The Contemplation of the Four Establishments of Mindfulness Is a Shortcut to Attaining the Fruits

Question: Why did the Buddha say that through diligent practice of the contemplation of the four foundations of mindfulness, one can attain realization of the fruits in varying lengths of time, from seven years down to seven days?

Answer: This refers to those who have deep roots of goodness, mild afflictions, few obstructions, and who studied Buddhism for many kalpas in past lives. If they can practice diligently as the Buddha required, they can attain realization of the fruits in a few days to a few years. As for those who have studied Buddhism for only a short time since beginningless kalpas, whose afflictions are deep and heavy, and whose obstructions are severe, they need more than seven years of diligent practice to attain realization of the fruits. Perhaps most people could not attain realization even in a hundred years; some cannot even contemplate the breath properly—no matter what, their minds cannot settle down, let alone attain realization of the fruits.

But just as the Buddha said, no matter what kind of person, as long as one diligently practices the contemplation of the four foundations of mindfulness, so that every thought and every moment is the four foundations of mindfulness, and every thought and every moment involves contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), changing the habit of clinging to the world of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) accumulated since beginningless kalpas, and subduing afflictions and karmic obstructions, then attaining realization of the fruits is not difficult. The difficulty lies in being unable to get past the barrier of karmic obstructions, in one's unwillingness to resolve to apply effort to cultivate the Path, and in being unable to subdue the habit of scatteredness. If one can truly practice with heroic diligence, carrying out the practice as described in the Buddhist sutras, then one will certainly attain realization of the fruits.

This method of practicing the contemplation of the four foundations of mindfulness is extremely excellent. Do not disdain the practice of the Small Vehicle; in fact, this is the shortcut of practice. Only the shortcut taught by the Buddha is truly the shortcut of practice—complete with precepts, meditative concentration (samādhi), and wisdom, involving genuine practice and genuine realization, not mere verbal skill, not emotional thinking and intellectual understanding, not the kind where one attains realization just by thinking it over and pondering a bit.

From the practice methods the Buddha taught us, we should come to understand what genuine practice and genuine realization really are, and what price must be paid. It is not like what some people imagine—that the mind consciousness merely understands it intellectually, paying no price at all, keeping no precepts, cultivating no meditative concentration, and that the "dry wisdom" of intellectual understanding counts as attaining realization of the fruits.

We should have deep faith in the Buddha's wisdom and follow the Buddha's teachings; only then will our own cultivation be greatly beneficial.