Teaching You Zazen 27: The Fools of Buddha-Recitation, Esoteric Practice, and Chan Investigation

2008/3/8 11:45:14

There are such fools who, with diseased eyes producing phantom flowers, call this land a defiled land and that land a pure land, conducting themselves like the sordid affairs of Christianity—yet they do not know that in this Sahā world, where is the ground not paved with gold, the sky not arrayed with lapis lazuli? With their leaking eyes, how could they discern this?

There is no Pure Land in the West, nor is the East a defiled land—all are fabrications of your own mind. To recite the Buddha's name is to truly recite the formless, innately perfect Buddha of one's own nature—not something that billions of lotus-born rebirths could exchange for. Yet the fools who recite the Buddha's name do so through the deluded consciousness of the sixth sense—how could there be any way out?

The lotus opens and one sees the Buddha—this is a real matter. But if one clings to this, then even billions of Buddhas appearing in the world could not save them. Without this discernment, one falsely claims to recite the Buddha's name.

There are such fools who claim to achieve Buddhahood in this very body through esoteric practice—this is nothing but self-deception and deception of others. What they achieve does not even match a fraction of a great Arhat's attainment—how dare they speak of Buddhahood? One body and billions of bodies are merely play within illusion; one lifetime and three great kalpas are merely rehearsals within a dream. To foolishly rank these as superior or inferior—how pitiable, how lamentable.

There are yet more such fools who claim to achieve Buddhahood through a single awakening in Chan investigation. But when has the Buddha ever been deluded? Without delusion, what need is there for awakening? What you fools call awakening is actually a great mistake. If Chan investigation yields some awakening, it is all the mischief of a mind seeking gain—through awakening one becomes even more deluded. How lamentable, how pitiable.

Buddha-recitation, esoteric practice, and Chan investigation—each is but one gate among ten thousand Dharma gates. And every path is a Bodhi path, every place a Nirvāṇa gate—how could these be fathomed by your deluded minds of gain and loss, good and evil?

The true practitioner becomes all Māra kings, enters all defiled lands, and achieves realization amid hells and the three evil paths—how could one steal one's heart away by seeking the comfort of a pure land? Rather be born in billions of hells than dwell even a moment in a pure land—this is the true practitioner. Rather spend billions of lifetimes not becoming a Buddha, entering all defiled lands to walk the Bodhisattva path—this is the true practitioner. Rather take billions of bodies as beings in the three evil paths to save those in the three evil paths, than achieve Buddhahood in a single body—this is the true practitioner.

You can't even become a Māra king, and you want to become a Buddha? Go dream on.