Appendix A.5. One Practice Versus Many Practices

In the Avatamsaka Sutra, there is this particular paragraph:

"If [the Buddha of] one of the Ten Directions becomes the Principal Buddha, then Buddhas of all other directions become the companions of the Principal Buddha. The same applies to the other directions. Neither the Principal nor the companions interfere with each other, and when the companions accompany the Principal, the union becomes perfect and full of virtues. Thus the Ten Directions become perfectly clear, enabling one to enter the many layers of the Dharma Realms. It is the same if we apply this principle to a lotus [with the flower bud as the principal and the petals as the companions]. One may apply the same principle to anything up to a tiny speck of dust. With this principle, one lotus carries Ten Meanings and has Ten Pathways. Apply the same principle to these Ten Pathways and they become a Hundred Pathways. It is the same if we consider the Dharma. Apply the same principle to these Hundred Pathways [of Dharmas] and they become a Thousand Pathways [of Dharmas]. Each pathway also contains a Thousand Pathways. Therefore, there are infinitely many Pathways."

To paraphrase this:

"If Buddhas from one of the Ten Directions become the Principal Dharma Speakers, then Buddhas from the nine remaining directions would also accompany them."

"Be it the Principal Dharma Speaker, or the audience, all are full of virtue and dignity, in a perfect union with each other without any hindrances."

"What is the nature of the Dharma Realm? One pathway can be divided into ten pathways, ten pathways can be divided into one hundred pathways, one hundred pathways can be further divided into one thousand pathways; this is the principle of Infinity."

"Just one petal of a lotus can expand to include the whole Dharma Realm. The macrocosm and the microcosm contain each other and lead to each other. Thus one pathway leads to all pathways and one pathway is the same as a thousand pathways."

I have quoted the above paragraph from the sutra in order to address the question whether one should devote oneself to just one practice [sadhana] or to many practices at the same time. Among my students, there are many who have a preference for the main Tantra practice and look down on the preliminary practices. These students want to learn quick practices as well as hundreds and thousands of different kinds of practices. Each day they shop around for something different to study, and they want to study whatever they find or whatever is in vogue.

Many students have asked me whether they should concentrate on just one practice or on many practices at the same time.

My reply is: "One practice is many practices and many practices are one practice. Unless one desires to become a master of the True Buddha School, one practice is sufficient."

I recommend learning just one practice at a time because, if one can thoroughly un-derstand and persist in one single practice, one will receive spiritual response very quickly. Whatever the practice, if one can concentrate on it with intensity, it is more effective than simultaneously practicing many practices. Realization will come very quickly if one practice is carried out vigorously with single-minded concentration.

In all the years of my cultivation, I have learned the many practices - one at a time. I did not learn a thousand practices at one sitting. After I obtained response in one practice, i.e., after I understood one principle, the principles behind a thousand other pathways were automatically revealed to me.

Obtaining spiritual response in one practice is tantamount to obtaining spiritual re-sponse in ten thousand other practices.

Possessing one pathway is tantamount to possessing a thousand pathways.

I know there is a person who has obtained Buddhahood and become merged with the Dharma Realm by concentrating persistently on only one practice out of the Four Preliminary Practices. So, spiritual response from just one out of the Four Preliminary Practices can lead to Enlightenment. This is the same principle as seeing the Universe in a grain of sand. After achieving realization through one practice, one understands all practices.

There are students who only practice the Guru Yoga and totally disregard all other practices because they understand the relationship of: the Holy-Red-Crown-Vajra-Master -Padmakumara-The Innocent Eye Tathagata-The Buddha Locana-The Five Dhyana Buddhas. This seems to stretch to Infinity. Penetrating deeply into the Guru Yoga, they find themselves in an extremely expansive realm and, with further penetration, they will understand the principle behind the Buddhas of the Ten Directions.

"One is all and all are one."

"One pathway is one thousand pathways and one thousand pathways are one pathway."

How many people in this world understand the unexcelled, mysterious working of the Guru Yoga? When one receives spiritual response in the Guru Yoga, one becomes Padmakumara and, after that, one becomes the Vajrapani, then the Innocent Eye Tathagata followed (at a deeper level) by the Buddha Locana and, deeper still, the Five Dhyana Bud-dhas. Thus, this one Padmakumara will be everywhere, at every moment, interpenetrating time and space. When one reaches such a realm, all the practices and their principles will be within oneself. What is there that one does not understand?

What if one practices the Jambhala (the Yellow Wealth Deity) Yoga for a month, then switches to the practice of the White Wealth Deity, and switches again a month later to the practice of the Red Wealth Deity, and then upon hearing that the Black Wealth Deity is more powerful, shifts again to the practice of this yoga, and then later shifts to the "Dakini Practice", the "Great Blessing Vajra Practice", and the "Wish-Fulfilling Pearl Practice"? One is darting from one practice to another. Wishing to obtain quick responses by dabbling in all practices, one does not obtain any spiritual response at all.

It is the same with the reciting of mantra. If one learns a mantra here, a mantra there, there will never be enough time - even if one does nothing else except recite mantras. Some cultivators recite more than fifty different kinds of mantra each day. Actually they are better off concentrating on one principal mantra, and reciting the other mantras only once, or three times a day. There are only twenty four hours in each day; if one recites one thousand eighty times for each of the fifty-some mantras, there is not even time left for meals and sleep.

There is a student of mine who devoted his practice solely to the recitation of mantras. He had learned close to a thousand kinds of different mantras, including pronunciations in Mandarin, Thai, Indonesian, Nepalese, Tibetan, Hindi, Ancient Sanskrit, and Bali.

Each day he practiced a different mantra. He told me that, as the size of his mantra collection grew, the more confusing it became. One mantra can have seven or eight different pronunciations. Different versions of the same mantra can have five, six, seven, or eight syllables. On top of this, a single mantra can have different interpretations of meaning.

Finally, he asked me which mantra should he choose?

I told him, "Just recite the mantras empowered by the Guru for you. Do not recite any others."

This student had become so obsessed with the words of the mantras that he had to recite a "hand washing mantra" when he washed his hands, a "bathing mantra" when he bathed, a "meal-partaking mantra" when he ate, an "exit mantra" when he left the house, a "walking mantra" when he walked, a "drinking mantra" when he drank, a "speaking mantra" before he spoke, a "toilet mantra" when he visited the toilet, a "getting up mantra" when he got out of bed, a "retiring mantra" when he went to bed, a "get-dressed mantrai' when he got dressed, a "mirror mantra" when he looked at the mirror, etc ....

I would like to tell everyone that there is no limit to the Buddha Dharma. The number of practices is also limitless. If one tries to learn every single practice there is, even if one has ten lifetimes, or even a hundred lifetimes to spend, one will not learn all the practices.

Therefore, it is best to concentrate on just one practice at a time. When one goes deeply into one practice, one will find that it has no limit. As long as one succeeds in opening one pathway, a thousand other pathways will be open to him.

I, Holy-Red-Crown-Vajra-Master, know as many as ten thousand practices, but all of them owe their origin to one single practice. I delved deeply into that one single practice until a spiritual response was obtained, then it expanded to include the ten thousand other practices.

Thus:

If one desires to understand,

All Buddhas in the Three Times,

One should observe the Nature of the Dharma Realm,

That all is created by the Mind.

For those who are interested in becoming acharyas (vajra masters) in the True Buddha School, they should start with one practice, concentrate on it until a spiritual response is obtained, then advance to a higher one until all successive levels in the Tantric practice are completed and the whole liturgy is understood. Then, with confirmation from the Guru, they can become acharyas.

In conclusion, concentrating on one single practice is better than learning several practices simultaneously.

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