The Buddha's Power of Attraction Is Similar to Hypnosis

The story of Yongshe committing grave offenses and then awakening to the unborn is about how, after the Bodhisattva Yongshe left home and received the full precepts, he violated two grave precepts—the killing precept and the sexual misconduct precept—and at the end of his life should have fallen into hell to suffer. Because he feared his retribution, he went to seek rescue from Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva, who led him to see the Buddha. The Buddha then analyzed for Bodhisattva Yongshe: whether there truly was such a person as the monk Yongshe, whether there truly was the person whom monk Yongshe had killed, and whether there truly was such an event as killing that person. After Bodhisattva Yongshe deliberated on this in that very moment, he immediately saw the mind and attained enlightenment, becoming a true bodhisattva—not merely eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) and realizing the first fruit. Bodhisattva Yongshe was extremely fortunate to meet the Buddha: not only did he not fall into hell, he also attained realization and became a bodhisattva, with all karmic liabilities of the three evil destinies expunged.

When the World-Honored One taught the principle of the unborn to Bodhisattva Yongshe, He was using the method of hypnosis. At that time, Bodhisattva Yongshe was in extreme panic, fear, and shame, his mind in utter turmoil, yet the Buddha was able to steady his mental state and guide him to contemplate the selflessness of persons, guiding him to contemplate the creator behind it all. In the end, Bodhisattva Yongshe's manas confirmed the principle of selflessness, realized the creator, and both eradicated the view of self and saw the mind. To meet the Buddha who would perform hypnosis for oneself—how much good root and merit that would require! We should all cultivate more merit, so that in the future, when we meet the Buddha and He performs hypnosis for us, we can become bhūmi bodhisattvas and become noble ones.

There is also the passage in the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra where the World-Honored One untied King Ajātaśatru's mental knots, in which the portion teaching the eradication of the view of self is quite excellent. After King Ajātaśatru killed his father, he underwent retribution and felt deeply unsettled inside. After he saw the Buddha, the Buddha dissolved his karma and asked King Ajātaśatru: Did your father truly exist as a person? Do you truly exist? Was there truly such an event as killing your father? After hearing this, King Ajātaśatru contemplated and said there was not, and thereafter he attained the faith without root; he did not realize the first fruit or the direction of the first fruit, still because the karmic obstruction of killing his father blocked it.

This too was the method of hypnosis the Buddha used on sentient beings, and only those with merit can encounter it. Therefore merit is extremely, extremely important. Some people only care for themselves and are unwilling to cultivate merit—one word for them: foolish!