Buddhist Practice Must Proceed in Stages

Under normal circumstances, practice should proceed in stages, with one stage having one content of practice; as the levels of practice differ, the contents of practice also differ. Ordinary beings have the practice methods of ordinary beings, the virtuous have the practice methods of the virtuous, and the sages have the practice methods of the sages. One absolutely must not use the practice methods of the sages—the gap is too great, and one simply cannot apply any effort with them.

Ordinary beings can only engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) on the arising, ceasing, and impermanent mutation of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha), contemplate the Four Noble Truths of suffering, its origin, cessation, and the path, or investigate Chan in order to see the mind. Ordinary beings cannot contemplate the states realized by bodhisattvas of the eighth bhūmi, such as abiding nowhere and attaching to nothing, such as emptying all dharmas, such as not grasping at marks and discriminations, such as acting spontaneously and naturally, and so on.

Ordinary beings and the virtuous who have awakened are still at the stage of practicing wholesome dharmas with a deliberate mind and attachment to marks. Although the virtuous have already initially broken through some marks, their level is still too shallow. To ask such people not to attach to marks, not to cognize all dharmas through marks, is impossible. For example, when an ordinary being sees meat, he should think: this is a sentient being; out of compassion, one should not eat the flesh of sentient beings—this is the correct way of practice. At this time one should not view the meat as empty, view it as suchness (tathatā), and then think that eating it is the same as not eating it, and so eat it in big mouthfuls while feeling that one has entered the realm of suchness—in fact one has entered the realm of greed and desire. This is a wrong method of practice.

For example, when an ordinary being sees the marks of male and female, he should not say, "I will empty out the marks of male and female, viewing them all as the one mark of suchness," and then, as if the marks of male and female no longer existed in his mind, associate with others without any scruples—with the result that, his meditative concentration (samādhi) being severely insufficient, each of them goes off the track. This method of practice can also be called misapprehended emptiness (jaḍa-śūnyatā), and the transgression is very great.

When an ordinary being wishes to repent of the unwholesome karma he has created in the past, he should perform marked repentance (taking up marks) regarding his evil mind and evil deeds. Yet instead he practices markless repentance, forcibly convincing himself that all afflictions are bodhi, that all are the mark of suchness; after thinking this way, he feels at ease. At ease is at ease, but the unwholesome karma still exists, and karmic retribution shows no mercy. To keep doing this is precisely misapprehended emptiness (jaḍa-śūnyatā).

If a person of the opposite sex makes special demands on oneself, at this time one should not grasp at marks or attach to marks, but view the other person as a manifestation of suchness—and so one "goes along with conditions." As a result, one violates the ten major precepts of the bodhisattva precepts, and then one is surely registered for the hells.

Our practice has its sequence and its method; one must not act recklessly. What bodhisattvas can do, ordinary beings cannot do; converting beings of the opposite sex by according with conditions is beyond the capability of ordinary beings—that is the conduct of bodhisattvas on the bhūmis who possess profound dhyāna. If ordinary beings do it too, they will surely fall into the three evil destinies.

The Buddha-dharma nowadays is utterly chaotic. Most people's mind consciousness is quite clever and can understand something of the practice realms of bodhisattvas on the bhūmis and of the Buddha, and so they hang the dharmas that bodhisattvas on the bhūmis should practice on their lips and demand that they themselves can also accomplish them—is this possible? You are not Sudhana (Shancai Tongzi); you lack Sudhana's roots of goodness and merit, and you are unwilling to solidly cultivate concentration and contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā).

In our practice we should change the habit of "Chan of the mouth." The Buddha-dharma requires actual practice before there can be actual realization; actual practice and actual realization are not mere slogans. There must be practical, feasible methods of actual practice; if there are none, then it is not actual practice, and there can be no actual realization. Even if we can speak out the words the Buddha spoke, it is of no use—it is merely shouting slogans. One must put it into practice step by step with one's own feet.