Only When Causes and Conditions Are Ripe Can One Attain Enlightenment

The conditions for attaining the fruition and realizing the mind's true nature, if fully met, can be triggered by any corresponding circumstance—whether artificially arranged or naturally occurring—as long as it stirs the heart, leading to enlightenment. Encountering the Buddha’s teachings further facilitates this attainment, as the Buddha’s majestic blessings are immensely powerful, and the magnetic field effect of his Dharma assemblies is profoundly influential. Moreover, practitioners during the Buddha’s time generally possessed deep meditative concentration, pure minds, renunciation, minimal afflictions, and abundant virtuous roots and merit. Thus, upon hearing the Dharma, they could immediately engage in contemplation and reflection in accordance with the Buddha’s voice, swiftly attaining fruition and realizing the mind.

If one’s Buddhist practice has not yet matured—lacking doubt, the drive to investigate, or unwavering focus—even when encountering numerous opportunities for enlightenment, they will pass by fruitlessly, failing to awaken. Sentient beings in this Dharma-ending age cannot compare to those of the Buddha’s era. With shallow virtuous roots, meager merit, restless minds, and no meditative stability, even the most detailed teachings fail to penetrate their hearts. Thus, genuine realization of any fruition remains elusive; at best, they may grasp some intellectual understanding, which is already commendable.

Precisely because sentient beings generally lack meditative concentration and cannot attain it, a notion has arisen: that one can directly contemplate the Dharma without cultivating concentration. But without meditative stability, how can one possess the capacity for contemplation? What can one truly observe? How long can such observation last? Each person can test this for themselves: compare the effectiveness of contemplation before cultivating concentration to that after cultivating it. The difference is immense—the results are fundamentally distinct.

Contemplating a Dharma principle with meditative concentration versus without it is like heaven and earth. Thus, many who ponder the Dharma fail to grasp its true meaning, misunderstanding and misinterpreting extensively, unable to comprehend its essence. Actual realization and direct experiential observation are exceedingly difficult. Despite this, many remain overly confident in their own understanding, hastily citing sutras to validate their views. In truth, the sutras’ meaning often diverges from their interpretations, yet they remain unaware of their own errors. Many who study the scriptures cannot fully penetrate their true meaning yet consider themselves highly capable. In reality, the Dharma cannot be grasped through mere academic study; it requires profound meditative concentration, proper contemplation, investigation, and reflection to truly understand and realize. Study alone cannot lead to realization.

Some observe that sentient beings in the sutras attained fruition and realized the mind upon hearing the Buddha’s teachings, seemingly without prior meditative practice—as if merely hearing the Dharma and reflecting briefly sufficed, eliminating the need for dedicated concentration. This is a grave misunderstanding. They fail to recognize that those who attained enlightenment upon hearing the Dharma had already cultivated deep concentration, possessed abundant virtuous roots and merit, and only lacked the final catalyst. Encountering the Buddha’s teachings—the most supreme condition—naturally made realization effortless. Such observers see only the outcome, blind to the long path traversed beforehand: the diligence applied before hearing the Dharma, the motivation and conduct, the effort invested in cultivating concentration. Ignoring these essential prerequisites while fixating solely on the moment of attainment constitutes the most severe form of taking words out of context.

Modern people, restless and eager for shortcuts, seek the simplest and most direct path. They shun the very path the Buddha walked, believing their own methods more practical and straightforward, sparing them hardship. Can an ordinary being surpass the Buddha in wisdom? Did the Buddha’s practice take unnecessary detours while theirs is direct, requiring no foundation, no cost, no arduous effort to tame the mind through concentration? Can mere study yield great results? This is wishful thinking. The fruits of such study are paper-made—easily destroyed by wind, vanishing in fire. Today, the world abounds in counterfeit attainments, stamped with fake seals made of radishes, unable to withstand the slightest disturbance. The karmic retribution after death will reveal the truth.