THE "PRACTICE" APPROACH
As soon as one enters the doorway of "practice," one must cultivate the "purification of body, speech, and mind." This is to enable one to attain Enlightenment, to transform the energy in one’s body, and to realize Emptiness. Ultimately one will obtain the Rainbow Radiance. Actually, as long as one achieves Enlightenment and the Clear Light, and realizes Emptiness, one will automatically understand the Buddhist doctrines. Although one has not studied or researched the sutras, one will be able to penetrate their meaning. The Sixth Patriarch Hui-neng was almost illiterate, yet, after engaging in actual practice, he opened his mouth and out came the expounding of the Buddhist doctrines! [audience applause] After the Fifth Patriarch Hung-jen transmitted the formulae for Enlightenment to him. Hui-neng fled to live among the hunters. He stayed for over a decade and, during those years, Hui-neng put the teachings of Hung-jen to actual practice and was able to achieve Awakening. After Realization, the words he expounded were the Truth of the Buddhadharma. Therefore, one does not have to be a scholar to understand the Buddhist doctrines. By focusing on one practice and practicing it wholeheartedly, one will also be able to understand the Buddhist doctrines.
This brings us to one of the issues of "practice." Should one learn many practices or concentrate on just one practice? It is better to cultivate just one practice at a time. The learning of many practices is tantamount to "seeking a wide knowledge"! When one concentrates on a single practice at a time and penetrates that practice deeply, one will arrive at Realization. This Realization will enable one to understand and penetrate all other practices. As long as one achieves Enlightenment through actual practice, one will understand all the Buddhist doctrines. That is why the approach of "practice" surpasses that of "theory."
Many of the older generation Buddhists today are very well versed on the Buddhist theories and doctrines. They can tell you the contents of each sutra but, when asked if they have done any actual practice or have attained Realization, their answer would be "no." This is the flaw of a purely theoretical approach. Pursuing many practices at the same time also has its problems. I have recently written an essay for the True Buddha News criticizing a certain contemporary Buddhist monk who admitted that he had not achieved Realization. We do not have any dark clouds here today! [audience laughter] This Buddhist monk claimed that he practiced Zen, Pure Land, and Tantrayana and confessed that he had not yet achieved any yogic response or Realization. Strictly speaking, he does not practice Tantrayana as he only chants the Great Compassion Dharani and the Ten Minor Dharanis. There is something wrong when he cannot obtain any yogic response even with "the Tantrayana" practiced "his way"!
Some people claim that their school is an amalgamation of eight different schools. Do not make the mistake of thinking this make it better than others. You would become totally confused if you entered such a school. If you had to practice doctrines alternately from the Zen, Pure Land, Tantrayana, Vinaya [disciplines], Madhyamaka, T’ien-tai, Lotus Sutra, and Hua-yen schools, you would be completely confused! It is better to concentrate on one practice and penetrate deeply into it. If you do otherwise, you will not achieve Realization—even when you are sixty or seventy years old. If that happened to me, I would find the whole situation laughable and embarrassing.
Perhaps one has been pursuing other doorways, such as "money," "authority," or "power." None of these is a Buddhist doorway. Such pursuits are the behavior of ordinary people of the samsara world. Isn’t there something wrong when a monk becomes involved in business deals?
Therefore, the most important thing in practicing Buddhism is to concentrate on one single practice and to penetrate it deeply. [audience applause] I have made this recommendation before: a young person can afford to look into different schools to hear more teachings; a middle-aged person should stick to just one practice and concentrate on it to reach Enlightenment; an old person should seek rebirth to a Pure Land. As one gets older, one does not have much time left and one should therefore concentrate on a practice that will lead one to be reborn to a higher realm. These are very important points. Indeed, focusing on one single practice is better than doing many practices at the same time. There was one student who sent me one hundred U.S. dollars, requesting one hundred different kinds of empowerments. He wanted empowerments for all the practices I have mentioned in my books. One should seek empowerment only for the practice that one will do, unless one is a master in this school. A master in this school might seek to receive many empowerments so that he or she could, in the future, give others the same empowerments. General students, however, should focus on one practice. As long as one achieves spiritual response or Realization in doing one particular practice that results in the opening of one’s heart, one can immediately see the Light and the Truth of the entire Buddhadharma.
In the past I had trouble understanding the sutras. To be honest, my wisdom was not that developed. Before, when I read the Diamond Sutra, all the paradoxes were enigmas to me. [audience laughter] I could not figure out what it was about. Today, when I open the Diamond Sutra, I can penetrate deeply into it and understand its charms and meaning. [audience applause]
Thus, inherent in Realization are the other three steps of Faith, Comprehension, and Practice. While one may choose either the approach of "theory" or "practice," the approach of "practice" is better. Understanding the Buddhist doctrines does not necessarily result in Realization, while actual practice can definitely lead one to Realization. When one attains Realization, one will automatically understand all doctrines. [audience applause]
Amituofo
Lotuschef
Pure Karma
True Buddha School
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