Can We Become Buddha? (1/2)

 

 All Buddhas have the ten epithets. This means that all Buddhas have perfected their wisdom and virtues and have attained the ultimate enlightenment. To make this happen, however, Buddhist followers must take refuge in the Triple Gems and must make the Four Great Vows that mark their initiation into the bodhisattva path and indicate their continuing aspiration to seek Buddhahood.

 The Four Great Vows are the following: (1) however innumerable sentient beings may be, I vow to save them all; (2) however inexhaustible afflictions may be, I vow to eradicate them all; (3) however immeasurable the teachings may be, I vow to study them all; and (4) however difficult the unsurpassed  Buddhahood Path may be, I vow to complete it. When we have wholeheartedly taken these vows, our thoughts of them will constantly strengthen our conviction to attain Buddhahood throughout the predetermined 52 cultivation stages, regardless of the obstacles that may appear on our way. One cannot achieve Buddhahood without going through all these cultivation stages and without accumulating merits and wisdom.

 All Buddhas are equal as they all hold the following ten epithets: “the Tathāgata; the Worthy of Respect; the Enlightened; the Perfected in Wisdom and Conduct; the Well Departed; the Understander of the Secular World; the Unsurpassed; the Tamer; the Teacher of Gods and Men; and Buddha (bhagavān), the World-Honored One” Yogacarabhumi-sastra, Vol. 38. These are called the ten epithets of the Buddha, each representing a magnificent aspect of the Buddha’s mundane and supramundane wisdom, virtues, and inconceivable powers. One who fully possesses these ten virtues and wisdom powers is called Buddha.

 The Buddha passed down his teachings to guide his disciples toward attaining Buddhahood through the predetermined 52 cultivation stages. Given that all sentient beings have different capacities, the Buddha’s teaching methods make use of expedient means, all of them adapted to each individual’s capacities. First, the Buddha taught the Five Precepts and the Ten Virtues for his disciples to uphold moral integrity and ethics. In addition, we know that doing good and virtuous deeds will also facilitate our Buddhist cultivation path or even enable us to be reborn in the heavenly realm as celestial beings with longevity in the future. Thus, after learning the Buddhist teachings of wholesome dharma related to the human and heavenly realm, the disciples will know how to live best as humans in their current life to ensure rebirth into a better human state or rebirth as celestial beings in the future. Thus, the 52 cultivation stages are our guiding map for becoming a Buddha. With this map, along with our overall understanding of the prajna wisdom, merits, and virtues of the Buddha, we can build up our confidence in attaining Buddhahood.

 According to the teachings of Yogacarabhumi-sastra, wisdom can be categorized into two types: mundane wisdom and transmundane wisdom. Mundane wisdom belongs to the open-learning concept, similar to humans being “students” since birth and acquiring various experiences and knowledge to make a living or to survive during their current life. Transmundane wisdom, on the other hand, denotes liberation from the three realms and is a uniquely Buddhist wisdom. The term liberation suggests that a sentient being can step out of the stream of transmigration. In other words, Buddhist transmundane wisdom refers to the choice of experiencing the path to liberation and the path to Buddhahood.

 The teachings on the path to liberation are about how to transcend samsara, leaving the three realms of existence behind and attaining nirvana. On the other hand, the path to Buddhahood is about initially attaining awakening to the true Self (aka personal realization of the existence of the true Self, the origin of the dharma realm). In Buddhist terms, it is stepping across the threshold to gain prajna wisdom, enabling bodhisattvas to understand the true meaning of the Mahāprajñāpāramita-sūtra.

 According to the Buddha, all sentient beings innately have a Buddha nature (reality suchness) and can become a Buddha through the sequential and persistent cultivation based on their Buddha nature. Helping others is a way of cultivating our merits and virtues, which will enhance our wisdom in dealing with all matters.

 In light of the foregoing, attaining Buddhahood denotes the process of perfecting two different fields; that is, bodhisattvas can extensively benefit others outwardly and at the same time experience and enhance their prajna wisdom by reflecting on and changing their negative qualities in their thoughts and behaviors. This way, the adverse habitual seeds stored in their Buddha nature can be purified, and they can thus slowly but surely completely traverse the cultivation path toward Buddhahood. After fully going through the predetermined 52 cultivation stages and obtaining the perfect wisdom of a Buddha, we will then be able to largely benefit all beings, like a Buddha, while abiding by the state of nirvana. We can fulfill the Four Great Vows we initially made as Buddhists.

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