Cultivating Tao and Dharma Gate (1)

Tao (the Way of the Universe) is always present. There is no need for us to cultivate it. However, we do need to cultivate our own connection to the eternal Tao. This is what is meant by “cultivating Tao.” A dharma gate is a method or a path that helps us to find Tao (the Way).

“Cultivating Tao is like going for advanced study. A dharma gate is like a school, and a person who starts cultivating Tao is like a student in the school”. Therefore, each one of us is like a student on the Earth. How to choose a principle gate has nothing to do with what kind of religion the dharma gate belongs to, but everything to do with whether the leader has a “Unity of Heaven and Men” "Religions are not dharma gates; however, dharma gates are associated with religions". We need to understand these two phrases carefully. The general public thinks that the first step in cultivating Tao is finding a dharma gate. If a person is a Buddhist, very naturally, this person will cultivate Tao in a Buddhist temple and think that he/she has found the dharma gate of Buddhism. However, --the reality is--that any temple or lecture hall built by any religion does not represent that religion. It can only represent one dharma gate. For example, different temples have different ways of cultivations. Some cultivate Zen, and some cultivate Land. Some people say that Zen or Pure Land is their dharma gate. It is not so simple as it appears to be. If we can learn Zen, or the dharma gate of Zen, from a Zen lecture hall, and learn Buddhism, or the principal of Buddhism, from a Buddhist temple, then it will make our lives much easier. If this were as trivial as selecting schools for education, there would be no need for us to elaborate on today's topic: "Cultivating Tao and Dharma gate”. We have to understand the following questions first: What is a dharma gate? How can you choose a dharma gate? And what is religion?

First, in selecting the dharma gate it is important to know the attitude of the leader, instead of looking at the banner hanging outside the store. This leader may claim to be a practitioner of Buddhism, Christianity, or Islam; these titles have nothing to do with the dharma gates taught there. For instance, if the leader is a Buddhist master, it does not mean that the dharma gate taught there belongs to Buddhism. If this leader is a Christian, neither does it mean that the dharma gate is Christian. Therefore, in selecting the principle gate it is important to select the leader, not the religion the leader belongs to. The selection shall emphasize the attitude of the leader. What does the "attitude" mean? The essential thing is to see if this person has achieved the Unity of Heaven and Men. In other words, if the leader claims to be a teacher of Buddhist dharma gate, one must ask: does he/she works for Buddha or for Buddhism? This is the key. Many people are not clear about this.

For example, if I am a priest I present myself to be the messenger of God. I can preach to the public, however, deep inside my heart, I may be asking where is God? Who knows? But the mission is right next to me. The mission provides me financial aid, gives me free Bibles, and provides me good advertisements. On the other hand, God gives me nothing. Even though I claim that I am the messenger of God, in fact, I speak for the mission. Due to this profound difference in the attitude of a dharma gate leader, the dharma gate can associate men with God or associate men with the mission. These are very different.

If you didn’t make a clear distinction between working for God and working for a particular religion, you will think that any priest must be one with Heaven, or one with God. I know that some people associated with the Church preach the Bible to the public but are not one with God. When I was a Christian, I believed totally in Christianity and I was an excellent speaker on Christian topics. However, I was not one with God. Therefore, without being one with God, one can still be a priest. Then whom did I speak for? I spoke for the mission, because the mission supported me. Therefore, the religion does not guarantee a specific dharma gate. It is the person who is in charge that really matters. For example, when Buddha started Buddhism, he did not intend to create a religion or a dharma gate. His intention was to reveal the Tao, and make everyone understand the Truth. He wanted to introduce people to the super highway that is connected to the Tao.

Take the I-95 inter-state highway in the United States as an example. This highway has a very profound symbolic meaning and we can use it as a metaphor to understand the Tao. The I-95 highway is in the North-South direction. As we know that in the Tai-Chi figure, the direction of North is the Earth, and the direction of South Heaven. The North-South direction connects the Earth to Heaven for human to travel on this Tao’s highway. Moreover, in the I-Ching, the nine in the fifth place is also a "super highway", or the "Supreme" / "the Tao of Heaven. (Note: In I-Ching’s hexagrams, the fifth place is usually the king’s position. Number nine represents yang, implying a capable and active person or spirit.)

How to find the I-95 of Tao? It requires certain understandings of the reality. You can not equate a religion with a dharma gate, and a religion itself does not provide you with a specific dharma gate. A dharma gate is created when a person wants to study a religion. Naturally, the founder/leader of a dharma gate will have a great influence on the dharma gate in terms of its attitude and preferred literature for study. When the leader of a dharma gate changes over time, even though the dharma gate title remains the same, this dharma gate have already changed. A simple example is the story of the founder of Zen, Master Dar-Mo. When this Indian Buddhist master came to China and become the founder of Zen, he chose Len -Chie Ching for Dharma study. Later, the fifth Zen Patriarch used the Diamond Sutra to replace Leng-Chie Ching. Therefore, the literature in a dharma gate is replaceable, not to mention the basic teachings. Therefore, any dharma gate in religion or in any branch of a religion is prescribed by its leader, not by the religion. This is what is meant by "Religions are not dharma gates" in Religions are not dhama gates; however, dharma gates are associated with religions"

Next, I will discuss what the second phrase "dharma gates are associated with religions means. Today any person who wants to be the leader of a dharma gate most likely will declare a religion with which his/her dharma gate is associated. He/she would not say that his/her dharma gate is independent of all religions. For example, if a person tells people that he is venerable on his own and asks people to follow him, whom do you think will actually follow him? However, if he tells people that he is a Buddhist venerable, then everybody will come to follow him. It is much easier to become popular if you associate your dharma gate with a popular religion. You first can talk about the basic creeds of that religion, and at the end present your own materials. Therefore, when you listen to the dharma gate of a religion carefully, you will notice that even though the priest is talking about the Bible, there is something different in his/her talk at the end. The same thing might happen in Buddhism: a Buddhist priest might talk about Buddhist literature and at the end something different will be introduced. Then you will know that it is actually a different dharma gate. Every temple and every religious organization has its own specialty, or something different. The difference among them is absolutely necessary. If they all are the same, then they are not dharma gates at all.

If you hear the same thing from different churches, then it means that there must be a unified preaching script or standard teacher note, and the priests simply memorize it. For example, if all the priests say the same thing about the Book of Romans in the Bible, then we say that they are setting forth a religion. However, if the teaching of this church and that church has different emphases, then their dharma gates are different. You will be able to distinguish them after a few talks. If you really want to find a suitable dharma gate to cultivate Tao, you can go to different places and analyze their teachings. It is very easy to verify if a group works for God or not.

Next thing we shall check is if the operation behind a dharma gate is controlled by Heaven or by man. Only if Heaven operates the dharma gate, can one advance one’s cultivation. This is an even more important point. From the appearance all dharma gates seem to be operated by people. However, only when the operations are controlled by Heaven, can people return to Heaven through the dharma gates. If a dharma gate is only controlled by people and Heaven has nothing to do with it, then how can people return to Heaven through it? Therefore, we have to know if people are in charge of the dharma gate or if Heaven is in charge of the dharma gate. Here I use an example to demonstrate this point. Say there is a dharma gate that has attracted a lot of followers. Why has this dharma gate become so popular? Because the leader of the dharma gate has some mysterious powers, and he is able to resolve people’s problems. However, a dharma gate of this kind is not controlled by Heaven. Because if it is Heaven in charge of the dharma gate, then all operations for healing or correcting fortune shall be arranged by Heaven. If the leader can arrange everything, then it means that people are in charge of the dharma gate. Therefore we have to be careful in dharma gate selection.

Cultivating Tao and Dharma Gate (2)

Another possible situation is that you may participate in a dharma gate, and find that the leader is not able to solve all your problems. For example, if you come to a dharma gate leader with a problem, and he may tell you that you should cultivate Tao, cultivate your virtues and make contributions to others, and not guarantee that your problem can be resolved (because it is up to Heaven to decide). This is an example of a dharma gate with Heaven in charge, not people. On the contrary, if it is people are in charge, then the leader will promise that your problem will go away by pronouncing some spells.

Therefore the leader needs to possess some mysterious power to impress people by resolving their problems or to give promises to people. It is the major difference between dharma gates with Heaven in charge and dharma gates with people in charge. If it is Heaven in charge, then there will be guardians or protectors sent from Heaven to assist the leader and the leader himself does not need to possess special power to impress people or protect himself, and the outcomes are determined by Heaven not the leader. If the leader has to learn special skills to impress people or solve people’s problems, then what he preaches is his own teachings and his own dharma gate. Therefore when a religion or a dharma gate uses its own mysterious power or special ability to attract people, the practical benefits they provide mean danger. What do we mean “practical benefits”? In the early days, people would go to church simply for free milk, flour, and clothes. Some people would follow a certain dharma gate simply because by doing so they can obtain wealth, health, and promotion. These are “practical benefits” , and they are dangerous. Why dangerous? It is because the dharma gate follows the desire of human being, not the intention of Heaven. A people-controlled dharma gate will let you earn a million dollars so that you can donate a hundred thousand dollars in return. People like this idea. However, a Heaven-controlled dharma gate will not allow this to happen. If you donate money to the dharma gate, there is no promise of practical benefits in return. You donation is deposited in Heaven for you to cultivate Tao and virtue. Only then have you the opportunity to return to Heaven. If you ask for practical benefits in return in the world, you can not accumulate virtue in Heaven. If your focus is in the world, then there are opportunities to make money and many people can teach you how to make money. However, it has nothing to do with Tao cultivation, and has nothing to do with the dharma gate. Nowadays, many dharma gates have crossed the border. They teach you how to do investment and how to plan your career. This is the problem. Shouldn’t these belong to the material world? It is not under the territory of Heaven. Heaven only controls its own territory, and people take care of people’s territory. What we call “up-side-down” and “completely messed up” is that people try to take control of the business of Heaven and Heaven is expected to take care of the material world.

Why are people completed messed up? Because we don’t know what a dharma gate or a religion is, nor do we know what the purposes of a religion and a dharma gate are. The original idea of a religion is to resolve people’s problems, or as we often say that God loves everyone and that Buddha is merciful. However, the Great Love of God is to let you live in this world in order to learn. God lets you have worries and then seek Bodhi¹ in your worries. If God solves all your problems for you, then you will not look for Bodhisattva². Therefore, if somebody solves your problems for you and turns your worry into Bodhisattva for you, that person is not God, but a human. Only people will do this kind of thing. We can use this principle to check whether a dharma gate is led by people or by Heaven.

There is one sentence to which we need to pay attention: “revelation or enlightenment. What is a revelation? Suppose a person attends a dharma gate, and has a revelation by having a dream about his passed ancestor. His passed ancestor tells him that “you have made a great choice today! I used to dress very poorly, but now I have beautiful clothes to wear.” A human will not be able to make another human have a dream like this. If I can make you have a specific dream, I will not be human any more. Therefore I say that “the practical benefits” are financial benefits and they are materializable. They will not be dreams like this that can only get you some spirit comforts.

Some religions do not cooperate with Heaven, and are operated purely by people. Therefore the greater these groups are, the more dangerous are they to the general public. Most of the general public had the expectation of being connected to Heaven when they first joined these groups. However, the end results are that they are still rooted in this material world. This is very sad. It is like investing in a passenger airline, but finding out that the company you invested is really a commercial cargo company. They are totally two different companies. Buddha has said “The general public is foolish.” What can you do?

Buddha has said that we should not be attached to appearances. If you understand the ideas of Buddhist sutras, you can easily understand the false appearances of this material world. You will be able to understand Buddha’s words about breaking away from appearances. Buddha is afraid that the general people will be trapped by appearance, therefore, he has said this over and over again in the sutras. As we recite the sutras every day, we all hear the “all appearances are not real” and “the worlds are not the worlds but are merely named”. However, when we encounter the real situation, we still jump into the trap. Whom can you blame? Not Buddha. Buddha has already warned us long ago.
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¹A Sanskrit term bodhi, meaning wisdom, or awakening. The wisdom of perceiving the reality-nature.

²A conscious being, who seeks enlightenment to enlighten others. If he/she is not devoid of egoism, he/she cannot be a Bodhisattva and hence can not help others to escape from suffering and reincarnation.

Cultivating Tao and Dharma Gate (3)

What is meant by the phrase "Approaches to Dharma without limit we vow to learn (the "Dharma" here means Truth; dharma(s) means teachings or all things in the universe)"? This sentence is one of the Four Great Vows³; the cultivation of these Four Great Vows is the basic idea behind the Great Vehicle⁴. The person who follows the approach of the Great Vehicle does not cultivate it for his own sake, but also for others. Therefore, when he/she vows to follow the Great Four Vows, he/she vows to learn without limit in order to enlighten others. It is for the sake of others that one learns various dharma gates. For example, the reason that I study the Bible is to enlighten people who are Christians even though I am not a Christian. Studying the Bible merely to enable oneself to go to Heaven is a Small Vehicle⁵ approach. Following the spirit of the Great Vehicle to help people with various backgrounds, one needs to learn Buddhist sutra in order to enlighten Buddhists, learn about the Bible to enlighten Christians, and Islam to enlighten Muslims. For this very purpose, one has to learn about various dharma gates.

However, many people whose objective is to cultivate themselves have misinterpreted this sentence. They think the more dharma gates one learns, the better one can achieve. This is terribly wrong. One should focus on one dharma gate and learn it thoroughly. Otherwise, one can waste a lot of time in jogging between dharma gates. The Approach to Dharma without limit we vow to learn? is for enlightening others, not for the sake of your own enlightenment. If one needed to learn countless dharma gates in order to become a Buddha, it would be impossible to achieve Buddahood. There is no such complicated dharma gate. Following one dharma gate is sufficient to become a Buddha. As described in the Heart Sutra: Buddha in past, present, and future, also by relying on the Prajnaparamita⁶, have obtained Supreme Enlightenment; one single dharma gate can get you there. One does not need to learn many dharma gates. The only reason for one to learn many dharma gates is in order to help others to become enlightened as well. Only if we understand this, do we know what to learn. If we are still not clear about our own dharma gate, then we should focus on it and learn it thoroughly. After that, we might learn about other dharma gates.

"Approaches to Dharma without limit we vow to learn" is a vow of a practitioner of the Great Vehicle after he/she has been enlightened by Tao or a glimpse of Tao. The enlightenment of Tao means that one has "understood one's mind and seen the True self" and eradicated confusion. Plainly speaking, it is to obtain the teaching of the True self. A person who has "understood one's mind and seen the True self" is enlightened on the level of "spirit (li)" , or the spiritual level, but not on the level of "matter (Xiang)", or the physical level. How to become enlightened on the level of matter? One needs to practice the Six paramitas⁷. A Bodhisattva is a person who has been enlightened on the level of the spirit. After experiencing enlightenment, a Bodhisattva then starts the practice of the Six paramitas of the Great Vehicle. The Six paramitas include Prajnaparamita, which is obtained on the spiritual level. A Bodhisattva will practice the Six paramitas until he/she achieves enlightenment on the level of matter, or achieves Buddhahood. After one has obtained Buddhahood, the Prajnaparamita is the Prajnaparamita of the True Self. It is quite different from the Prajnaparmita while one is still working toward the Buddhahood. While working towards Buddahood, one practice of the Prajnaparamita still relies upon the help of others. Once one has achieved Buddhahood, the practice of Prajnaparamita is solely supported by onex True Self, and has successfully combined with matter. For instance, if you want a toothbrush, a toothbrush will appear because your Prajnaparamita has established the association with the matter. A good example is the story of the sixth Zen Patriarch. The sixth Zen Patriarch had granted the dharma clothes of the Zen School when he achieved enlightenment on the level of the spirit. However, he still hadn't achieved enlightenment on the level of the matter nor did he possess special abilities. If he had possessed special abilities, he could have protected himself and wouldn't have suffered exile from the temple. One might point out that there are some occasions described in the Platform Sutra of the Sixth patriarch⁸, in which the Sixth Patriarch did perform some miracles. Does that mean that the Sixth Master had achieved Buddhahood and had special abilities already? No. It is the guardians who were performing the miracles, and it merely looked like the Sixth Patriarch had the capability of conducting miracles. The major difference between power from the guardians and power from oneself is that if it comes from oneself, then it will be always available. But if it comes from the guardians, the power will be available only when it is needed - for example, in an emergency.

Therefore when a person achieves spiritual enlightenment, he/she starts to practice the Great Vehicle or the beginning of Bodhisattvahood. There are ten levels of Bodhisattva⁹. The fifth level is called the extremely Challenging Level? On this level, the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of the spirit have combined into one. It is a state of seeing a mountain as a mountain¹⁰. Only after a person has achieved this level is he/she qualified to practice "Approaches to Dharma without limit we vow to learn" On this level, it is extremely easy for one to learn things. One will find reading sutras is like reading novels. Therefore, one can "vow to learn" many different Dharma approaches easily. However, before you achieve that level, you need to focus on a single Dharma gate instead of multiple gates. Besides, a person who has achieved the fifth Bodhisattva level does not learn only to benefit oneself but to help others.

There are many different kinds of Dharma gates. One could choose "Gain-First-and Cultivate-Later", or "Cultivate-First-and-Gain-Later" , the Great Vehicle or the Small Vehicle, the "Ultimate approach" or the "Convenient Approach"  and the "Self-Reliance" or the "Others-Reliance" We will discuss the difference between these different choices. What is  "Gain-First-and-Cultivate-Later" It means that the process in cultivating Tao starts with the acquisition of knowledge about the True Self first, and then is followed by the practice of this knowledge. Dharma gates of this kind are Great Vehicle approaches. Those dharma gates that do not fall into the category of "Gain-First-and-Cultivate-Later" are "Cultivate-First-and-Gain-Later". The dharma gates of this kind are Small Vehicle approaches. The cultivation of the Small Vehicle starts with the practice of doctrines. Following the mastery of doctrines comes the stability of mind states, and then comes the emergence of wisdom. The motivation is usually to benefit oneself first. It usually takes a long time to cultivate before one can reach the point of having a good understanding of the True Self. This is relatively difficult. On the contrary, the Great Vehiclex approach is to lead the life of a Bodhisattva. It always starts with the practice of the Six paramitas to benefit others.

Let's use an example to demonstrate the difference of the Great Vehicle and the Small Vehicle. Some people recite the sutra every day to be able to go to the Pure Land after they die. This kind of dharma gate belongs to the Small Vehicle because people practice it simply for their own benefit. The common principal in the cultivating of the Small Vehicle is that it is essential to eliminate¹¹. What is so good about getting rid of "self-attachment"? Nobody will be able to find a person who has no xelf-attachment? including this person enemies.? This person will be left alone free and peaceful for a certain period of time. He/she is sustained by dharma power gained from the sutra recitation. The period of time sustained by the dharma power is about five hundred years. People who cultivate the Pure Land often recite "Homage to Amita Buddha" or "Homage to Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva" . The dharma power gained from their recitation can support them for five hundred years. The dharma power will vanish after five hundred years, and the "Self-Attachment" will come back. Once the "Self-attachment" returns, all the enemies and karma¹² will find their target again. That is why those who practice the Small Vehicle have to come back one day to cultivate themselves again. Therefore, the Small Vehicle is not an "Ultimate" approach, but a "Convenient" approach. On the other hand, the practice of the Great Vehicle is very different. A practitioner of the Great Vehicle learns to emulate Bodhisattvas by helping others. One can become a Buddha by helping others to become a Buddha. Since we know that the Small Vehicle is not an ultimate approach, why not learn the Great Vehicle right at the beginning?

Another topic is "Self-Reliance¹³" versus "Others-Reliance¹⁴". The question is when we cultivate, whose power do we rely on to sustain our position or achieve our destiny? It is our own power or Buddha's power. A practitioner of the Pure Land must rely on the vow of Amita Buddha in order to get to the Pure Land. The great vow of Amita Buddha is to let whoever calls his name come to the Pure Land. This kind of dharma gate is "Others-Reliance" The "Others-Reliance" approaches require Parinamana (transference of merit or dedication of merit). The other approach, where one relies on oneself to achieve one's destiny, is "Self-Reliance".

Another important concept of dharma gates is that a true dharma gate has to be non-artificial. In other words, a true dharma gate has to be operated by Heaven, not by human beings. The non-artificial nature of a dharma gate also means that the dharma power appears when necessary and disappears when unnecessary. In an artificial dharma gate, the person in charge guarantees something. Therefore it is controlled by human beings. An artificial dharma gate can not guide you to Heaven. Even if it can help, this is only to the extent of five hundred years. There are some artificial dharma gates that do not even get you five hundred years, but a better life of only one hundred years in the world. The limited usefulness of artificial dharma gates is supposed to be a very fundamental knowledge in Buddhism. However, most religious groups do not mention principals/truths any more, but put their emphases on rituals. As a result, the general public, without access to the essence of original teachings, can not tell truths from forms themselves. Take the famous phrase of "Homage to Amita Buddha" as an example. Many people know that by reciting this phrase, one can go to the Pure Land after death. However, not many people know in what context it was composed. It comes from the story of Sakyamuni Buddha¹⁵ and his disciple Sariputra¹⁶. When Sakyamuni Buddha gave lectures on Amita Buddha sutra, Sariputra was already very old, and had no time to practice the Six Pranamitas. Since Sariputra had become a vegetarian and been cultivated for a long time, Sakyamuni Buddha told him that he need not worry. Sakyamuni Buddha said to Sariputra that there is a Pure Land, which is created by Amita Buddha. By calling Amita Buddha's name, he will be able to go to the Pure Land to continue his study after death. Therefore, the "Homage to Amita Buddha" can bring people to the Pure Land is to the audience who has cultivated for a certain time and yet have not enough time to achieve Ultimate Nirnava. Nowadays, people practice this dharma gate, "Homage to Amita Buddha" and think that they will be able to go to the Pure Land. Very little do they know that their levels are far behind what Sariputra had achieved.

So, will people be able to go to the Pure Land by reciting "Homage to Amita Buddha"? Yes. They end up coming back in next life to "the Pure Land" of this world. Christianity says that believing in God can bring you to Heaven. To what kind of Heaven? Heaven in this world. Where is it? In the direction of the West. in America. In the end, American Christians return to America to be Americans in next life. They return to the Pure Land in this world or we say they return to this world to make it a Pure Land. This place, America, is the Pure Land in the world because that is the fruit of peoplex cultivation. Those who do not talk about reincarnation are all reincarnated and come back in their next life. As Buddha put it, those who do not believe in reincarnation are reincarnated in the life circle. Christianity does not talk about reincarnation, but at the end its believers are reincarnated and return to be Americans. There is no change. They were Americans in previous lives and so are they in this life. They feel that everything is familiar and easy because they experienced it before, unlike immigrants like us for whom everything is new. The kind of rewards they get are the fruits of the world, which can be enjoyed by them for a lifetime, about one hundred years. Beyond that, America has nothing to do with Heaven. Therefore, the time and efforts spent in that direction will be a waste if you are serious about cultivating the real enlightenment.
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³The Four Great Vows: "Countless sentient beings we vow to enlighten. Vexations without ends we vow to eradicate. Approaches to Dharma without limit we vow to follow. Supreme enlightenment we vow to achieve."

⁴"Mahyana" in Sanskrit. The concept of "great vehicle" is intended to refer to the fact that the group considered their doctrines to be more open and universalistic in terms of advocating that enlightenment was something which was attainable by all sentient beings, rather than just by monks and nuns who practiced in the pure environment of the monastery.

⁵"Hinayana" in Sanskrit. refers in general to Buddhist practices which are centered on self-salvation, or which are not based upon the true experience of emptiness.

⁶"The wisdom leads one to the liberation of life or the "other shore".

⁷The six perfections (paramitsa): charity, morality, patience, effort, meditation, wisdom. The six excellent practices which lead one to the "other shore" of liberation.

⁸Centered on the discourse given by the 6th Zen patriarch Huineng, this text contains all his recorded sayings and doings. The most important topics of the discourse are sudden enlightenment, the direct perception of one's true nature and the unity in essence.

⁹(1). 歡喜地 The stage of joy (pramudita). (2). 離垢地 Freedom from defilment (vimala). (3). 發光地 The stage of emission of light (prabhakari). (4). 燄慧地 The stage of glowing wisdom (arcismati). (5). 難勝地 The stage of overcoming the difficult (sudurjaya). (6). 現前地 The stage of manifestation of reality (abhimukhi). (7). 遠行地 The stage of far-reaching (duramgama). (8). 不動地 The immovable stage (acala). (9). 善慧地 The stage of wondrous wisdom (sadhumati). (10). 法雲地 The stage of the dharma-cloud (dharma-megha).

¹⁰The three states toward the enlightenment: When one sees a mountain, "a mountain is like a mountain", "a mountain is not like a mountain", and "a mountain is like a mountain again".

¹¹The attachment to the notion of an enduring, inherent self (atma-graha), which is the basis for the activity of all the afflictive hindrances.

¹²The doctrine of the act; deeds and their effects on the character, especially in their relation to succeeding forms of transmigration.

¹³Self-Reliance. One's own abilities and efforts toward the attainment of enlightenment, which the Pure Land School rejects as inapplicable to the matter of attainment of salvation, recommending instead the reliance on the other power of Amitabha or another great Buddha or bodhisattva.

¹⁴Others-Reliance.. referring to the reliance on the salvific powers of a great buddha or bodhisattva such as Amitabha rather than on the strength of one's own efforts.

¹⁵The Buddha, whose personal name was Siddhartha, and family name Gotama, lived in North India i n the 6th BC. He was married at the age of sixteen to a beautiful and devoted young princess. At the age of 29, soon after the birth of his only child, he left his kingdom and became an ascetic in search of the solution to the suffering of mankind.

At the age of 35, Gotama attained Enlightenment, after which he was known as the Buddha, "The Enlightened One." After his Enlightenment, Sakyamuni Buddha announced that all sentient beings has the potentiality to become a Buddha, but are obstructed by illusion and ignorance. He has expounded the Dharma, various ways to cultivate in order to attain Buddhahood, for a duration of 49 years. At the age of 80, he attained nirvana.

¹⁶The first of the ten principal disciples of Sakyamuni Buddha. Born of the brahman caste, he was from a town called Upadesa near Magadha. He became so deeply enlightened in the buddhadharma (he is considered to be the wisest of the disciples) that he sometimes even gave sermons in the Buddha's absence, and was named among the ten principal disciples as being "the greatest in wisdom" 智慧第一. Being somewhat older than Sakyamuni, he passed away before him. He appears as an interlocutor in prajaparamita works, such as the Heart Sutra.

Cultivating Tao and Dharma Gate (4)

Some dharma gates do not have a controlling entity. Today in America, the phrase printed on a US bill is: "In God we Trust." Do Americans trust in God? Not really. A lot of so called miracles in the United States are created by human beings. Thanks to the advances in technology, human beings are able to navigate in the Universe. Science and technology are of supreme importance. In the movie "End of Days", who is the one that saves the world? It is Arnold Schwarzenegger. Initially, Arnold asked God for help. He says "I did not believe in God before. Now I want to believe in you. Please come to rescue me" And it turns out that the mission is demolished. In whom can he actually trust? Since he has no one to rely on, he sacrifices himself to save the world. From this story, we realize that it is the individual, the hero, that American society trusts. It is neither God, nor evil. A human being is greater than anything in this world. In this case, the entity in charge has been changed.

Some people say that the controlling entity can be a human being or can be Heaven. My comments are: if the controlling entity of a dharma gate is a human being, then effectively there is no controlling entity behind. Only when the controlling entity is Heaven, can we say that the dharma gate is indeed in good hands. If Heaven controls it, equivalently, we can say that God or Buddha is in charge since Heaven includes God and Buddha. In this case, there is a certain order in the Universe, and people have their fates. Nothing is due to chance or luck. However, nowadays, many people have the idea that everything is by chance or nothing is pre-arranged, and that everything can be changed by people's will. In fact, it is not so simple. Through their hard work, people can change things to a certain extent; for example, they may sometimes change an end result or delay the occurrence of an event, but not completely overwrite fate. Therefore, we need to carefully distinguish which is in control.

We must also consider what it means to study a dharma gate in depth. To study a dharma gate in depth has something to do with the study materials and the level of the learners. It is like going to school. One might find studying a certain subject fairly easy and rewarding, thus naturally one will continue to study it in depth. However, there is also a phrase that says "What matches comfortably is not necessarily reasonable" How should we interpret this sentence? For instance, someone might practice a certain dharma gate and find it agreeable in many aspects. Objectively we can say that this dharma gate matches this person very well. However, the reason that it matches is that in his/her previous lives, the person has encountered or cultivated this dharma gate before. It is like a person who has completed the education of elementary school and come back to the elementary school again. Very naturally, everything will sound familiar, easy, and comfortable. Even the principle and the teachers look like acquaintances. However, it does not mean it is "reasonable". Since one has completed the study before, one should proceed on a higher level in order to make one's "reasonable" then means an elevation in one's study.

We now talk about "Do not force people to fit in if one has not reached the level of the understanding." Many people use special abilities to perform miracles to attract people into certain dharma gates. For instance, if a person does not believe in God, a dharma master with special ability might perform something to let this person see God or evil. Using this kind of approach to attract people is not appropriate.

"Choosing a dharma gate is no different than choosing a major in college. When lacking knowledge for judgment, one needs to listen to guidance from parents." It is the same thing for Tao cultivation. The cultivation of Tao is learning how to choose dharma gates, a path that connects us to Tao. If the dharma gate is correctly chosen, one definitely can achieve the Great Enlightenment. How to choose correct dharma gates is conveyed in principles of religions. They are only accessible in certain cultivation curriculum. You will not be able to find the method to find a right dharma gate on your own in religions. A religion will never let you know its principles, because once you know the fundamental principles, you will be able to reason, derive, and judge for yourself. People try to avoid talking about the conflicting points in religions. Unless you study the Bible or the Buddhist Sutra, you will not notice these and will not be able to make a judgment. One function of cultivating Tao is to empower you with that capability.

The whole purpose of Tao cultivation is to help people find the Tao, and to let everyone be connected to Tao. On the other hand, Tao resides in oneself, and Tao is everywhere. What do I mean by "to find Tao is to connect to Tao? Why do we need to find a path onto Tao? Because we all have karma, which make us see things up-side-down and make us lose clarity. For instance, a person raises a question about why a person is in front of the others in a line. As we know, the standing sequence of people in a line depends on their arrival times. If a person arrives earlier, then he/she will stand in front of the line. This is a well-accepted simple rule. This person might raise this question if he/she found that a new comer got in front of the line instead of at the end of a line. This phenomenon seemingly violates the rule. In fact, it does not violate the rule. It is just because we didn't know what happens exactly. It turns out that the new comer is not a "new comer", but someone who had been in the line for a long time in previous lives. When the person comes back in this life, he/she does join the line in the middle not from the end. He/she does not cut into the line. He/she really deserves it since he/she had waited in the line before. If we only judge this event as it appears on the surface, then it is not acceptable. Those who see things only on the surface do not know the truth. For example, they will not understand why some people are so smart. They don't understand why some people are rich and popular while nothing about that person is better than others. They will not understand why some people have a good life while performing bad deeds; they will not understand why some people deserve to go to Heaven but have a miserable life. There are seemingly so many unreasonable phenomena in this world. This is what we call "up-side-down". All those unreasonable phenomena have prior causes. These unreasonable phenomena disturb our minds because we don't understand causality.

Within our True-Self, there is a principle. The disturbance we feel in our mind comes from the conflicts between the 'observed" principle in the external world and the principle in the True-Self. Doubts arise when we can't resolve the conflicts. Is the "observed" principle in the external world correct or the principle in the True-Self correct? You start questioning. The first thing you denounce is God, the second thing Heaven, and the third thing Tao. In the end, you denounce everything. As God or Buddha is part of your True-Self, when you deny it you also denounce yourself, and turn yourself into the artificial external world. In this vicious process, you drive yourself further away from God, Heaven, and Tao. Remember that "Everything is created by causes and conditions¹⁷." Nothing happens by chance. If you do not agree with it or do not find rationale in certain things, the denial will bounce back and contaminate your True-Self. I was an atheist before. My reasoning was the following: if God exists, how can God let the world become as corrupt as this? How can Buddha let man be so miserable if Buddha is merciful? How can you call God and Buddha the Great Love, the Great Mercy? As I analyzed more, I didn't see any love in God or any mercy in Buddha. Therefore, I denounced everything and thought that I was the only one who knew the truth. The more I thought that I was right, the more unreasonable things I observed, and it turned out that I became more unmerciful and more un-passionate about people and things.
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¹⁷萬法因緣生

因緣:causse and conditions (connections) (hetu-pratyaya). The character (yin) refers to direct cause, which directly incurs a result, while (yuan) refers to an indirect cause which helps or participates in producing the result.

Cultivating Tao and Dharma Gate (5)

Later on I learned how to transcend my mind instead of getting into this vicious cycle. Why should we study the Heart Sutra? Because the first step in cultivating your heart, not other people's hearts. If you find a dharma gate that teaches you how to cultivate your heart (not others' heats), then it is a good start. Tai is in your heart. If you find no mercy and no wisdom in your heart, it is because you don't find Tao in your heart. It has nothing to do with whether others have mercy or wisdom in their hearts. We often criticize others for having no Tao. There is a profound story told in the Bible: One day, Jesus came across some people who were about to throw stones at a woman who had committed a sin. Jesus said that whoever among the crowd was without sin should throw the first stone. As a result, nobody dared to punish her. This story tells us that one should judge oneself before one judges others. You should solve your own problem before you criticize others problems. That cultivation of Heart in Tao has exactly the same meaning. It is not to look for Tao or virtues in others, but in yourself.

When you can’t find them in yourself, you will not find them in others. It is like a mirror image. The external world is simply a reflection of your inner state. Therefore, when you see unreasonable phenomena in the external world, you must turn to your inner self. An old Chinese saying has it “It is easier to move a mountain than change a person’s nature.” To change yourself is already difficult, not to mention to change others. Why do we say that it is difficult to change a person’s nature? Because you don’t know what is your True-Self. Once you find your True-Self, it is a lot easier. And only when you find that you yourself have Tao and virtues, can you find Tao and virtues in others.

Instead of talking about right or wrong and about having Tao or having no Tao you should quiet your heart. These are mumbles of your heart. What is inside your heart is Tao, not what your heart tries to express. After you have removed un-benevolence, un-justice, un-propriety, un-wisdom, and un-faith from your heart, will you find the five virtues¹⁸, benevolence, justice, propriety, wisdom and faith, in your heart. Unlike the ideas that prevail in our society today, the five virtues come from the inside out, not from the outside in. When we see a person do charitable things, we say that this person has the virtue of benevolence. When we see a person behave politely, we say that this person has the virtue of propriety. These are only observations from appearances. Does this person really possess the virtues of benevolence and propriety in his/her heart? We do not know. What cultivating of Tao requires is that you have the five virtues in your heart, but not behave as if you have those five virtues. That is why Lao Tzi says "Discard benevolence and justice." The benevolence and justice Lao Tzi pointed out here are artificial ones. When the five virtues are not in the heart, people have to show the five virtues through external behavior and pretend as if they have the virtues.

Will a person with five virtues behave as we think a person with five virtues shall behave? Not necessarily. Because what this person possesses is a heart of five virtues, not behavior of five virtues. If some disaster occurs, will a virtuous person necessarily help others out? Not necessarily. A virtuous person does have a virtuous heart; however, whether this person performs virtuous acts or not depends on the situation. For instance, if there are ten thousand people drowning in water, should I jump into the water to rescue them? If I jump into the water to rescue them, the end result is likely to be that I will also drown and be unable to save anyone. That act simply adds one more person to the death list. Can you truly call this benevolence? If one is not even benevolent to oneself, how can one be benevolent to others? You might call it "selfish". However, this kind of virtuous act does not benefit anyone in this situation. A similar question comes up in the movie we mentioned previously. Can the power of a single person, like Arnold Schwarzenegger in "End of Days", save this world? I would sacrifice my life if it could save the world, but it is not possible. Only in the movies can the sacrifice of an individual save the world. To truly change this world requires an effort from everyone, which is why it is important that everybody cultivate Tao.

If we understand the points discussed here, we will be able to find a correct dharma gate. On the other hand, there are numerous dharma gates; no individual could mount an exhaustive search. Therefore, people with the same objective, seeking an effective solution to the problems of humanity today, should create a dharma gate together. This way would be much easier than each individual's looking for the correct dharma gate.
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¹⁸Confucianism uses five words to represent Tao's virtues: benevolence, justice, propriety, wisdom, and faith. Benevolence is creating and cultivating the universe so that the perpetual extension of life is possible. Justice is providing an environment of which all beings are given an opportunity to live in abundance. Propriety is governing the universe so that Ying and Yang are differentiated and every thing is properly ordered. Wisdom is having the cosmos in a state of perfect balance and harmony. Faith simply denotes Tao's incredibly still energy, the Truth, and Perfection. These five virtues can be collectively stated as loyalty and magnanimity, similar to mercifulness taught by Buddhism and great love taught by Christianity.