How did Buddha Awesome Voice King, the first Buddha in the worlds of the ten directions, attain the Path of Seeing (darśana-mārga)?

How did Awesome Sound King Buddha (Bhīṣmagarjitasvararāja), the first Buddha in the worlds of the ten directions, realize the path? There was no other Buddha to teach him that all dharmas are the nature of tathāgatagarbha—how did he, on his own, grope his way to discovering that there exists an unborn and unceasing ālayavijñāna capable of giving rise to all the dharmas of the five-aggregate world? Although the phenomena of impermanence, change, arising, and ceasing in all worldly dharmas are difficult to realize, they can still be observed through long-term observation. But how could the ālayavijñāna be observed and realized? Under the guidance of later Buddhas, people over many lives and many kalpas can come to acknowledge that the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha, permanently abides; yet the first Buddha relied entirely on his own power to observe the existence of the eighth consciousness—this is simply inconceivable. Every step on the path to buddhahood was walked in the most concrete, real way. How did he manage to do it?

The emptiness of all dharmas can be self-realized and self-verified, but that the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to all dharmas is extremely difficult to self-realize and self-verify—unless someone offers a hint: "There is a thing prior to heaven and earth, formless and originally silent and solitary." The cultivation and realization of a pratyekabuddha is not really that difficult; one need only apply effort in contemplative investigation and let go of everything in the world. But the contemplative investigation of the Mahāyāna tathāgatagarbha is far, far too difficult. Therefore, the first Buddha who opened up heaven and earth must have been one of extremely sharp faculties and extreme wisdom.

Just how important is meditative concentration (samādhi)? What kind of direct perception (valid direct cognition) can it bring, enabling a Buddha to link all dharmas together and gather and summarize them all back to the tathāgatagarbha? Which is more important: theory, or the observation and contemplation of phenomena? Of course, direct observation is more important. The first Buddha was a trailblazer who had no theory whatsoever to rely on; he alone, bit by bit, observed and pondered all kinds of phenomena, and finally arrived at a correct conclusion, thereby forming a theory for later generations to rely upon. Even when the dharma of the non-self of the five aggregates (pañcaskandha) is expounded in such detail, countless people still cannot find the entrance. Why is the gap among sentient beings so great? Without the guidance of those correct theories left by the pioneers, later generations would be even more like blind men feeling an elephant.

By what means did the first Buddha cultivate and awaken on his own, realizing all dharmas? Profound meditative concentration and wisdom, powerful logical thinking ability, and an indomitable will to explore the truth—these qualities are far beyond the reach of ordinary people. The first Buddha had no one to rely on and no dharma to rely on; he alone, through long years of unceasing effort, explored the truths of the world, striving to seek out the facts and truth of the existence of all dharmas. Awesome Sound King Buddha had only facts and truth to rely on, and even so, he explored them out entirely on his own. How should we later generations learn from and emulate Awesome Sound King Buddha? The wise should learn from Awesome Sound King Buddha: speak on the basis of facts, boldly explore the truth, and one will surely become a Buddha in the future. Had Awesome Sound King Buddha lacked even a little bit of the power of concentration, he could not have become a Buddha; it was entirely through the merit of meditative concentration that he explored out the whole truth, with nothing and no one to rely on. We too should rely as much as possible on our own precepts (śīla), concentration (samādhi), and wisdom (prajñā).