Skillful Means

Commentary: This section explains the skillful means to be applied. "Fāng" (方) means a method; "biàn" (便) means fitting or suitable — every dharma-gate of the greater and lesser vehicles alike is generally called a "skillful means," that is, a method applied with skill, matched to the occasion, and suitably employed. The "skillful means" spoken of here refers specifically to the skillful means of carrying forward these five practices.

Having, in what came before, been provided with the five conditions — the supporting conditions needed to take up the path at all — and then having rebuked the five outward desires, so that outward dust cannot enter, and then discarded the five hindrances, so that inward obstruction does not arise, and further having skillfully regulated the five things, so that body and mind are properly settled — if one is further able to carry forward these five practices, then whatever one does, whatever one cultivates, every avenue of practice will certainly succeed. Should there be any deficiency in this, it may well prove hard to reach the goal at all, and no dhyāna-contemplation, nor the samādhi of buddha-recollection, will have any way to manifest! What is meant by "the five skillful means" is: aspiration, diligence, mindfulness, discerning wisdom, and singleness of mind. Anyone cultivating any avenue of practice at all must, without exception, have all five of these skillful means in place — not one of them can be missing.

Root Text: Now, cultivating calming and insight requires this skillful method, in five parts. The first is aspiration: the wish to leave behind every idle, upside-down thought of the world, and the wish to attain every dharma-gate of dhyāna and wisdom. This is also called resolve, also called vow, also called fondness, also called delight — this person's resolve, vow, fondness, and delight all being directed toward every profound dharma-gate, hence it is called aspiration. As the Buddha said: "Every wholesome dharma has aspiration as its root."

Commentary: The first is aspiration: aspiration is a joyful wish, carrying the sense of longing and needing. Accomplishing any undertaking in the world at all requires a heart of longing and aspiration before it can be brought to completion — and transmundane practice is exactly the same. The wish to leave behind every illusory, false appearance of the world, a revulsion from the upside-down wheel of rebirth, and the wish to attain every samādhi of dhyāna, every dharma-gate of spiritual power and wisdom, a joyful longing to seek them out — this is enough to show that this aspiration is not only the root of every evil, but can equally be the source of every good. Whether toward good or evil, whether toward leaving something behind or attaining something, this single word "aspiration" stands at the very head of it all.

This aspiration is also called resolve, since one sets one's resolve on the very effort of calming and insight; also called vow, since one gives rise to the vow to cultivate the effort of calming and insight; also called fondness or delight, as in taking fond delight in cultivating the effort of calming and insight. "This person" refers precisely to the practitioner: if a practitioner is able to set their resolve, wishing to seek out every profound dharma-gate of dhyāna-concentration, able to give rise to the vow and joyful longing for every profound dharma-gate of wisdom — through causes and conditions of this kind, it is called aspiration.

The Buddha said that every wholesome dharma has aspiration as its root. "Aspiration" is another name for joyful wishing and delight; now, in setting out to cultivate the dharma-gate of calming and insight, if one has a heart of fondness and delight in it, one will certainly be able to accomplish it — otherwise, one is unwilling to press forward, and completing it becomes decisively difficult. Hence it is said: "Every wholesome dharma has aspiration as its root." From this we know that this word "aspiration" is the very first skillful means for a practitioner, and matters more than almost anything else!

Root Text: The second is diligence: holding firmly to the precepts, discarding the five hindrances, applying oneself single-mindedly without pause through the first and last watches of the night alike — just as one drilling for fire never rests until heat is finally produced. This is called diligence in the wholesome path.

Commentary: This second is the skillful means of diligence. "Diligent" (精) means undiluted; "advancing" (進) means never retreating. While a practitioner is engaged in practice, the mind should be single and undivided, neither mixed nor confused, never resting, applying courageous, vigorous effort. Whatever practice one cultivates, what matters most is unbroken diligence alone — if one is not single-minded and undivided, reciting the Buddha's name today, listening to a sūtra tomorrow, sometimes sitting in Chan meditation, sometimes reciting a mantra, shifting like this from one intention to another all the time — even applying effort the whole day through, one arrives at old age having accomplished nothing at all. Is this not deeply lamentable? Tracing the fault to its source, it lies precisely in a lack of this undiluted, unbroken diligence — and so a practitioner who wishes to resolve birth-and-death and accomplish the buddha-path has no choice but to apply courageous, vigorous diligence.

What, then, is diligence? It means holding firmly to the precepts, discarding the five hindrances and six desires, pure both inwardly and outwardly — body and mind, inward and outward alike, applying diligence through the first watch, the last watch, and the middle watch of the night, taking each one up in turn, diligently cultivating and upholding calming and insight, alert yet still, still yet alert — even applying diligence by day and by night, constantly diligent through all six periods of the day and night alike; just as one drilling wood to produce fire never rests until the fire has actually appeared. This is what is called courageous, vigorous diligence, skillfully practicing the path of calming and insight.

Root Text: The third is mindfulness: bearing in mind that the world is deceitful and base, and bearing in mind that dhyāna-concentration is to be honored and treasured. If one attains dhyāna-concentration, one is thereby able to bring forth every outflow-free wisdom in full, every spiritual power and strength of the path, accomplishing perfect, complete awakening and broadly bringing sentient beings across — this is precisely what is to be treasured; hence it is called mindfulness.

Commentary: "Mindfulness" means bearing in mind — that is, the sense of correct mindfulness shining forth clearly. It means bearing in mind that the world's own dharma of the five desires is illusory and unreal, deceiving people and misleading them, in truth base and detestable; and bearing in mind that transmundane dhyāna-concentration and wisdom, excellent and wondrous beyond compare, are precisely what is to be honored and treasured. If one is able to attain dhyāna-concentration, one is thereby able to bring forth every outflow-free wisdom in full, together with every spiritual power and strength of the path, accomplishing perfect, complete awakening.

"Outflow-free wisdom" is precisely the wisdom of the unborn — the unborn being precisely the unceasing, that is, the outflow-free wisdom of what is neither born nor ceases. "Spiritual power" refers to the six supernormal powers; "the path" refers to the seven categories of factors of the path; "strength" refers to the Tathāgata's own ten powers of wisdom. "Accomplishing perfect, complete awakening" is precisely accomplishing the unsurpassed buddha-path.

As for "correct" awakening: the ordinary being's false awakening, the non-Buddhist path's deviant awakening, the two lesser vehicles' partial awakening, the bodhisattva's awakening still caught between two extremes, and even a merely middling awakening — none of these can properly be called true, perfect, correct awakening. Only the Tathāgata's own awakening deserves this name: reaching, vertically, to the very depth of the three time periods, and encompassing, horizontally, the entire boundary of the Dharma-realm, equaled by nothing at all, yet able itself to equal every dharma — hence it is called "true" and "equal." The Tathāgata's own three kinds of wisdom shine perfectly complete, the five eyes penetrating and illuminating everything — hence it is called "correct awakening."

Having realized the very summit of wondrous awakening, one then gives rise to compassion with no object at all, moving with a sense of shared identity with all beings, and so manifests a body throughout the six destinies, broadly bringing sentient beings across. Constantly, correctly bearing in mind matters of this excellent, wondrous kind — this is what is most to be honored and treasured; hence it is called mindfulness.

Root Text: The fourth is discerning wisdom: weighing the pleasure of the world against the pleasure of dhyāna-concentration and wisdom, and their relative gain and loss, weight and lightness. Why is this? The pleasure of the world holds little pleasure and much suffering, illusory and unreal — this is loss, this is the lighter side. The pleasure of dhyāna-concentration and wisdom is outflow-free and unconditioned, still and boundlessly at ease, permanently leaving birth-and-death behind, parting with suffering for good — this is gain, this is the weightier side. Discerning things in this way is what is called discerning wisdom.

Commentary: This fourth explains the skillful means of discerning wisdom. Anyone applying effort in practice must use skillful wisdom to weigh worldly pleasure against the pleasure of transmundane dhyāna-concentration and wisdom — which is gain and which is loss, which is weightier and which lighter — understanding this clearly, discerning it without any hesitation. Only in this way can a heart arise that turns away from the lower and delights in the higher; otherwise, unable to distinguish true from false, unable to tell right from wrong, one easily strays onto a mistaken path — hence one must observe this through discerning wisdom.

Worldly pleasure is a conditioned pleasure, impermanent and unreal — even should one obtain it, this pleasure is itself suffering, since pleasure never lasts, and in the end always comes to ruin; and ruin is itself the suffering of decay. Hence it is said that it holds little pleasure and much suffering, illusory and unreal. Taking delight in this is a dharma that destroys the Dharma-body and the life of wisdom — a dharma to be held lightly and disdained. The pleasure of transmundane dhyāna-concentration and wisdom, by contrast, is an outflow-free, unconditioned dharma — "outflow-free" meaning it does not leak into birth-and-death, "unconditioned" meaning it engages in no conditioned activity — deep and still, tranquil, at ease and unbounded within the nature of cessation itself, permanently leaving behind the cage of birth-and-death, parting for good with the wheel of suffering across the three realms. This is the dharma most to be honored, most to be treasured. Being able to discern all of this clearly in just this way is what is called discerning wisdom.

Root Text: The fifth is clarity of singleness of mind: clearly seeing that the world is to be feared and detested, and skillfully recognizing that the merit of concentration and wisdom is to be honored and treasured — at such a time one should, with singleness of mind, resolve decisively to cultivate and practice calming and insight, firm as vajra, unable to be shaken or ruined by any heavenly demon or non-Buddhist path, so that even should one gain nothing at all in the end, one still never turns back or changes course — this is called singleness of mind. It is like a traveler who must first know which roads are open and which are blocked, and only then resolves, with singleness of mind, to set out and press forward along the road — hence it is spoken of as "discerning wisdom" together with "singleness of mind." A sūtra says: "No dhyāna without wisdom, no wisdom without dhyāna" — the meaning lies precisely in this.

Commentary: Having, through discerning wisdom, already clearly distinguished that every conditioned matter in the world is entirely to be feared and detested, and having come to recognize that transmundane dhyāna-concentration and wisdom are a dharma to be treasured and honored, one must then, with a single, undivided mind, cultivate calming and insight. This "singleness of mind" is the singleness of mind of resolve itself, not the singleness of mind of already being in concentration — that is, a mind wholly focused and undivided, entering deeply through a single gate to put in real effort.

Vajra is the hardest and sharpest of substances, able to destroy every other thing while being destroyed by nothing. To say that the mind cultivating calming and insight is like vajra means it cannot be lured astray by others, nor ruined by demons or non-Buddhist paths — so that even should one gain nothing at all in the end, one still never turns back or changes course. It is like working a Chan meditation topic, resolved from the start to obtain a genuine breakthrough; or like reciting the Buddha's name, determined to reach a mind single-pointed and unconfused, never abandoning the effort halfway, with no divided intentions, focused single-mindedly with no thought left over — hence it is called singleness of mind.

It is like a traveler who must first know which roads are open and which blocked — the road of birth-and-death being blocked, not to be traveled, and the road of nirvāṇa being open, to be traveled — and only then resolves, with singleness of mind, to set out and press forward along it. What matters most is giving rise to no discriminating thought at all, and pressing straight ahead — never turning back, never changing course — hence it is spoken of as "discerning wisdom" together with "singleness of mind."

The sūtra says: "No dhyāna without wisdom, no wisdom without dhyāna" — precisely the non-duality of calming and insight themselves. Wisdom is precisely discernment; dhyāna is precisely concentration. First clarifying the resolved mind, this resolved mind is itself wisdom; and entering deeply through a single gate, entering the one without any falseness, is itself concentration. Without wisdom, one cannot cultivate dhyāna-concentration; without dhyāna-concentration, wisdom cannot be brought forth — the two relying on each other, each bringing forth the other in turn. Hence it is said: "No dhyāna without wisdom, no wisdom without dhyāna" — the meaning lies precisely in this.