How Can We Become Buddha? (2/2)

 

Having taken refuge in the Three Jewels and upholding the vows to attain the full and perfect enlightenment of a buddha (anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi) as bodhisattva practitioners, we will require cumulative and unremitting practices to complete the Buddhahood path in the three incalculable kalpas to become a buddha. Enlightenment also involves us accumulating the correct views of prajna (unique Buddhist [intellectual] wisdom derived from awakening to the true Mind, tathāgatagarbha). All Buddhas have the four types of untainted wisdom upon attainment of Buddhahood as all vijnanas (consciousnesses) of a Buddha are transformed into wisdom. Thus, acquiring prajna in Buddhist cultivation is significant for the attainment of Buddhahood  

Magnificent Features of the Buddha

It takes sentient beings at least three incalculable kalpas to complete the cultivation of Buddhahood. The bodhisattva of sublime enlightenment has experienced and fulfilled all these inconceivable times of cultivation. He only needs to complete his attainment of Buddhahood in his final life (one lifetime) as a bodhisattva before becoming a Buddha. That is, He will manifest the eight archetypal events in the life of a buddha for us to witness. When the bodhisattva of sublime enlightenment becomes a buddha, he will have not only the ten epithets of the Buddha but also all the other characteristics of a buddha, including the ten powers, four fearlessnesses/self-confidences, eighteen unshared factors (distinct attributes) of the Buddha, thirty-two major marks, and the eighty secondary marks of a great man.

Encountering the bodhisattva of sublime enlightenment seems almost unthinkable for most of us in the Dharma-ending era, let alone directly meeting the Buddha. Nonetheless, we ought to feel fortunate enough that the Buddha’s teachings are still around in the Saha (secular) world for us to follow. Fundamentally, our cultivation process will revolve around accumulating merit and virtues and enhancing two types of wisdom for attaining awakening to our true Mind, Tathāgatagarbha. With the guide map of 52 predetermined cultivation stages, we can pinpoint our current level of achievement and know how to navigate our way further.

The 52 Cultivation Stages

The 52 predetermined cultivation stages taught in the Flower Garland Sutra (Avataṃsaka Sūtra) are the stages of ten faiths (i.e., accumulated faith in the buddha Dharma will take one to ten thousand eons to accomplish), ten abodes, ten practices, ten dedications, and ten grounds (daśabhūmi), plus the two stages of awakening: virtual enlightenment (dengjue) and sublime enlightenment (miaojue). These are the 52 cultivation stages for becoming a buddha.

The Buddha also explains that only in his teachings will we learn how to attain any of the four degrees (fruitions) of sanctity: stream enterer (srotaāpanna), once returner (sakrdāgāmin), nonreturner (anāgāmin), and arhat or pratyekabuddha. The discourses in all the sutras will lead sentient beings to correctly generate both types of wisdom through the gradual cultivation process of the Path to Liberation, Path to Buddhahood, and the desire to be of benefit to all other beings. Notably, we will not achieve Buddhahood if any one of these is missing.

Two Types of Wisdom

 Mundane Wisdom

The principles taught during the Three Turnings of the Dharma Wheel differ from the novel technologies and open-learning concepts prevalent in the mundane contemporary world. The Buddha Dharma is not developed and does not evolve into doctrines predicated on the gradual progression of the open-learning process from the simplest to the more complex. The mundane learning process refers to the basic human instinct of survival, such as procuring food and having sex. As we grow up and start to build up our knowledge, we tend to pamper ourselves even more from what we learned and try to satisfy our ego through research and development (i.e., the more complex technologies and civilization). These make up mundane wisdom.

Transmundane Wisdom

In contrast, the contents of the buddha Dharma as a religion were established by the Buddha, who had personally attained the unsurpassed and perfect realization of the prajna. A buddha’s wisdom is achieved through the 52 predetermined stages of the cultivation process for bodhisattvas. These stages serve as the backbone structure that Buddhist disciples must follow. Practitioners who have initiated the bodhicitta mind can pursue the goal of achieving each stage; the crucial threshold is to attain awakening to the true Mind first (enlightenment), thereby bringing forth the prajna, and based on this prajna, we can progress sequentially to the higher stages and eventually achieve Buddhahood. Given that the final Buddhist goal is to transcend the stream of transmigration within the three realms, any worldly attachment will hinder the Path to Liberation. That is to say, human development and civilization are an endless cycle of impermanent phenomena of birth, sickness, aging, and death. Therefore, Buddhists deem the phenomenal world as impermanence, suffering, emptiness, and eventually selflessness. When we gear our behaviors, thoughts, or cultivations away from mundane affairs or phenomena, we are developing and acquiring transmundane wisdom.

Conclusion

As we advance in an orderly way through the 52 cultivation stages with the help of buddhas, we will ultimately perfect the four types of wisdom of a buddha, whereby the eighth vijnana is transformed into the grand perfect mirror wisdom (ādarśa-jñāna), the 7th vijnana is transformed into the wisdom of equality (samatā-jñāna), the 6th vijnana (mental consciousness) is transformed into the wisdom of wondrous observation (pratyavekṣa-jñāna), and the five other vijnanas are transformed into the perfect-achievement wisdom (kṛtya-anusthāna-jñāna). Hence, acquiring both mundane and transmundane wisdom is like making both our legs work harmoniously for us to move forward steadily in our cultivation path. Constantly applying both types of wisdom in our daily life will assist us in many aspects of our practices to attain Buddhahood throughout the three incalculable kalpas.

#Buddha #Buddhism #vijnanas #52cultivationstages #mundanewisdom #transmundanewisdom #dharma #eightvijnanas #prajna #bodhicittamind #enlightenment #buddhahood #liberationpah #Avatamsakasutra #kalpas #threejewels #tathāgatagarbha #streamenterer #arhat #pratyekabuddha