Does the Buddha-Dharma Corrupt Worldly Dharma?

The Buddhadharma both destroys worldly dharmas and does not destroy worldly dharmas. Why is this said? Because if worldly dharmas were not destroyed, sentient beings would greedily cling to worldly dharmas and be unable to liberate themselves from the suffering of birth and death. On the other hand, if the Buddhadharma destroyed worldly dharmas, then worldly dharmas would have no basis for establishment, leaving only the Buddhadharma of the tathāgatagarbha; then all sentient beings would abide in nirvāṇa without remainder, with no world and no sentient beings.

So how does the Buddhadharma destroy worldly dharmas? The Four Noble Truths and the twelve links of dependent origination are precisely for destroying worldly dharmas. The Four Noble Truths reveal that the world is suffering, empty, impermanent, and without self; when sentient beings recognize and realize this principle, they exhaust their afflictions and attain liberation. The dharma of the twelve links of dependent origination reveals that all worldly dharmas arise from causes and conditions and are all empty; realizing this principle, one extinguishes ignorance and no longer greedily craves and grasps at worldly dharmas, and only then can one be liberated from worldly suffering. From the perspective of Mahāyāna dharma, all worldly dharmas are illusorily manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, and therefore all worldly dharmas are empty, illusory, and unreal—this too destroys worldly dharmas. Both the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna dharmas lead sentient beings to recognize and realize that the five aggregates are empty and without self, and that the six sense faculties, six sense objects, and six consciousnesses are all empty, illusory, and without self—this destroys the worldly dharma of the five aggregates.

So how does the Buddhadharma not destroy worldly dharmas? From the perspectives of prajñā and Yogācāra, all dharmas are suchness, and suchness establishes all worldly dharmas—this is not destroying worldly dharmas. "The dharma abides in its dharma-position; the marks of the world are ever-abiding"—this is not destroying worldly dharmas. The tathāgatagarbha possesses the nature of perfected reality (pariniṣpanna) and can perfectly accomplish all worldly dharmas; all dharmas constitute one true dharma-realm, called the One True Dharma Realm.

A golden vessel made of the five aggregates is entirely gold. One must first destroy the appearance of the five aggregates in order to recognize the appearance of gold. After recognizing the appearance of gold, the golden vessel of the five aggregates is also gold, and thus one no longer destroys the appearance of the golden vessel of the five aggregates. First destroy, then establish; without destroying, there is no establishing. When one stares fixedly at the vessel-appearance of the five aggregates, one overlooks the gold; once the gold is recognized, the appearance of the five aggregates may still remain. When one takes the five aggregates as self and as real, one cannot recognize the true; only by destroying the self-appearance and real-appearance of the five aggregates can one recognize the true. Only by destroying and demolishing worldly dharmas can the true be revealed and realized—hence first destroy, then establish. But in the final analysis, when one cultivates to the most ultimate Buddhadharma, everything in the world is the true itself; the Buddhadharma does not destroy worldly dharmas—on the contrary, it perfects and accomplishes worldly dharmas.

So what exactly is the Buddhadharma? This question requires proving by negation what is not the Buddhadharma, and then one will know what the Buddhadharma is. What is not the Buddhadharma? There is not a single dharma that is not the Buddhadharma. Whatever you see, hear, perceive, and know, and whatever you can imagine, is all the Buddhadharma. What is the Buddha? With this question, as long as you point out what is not the Buddha, you will know what the Buddha is. There is nothing in the worldly dharmas that is not the Buddha. Sentient beings rely on the Buddha every moment and use the Buddha's dharma, yet they never recognize the Buddha, do not know the dharma, and do not know to repay the Buddha's kindness and the dharma's kindness. How does one repay the Buddha's kindness? By recognizing the Buddha and knowing the dharma, and by enabling sentient beings also to recognize the Buddha and know the dharma—that is repaying the Buddha's kindness.