Tools for Attaining Enlightenment

The first is to gather energy and keep it within. But you should learn more Dharma doors and see where to use these tools. A Dharma door is a tool: if you are very agitated today, use it to settle your agitation; if you lack concentration today, use it to restore your concentration; if you want to gather energy today, use it to gather energy.

You need to know how to use those tools yourself. It is not about deliberately thinking, “This tool is definitely for cultivation and realization.” No. All the Dharma doors are simply a treasure chest sitting there, with screwdrivers and pliers inside—just those things. Use them however you like; it is up to you.

Say I want to crack a walnut: I take a big hammer, and that is fine, as long as I do not smash myself. Say I want to crack a walnut: I can do it with a small pair of tweezers; I am strong, so I just squeeze it gently with my hand. Then use a small pair of tweezers. Everyone, depth of practice differs. Some people are relatively strong; they take a… Maybe some people have to pound it with a big hammer and still cannot break it, right?

From the very beginning too, you adjust yourself; you should adjust the Dharma doors. This point has been made all along. Group practice is simply everyone practicing together. At first, you still do not have too many thoughts; everyone is scattered. Actually, everyone is the same: in the beginning, everyone is very scattered, everyone has aching legs, and we are all facing the same problem, so we practice together. Practice, practice, practice, practice—and once the gap opens up, each person makes their own adjustments.

Even while sitting there, you can use some methods. Some people can sit still; some cannot. In group practice, everyone starts from the same starting line: everyone is the same, facing the same problems—scattered at the start, aching legs at forty minutes; everyone has this problem. If you can break through that, then there is a shared method. Once you have made a breakthrough with this shared method, the remaining work of adjusting the mind is up to you.

Keep cultivating. You cultivate the Mahayana path; if you want to realize Buddhahood, there is no way around practicing the Bodhisattva Path. One is arousing the aspiration; the aspiration is a source of motivation. You say: “I want to realize Buddhahood. In this life, I absolutely must. I want to go. I only… Unless I have not heard the Buddha-Dharma; once I have heard the Buddha-Dharma, I must earnestly recognize that this is the highest view in life. I must keep going.” That is the power of aspiration; it gives you motivation. For this goal, you will overcome some difficulties.

Then there is conduct: practicing the Six Perfections—giving, upholding the precepts, patience, diligence… Keep learning what the Six Perfections entail; keep doing so regularly. Then, amid the dust of the world, keep observing with awareness, keep using a mind without attainment, and then arm yourself with the Buddha’s highest view.

You are Buddha to begin with; you are only being cleansed, so do not say that you are going to turn from an ordinary person into a Buddha. Do not cling to appearances, and so on. In fact, it is simply these Dharma doors.

The smaller Dharma doors are simply Buddha-recitation, awareness and guarding the mind—you have all been taught these before—contemplating the breath, contemplating thoughts, cultivating the ear faculty, reversing the hearing and listening to one’s self-nature, listening to sounds, and so on. Right, whichever one seems better to you these days, use that one.

Note: This text was prepared from a teaching video by Yang Ning. If it differs from the video, the video takes precedence. Watch the video.