind, whereas the nature of Perfect Awakening cannot be attained through “doing.”

2. The ailment of allowing: “Allowing” means following conditions and leaving the nature to itself. The ailment of allowing is the error of not wishing to end birth and death, not seeking nirvana, and abandoning everything to its own course in order to seek Perfect Awakening, whereas Perfect Awakening cannot be attained through “allowing things to exist as they are.”

3. The ailment of stopping: “Stopping” means halting delusion so that the true immediately appears. The ailment of stopping is the error of seeking Perfect Awakening by wishing to eliminate all thoughts and abide in tranquil equality, whereas Perfect Awakening cannot be attained through “stopping.”

4. The ailment of extinguishing: “Extinguishing” means quiescent cessation. The ailment of extinguishing is the error of seeking Perfect Awakening by wishing to eradicate all afflictions of body and mind and render the sense faculties and their objects completely quiescent, whereas the nature of Perfect Awakening cannot be attained through “extinguishing.”

(According to the Huệ Quang Dictionary of Buddhism, edited by Thích Minh Cảnh)