..續本文上一頁ons who can see every-thing clearly for a few dozen miles around them. Others can see things underground, through walls, or in people”s pockets. However, if they do not pursue cultivation, their special faculties diminish with time and, in the end, they become just lik e everyone else. Some persons, having read a book once, can close it and recite every line without a single mistake. Others have a special gift for poetry, so that whatever they say or write turns poetic. However, if they do not pursue cultivation, they sometimes end by rejecting the Dharma.

　　An eminent Master once commented that such persons had practiced meditation in their previous lives to a rather high level and reached a certain degree of attainment. However, fo lowing the Zen tradition, they sought only immediate awakening to the True Nature, severing attachment to the concepts of Buddha and Dharma (i. e., letting the m ind be empty, recognizing no Buddha and no Dharma). Therefore, those who failed to attain Enlightenment were bound to undergo rebirth in the Triple Realm, whereupon, relying on their mundane intelligence, they sometimes became critical of Buddhism. Even true cultivators in the past were thus; how would today”s practitioners fare compared to them

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　　As Buddha Sakyamuni predicted, “In the Dharma-Ending Age, cultivators are numerous, but those who can achieve Supreme Enlightenment are few.” And, not having achieved it, even with bad karma as light as a fine silk thread, they are subject to Birth and Death. Although there may be a few cultivators who have awakened to the Way, being awakened is different from attaining Supreme Enlightenment. During rebirth, they are bound to be deluded and unfree. In subsequent lifetimes, there may be few conditions for progress and many opportunities for retrogression, making it difficult to preserve the vow of liberation intact.

　　Concerning the retrogression of practitioners who have merely experienced Awakening, the ancients have provided three analogies:

　　1) When we crush prairie grass with a stone block, though the grass cannot grow, its roots are not yet rotten or destroyed. If conditions arise that cause the stone to be overturned, the grass will continue to grow as before.

　　2) When we pour water into a jar, though the impurities are deposited at the very bottom, they are not yet filtered out. If conditions change and the water is stirred up, the impurities will rise.

　　3) Take the case of clay which is molded into earthen-ware but not yet fired in a kiln. If it should rain, the earthenware would certainly disintegrate.

　　The strong probability that those who have merely experienced an Awakening will retrogress during trans-migration is similar to the above examples.

　　Furthermore, in the Dharma-Ending Age, how many cultivators can claim to be awakened to the Way

　　 Awakening to the Way is not easy. There was once a Zen Master who practiced with all his might for forty years before he succeeded. Another Great Master sat for so long that he wore out more than a dozen meditation cushions before he saw his Original Nature. As far as today”s Zen practitioners are concerned (with the exception of a few saints who have taken human form to teach sentient beings), the majority only manage to achieve a temporary calming of the mind and body; at most they may witness a few auspicious realms! Even if they have awakened to the Way, they can still encounter dangerous obstacles during transmigration, as previous-ly described. The path of Birth and Death, filled with fearful dangers for those who have not attained Enlightenment, is the same. Therefore, to claim that we should not fear Birth and Death is a superficial point of view.

　　Furthermore, over the centuries, the Dharma has met with difficulties in some parts of the w…

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