What Kind of People Are Intellectual Adherents of the Zen School?

In modern society, information is well developed, obtaining sutra books is easy, and the mind consciousness has strong comprehension. As soon as someone explains that the five aggregates are subject to arising and ceasing, impermanent, and without self, fifty percent of people's mind consciousness can understand that the five aggregates are without self, knowing that the physical body is not real but an illusory, fake shell. Even some people who do not study Buddhism often say with their mouths that the physical body is a fake shell, a stinking skin-bag, subject to arising and ceasing and impermanent. But saying is one thing—none of them has eradicated the view of body or eradicated the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa); every one of them still has very severe grasping at self.

If the mind consciousness merely believing that the five aggregates are without self counted as eradicating the view of self, then attaining the fruits would be far too easy. More than half of Buddhist practitioners would be able to eradicate the three fetters, be freed from the suffering of the three evil destinies, and become sages. Then what would Buddhism have to worry about, and what would sentient beings have to worry about? Śākyamuni Buddha could rest entirely at ease about the Sāha world, without concern that Buddhism might perish. But the facts are not so.

Those who have merely understood no-self with the mind consciousness, believe they have eradicated the view of self, and then further believe their afflictions are slight and that they have already cultivated to the second fruit will be in great trouble at the time of death and will suffer greatly in future lives. It would be best if, in the remaining time of this life, they consider how to remedy this, adopt some effective and feasible measures, and again carefully engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) on the five aggregates to truly eradicate the view of self, thereby eliminating the grave karma of false speech.

Nowadays, in Buddhist circles, it is hard to say how many people of the second fruit there actually are—it seems like an era teeming with sages. But what is the reality? Very chaotic. If the third fruit were not gated by the first dhyāna, without the hallmark of having eradicated the desire mind, who knows how many people would claim to have attained the third fruit. Right now there are people propagating that attaining the third and fourth fruits does not require first dhyāna, and that bodhisattvas of the first and second bhūmis previously did not need to cultivate first dhyāna. What such propaganda portends can well be imagined. Further on, there will be no boundary between ordinary beings and sages—anyone who has understood a bit of the Buddha-dharma will be a sage. These so-called sages are in fact merely disciples of intellectual understanding.