Selected Lectures on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra)

Original text: 尔时世尊。告净饭王言。大王。如上所说。解脱法门。当自系心。正念观察。勇猛精进。决定修作。过去未来。现在诸佛。依此得证。无上菩提。能招世间。一切富乐。能消世间。一切渴爱。能伏世间。一切我慢。能破世间。一切邪见。能灭有情。一切罪恶。未登初地。凡夫异生。皆令证得。平等法性。如是法要。非诸声闻。及辟支佛。所行境界。唯诸菩萨。之所修作。

Explanation: The Buddha said to King Śuddhodana: Regarding the liberation dharma-gate described above, you should gather in your own mind and observe with right mindfulness, and cultivate with courageous vigor, practicing with determination. The Buddhas of the past, future, and present all attained anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi by relying on this gate of liberation. By relying on this dharma-gate of liberation, one can attain great freedom within worldly dharmas and the retributions of all wealth and happiness; it can eliminate all craving and craving-love in the world, subdue all self-conceit in the world, break all wrong views in the world, and extinguish all the sins and evils of sentient beings. Through cultivating this dharma-gate of liberation, those ordinary beings and worldlings (pṛthagjana) who have not yet attained the first bhūmi can all realize the equal nature of dharmas. Such an essential teaching is not the realm of practice of the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas; only the great bodhisattvas can cultivate and realize it.

The World-Honored One exhorted King Śuddhodana to place his mind upon the dharma-gate of liberation, to let go of the myriad dharmas, to let go of the enjoyments of the five desires, to let go of the illusory dharmas of the five aggregates and the eighteen realms, and with courageous vigor to use right mindfulness and right reflection to observe and deliberate upon the myriad dharmas. All these dharmas are indeed like a dream, like an illusion; they are false and illusory, impermanent, and suffering. After contemplating and observing them as they truly are, one will spontaneously and proactively practice with courageous vigor and cultivate with determination; once the mind genuinely accepts this, one can attain liberation.

Therefore, in learning Buddhism, one first hears the true Dharma, then engages in right reflection, reflection in accordance with principle, and cultivates with courageous vigor according to correct principle. Cultivation must be carried out with courageous vigor in order to succeed, because our learning of Buddhism is the same as the principle of boiling water: if we want to bring a pot of water to a boil, we must keep adding fire and let the fire burn continuously; only then can the water boil. If we stop halfway and the fire goes out, the water cools down again; then if we heat it again and stop again, when will this pot of water ever boil? Courageous vigor follows exactly this principle—with one sustained effort, the pot of water can be brought to a boil very quickly. If cultivation is lax and slack, one will advance and retreat repeatedly, wasting a great deal of time and energy in the process. Cultivating with courageous vigor and determination belongs to the power of meditative concentration (samādhi); when the mind is decisively established in the dharma of liberation and continuously cultivates the dharma of liberation, the result will necessarily be liberation.

By what did the Buddhas of the ten directions and three times attain anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi and accomplish the Buddha-way? All of them relied upon the contemplation of all dharmas as being like a dream, and accomplished realization through the three gates of liberation: emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness. One first hears the true Dharma of the dream-like contemplation, then engages in right reflection, and cultivates according to the correct principle arrived at through reflection, passing through the four steps of hearing, reflection, cultivation, and realization. If one does not listen to the sūtras and hear the Dharma, there will be no right mindfulness with which to reflect; without reflection in accordance with principle to contemplate the true reality of all dharmas, there will be no cultivation of right effort; without it, one cannot realize the true reality of all dharmas, cannot realize the dream-like contemplation, cannot enter the first bhūmi, and cannot attain all the subsequent liberations.

If one wishes to realize the illusory nature of the myriad dharmas, to realize the intrinsically pure mind, and to attain anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi, one must begin with listening to the sūtras and hearing the Dharma; after hearing the Dharma, one must gather in the mind and reflect according to the true meaning. Based on the Buddha's noble scriptural authority, one gains faith through verification with body and mind; when the faculty of faith is firm and one knows that this dharma will certainly lead to liberation and the accomplishment of the Buddha-way, one will definitely cultivate with courageous vigor, never retreating from the great way of bodhi, and therefore will certainly realize the fruit of bodhi. One first realizes the fruit of the Small Vehicle's bodhi, realizing that the five aggregates and eighteen realms are illusory and that there is no self or person; then one awakens to the ālayavijñāra mind, realizing that the ālayavijñāna neither arises nor ceases, and understanding that all dharmas are produced by the ālayavijñāna, that the self is illusory and all dharmas are illusory, that everything is of the nature of the ālayavijñāna and nothing else besides; therefore all dharmas are empty, and one can reach the fruit of the first bhūmi. Then, in sequence, one realizes the second, third, and fourth bhūmis, and finally attains the fruit of the Buddha-bhūmi, entering the great nirvāṇa of ultimate perfection. Such is the sequence of cultivation.