Glib Chan Talk Is Not Equivalent to Practice and Realization

There are many stages of practice before enlightenment, and likewise many stages of practice after enlightenment. If one practices before enlightenment using the methods intended for after enlightenment, it is futile and useless, for one has not yet entered the gate and thus cannot attend to the affairs within the gate. For those who have just awakened, or who have not yet awakened, if they attempt to practice according to the methods of bodhisattvas who have attained the bhūmis, it will be even less effective. Holding lofty and profound theories in one's hands and imagining that one has already realized them, that one can be like the noble ones and like the tathāgatagarbha—this is purely self-deception and deception of others. Many people, upon seeing the statement that affliction is itself bodhi, think that regarding afflictions as illusions manifested by the tathāgatagarbha is itself practice, rather than seeking ways to subdue their afflictions. As a result, affliction remains affliction, bodhi remains bodhi, and after death they still sink and drift through saṃsāra—what benefit is there in that?

Some people, having understood that the tathāgatagarbha is beyond cultivation and beyond attainment, think that the seven consciousnesses and the five aggregates should also be beyond cultivation and attainment, and that since the tathāgatagarbha is originally a Buddha, they might as well be a Buddha right at home. Others, having heard that all dharmas arise from discrimination, no longer wish to discriminate at all, believing that as long as they do not discriminate, the mind will be empty and devoid of dharmas. Since the tathāgatagarbha does not discriminate, they too must not discriminate—so if they go hungry for seven days, they should have no objection to it either.

Indeed, all dharmas are like illusions and transformations, but this is the realization of bodhisattvas at the stage of the tenth abode and above. If one has not reached this level of practice and does not possess this actual realization, then one should not hang the words "illusion and transformation" on one's lips every day, turning them into mere verbal Chan. The tathāgatagarbha does not keep precepts, so some people think that they too, like the tathāgatagarbha, need not keep precepts, and thus roam about freely and unrestrained, casting off all decorum. They do not realize that their own mind is replete with all greed, hatred, and delusion—how could they possibly cast off all decorum and roam about freely? Empty talk often ruins a nation. Those who can talk a foot high but walk not even an inch had best practice earnestly and practically, and stop holding forth loftily while their abilities fall far short of their ambitions.