All Dharma Doors Are Equal; Every Dharma Door Is a Tool

There are many, many Dharma doors in Buddhism. You often see many Dharma Teachers in Shenzhen or elsewhere teaching various Dharma doors and methods. Buddhism is said to have 84,000 Dharma doors—there are simply too many; even drinking tea and eating are Dharma doors. In fact, anything that can reach into you and prompt your nature of mind to reflect is a Dharma door; anything that can touch you at once and make you reflect is a method.

These Dharma doors are all tools, not the truth. No matter how good a Dharma door is, Dharma doors are equal: every Dharma door is a tool, like a toolbox filled to the brim with pliers, screwdrivers, axes, and hammers. If you feel that desire has pulled you along today, or something like that, pick up a hammer—or a screwdriver—to apply an antidote.

Some Dharma doors guide you. It is like being swept along by a flood and trapped inside a dam. Some Dharma doors are antidotes: “The flood has overflowed, hasn’t it? Fine, I’ll build you a dam and hold you back.” That is an antidotal method. Other Dharma doors say, “I’ll dig you a channel and lead you out, so you don’t hurt yourself so much.”

In other words, a Dharma door is nothing more than an antidote and guidance—it is a tool. All your methods—practicing meditative concentration or practicing anything else—are methods. For example, you may have heard of counting the breath, observing the breath, Buddha-recitation, and so on. Those are all tools.

Then there is sitting meditation, and eventually practicing things like yoga or qigong. These are all methods, all tools, and you can pick them up and use them. At the crucial moment, if it can treat your ailment, use it then.

Because you are attached there, you become ill and hurt; if it can be treated, take a tool and treat it. A screwdriver is fine, and a knife is fine—no problem. They are all tools. In other words, learn to use them flexibly. But, you must understand the highest view; you must understand the highest reaches of Buddhist learning before you can choose a tool.

(For these two hours, can everyone stand up, or do we have to keep sitting?)

It doesn’t matter; you’re completely free. You can move around at any time, sit down, or go outside. You can also make full prostrations outside or walk around. Anything is fine. But they said that last year everyone initially could not sit for long, then eventually sat for three hours continuously, and now there is basically no problem. So, if you do sit…

They simply have to think clearly about why they are sitting. Sometimes they sit and sit and cannot even figure out why they are sitting. Then I endure it; but now sitting down has become very easy.

In other words, a lot of theory has been added this year. This is not leg training: whether you sit for three hours or two, you are not sitting just for the sake of sitting. Studying Buddhism is not about training you to sit cross-legged; it is about settling your mind. “Settling the mind” is the key—in other words, we now have to look at quality. If I sit for three hours, how many minutes can I remain settled? That is the question.

Samadhi is not the key either. Buddhism is not about cultivating samadhi; samadhi only increases your capacity to endure. Samadhi also has a goal: when you are moving, you cannot see the impurities at the bottom of a cup clearly; when you become settled, you can see through to reality. It is only so that you can see clearly. So samadhi is not the endpoint; samadhi is there to let you see clearly what is at the bottom of your cup and see the illusory nature of your self.

But now, if they continue sitting, become settled, and their minds become still and clear, they make clarity and samadhi the focus. Yet throughout this process, there must also be continual Sutra teaching or Dharma talks.

In this ongoing process, they will gradually… Although they have not yet reached the four dhyanas and eight samadhis, the samadhi of an Arhat, or the samadhi of a Bodhisattva on the Ten Grounds, they have not reached those states; yet because the Buddha’s view keeps entering, they may possibly awaken at a very settled level—suddenly awaken, realize and enter reality, and realize and enter emptiness.

But because their own samadhi has not reached anything, this is not something they saw for themselves; it is simply that the Buddha keeps speaking, again and again, guiding them in. They did not realize and enter it themselves; the Buddha’s view guided them in.

They have all practiced very well—really quite well, I think, and genuinely quite well. They kept it up for more than a year last year. We practiced sitting meditation: at first, we could not even sit cross-legged for forty minutes, and now several hours are no problem. And as for their understanding of Buddhist learning, I noticed that at first they sat there staring straight ahead while listening to the teaching, whereas now they can begin to interact a little. It is as though a chemical reaction has begun. I think that is already remarkable.

(Does anyone stay here at night?)

No. There is still a company upstairs, and they put security in place at night, so everyone leaves; no one stays here. They simply leave late—some may not leave until eleven or twelve. You don’t need to sit cross-legged now; you can sit on a stool. Getting ready to sit cross-legged… is a little hard, I think. But if you like it and find sitting that way comfortable, let comfort be the guide. Raise the cushion a little behind you; if it feels comfortable, sit cross-legged.

That works too. Sometimes you can use a larger meditation bench or meditation chair and just sit for a while. Actually, for you, many things are already beyond this level; it is not about cultivating meditative concentration. Cultivating these things is no longer important to you. If you feel you must experience meditation as part of Buddhist learning, then for you, meditative concentration is not the key.

Because there are things you have already let go of. You know, the purpose of samadhi is endurance. Through samadhi, you endure: being able to withstand a level-two typhoon and becoming able to withstand a level-eight one—that is an Arhat’s cessation samadhi. This person becomes someone whom even this world’s bodily desires and external circumstances cannot sway; everything is like an egg striking a rock—nothing can move him. Some people seem to have this kind of samadhi naturally, as if they were born with it.

Most important, in the end, what a Mahayana Bodhisattva has to break through is attachment to appearances. Attachment to the appearance of self, attachment to the appearance of sentient beings. It is not that he has a self; it is that he clings to the appearance of self. Because clinging to the appearance of sentient beings is clinging to the appearance of self. So you distinguish which sentient beings are good and which are bad, and choose among them; you cannot see that all sentient beings are Buddha. That is clinging to the appearance of sentient beings. Clinging to the appearance of sentient beings is clinging to the appearance of Buddha—in other words, he still has a Buddha to become.

When he finally does not cling to the appearance of sentient beings or the appearance of Buddha, everything turns out to be just this way. It always was: every mote of dust, every flower, every leaf contains complete Buddha-nature; all are manifestations of emptiness, and all are manifestations of you.

Actually, the final perfection cannot remain only at the level of view; it still requires cultivation and realization. In other words, if you understand it only in theory but do not have time to perfect this aspect, sometimes habitual tendencies and desire will still pull you along; sometimes you will still be troubled and uneasy, disturbing your own ease and clarity. And sometimes joy does not come easily; true joy from within will spread out.

Every so often, break through the appearance of sentient beings and the appearance of Buddha, and I think that’s OK. There is no Buddha to become—we already are. It is just that, over time, the eye faculty becomes somewhat stained. The eye faculty sees: “How did this Buddha become like this?” It makes distinctions. You know that everything is Buddha, but when I look at this Buddha, I still find him displeasing. “Why has this Buddha manifested in such an uncomfortable way, making me find him so displeasing?” This is making distinctions. There are still some things in our eye faculty. Because we cannot see the saha world as the Land of Ultimate Bliss, this makes us uncomfortable.

Actually, in the later stages, all cultivation and realization is about breaking through this appearance, the appearance of making distinctions, the appearance of emptiness, and the appearance of making distinctions. At this point, if you have depth of practice in meditative concentration, it is too easy—you will not move at all, not even a single hair. But without meditative concentration, you can simply awaken suddenly through cognition, realize and enter it, and that is OK; it is complete.

Of course, cultivating meditative concentration has another benefit: through meditative concentration, you can open spiritual powers. So, if you like, you can cultivate meditative concentration. When your samadhi is strong, inner qi and energy gather, and some chakras may open. But you know, if the highest view cannot be reached, what has been opened and unblocked will become blocked again. If the highest view is reached, it will be fully penetrated; everything will be open—once it opens, everything is open.

So many people practice for decades, directly working on the physical body. Their view has not arrived, so they always practice inside this bodily shell of the self and cannot become one with Heaven and Earth. Because there is an “I,” how can they become one with Heaven and Earth? With an “I,” you are separated from this world.

Even if there is only a small self, no matter how great that small self’s energy is, at the level of consciousness, as long as there is a self—as long as there is anything of self—you are separated from Heaven and Earth. Then his energy channels are only this 1.6 meters, only this much; how can he penetrate Heaven and Earth and absorb the energy of the universe? He merely becomes still and slowly gathers it, having some sensations and experiences, struggling within his own physical body.

When we are moving, we cannot sense what is inside. As we slowly become still, we may even hear the sound of blood flowing and the heart thumping away, as if spiritual powers had appeared. In fact, once anyone becomes still, they may reach this; when it is very still, completely still, those are simply some normal human functions. Seeing flashes of light and shadows and so on, one thinks spiritual powers have appeared, but they have not.

You have to open the self, then become one with Heaven and Earth and draw on Heaven-and-Earth energy to complete your energy channels. Open them in this way and open all the chakras; spiritual powers will appear. This is completed through samadhi; it also depends on nourishing and gathering qi: slowly not moving, the body and mind not moving, utterly still, neither body nor mind moving.

If you come out to save sentient beings or do things, your body and mind have to resonate with the frequency of sentient beings; you have to move and save them. But when you return to retreat, let body and mind become utterly still. Sit there and gather that energy sphere, slowly, slowly… It is hollow inside; the middle must be empty. This is a truth of the universe.

The energy sphere is hollow inside—that is the dan. It gathers, gathers, gathers, gathers, gathers; as long as you do not move, its volume contracts inward, contracts, contracts, contracts, contracts. In the end, what is truly empty will explode. As its volume grows smaller and smaller, after the explosion it becomes the dan, which will break open all your energy channels and transform the chakras.

Every cell keeps exploding and transforming, then changes from qi into an energy sphere and becomes light; entering the light is the level of the celestial beings, and you may develop the energy of the divine eye.

Even if the divine eye has not opened, you look at this world with ordinary eyes… The level of celestial beings easily becomes attached to purity—clarity, that is; clinging to purity leads one beyond the worldly. This person feels that they are no longer worldly, that they have gone beyond the worldly; they do not care much about many worldly benefits and such things.

But he leans, leans closer to stillness. He thinks purity and stillness are good, likes that kind of quiet life, likes evenness and purity, likes perfection, and so on. This is the celestial-being level; it is the transformation of the energy channels to the celestial-being level.

But suppose his nature of mind has already been completed. Then, at the level of light, he will not enter the celestial-being realm again or become attached to the affairs of celestial beings. He knows: so what if he sees something dirty? He will not make distinctions. Although the eyes still like looking at beautiful things, they do not reject dirt; they accommodate and embrace it.

This means that the view is already in place. Then the light keeps gradually transforming, eventually entering a state resembling luminous emptiness or the void. It is simply brightness without light; this is one level. Then this emptiness is finally broken through. There is no void; appearances begin to arise within this emptiness. Appearance arises in emptiness; true emptiness begins… In Buddhism, this is emptiness giving rise to wonderful existence.

Then the appearances that manifest are not confined to a single path; the Three Realms and Six Paths are all within them. You can see that all the many lives in the universe are here, manifesting from your appearance of emptiness.

Then, when you manifest, you still do not cling to appearances. You know that whether it is this manifested appearance of emptiness or an appearance with marks, all of it is illusory. Break through both sides again, and that is completion. At that time, what you manifest is reality—that is what is called reality.

What is reality? Whatever it is, is what it is. Nothing special: when you drink water, you drink water. Why are you struggling with emptiness and becoming one with Heaven and Earth? Don’t struggle with anything.

This is a series of physiological transformations, but it is also intimately connected with your mind. If your nature of mind cannot reach it, the transformation of the energy channels ultimately cannot reach it either. The power of exhaustion of outflows, the five eyes, and the six spiritual powers still cannot be reached.

But if your view reaches that point and you keep retreating, then over the course of several years you may gather the energy, and all five eyes and six spiritual powers may appear. That is how you begin the physiological cultivation and realization.

But when some people practice until they transform into light, once the level of light is very high, they transform into a rainbow body and leave; they lose interest. You know, the time varies from person to person. If the view reaches the highest level, then perhaps he will practice. For example, suppose you have reached the highest level now and want to cultivate the physical body. But this physical body is, after all, a body; once you subtract eating, drinking, urinating, defecating, sleeping, and socializing, there is not much time. Even if you retreat completely, apart from sleeping, eating, and so on, it may take ten or twenty years to transform this entire body into light, every cell into light. That takes time.

Then, after practicing for another ten or twenty years, it actually becomes meaningless. Sometimes you think, “Why am I cultivating this physical body? This stinking skin-bag will have to be discarded sooner or later.” Even if you cultivate it to be beautiful, turn it into a Form Body, make it capable of anything and full of spiritual powers, you could play with everyone and change your appearance for them: “I’m just playing with you, I’m just playing with you.” It would be like doing magic, changing into a woman or changing into a man. It becomes meaningless. No one keeps struggling with this in that way; they feel somewhat… they simply stop playing with everyone.

That is to say, when you reach that point, you have actually already returned. You do what you can for everyone, doing your best. You know, even if you complete the transformation of the Form Body, it does not help sentient beings very much; it only makes them say, “Wow, the teacher is so amazing. I’ll learn from him too.” It merely increases everyone’s curiosity and desire.

Precisely in order to arouse the aspiration to realize Buddhahood, he must know from within that this world is illusory, along with the suffering of his life’s samsara. He wants liberation; he has this desire. It is not about making him envy anything about you. That is why the Buddha does not use spiritual powers to save sentient beings.

But it is not that they are never used, because spiritual powers are tools too, and some people can use them. If your view is in place and you also possess spiritual powers, that is somewhat better. But there is no need to deliberately spend ten or twenty years transforming these cells and this body. By the time the transformation is complete, we will be old too, won’t we?

Even if we became young again and returned to the age of sixteen, would you prepare to live another lifetime in this world? Live all the way through again from sixteen—it would be meaningless. Besides, many causes and conditions have been missed, and many sentient beings who had affinities with you have already died.

View is very important; for the final completion, view is extremely important. With the view in place, break through all kinds of appearances and break them completely. What remains is for you to choose how to practice: choose retreat, cultivation of the energy channels, cultivation of the body, coming out to spread the Dharma, or benefiting others in some way, and so on. That is your choice.

But generally speaking, once everyone has cultivated and realized to a certain point, they will come out because of their compassion. At a certain point, that love and compassion appear. You awaken and see that sentient beings are suffering so much in there; and it is easy for you to bring them out from the point of their attachment. Why would you not bring them out? Generally, they will give up their own cultivation.

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.