The Ten Dharma Realms Are Not Beyond a Single Thought (Issue 288)

When the Buddha arrived at the Deer Park, he turned the Dharma Wheel of the Four Holy Truths three times for the five Bhikshus.

The first turning:

This is suffering, it’s nature is oppression;

This is accumulation, it’s nature is enticement;

This is cessation, it’s nature is that it can be realized.

This is the Way, it’s nature is that it can be cultivated;

The second turning:

This is suffering, you should know it;

This is accumulation, you should cut it off;

This is cessation, you should realize it;

This is the Way, you should cultivate it.

The third turning:

This is suffering, I already know it and need not know it again;

This is accumulation, I have already cut it off and need not cut it off again;
This is cessation,
I have already realized it, and need not realize it anymore;

This is the Way, I have already cultivated it and need not cultivate it any more.

After speaking the Four Holy Truths, the Buddha said, “Ajnatakaundinya, you are troubled by the guest-dust and have not obtained liberation.” When Ajnatakaundinya heard the words “guest-dust” he became enlightened. What is meant by “guest”? Guest is not the host. What is meant by “dust”? Dust is something impure. The self-nature is the host, and it is pure. So Ajnatakaundinya became enlightened. He was called “one who understands the original limit,” meaning to say he understood the basic principle.

The Shravaka Sangha, both men and women: Women can realize fruition, and so can men. Once they realize fruition, they are called Hearers, or Arhats. Dharma Master Kumarajiva’s mother, for instance, realized the third fruition of sagehood.

Contemplate and practice the four holy truths: Hearers contemplate and cultivate the four holy truths of suffering, accumulation, cessation, and the Way. They recognize suffering, cut off accumulation, yearn for cessation, and cultivate the Way, thus cultivating the Dharma-door of the Four Holy Truths.

Concealing the real and displaying the provisional: Some of the Hearers were actually great Bodhisattvas of the provisional teaching. They manifested as Hearers who practiced the provisional teaching; thus, they are said to be “concealing the real.” They hid away their true merit and virtue. “Displaying the provisional” means instructing through clever and skillful expedients. Don’t look down on them thinking they are just Hearers and followers of the Small Vehicle. Not all of them are great Bodhisattvas, but some of them certainly are. Those Bodhisattvas of the Great Vehicle manifest as followers of the Small Vehicle in order to gather in those of the Small Vehicle, and guide them to turn from the small toward the great. This is called “concealing the real and displaying the provisional.”