Only by practicing according to the path guided by the Buddha can one succeed.

Question: Nowadays many people talk about emptiness and existence, holding forth eloquently. Emptiness is a state of realization that can only be experienced after seeing the mind and attaining enlightenment. But I feel that before enlightenment, one still needs to use the sixth consciousness (manovijñāna) to continuously contemplate the Buddha-dharma, cultivate the six pāramitās, and constantly immerse and subdue the seventh consciousness (manas). At the stage of ordinary beings, one has no ability to realize emptiness; one merely hears others speak of emptiness and then speculates about it with one's own deluded mind — is this of any use?

Answer: At the stage of ordinary beings, one can only speculate and conjecture about all states of experience. Moreover, because the view of grasping at views (drṣṭi-grāha) has not been severed, one clings to the views one has speculated out for oneself as correct, considering everyone else's wrong, and so people argue and debate with one another. When the view of grasping at views is severe, it obstructs the Path, and there is no way to eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi).

The emptiness that ordinary people talk about is often merely the notion of emptying out one's own deluded mind — when facing various states of experience, one tries to snuff out one's thoughts, and some even rely on sitting in meditation to cultivate concentration, seeking a mind without thoughts, believing that this is how one becomes empty. They can never come to experience the inherent emptiness of the tathāgatagarbha. No matter how others explain the emptiness of the tathāgatagarbha, because they have not actually realized it, they still cannot understand it. With this method of cultivating emptiness, no matter how one cultivates, one will never reach emptiness. It is like someone who shouts all day long about letting go, cultivates for a whole lifetime, yet never lets go of anything, and at the time of death is still dragged by karma to the three evil destinies. The method of practice must follow the route that the Buddha has pointed out for us: one must practice in accordance with the principle of the Four Noble Truths and the contemplation of the four foundations of mindfulness, cultivate to the emptiness of the Small Vehicle, eradicate the view of self, and only then can one truly let go; and in accordance with the Mahāyāna principles taught by the Buddha, one can then realize the inherent emptiness of the tathāgatagarbha.

These phenomena are merely one stage in the process of sentient beings' cultivation. When merit is complete, this stage will quickly pass, for great wisdom requires great merit as its foundation. With meager merit and heavy obstructions, there is no way to escape the entanglement of all kinds of wrong views. In the past, there was a Chan master who was about to pass away and wished to select a disciple to succeed him and continue his dharma lineage. He posed a question to test his disciples' levels of wisdom. As soon as a disciple voiced his own views and opinions, the Chan master spoke up: "Your merit is meager; you cannot uphold my lineage." The meaning was: your merit is meager and your wisdom insufficient, so you cannot propagate my Chan school's dharma lineage. This merit involves not only the merit of worldly dharma, but even more the merit of supramundane dharma — the great merit cultivated in precepts (śīla), concentration (samādhi), and wisdom (prajñā). Therefore, to realize the emptiness of prajñā, one must have merit, and one must cultivate all six pāramitās of the bodhisattva well.