Chapter 24 - All Schools Are Of The Same Excellence

Even today, very few people really understand the term Buddhism. Actually Buddhism comprises the following of the teachings of Buddha Shakyamuni from India. Buddha Shakyamuni was a Self-Realized Enlightened Being who, in the practice of the realization of the ultimate Reality, achieved the utmost, complete accomplishment. At the highest level of Buddhism is the realization that all is Mind and nothing exists apart from the Mind. The highest ideal in human life is to achieve realization for oneself and others and to arrive at the state of perfect enlightenment and accomplishment.

If living beings follow the teachings of the Buddha, and place equal emphasis on understanding and practice, the innate Buddha Wisdom will be revealed. This is the great teaching of the Buddha.

Buddha Shakyamuni employed all kinds of practical and skillful methods to explain the doctrine of the Absolute, Ultimate Reality of All Phenomena. Thus:

To the people who suited the sravaka vehicle (the initial stage of Hinayana) - he talked about the Four Noble Truths.

To the people who could become enlightened through reasoning on the riddle of life (the second stage of Hinayana) - he talked about the Twelve Nidanas, or the Twelve Links in the Chain of Existence.

To the people who aspired to achieve Bodhisattvahood - he talked about the Six transcendence (Paramitas).

Buddhism has always utilized practical and expedient teaching methods, and the in-struction is different according to the capacity of the follower. Thus, many schools and sects have been developed and grouped into the so - called Eight Schools, Ten Schools, Thirteen Schools, etc. Among these are:

• The Abhidharma School - based on the Abhidharmakosha Treatise which is a study of the Four Agamas Sutra.

• The Satyasiddhi School (School of the Perfection of Truth) - based upon the Satyasiddhi Treatise which explains, in detail, the Four Noble Truths.

• The Marks-of-Existence School (Fa-hsiang School) - based on Six Sutras and Eleven Treatises, which explains the eight types of consciousness.

• The Madhyamika School - based on the treatises written by Nagarjuna and Aryadeva about the Mahaprajnaparamita-sutra, the teaching of Emptiness.

• The T'ien-t'ai School (School of the Celestial Platform) - based on the Lotus Sutra, which teaches tranquility and insight, from elementary meditative practice to define five realization of Emptiness.

• The Hua-Yen School (Avatamsaka School) - based on the Avatamsaka Sutra, which teaches the equality of all things and the theory that everything in the universe arisen simultaneously, out of itself.

• The Zen (Ch'an) School - which teaches the instant understandings of Budda Dharma by practicing Zen meditation.

• The Vinaya (Discipline) School - based on the studies of disciplines, meditating and wisdom, and on the Vinayapitaka, the third part of the Tripitaka. It also relies on actual practice.

• The Pure Land School - based on the Three Sutras and One Treatise: Sukhavativyuha (Sutra of Unending Life), Amitayurdhyana-sutra (Sutra on the Contemplation of the Buddha of Boundless Life), the Amitabha-sutra, and the Treatise on Rebirth in the Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha. It stresses actual practice to achieve rebirth in the Pure Land.

• The Vajrayana School - based on the Vairocana Sutra, the Diamond Apex Sutra, and the Three Secret Practices (body, speech, mind) to cultivate Tantra for the five stages in Vairocana Buddhahood.

Someone once asked me the ranking of these Ten Schools, and which one is the bests. I replied,

"They are all excellent and none are greater than the others."

However, people of the world have different ideas. People of the world are sectarian minded. Once one has learned from a certain sect, then only that sect is the best; the other sects are only second best, or third, or even last .... People of the world cannot understand, and will not awaken to understand the other sects. They will not concede to any others, even a little.

Since I have arrived at Lake Sammamish, I have learned that, from the east, a rice flows into Lake Sammamish; from the west, a river also flows into Lake Sammamish; from the south, a river flows into Lake Sammamish; from the north, a river naturally flows into Lake Sammamish, too. This is a revelation of experience: all rivers [paths] flow into the lake of Self-Nature, and they are all equal.

I deeply understand that, when Buddha Shakyamuni spent six years as an ascetic, witnessed all kinds of sufferings which the ascetics inflicted upon themselves. Some ascetic lived amid briery bushes, letting the spines cut into their bodies for long periods of time. Some stayed in water meditating, never coming on shore. Some burned their bodies as an act of prayer. Some lived in burial sites in the wilderness, undergoing total fasting. Some hung themselves upside down, exposing themselves to the scorching sun. Some starved, leaving their bodies uncovered. They were basically giving up all the pleasures in this world. All these methods were means used by the ascetics to kill their desires so they could reach a transcendental liberation.

Whether these methods are effective or just foolish and ignorant, they pursue one goal -to return to one's origin. Which of these methods, then, is the best?

In my opinion, all of them are equal and unexcelled, as long as they can really lead one to one's origin. At Lake Sammamish, I realize and understand that some people are always involved in purposeless dealings, contending for first place and for superiority. They accomplish nothing in their lives and their True Selves are drifting off to unknown places. How pitiful!

It is childish to scramble for supremacy!

Holy-Red-Crown-Vajra-Master speaks thus truthfully: True Buddha School is the unification of Tao, Sutra, and Tantra, and also the encapsulation of Zen, Pure Land, and Tantra. Our school, together with the aforementioned ten schools, are all excellent and unexcelled. In this True Buddha School, we share similar beliefs with the other ten schools and we have methods for authentic cultivation as well as established procedures. The Guru has, indeed, achieved Enlightenment and recognizes that every person has such potential. In the future everyone can return to one's origin, and everyone can become excellent and unexcelled.

Buddha Shakyamuni has opened Eighty Four Thousand Dharma doors that lead ultimately to one's origin. As long as intuitive Wisdom is attained, and one follows its guide, each person can be at the top and be the best.

People who start attacking each other after branching out into different schools are not wise. What we need to do after branching out is to become experts in the Buddha Dharma, attain the Intuitive Wisdom, follow the defined path, engage in actual practice until Enlightenment is attained, and then unify the ten (or more) schools back into one again!

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