Narration by: Grandmaster Wu Chueh Miao-Tien, the 85th-Generation Grandmaster of Zen School
Is it the “person” who is practicing spiritual cultivation? No, it is the “heart” that is practicing. Therefore, practice must begin with cultivating the heart, followed by “directly pointing to our original heart, witnessing our true nature, and attaining Buddhahood.” Since we are to cultivate the heart, we must understand this heart in order to know how to cultivate and how to achieve Buddhahood.
The human heart is changeable because human beings are subject to the phase of birth and cessation. The Buddha said, “the past heart is unattainable, the present heart is unattainable, and the future heart is unattainable,” referring to the human heart. How can we keep the human heart unchanged? Only through purity. How to achieve purity? By not breaking precepts. As long as we can uphold the precepts in the present moment, the heart will be pure. With a pure heart, spiritual cultivation becomes much easier.
If the heart is not pure, or if it is currently pure but becomes distressed, burdened, sad, stressed, or emotional when something happens, this will affect the spiritual practice. This is what is meant by “the fire burning down the forest of merits.”
In other words, no matter how well you cultivate yourself, how long you have cultivated yourself, or how much merit you have accumulated, if you break the precepts even once, it is like burning down a forest of merits. And all your merits are gone. Therefore, to achieve enlightenment, you must maintain a serene and peaceful heart, that is, the “ordinary steady heart, constantly serene and peaceful.”
As soon as a person becomes emotional, it is the beginning of ignorance. Therefore, it is crucial to cultivate the precepts of purity. After the heart is purified, you can then practice Zen meditation. In addition, you must also cultivate the Bodhisattva Path, which is the Six Paramitas (the Six Perfections and the ten thousand virtuous deeds).
Spiritual practice is like an equilateral triangle. The base is the heart. After the heart is purified, you must also cultivate Zen meditation and the Bodhisattva Path. These are the other two sides of the triangle. They must be cultivated simultaneously. Eventually, when you reach the apex, you achieve enlightenment.
Only engaging in Zen meditation without the Bodhisattva actions, or only engaging in Bodhisattva actions without Zen meditation, results in an unfulfilled spiritual practice. Since it is an equilateral triangle, both must be practiced simultaneously, just as walking requires alternating the left foot and the right foot, one in front and one behind, to move forward.
The Return of the Spirit to the Buddha Land─ The Great Matter of Life
It is not easy for us to be reborn as human beings in this life because only humans can understand the Buddhist Dharma and practice the Six Paramitas. Other beings cannot, let alone achieve enlightenment. Therefore, being reincarnated as a human is truly extraordinary.
With this in mind, we must recognize the values of life. Many people prioritize the pursuit of power, status, and wealth as the foremost values of life. They lack the wisdom to understand that they have come to the human world to escape the cycle of birth and death and no longer undergo samsara. Even possessing the greatest power, the most wealth, and everything else, it is all illusory, all subject to the phase of birth and cessation, because “you bring nothing at birth and take nothing at death.” Yet, many people spend their entire lives chasing these illusory false appearances.
Many entrepreneurs practice meditation, thinking that this is spiritual practice. They do not understand the purpose of meditation, nor do they know the true meaning of spiritual practice. Spiritual practice is about cultivating the heart. Meditation is meant to achieve inner peace and serenity. Only when the heart is serene and settled can one further practice Zen meditation and develop the wisdom of prajna.
However, ordinary people do not understand this principle. They do not know what the most important matter of life is, nor do they recognize the wonderful wisdom passed down by the World-Honored One (Shakyamuni Buddha)— the Heart-Imprint Buddhist Dharma transmitted via heart-to-heart synchronization as well as the Heart-Imprint Zen Dharma that can lead to the highest state of Zen and the highest state of Buddhahood. Furthermore, they do not know that spiritual practice requires genuine practice and actual verification. Otherwise, even with the wisdom of the Buddha, lacking genuine practice and verification in Zen meditation will still lead to nothing.
I often think about how to help more people practice the Heart-Imprint Buddhist Dharma and Heart-Imprint Zen Dharma, without necessarily having to enter our formal institution to practice. They can practice in their own locations while following our way of practice, just like we do. My only concern is that without the master to guide them, they cannot receive Shifu’s Heart Imprint. They will only grasp the form but not the essence, because spiritual practice is about cultivating the true essence, cultivating the true nature of the spiritual being.
Spiritual practice is actually very simple, but if you follow the methods outlined in the sutras, it becomes very difficult, or even impossible to practice. Forget about achieving Buddhahood in one lifetime; even just cultivating the Path of Accumulation requires, according to the sutras, ten thousand years of practice. Moreover, you must also cultivate the Path of Application and the Path of Insight. So how can one practice that? No wonder ordinary people believe that it is impossible to achieve Buddhahood in one lifetime.
Why can’t one achieve Buddhahood in one lifetime? Because they have not found the true Dharma passed down by the World-Honored One. If they understand our way of practice and adhere to the precepts, regardless of how long it takes to get started, they can still achieve enlightenment.
Translation: Chueh Miao Dao-Lian, Chueh Miao Gong-Ming
