信願行證（英文版）

信願行證（英文版）
耕雲導師
ＧＥＮＧ ＹＵＮ

Belief, Vow, Practice & Verification
GENG YUN
August 30, 1992 in Taipei
[I. Belief is the first guidepost for the practice of Buddhahood ]
[II. Vow is the second guidepost for the practice of Buddhahood ]
[III. Practice is the third guidepost for the practice of Buddhahood ]
[IV. Verification is the fourth guidepost for the practice of Buddhahood ]
[V. Conclusion ]
Four Guideposts for the Practice of Buddhahood
As we all know, individual utilitarianism is so popular nowadays that the pursuit of material pleasures almost becomes one’s major concern.  Therefore, I would like to express my personal respect and heartfelt blessings for all of you, because that you would come to attend this gathering to pursue the joy of An-Hsiang and the liberation of your spirit disregarding the rage of the typhoon today.
 
Today, I would like to briefly introduce you to the four guideposts for achieving Buddhahood.  By following these guideposts, you will not go wrong with your practice.  The path of achieving Buddhahood is very lengthy, as Buddha sutras state that it needs to take “three eons of time”.  Nevertheless, there is a shortcut, which is the methodology of “achieving Buddhahood via seeing one’s true nature”.  In spite of what branch you are practicing, you can never detach from these four words, “belief, vow, practice, and verification”.  They can be claimed as the common guideposts for achieving Buddhahood shared by all the various practices.

I. Belief is the first guidepost for the practice of Buddhahood[Back to Top]
“Belief” can be explained in three perspectives:
(1). Believe in one’s possession of Buddha nature
Buddha said that “All sentient beings have Buddha nature”, and also said that “it is extremely hard to be born as a human being”.  The parable of “a pearl hidden in the collar of a poor folk” stated in Lotus Sutra refers to our Buddha nature being exactly like “the pearl” hidden in our body, and it is the core of our life.
Since we were born, we have been entering the world of duality where our senses conflict with the material world and our six consciousnesses also become very confused and constantly differentiating.  As a result, we are gradually losing our true self so as to have our original Buddha nature buried. As a Buddhist practitioner, one must believe in one’s possession of Buddha nature; otherwise, what to practice about?
Buddha told the audience at the Lotus gathering that “only the oneness is true, the rest are all just accesses to….”  As a result, 500 attendants left the gathering.  Some were too proud whereas some others were too humble, neither of them was right.  Most importantly, one should believe in one’s possession of Buddha nature.  By developing one’s Buddha nature from one’s five desires and six contaminations, then one can have one’s Buddha nature revealed, and become a Buddha oneself.  What is Buddha? It is awareness.  When one’s life is awakened, one becomes a Buddha. To an awakened person, his mentality is changed, and so is everything around him.  As ancient folks soundly claimed, “Though being the same person, he thinks and acts differently from the past.”  Indeed, physically, one does not change at all; however, mentally, one has become completely different.  When one becomes awakened, one’s mentality will be boosted so as to become more resistant to frustration.  To a person with his Buddha nature revealed, he will not be easily struck by the difficulties happening in his life.  It is because his vitality is radiating so that he becomes more popular and influential, and his force of assimilation is also well nurtured.  What is the assimilation? It refers to one’s mental strength that can assimilate others’ mind to be the same as one’s; namely, “the transmission of mind” claimed by the Ch’an School. 
 
When seeing the Fifth Patriarch, the Sixth Patriarch was asked, “Why are you here?”  The Sixth Patriarch answered, “I would ask for nothing but become a Buddha.”  Indeed, his only purpose was to become a Buddha, nothing else!  Why did he want to be a Buddha?  Originally, he was a Buddha; however, the Buddha was buried by the six Dusts.  The priceless gem that one originally owned was forgotten so that one wants to have it revealed by means of the Buddha Dharma.
 
I have been encouraging all of you to peruse Sixth Patriarch Platform Sutra, and its research reports written by our members have also been regularly published in our Ch’an journals.  It is because the words in the Sutra are so straight and explicit that every statement can be experienced in our everyday life.  When you realize its meaning and put it into action accordingly, your worries can surely be lessened and you will become stronger and delightful.  Therefore, to practice Buddhism, first is to “believe”.  One must believe that one is equipped with “the first class qualification for being a presidential candidate”; then one can go ahead with the campaign.  Identically, one must believe in one’s possession of Buddha nature, and one’s persistence definitely can lead one to become a Buddha.  The reason why some people fail to achieve it is that they do not obtain the right methods and guidelines.  Dharma teaches nothing but the method of becoming a Buddha.  When the method is right, one can succeed in achieving one’s Buddhahood.  It is different from the election of government officials, that only one president can be elected.
 
What Buddha preached was all about the methodology for achieving Buddhahood.  Buddha did not give any theories.  Huei-Ming chased after the Sixth Patriarch and after having been enlightened, he asked, “Besides what you just instructed, are there any more secret passages?”  The Sixth Patriarch answered, “If you can reflect on your mind, they are just on your side.”  Truly, if there are any more secret passages, they must be on your side, not mine.
 
There are parables of “three carts” and “a poor fellow” in Lotus Sutra, and some more can be found in the sutras, such as Hua-yen Sutras, Nirvana Sutras, Diamond Sutras etc.  It is because we do not understand them so that we think there are secret passages.  In fact, Buddha did not hide anything mysterious; on the contrary, he was so afraid that we could not realize them.  It is also applied to all the other religious classics because the description of life states written in the classics is so different from what ordinary people realize.  Therefore, even the language used is very explicit; people still cannot understand it.  It is simply because that our states are very different from saints’.
 
The statement in the records of Patriarch’s quotations claims: “When you have a stick, I will give you one more, whereas when you do not have one, I will even rob you of the one you are going to get.”  In the 13th Chapter of Matthew of Christianity, Jesus said, “Whoever having it will be given more; whoever does not have it, even what he has will be taken from him.”  What does it mean?  We do not understand it so that we think it is a mysterious passage.  Laozi said, “The eternity of the goddess of grains is Xuan-e, and the gate of Xuan-e is called the root of the universe.”  What does it mean?  We cannot understand it, because our minds are blocked.  If we can practice the methodology of Buddhahood to eliminate the blockage, to become a Buddha via seeing our true nature, and to raise our mental states, it will not be difficult for us to realize it.

To sum up, first, one needs to assure of one’s possession of Buddha nature, and is qualified to be a Buddha candidate.  Otherwise, one is burying and abusing oneself, lacking sufficient awareness, and should feel sinful for failing to achieve one’s Buddhahood.
 (2). Believe genuinely in causality
I have a friend who has been researching Buddhism for years, he said, “Many of Buddha’s words can be proved realistically, but not his statement of causality.” He continued to say, “I read a lot of your lectures, and you claim that all your speeches can be verified.  Can you verify causality?  I have seen so many people who keep doing evil and immoral deals, but they are still rich and arrogant.  They enjoy the fortunes gained from all those illegal deals, and feel so proud of themselves.  Why can’t we see them get their share of retribution?”
I responded, “Causal effects drift among three life cycles to manifest.”  It is because of your carelessness that fails you to see the retribution of causality.  If you are a Buddhist practitioner, your utmost sincerity, awe, and attention, as Laozi’s description of “being extremely unrealistic and tranquil”, definitely can drive you to see it.
Being a Dharma practitioner, we must believe in causality; otherwise, we will surely bring ourselves afflictions and pains to destroy our lives.  Practitioners live a life of causality.  Whatever you do, you immediately get its effect.  As the saying goes, “Mistakes must bring afflictions.”  Whenever you do something wrong, you will suffer its effect immediately.  It seems that someone is always watching you, looking after you and teaching you not to make a mistake.  Consequently, when you get retribution because of having done something wrong, you should take it as an honor and should not feel frustrated, because it is beneficial to you.  Some practitioners told me, “Before practicing Dharma, it seemed fine to make some mistakes; however, after practicing Dharma, whenever I make a mistake, I get punished straight away.” I told them, “Congratulations! You have been selected to be a Buddha candidate!  Your future is bright, prosperous, and you should feel cheerful!”  Again, this friend said, “I fully understand all your theories; however, how to see the immediate effect of causality?”

I said, “It can be verified.  For example, let’s look at two units in an apartment; they are either next to each other in the same floor, or in the same position but on different floors.  Both units have a completely identical layout.  One owner bought it with the money earned all by his own efforts; whereas, the other owner bought it with the money gained through all those illegal deals.  Though their layouts and lighting setups are totally identical, their inner atmospheres are very different.  The unit bought with black money looks dark, gloomy, stuffy, and even spooky, which makes the owner very uncomfortable and thinking to move away.  Nevertheless, if he moves to a new unit, the atmosphere of the new unit will be exactly the same as the old one.  It is because his money is all from illegal and immoral sources, which manifests the energy of evil crime so that they always feel uncomfortable and ill living in their residence. The phenomenon does not only happen to this owner, but also happens to all those who pay for their properties with their black money.  Now, we are in the times of science, you can verify my statement by getting a photometer to measure the lightness of the unit to tell the difference.  If it is not so, you can spit in my face.”
 
He asked, “Is there any more to tell?”  I said, “Yes! The harmony between their children and them is gradually losing.  Their children used to behave well, but now they become more and more rebellious. Why?  It is because every one of us has Buddha nature.  Though their superficial consciousness cannot sense the misbehavior of their parents; subconsciously, they feel dragged and contaminated by their misbehaving parents.  Therefore, rebellious intentions occur.  Why to be rebellious?  They do not exactly know why, but just naturally become rebellious.  If you are not careless, absent-minded, or hot-tempered, you can attentively probe into it and have it verified.”
 
He wanted me to continue, but I said, “Too much to tell!  Even I tell you more, but you would not practice what I say.”  Many people do not believe in causality.  It was not until their retribution arrived that they realized how terrifying it was.  Unfortunately, it is too late to know.  We do not intend to emphasize causality; however, we can find numerous records of causality in history.  If we can carefully observe on things around us, we will realize that all things and matters are formed by the aggregation of various causes, conditions, and effects.  The whole world is formed by the webbed interaction of causes, conditions, and effects.  We are all living in causality; how can we not believe in it?  For those who do not believe in causality, they cannot deal with their life to live well so that they create disasters for their future generations to bear.  How stupid they are!  Therefore, we must believe in causality.
 
 (3). Believe firmly in Buddha’s true speeches

The son of the above-mentioned friend of mine, (who is a teaching assistant in a university), also said, “Buddha’s statements are right, but I need to thoroughly research into it to believe.  Otherwise, it is a superstition.”  I told him, “Your words sound reasonable and logical; but realistically it does not work like that.”
 
The best way to evaluate whether Buddha Dharma is a superstition is to find a learned and moral person who you respect and ask him/her, “Do you believe in Buddha?”  If the answer is yes, you just follow him/her to learn the Dharma, and surely you will not go wrong.  It is because Dharma is infinite and boundless, yet life is short and changeful.  If you want to wait till you have finished a thorough research to believe in it, it may be too late for you to make it.”  He responded, “Can you give me an example?”
 
I said, “Of course, to take the Italian physicist and astronomer, Galileo, as an example, he firstly observed the sunspots and proved that the earth revolves around the sun. In addition, Polish astronomer, Copernicus, firstly formed the Copernican theory and published the book: “On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres”.  Both of them died in prison because of offending the Vatican at that time. It just happened in a few hundreds of years ago.
 
It was about 2500 years ago, Buddha claimed that the number of the worlds were as many as the sands of Ganges river.  Moreover, Buddha pointed at a cup of water and said there were 84,000 bugs in the water.  At that time, there was no science of astronomy, no electron microscope, neither any telescope, who would believe there were worlds as many as the sands of Ganges River?  And how could there be 84,000 bugs in the cup of water?  When dead cattle, horses, human bodies….were all dumped in Ganges River, the germs there could be much more than 84,000.  In about 2500 years later, human beings have discovered the Milky Way galaxy with continual development of science.  It is said that 40,000 galaxies have been found; however, some scientists claim that the number is only a fraction of the sum total.
 
Let’s stop counting how many galaxies are in the universe, and just focus on our own Galaxy.  Only by viewing its front side, we can find 20,000,000 planets.  If we multiply it by four and add a few more zeros at its end, what a super astronomical number will it become?  Even the Brahmajala World mentioned in Hua-Yen Sutra cannot tell Buddha’s perception of the universe, how could it be possible for you to wait till you have fully realized the Dharma to start believing in Buddha? 

Consequently, we must believe in Buddha’s true and realistic speeches.  What Buddha said is not only scientific, but also surpasses science.  It is not necessary for one to fully realize it to believe in it.  Only by looking at those who are superior to us in terms of their knowledge and morality, can we save our energy and effort to simply follow them to practice the Dharma.
 
 
 
II. Vow is the second guidepost for the practice of Buddhahood [Back to Top]
 
“Vow” refers to one’s wish and determination to pursue a yearning life.  Master Xuan-zang spent 17 years travelling to and from the West to collect sutras.  It took six years for him to arrive in the West and another six years for the return trip, and he also spent five years learning Indian Sanskrit there.  In the past, there were many people like him travelling to the West to collect sutras.  Identically, some foreigners also came to China.  As a journey through Silk Road was full of hardship and danger, people almost could hardly survive on the going trip and let alone the back trip.  Therefore, some people would just change their mind to settle down in China.
 
In the northern China and the province of Xin-Jiang, some Persian, Greek, Israel etc. can be found there. The Bible, which was written on sheepskin, of the oldest Jewish religion was found in Kai-Fong, a city of He-Nan province in China.  Why was master Xuan-zang determined to return to China without being defeated by all the difficulties and dangers?  It was his great vow supporting him to accomplish his greatest mission.  The great vow of Ksitigarbha bodhisattva, “I vow not to become a Buddha when the hell has not yet been emptied.”  Moreover, he claimed, “If it is not me to enter the hell, then who will be?”  Besides, Samantabhadra bodhisattva and Maitreya bodhisattva…. all have their great vows to accomplish, so they all have been our role models.              
 
To practice without a vow cannot inspire one’s mind to fully develop the highest value of life.  Failing to develop the value of one’s existence, one is leading a meaningless life.  Therefore, practitioners must embrace great vows in mind.
 
I asked some people, “Why are you learning the Dharma?”  The answer was, “Just for fun!  I saw some people learning it, so I just follow them. Anyway, I have nothing to do….”  This kind of motivation unlikely leads one to success.  Once some difficulties appear, they will feel frustrated and decide to retreat.  One must set up a goal, make up one’s mind, persist with one’s vow, and never become defeated; then one can eventually succeed.
 
Though to practice Buddhism with a vow is one’s goal of life and mission, personal achievement is subject to individual talents.  For those who vow to practice for all sentient beings, they are very likely to achieve Buddhahood.  People who are determined to practice the Dharma for eliminating their afflictions also have a great chance to be successful.  No matter what vow one is practicing with, one must be fully focused on it with one’s whole mind, personality, passion and reason.  Without this kind of will and vow, one cannot succeed in anything.
 
When a vow is strengthened with a strong will, the power generated becomes overwhelming.  Before the year of 1911, there was a beggar named Wu-Xuan.  Though being a beggar, he felt truly painful for being illiterate.  Therefore, he was very determined to vow to establish a school that can provide free education, wasn’t that a mission impossible?  He could not even feed himself with proper daily meals; how could he run a free school?  However, he eventually did it with his great will and vow.
 
He threw all the coins he begged into a well every day.  Time passed through the first decade, the second decade; then one day he decided to get all the coins out of the well.  Local wealthy people were all touched by his act, and decided to sponsor him; consequently, the school was successfully founded.
 
In order to revenge the insult of losing his kingdom, Gou-Jian, king of Yue, slept on a bed of twigs, and tasted bitter gallbladders.  Being a king of a country, he was entitled to live with pleasures, whereas he chose to lead an ascetic life.  It was because he had a vow in mind.  The vow of Buddha Shakyamuni was even more powerful.  He deserted his throne and strove to practice at Mt. Snow for six years; eventually, he achieved Buddhahood under the tree of Bodhi.
 
Consequently, we should live with a vow and mission in mind.  The most superb vow is to feel compassionate with heaven and humans, which means that all beings and I are co-existent.  It is because that all lives come from the ocean of grand awareness sharing exactly the same origin.  The basic essence of the life of all beings’ and mine is completely identical; therefore, we should properly use the energy of our original minds.
 
It is not sinful to become thought-provoking because of viewing scenes during the journey of practice, because we were born to learn and be trained in this life.  The point is that we cannot become attached. It is because an attached person will practice his vow simply for attaining his own benefits, which is a major fault.  Someone said, “I want to make a fortune to beat Mr. so and so, and use the money to make a great deal of merits!”  It is a delusion, and unlikely to come true.
 
You may see a tycoon who is very rich; however, you cannot realize how many merits his ancestors had accumulated and how much practice he did in his previous life.  Maybe he is simply a fallen angel! Everything comes with its cause, condition, and effect.  How could you easily get a great fortune?  One with this kind of “self-attached” vow is doomed to fail, which is a misjudgment of one’s capability.  If one’s vow is grand and selfless, and is an ideal not a delusion, it is very likely to come true.  If what you are doing can make both ghosts and divinities submissive and respectful, you definitely will succeed because both Buddha and heaven will be helping you.

III. Practice is the third guidepost for the practice of Buddhahood [Back to Top]
“Practice” means to implement; to put into action.  One needs to realistically practice to achieve a possible success.  As so-called, “A traveler can reach his destination; a doer can achieve his goal.”  All innovation and inventions result from constant practice.  If you only talk without putting into any action, how can you succeed?
 
I always say that it is not hard to practice the Dharma.  As long as you can treat Dharma practice as your sole interest, you definitely can succeed.  In regard to one’s work, whether you like it or not, you have to do it well.  We must live in fulfilling our responsibilities and obligations, mustn’t we?  When you have a family, you are obligated to look after it.  It is your obligation not an option for you to choose.  Besides, if you still have some spare time, you can play chess, bowling, etc.  Some people are energetic to enjoy more fun activities, such as arts, calligraphy, singing, dancing, swimming, and playing baseball.  However, if a person treats Dharma practice as his sole and irreplaceable interest, his practice definitely can transform his temperament and mentality to make him feeling very comfortable and free.  Eventually, he can achieve his Buddhahood in this lifetime.
 
In terms of Dharma practice, what does the most talented refer to?  It refers to a practitioner who is mentally persistent and determined, so that he can wholeheartedly focus on his practice with his full passion and reason.  Consequently, to practice means to do, and to do continually without any break. Some of our members would transcribe my lectures during their spare time, and said that the more they transcribed, the more inspired they became and their An-Hsiang also became deepened.  Someone rang to ask me, “Master, I could not understand how it happened!”  I replied, “I don’t know, either.  It has nothing to do with me.  If you don’t do it personally, you won’t have the sensation.”
 
Consequently, “practice” is very important.  If you just know but without doing any realistic practice, then what is the difference between knowing and not knowing?  In terms of practice, the key to maintain one’s An-Hsiang is not to become attached.  One simply pays attention to one’s own responsibility and obligation, and fulfills them so that one’s An-Hsiang will not be affected.  If one thinks illusively, one’s An-Hsiang will definitely be damaged and disappear shortly.
 
People can start their “practice” from wherever near and whatever minor.  Some people are overestimating themselves to claim that, “I want to rescue all sentient beings from their deep sufferings!”  They sound silly!  They do not have the power, and should start from saving themselves first.  Few years ago, I remember I quoted a passage from Sixth Patriarch Platform Sutra saying that “If one is practicing the Dharma, one should not mind anything.”  For your information, it has been compiled into a Ch’an song of An-Hsiang.  Indeed, if you decide to practice Ch’an, you should mind nothing.  The way you lived yesterday is identical to the way you live today.  You still can eat whatever you ate yesterday.  Truly, it is fine that you do not make any change.
 
As the quote goes, “That constantly discovering one’s own mistakes equates to genuinely practicing the Dharma.”  Dharma practice refers to always finding one’s own mistakes, but not others’.  If you keep criticizing on others’ faults, you must bring yourself worries.  Nevertheless, if you always find your own faults and try to rectify them, your worries can surely be lessened.  When you have rectified an error, you can feel its corresponding worries disappear at the same time.  On the contrary, whenever you find someone’s fault, you start bearing the share of its burden to increase your own trouble.  When you find everyone around you is making mistakes, you bring yourself a huge trouble and even cannot survive.
 
The last quote goes as, “Only by removing one’s differentiating mind, can one’s worries be eliminated.” Indeed, once the minds of right and wrong are removed, all the worries will be gone accordingly.  For many years, you have not introspected yourself and have accumulated all sorts of faults; no wonder you have had so many worries.  If you could rectify all your faults earlier, both your work and daily life would not be affected.  Why did you bring yourself all the unnecessary trouble?
 
Being practitioners of An-Hsiang Ch’an, though we do not specially emphasize on practicing precept, meditation & wisdom, or ignorance, aversion & attachment, neither do we set up many precepts to follow, I think simply by implementing this rule: “Never do anything that you will feel ashamed to tell others.” can sufficiently satisfy the requirement of our practice.
 
Once someone said to me, “Master, it is so hard to maintain An-Hsiang!”  I asked him, “Will you lose you temper?”  He replied, “Yes!”  I said, “How could you maintain An-Hsiang with anger?  In the song of Eliminating One’s Faults, it reads, “Anger may burn down one’s forest of merits”.  If you realize its meaning, you should not easily lose your temper.  You call me “”teacher”, so you are supposed to follow my instruction to behave, and to practice what I say.  If you have any loss by doing so, you may protest against me.  If you do not follow my instruction to practice, needless to call me “teacher” again!  It’s meaningless!”
 
Just try to recall the moment when you were in anger standing before a mirror, you could find your features looking totally different.  You also could feel yourself turning heavier and could not walk freely. Your breath was smelly and heavy, and your taste was lost.  You could not talk properly, became picky and fussy, and could not stop torturing yourself.  How miserable you were!  Anger can immediately lower one’s vitality, and does harm to both others and oneself.  What can anger change?  It can change nothing, truly!
 
One would rather harmonize one’s mentality, maintain An-Hsiang, develop Buddha nature, be tolerant, moderate one’s personality, and stop fighting against others.  Only by altering one’s mentality, can the whole external environment be changed accordingly.  What I say is completely true, not exaggerated at all.  When you have changed, you can see the change of others, too.  Looking at people you used to hate with the mentality of An-Hsiang, you will find them become lovable instead of hateful.  Only by practicing, can one realize it.  Consequently, “practice” is very essential.

IV. Verification is the fourth guidepost for the practice of Buddhahood [Back to Top]
“Verification” results from the persistent practice of one’s vow which is derived from one’s belief.  It verifies that Dharma practice will not end with nothing.  Moreover, the result will be successful and complete when belief, vow, and practice have been verified.  The verification referred to the Dharma practice equates to a verified effect, which means one’s practice has attained a certified status.
 
A certified status is a saint’s state that ordinary people cannot realize or speculate.  What has a saint verified?  Let us refer to a simple explanation from Buddhist sutras.  When a saint enters the methodology of non-duality, he is genuinely independent.  The genuine independence equates to the oneness of objects and self; everything in the universe is non-dual.  It is all one’s self.  There is nothing but oneself, which also equates to selflessness.  Self and selflessness are identical in the methodology of non-duality.
 
Why do we emphasize the methodology of non-duality?  Western scholars used to claim that the proto state of life is a “spirit”, which has also been acknowledged by modern scholars in the nations like Britain, USA, Germany, etc.  Greek philosophers name it, “a living unit”: a unit of life.  What is it?  It is very hard to explain and we cannot even see it by microscope.  Nevertheless, if we use parables to explain it, it will become much easier to understand.
 
For example, if the unit of our life is likened to a particle of water, H2O, we can see it everywhere.  No matter where water is, in the near, at the far, in the air, in the daytime or at night, it is always H2O.  If there is any difference, it is the phenomenon of its “transformation”.  Water has three forms, and human beings need to go through the states of babyhood, teenage, adolescence, middle-age, aging and death. Though having three forms, water never loses its property of moisture.  Therefore, there is little difference among all those new-born babies in the nursery.  If they are pushed backward to return to the state before their birth, they were completely identical.  Consequently, one equates to all others; everyone is one’s self.
 
An enlightened person only identifies with Buddha nature which is like “an unperishable diamond” as well as “uncontaminated purity”.  Though our superficial consciousness is very complicated, it does not contaminate our nature, namely, our Buddha nature.  That “It will never be changed by any condition and vice versa” refers to Buddha nature.  When one’s Buddha nature is revealed, one becomes truly independent.  The true independence makes one completely impartial with nothing to be against; one is everything and everyone.  When one has come to the state, one can even make a stone nod because one’s amiability and assimilation have reached at peak.  Indeed, it can make those still objects of the motionless world move occasionally. 
 
Chinese philosophers claim that “One origin can generate millions of different varieties.”  However, Buddhism emphasizes “Nothing is more than one”: multitude equates to one and vice versa.  Though there are a multitude of phenomena, their basic essence is the same.  It is quite close to the concept of ontology; however, it is more delicate and has even reached the state of non-duality between oneself and others.  It is a mentality with no differentiation and attachment at all.  Various differences in the phenomenological realm all come from our attaching minds.  If we are not attached to our own selves, and do not judge external things and matters with our own likes and dislikes, everything around us will stay harmoniously.  I believe somehow when your mentality reaches its best state during the journey of your practice, you will discover that every object in your house radiates a yellowish light.  It is very true that all objects are not lifeless.
 
Consequently, to a successful practitioner, who has verified his life to attain a certified effect, he is “genuinely independent” so that his feeling expressed is unconditional and empathetically compassionate.  He feels unconditionally sympathetic with all beings, and also feels empathetic of all beings’ pains.  In the mind of an enlightened person, he is not different from others at all.  His mind is completely occupied by others, which is the state of true selflessness.  The true selflessness is the grand self, which means that all is one’s self.  The genuine independence is not a relative one; it is the independence that solely exists in the universe.  When having reached to this state, one does not bother to mention anything about the independence.
 
The second characteristic of the person who has successfully verified his life is the “genuine freedom”. Unenlightened people are relatively free; or even not free at all; whereas, people, who have verified their lives, become absolutely free.  They feel truly free when dealing with life, death, pain, and joy.  You intend to make him suffer; he would not let you.  You want him to cry; he would laugh instead.  He is completely free.  All your tricks, traps and obstacles cannot interfere with him at all.
 
The third sensation a verified person has is the “genuine equality”.  Diamond Sutras state that “all laws are equal; no law is inferior or superior to others.”  Because it is “one”, so that it must be independent and equal.  The joy and happiness of ordinary people are built on many conditions.  Lacking of objective conditions, they are unlikely to be happy.  Nevertheless, Buddha’s delight is an absolute delight so that it is beyond any conditions.
 
When Buddha was born, he pointed to the sky with one hand while pointing to the ground with the other hand, and walked seven steps to claim that, “Within the universe, I am solely reverend.”  Please do not misunderstand Buddha’s claim of “I am solely reverend” to think that he was so arrogant to ask all people to listen to him.  It does not mean that at all.  In the records of ancient sages, it states that “Buddha is the messenger.”  Whom will Buddha deliver messages to?  Buddha stands for the universe to deliver messages.  The universe cannot talk, needless to talk, and has no one to talk with.  Therefore, those enlightened people represent the universe to deliver messages.  Since there is only one universe; therefore, “I am solely reverend.”  It also means that “all laws are equal”, and everything is equal.

V. Conclusion [Back to Top] 
Ch’an is the most direct and fastest approach for one to achieve one’s Buddhahood.  Everyone must believe in his own possession of Buddha nature, open his mind to affirm his vow and strive to purify himself with a concrete practice.  In the methodology of non-duality, doing equates to not doing, and vice versa, afflictions equates to Bodhi, having thoughts equates to not having thoughts, having forms equates to not having forms, and “Any speech will ruin the Tao; it has nothing to do with the past, the present, and the future.”  As long as you can maintain the present state of mind, I assure you all can achieve your Buddhahood.  In other words, you all can enter “the methodology of non-duality”.