Buddha Ji
· By Instruction of The Most Holy One · Tianjin Dao Yuan
17th Day, 10th Month, Jiaxu Year · 23 November 1934 · Hour of Xu (7 – 9 pm) Attendants: Yun Shi (雲實) and Hai Cheng (海澂)
I. THE NATURE OF THE DAO
Does the Dao have a name? Does the Dao have a form? Originally, it had no name, nor does it have a form. And yet those who cultivate know this well: the Dao lies simply in cultivating one’s Heart-Mind (心) and nourishing one’s original Nature (性), and in nothing else.
II. THE EPISTEMOLOGY OF CULTIVATION
A cultivator who knows the Root (本) of Dao will surely come to understand its Function (用). One who understands the Function will gradually come to be enlightened by its Wonder (妙). Having grasped the Root, one may then explore the Source. By exploring the Source and knowing the Function, one may then attain the Profundity (奧). By being enlightened by the Mystery, one may then have clarity of the Mystery (玄).
When the Mystery is illuminated and the Wonder is known – when both the Substance (體) and the Function (用) of the Dao are fully grasped – then the Dao becomes inseparable from the self, and one can no longer turn away from it. The Root is established and the foundation is solid. The Dao has become integral and inseparable, for every single moment.
III. THE ETHICS OF THE SINGLE THOUGHT
Within the daily affairs and moral relationships of ordinary life, there is nowhere the Dao does not exist. Those who attain the Dao become sages and worthies; those who lose it become fools or fall into wrongdoing. The distinction between a sage and a fool lies solely in the presence or absence – the attainment or loss – of the Dao.
The boundary between Principle (理) and Desire (欲) is extremely subtle and lies in the finest of margins. The judgment between good and evil resides in a Single Thought (一念). If there is even the slightest error in that one thought, good and evil are already divided, and the difference between wisdom and folly is truly determined from that very moment. We who cultivate study the Dao daily and practice it daily – yet our purpose is no more than this: to rectify the Heart-Mind, to cultivate the self, and to align with the Dao.
IV. THE MISSION OF DELIVERANCE
To be neither too close nor too distant – this is to align with the Dao. To be without bias or leaning – this is to be aligned with the Dao. To be without worry or attachment – this is to be aligned with the Dao.
But to take Universal Deliverance (化度) as one’s own personal responsibility, and to make the Heart of Dao and Compassion (道慈) one’s own heart – this is to align with the Dao most fully of all. When the body and the Dao are unified, the person becomes a sage and naturally attains the wondrous mystery of the Great Dao.
V. A WARNING AND FINAL INSTRUCTION
Yet if a single thought is lost, the mirror [of awareness] cracks into great error. All becomes the regret of a lifetime. This is to abandon the Great Dao within the realm of the formless itself. How can one afford not to be cautious?
Every cultivator must therefore strive to seek the Way of Non-Action (無爲之道) through the means of deliberate Effort (有爲). And those who, through deliberate effort, can attain the True Essence of Teaching [眞宗] of non-Action – their root is established and their foundation is firm. Only then do they not fail in what it is to be a cultivator.
It is my deepest hope that each of you will establish the Root of the Dao through Non-Action and establish the Base of the Dao through Action. Be empty and void. Be tranquil and at ease. Follow what is Natural (自然). Through your own self-awakening, realization and steady progress, this shall be achieved.