廬山蓮宗寶鑑 10.20

10.20

"Dual cultivation" means cultivating merit and cultivating wisdom. The teachings say: "Cultivating merit without cultivating wisdom, an elephant's body hangs with necklaces; cultivating wisdom without cultivating merit, an arhat's offerings are scant. Only with the dual adornments of merit and wisdom can one achieve right awakening." An ancient worthy said: "Merit must be cultivated; wisdom must be studied." Longshu said: "Although practitioners of the Pure Land exclusively take buddhānusmṛti as their practice gate, they must also cultivate both merit and wisdom concurrently, so that phenomena and principle may be completely harmonized. Internally, cultivate wisdom: thoroughly nurture it, penetrate deeply to its source, make the nature of wisdom increase until it broadly encompasses empty space, with nothing unknown and nothing unillumined. Externally, cultivate merit: with compassion and expedients, gentle and compliant, benefit and succor the world; seeing all people, respect them equally; expound the Dharma according to their capacities, and teach sentient beings to practice all goods." This is the dual cultivation of merit and wisdom. Nowadays, there is a class of foolish people who constantly practice heterodox teachings, falsely claiming to be disciples of the Lotus School, and mistakenly point to dual cultivation to secretly engage in defiling lust. Creating the karma of hell, they lead good people astray to sink into sensual desires, willing to fall into perilous pits. Is this not absurd? They are truly fox-spirits and demons, no different from the beasts. The Śūraṅgama-sūtra says: "If sentient beings have no lust in their minds, they will not follow along with birth and death. You cultivate samādhi originally to escape worldly toil; if lustful thoughts are not eliminated, worldly toil cannot be escaped. Even if one has great wisdom, one will certainly fall into the demonic paths: the superior rank become demon kings, the middle rank become demon subjects, and the inferior rank become demon women. All practitioners must first sever lustful thoughts—this is called the first definitive, pure, and clear instruction of the Tathāgatas and former World-Honoured Buddhas. If one cultivates bodhi without severing lust, it is like steaming sand and stones hoping to make rice; though hundreds of thousands of kalpas pass, it will never be called rice. If you seek the wondrous fruit of the Buddha with a lustful body, even if you attain wondrous awakening, it is entirely the root of lust; with the root made of lust, one transmigrates through the three wretched paths and will never escape. By what path could one cultivate and realize the Tathāgata's nirvāṇa? You must cause the mechanism of lust to be severed in both body and mind, until even the nature of severing is nonexistent; only then can one hope for the Buddha's bodhi. What accords with what I say is called the Buddha's preaching; what does not accord with what I say is the preaching of Pāpīmān." Now I exhort lay bodhisattvas to cultivate in accordance with the precepts, not to violate them with heterodox misdeeds, to purify the mind and lessen desires, and to cultivate both merit and wisdom, dedicating them toward the Western Direction. Longshu said: "Cultivate merit and also cultivate wisdom; with deep faith, recite [the name of] Amitābha. You shall be born in the highest of the high grades—of this there is definitively no doubt." If it is not so, wishing for rice while steaming sand is a mere waste of effort; carrying firewood into a fire will surely bring ruin to oneself.