Buddhism for Today, p35Those who believe sincerely in the Lotus Sutra and practice its spirit faithfully have already received admission to the highest, universal university, that of buddhahood. Knowing this, how proud we feel and how worthwhile our life becomes!
Our natural joy and pride in this fact must never lead to self-satisfaction, however. If we make this feeling our own personal joy alone, it is meaningless. This is the second important point of the Buddha’s prediction.
At the end of the second verse portion of chapter 6, Maudgalyāyana, Subhūti, Kātyāyana, and others spoke in unison as follows:
“Great Hero, World-honored One! /
Thou dost ever desire to pacify the world;
Be pleased to bestow our prediction”What they are saying is: “The Buddha always desires to make all the people of the world feel at ease. We also desire to become buddhas and to make them live in peace. Please give us your assurance of becoming buddhas.”
They do not mean that they alone be saved and become buddhas, or that they alone become buddhas and attain peace of mind. Their final purpose is to make all the people of the world happy. This is a most important point. We must understand that the real intention of these disciples in earnestly requesting that the Buddha give them his assurance of becoming buddhas lies in the fact that they wanted to obtain such freedom and power as to be capable of making others happy. If we do not realize this, we are likely to receive the mistaken impression that they asked the Buddha for only their own personal enlightenment and mental peace.
Category Archives: d9b
Nourished by the Same Living Energy
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p80The central message of the simile of the cloud and rain is that the Buddha’s teachings, the Dharma, is equally available to everyone. The Dharma can be found anywhere, ready to nourish each and every one of us. All living beings participate in a process in which they are nourished by the same living energy as everyone else, a living energy that Buddhists call “Buddha Dharma.” But we are not all alike. We live in different cultures, have different histories, use different languages, are born in different generations, have different abilities to hear and understand, and so on. This why the one Dharma has to be embodied in many different teachings and practices.
The Parable of the Blind Man
This post continues the “missing” portion of Chapter 5, The Simile of Herbs. This is from Leon Hurvitz’s Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma, which was published in 2009. I used this version of the Lotus Sutra for two cycles through my 32 Days of the Lotus Sutra starting on April 18, 2019.
Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma, p103-107When this had been said, the long-lived Kāśyapa said to the Blessed One: “But if, O Blessed One, the beings who have extricated themselves from the triple sphere are of assorted predispositions, is their nirvāṇa one, or two, or three?”
The Blessed One said: “Nirvāṇa, you see, Kāśyapa, comes from an understanding of the sameness of all dharmas. And it is one, not two and not three. For this reason, you see, Kāśyapa, I will fashion a parable for you. By a single parable men of discernment understand the meaning of what is said.
“Suppose, O Kāśyapa, that there is a man born blind. He speaks as follows: ‘There are no sightly or unsightly shapes, nor are there any viewers of sightly or unsightly shapes. There are no sun and moon, there are no stars, there are no planets, nor are there any viewers of planets.’
“Then other men speak as follows in the presence of that congenitally blind man: ‘There are sightly and unsightly shapes, there are viewers of sightly and unsightly shapes, there are sun and moon, there are stars, there are planets, there are viewers of planets.’ But the man born blind does not believe those men, nor does he accept what they say.
“Now there is a certain physician, who knows all ailments. He sees that man born blind. The following occurs to him: ‘This man has fallen victim to an ailment thanks to a former evil deed. Whatever ailments arise, they are all of four kinds: rheumatic, bilious, phlegmatic, or due to a derangement of the humors.’ Then the physician thinks again and again of a means to put an end to that ailment. The following occurs to him: ‘Whatever drugs are current, with them this ailment cannot be treated. But on the Snowy King of Mountains there are four herbs. Which four? The first is named The One Possessed of All Colors, Flavors, and States of Being [?] (sarvavarṇarasasthānānugatā); the second is named The One That Brings Release from All Ailments; the third is named One That Destroys All Poisons; the fourth is named The One That Confers Happiness on Those Standing in the Right Place: these four herbs.’ Then the physician, showing compassion for that man born blind, thinks of a device by means of which he is able to go to the Snowy King of Mountains and, having gone, ascend it, then descend it, and also search through it thoroughly. Searching in this way, he finds the four herbs. And, having found them, he gives the blind man one chewed with his teeth, one he gives him pounded, one he gives him cooked in a mixture with other things, one he gives him mixed with other things raw, one he gives him after piercing his body with a lancet, one he gives him after burning it in fire, one he gives him mixed with a variety of things, including even such things as food, drink, and the like.
“Then that man born blind, through the application of those devices, regains his sight. Having regained his sight, he sees externally and internally, far and near, the light of the sun and the moon, the stars, the planets, and all shapes. And he speaks as follows: ‘Oh, what a fool I was in not believing those who spoke to me earlier, in not accepting what they said! I now see everything. I am released from blindness! I have regained my sight! There is now no one superior to me.’
“Then at that time there are seers endowed with the five kinds of superknowledge, skilled in the heavenly eye, in the heavenly ear, in the knowledge of the thoughts of others, in the knowledge consisting of recollection of former states of being, in supernatural power, and in the achievement of deliverance. They address that man as follows: ‘Sir, you have merely regained your sight, but you do not know anything. Whence comes your arrogance? For you have no wisdom, and you are not learned.’ They speak to him in this way: ‘When you, Sir, seated in your inner house, neither see nor know other forms outside, nor which beings are well disposed to you, nor which ill disposed; and when you cannot discern, or understand, or hear the sound of a man standing five leagues away and talking, or of a drum, or of a conch shell, or the like; and when you cannot go more than a league without lifting your feet; and when you were born and grew in your mother’s womb, and remember none of these acts: in what sense are you wise? And how can you say, “I see everything!”? Very well, Sir! Take darkness for light and light for darkness, if that is what you wish!’
“Then that man addresses those seers as follows: ‘By resort to what device, by doing what good deed, may I acquire such wisdom, by your favor acquire these qualities?’
“Then those seers tell the man the following: ‘If you wish them, live in the forest; or think of the dharma, seated in mountain caves! And your defilements are to be forsaken. In that way, endowed with pure qualities, you shall acquire the various kinds of superknowledge.’
“Then that man, having received that meaning, goes forth. Dwelling in the forest, his mind concentrated on a single object, and forsaking his worldly cravings, he gains the five kinds of superknowledge. And, having acquired the various kinds of superknowledge, he thinks: ‘Whatever other deed I might have done formerly, no good quality ever accrued to me because of it. Now I go wherever I think to go, whereas formerly I was a person of slight wisdom and slight experience, a blind man.'[?] pūrvaṃcāham alpaprajño ‘lpapratisaṃvedi andhabhūto ‘smy āsīt)
“This parable has been fashioned thus, O Kāśyapa, in order to set forth the following meaning; this, moreover, is the point to be seen in it: by those ‘born blind,’ O Kāśyapa, are meant the beings dwelling in the round of the six destinies, who do not know the true dharma and who augment the darkness of their own impurities. For they are blind with ignorance, and, being blind with ignorance, heap up predispositions (saṃskāra) and, going back to predispositions, name and form, and so on until this whole great mass of suffering has taken shape. In this way the beings, blinded by ignorance, stand in the round of transmigration. But the Thus Gone One, having himself escaped the triple sphere, generates compassion, showing compassion as would a father for a dear and only son; and as he leaves the triple sphere he beholds the beings tumbling about in the round of transmigration. Nor are they aware of an exit from the round. Then the Blessed One sees them with the eye of wisdom. And, seeing them, he knows: ‘These beings, having formerly done some good, are of slight hatred and of strong lust, or of slight lust and of strong hatred, some wise, some mature in purity, some of wrong views.’ To these beings the Thus Gone One, through his skill in devising expedients, demonstrates the three vehicles. Thereupon, as did those seers with the five kinds of superknowledge and the pure vision, so, too, the bodhisattvas intuit with the intuition of unexcelled and proper enlightenment, producing thoughts of enlightened intuition and accepting [the doctrine of] unproduced dharmas.
“Therein, just as that great physician was, so is the Thus Gone One to be viewed. Just as was that congenitally blind man, so are the beings, blinded by delusion, to be viewed. Just as were wind, bile, and phlegm, so are lust, hatred, and delusion, as well as the products of the sixty-two views, to be regarded. As were the four herbs, so is the gateway to nirvāṇa, that of the empty, the signless, and the wishless, to be viewed. Whenever medicines are applied, then are the ailments assuaged. In the same way, by realizing the entries into deliverance of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness, do the beings suppress ignorance. From the suppression of ignorance comes the suppression of predispositions, and so on until the suppression of this whole great mass of suffering is achieved. And in this way the thought of the practitioner stands neither in good nor in evil.
“As the blind man who regained his vision was viewed, so should be the person in the vehicle of the auditor or of the individually enlightened. He severs the bonds of the defilements of the round of transmigration. Released from the bond of defilement, he is freed from the triple sphere with its six destinies. In this way the person in the vehicle of the auditor knows and voices the following: ‘There are no more dharmas to be intuited! I have attained extinction!’
“Then, indeed, the Thus Gone One demonstrates the dharma to him: ‘Since you have not attained to all the dharmas, whence comes your extinction?’ The Blessed One encourages him toward enlightened intuition. The thought of enlightened intuition having been excited within him, he neither stands in the round of transmigration nor attains to extinction. Having understood, he sees the world of the triple sphere in its ten directions as empty, a fabrication, a mock creation, a dream, a mirage, an echo. He sees all dharmas as unoriginated, unsuppressed, unbound, unreleased, not dark, not bright. Whoever sees the profound dharmas in this way, he, with nonvision, sees the whole triple sphere as full, assigned as an abode to a variety of beings.”[?]
And in gāthās:
Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma, p108-110Out of ignorance of the wheel of transmigration they do not understand the blessed rest.
However, he who understands the dharmas as empty, as devoid of self,
He understands in its very essence the intuition of the fully enlightened Blessed Ones.
The individually victorious is so called because of his middle position in wisdom,
While the auditor is so called because he lacks knowledge of emptiness.
The perfectly enlightened, however, is so called because of his understanding of all dharmas;
Thanks to it, and by resort to hundreds of means, he constantly demonstrates the dharma to the beings.For, just as a certain man, born blind and thus of the sun, the moon, the stars, and the planets
Having no vision, might say, “There are no shapes at all!”;
And as, a great physician, taking pity on that congenitally blind man
And going across, up, and down the Snowy Range,
Might take herbs from the mountain, The One Possessed of All Colors, Flavors, and States of Being
And other such, four in all, and put them to use;
As, chewing one with his teeth, pounding another, then yet another,
Inserting them into a limb on the point of a needle, he might apply them to the man born blind;
And as the latter, regaining his sight, might see the sun, the moon, the stars, and the planets,
And this might occur to him: “Formerly, I uttered that out of ignorance!”Just so do the beings, greatly ignorant and congenitally blind, wander about,
Trapped in woe by their ignorance of the wheel of conditioned production;
Just so, in a world deluded by ignorance, has the supreme all-knower,
The Thus Gone One, the great physician, arisen, he of compassionate nature.A teacher skilled in means, he demonstrates the true dharma,
He demonstrates the buddha’s unexcelled enlightened intuition to those in the supreme vehicle.
The Leader reveals the middle [intuition] to the one of middle wisdom,
While to the one who fears transmigration he describes yet another enlightened intuition.
To the discerning auditor, [who has] escaped from the triple sphere,
The following occurs: “I have attained spotless, auspicious extinction!”
Thereupon, it is to them that I declare: “This is not the thing called extinction,
Rather from the understanding of all dharmas is immortal extinction attained!”Just as the great seers, evincing compassion for him,
Say to him, “You are a fool! Do not think, ‘I am wise.’
When you are within your house,
You cannot know what happens outside with your slight intelligence.
What is to be known without, whether done or not done, he who is within
To this day does not know. Whence can you know it, O you of slight intelligence?
Whatever sound may be produced about five leagues from here,
That you are unable to hear, to say nothing of one from far off!
Which men are ill disposed to you, which ones well disposed,
These it is impossible for you to know. Whence comes your overweening pride?
When but one league is to be walked, there can be no walking without a beaten track.
Whatever happened in your mother’s womb has been forgotten by you, every bit of it.
He who has the five kinds of superknowledge, he is called ‘all-knowing,’ Yet you, ignorant as you are from delusion, say, ‘I am all-knowing!’If you seek all-knowledge, you should achieve superknowledge.
Think on this achievement as a forest-dweller.
You shall gain pure dharma and, through it, the various kinds of superknowledge”;
And just as he, grasping the meaning and going, quite collected, to the forest, reflects,
Then, having gained the five kinds of superknowledge, is in no great time endowed with superior qualities:
Just so are all the auditors possessed of the notion that they have attained extinction,
And then the victorious one tells such persons that this is mere repose, not blessed rest.It is an expedient device of the buddhas that they speak in this manner,
For, apart from all-knowledge, there is no extinction. Undertake it!
The infinite knowledge of the three periods, and the six pure perfections,
And emptiness and the signless, and that devoid of plans,
And the thought of enlightened intuition, and what other dharmas lead to extinction,
Dharmas both with outflows and without, tranquil, all resembling open space,
The four kinds of brahman conduct, and what has been much bruited as methods of attraction:
For the guidance of the beings these have been proclaimed by the supreme seers.
And he who discerns the dharmas as similar in nature to dreams and illusions,
As being as devoid of a core as a bunch of plantains, as being similar to an echo,
And he who knows that that, too, without exception, is the nature of the triple sphere,
And who discerns the Blessed Rest as being neither bound nor free,
And by whom all dharmas, being the same, and being devoid of a variety of appearances and natures,
Are not looked to, nor is any dharma perceived,
He, in his great wisdom, sees the whole dharma body,
For there is no triad of vehicles, but only the one vehicle.“All dharmas are the same, all the same, ever quite the same.”
Knowing this, one understands auspicious and immortal extinction.
The Simile of the Clay Pots
Today and tomorrow I’m going to add the “missing” portion of Chapter 5, The Simile of Herbs. This is found in Leon Hurvitz’s Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma, which was published in 2009. I used this version of the Lotus Sutra for two cycles through my 32 Days of the Lotus Sutra starting on April 18, 2019.
Hurvitz translated both Kumārajīva’s version and a surviving Sanskrit version. This material was found in the Sanskrit but not included in Kumārajīva’s version.
Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma, p103“Again, O Kāśyapa, the Thus Gone One, in his guidance of the beings, is equitable, not inequitable. O Kāśyapa, just as the light of the sun and the moon illuminates the whole world, both him who does well and him who does ill, both him who stands high and him who stands low, the good-smelling and the bad-smelling, just as that light falls everywhere equally, not unequally, in just that way, O Kāśyapa, does the light of the thought of the knowledge of the all-knowing, of the Thus Gone Ones, the worthy ones, the properly and fully enlightened ones, the demonstration of the true dharma, function equally among all beings in the five destinies according to their predispositions, be they persons of the great vehicle, persons of the vehicle of the individually enlightened, or persons of the vehicle of the auditors. Nor in the light of the knowledge of the Thus Gone One is there either deficiency or superfluity, for the light conduces to knowledge in accord with merit. O Kāśyapa, there are not three vehicles. There are only beings of severally different modes of conduct, and for that reason three vehicles are designated.”
When this had been said, the long-lived Mahākāśyapa said to the Blessed One: “If, O Blessed One, there are not three vehicles, what is the reason for the present designation of auditors, individually enlightened, and bodhisattvas?”
When this had been said, the Blessed One said to the long-lived Mahākāśyapa: “It is just as the potter. O Kāśyapa, makes pots with the same clay. Among them, some become pots for sugar lumps, some pots for clarified butter, some pots for curds or milk, while some become pots for inferior and filthy things; and just as there is no difference in the clay, but rather a supposed difference in the pots based solely on the things put into them, in just this way, O Kāśyapa, is there this one and only one vehicle, to wit, the buddha vehicle. There exists neither a second nor a third vehicle.”
And in gāthās:
Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma, p107As the light of the sun and the moon falls alike on all men,
The virtuous as well as the evil, and as in their glow there is no deficiency [for some] or fullness [for others],
So the glow of the Thus Gone One’s wisdom, as equitable as the sun and the moon,
Guides all beings, being neither deficient nor yet excessive.As a potter may be making clay pots, the pieces of clay being quite the same,
Yet there take shape in his hand containers of sugar, milk, clarified butter, and water,
Some for filth, while yet others take shape as containers of curds;
As that potter takes one clay, making pots of it;
And as, whatever thing is put into it, by that thing the pot is designated:
So to match the distinction among the beings, because of the difference in their inclinations, the Thus Gone Ones
Tell of a difference in vehicles, whereas the buddha vehicle is the true one.
Longing to Hear, ‘You Will Become Buddhas’
Buddhism for Today, p85When understanding develops into service to society and to other people, we can call it faith or religion. A true religion has this kind of power. Where does inspiration, the foundation of this power, come from? Inspiration comes not from theories but from the contact of one’s spirit with other spirits. When we meet a person of great character and listen to his words, our hearts are touched with joy. We ardently determine to emulate him even at the risk of our lives. The ability to give us such determination is the greatness of Sakyamuni as the appearing Buddha. When we take as the universal truth the words of Sakyamuni Buddha, whom we revere as the ideal human being, we receive a great power, which is beyond mere understanding and which gives us strength and uplifts us.
This is why the Buddha’s disciples were eager to hear the Buddha’s words, “You will become buddhas,” directly from his lips. Such words were a stronger encouragement to them than the support of ten million people. “Be pleased to say a word to us! If you should say something to us, we would sacrifice ourselves for your teachings and would follow them to the end. We would never turn away or be neglectful in our practice. So be pleased to say a word to us!” Thus were the disciples asking Sakyamuni.
This innocent and trusting attitude shows true faith. The disciples’ manner of asking is a good example for our religious lives, so we should bear it well in mind. The understanding of the Buddha’s teachings gained by reading books and listening to preaching is still shallow. If we do not have a sense of being inspired or the feeling of flying straight to Sakyamuni’s arms of great compassion, our understanding will not produce the power to save others as well as ourselves. Worshiping the Buddha’s image and repeating the title of the Lotus Sutra are not mere idol worship and magical incantations. The purpose of these actions is nothing other than the merging of ourselves with the mind of Sakyamuni, whom we revere as our teacher and our parent, and through him with the great salvation of the Eternal Original Buddha.
When Inequality Threatens the Ecosystem
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p 81-82According to the simile of the great cloud and rain, every living being is, in one sense, equally valuable. Each has its own function within the larger whole. Each has its own integrity, its own value for itself, its own goodness, its own purposes, its own beauty. The rain nourishes according to the needs of the various plants. A big tree requires more water than a small shoot of grass. But this does not necessarily mean that the big tree is superior to the small blade of grass; it’s just bigger. Different living beings play different roles in the ecology of the planet. Each of us depends on a vast network of living beings, which are dependent on each other. Thus, a certain harmony or peace is required – not necessarily a perfect harmony, but enough of a harmony to enable the system to function and survive through growth and modification.
Today, many believe that the minimal harmony necessary for human survival on earth is being destroyed by earth’s dominant group of living beings – human beings. Whole habitats – rainforests, wetlands, uncultivated plains, natural rivers and streams – have been destroyed and are still being destroyed, probably at an increasing rate. Increased economic activity virtually everywhere also means increasing pollution of the air and water and the very soil upon which we depend for much of our food. In addition to such environmental destruction, humankind has developed weapons of enormous destructive power that could hardly have been imagined a century ago.
In this sense, human beings have made themselves more important, that is, more powerful, than other living beings in this ecosystem. They threaten to destroy even the minimal harmony that makes life on earth possible.
This is a situation well beyond what the Indian compilers of the Lotus Sutra could have imagined. It would be foolish to claim that the Sutra provides a recipe for solving the kind of problems that threaten the planet today. But, in principle, the Sutra is hardly silent about such matters. It calls upon us to recognize that – in important respects – all living beings are equal. All are nourished by the same processes, symbolized in the simile as the rain of the Dharma.
Deliverance, Abandonment and Extinction
Buddhism for Today, p79The Buddha then declared: “The Law preached by the Tathāgata is of one form and flavor, that is to say, deliverance, abandonment, extinction, and finally the attainment of perfect knowledge.” This means that though his teachings are all the same essentially, they can be analyzed into three parts: deliverance (gedatsu-sō), abandonment (ri-sō), and extinction (metsu-sō).
“Deliverance” is the mental state of being no longer influenced by changes in circumstances or things. If one reaches this state, one can consider all things equally, unmoved by whatever happens. On the other hand, those who are convinced that they cannot look at things equally wish to rise above the world ofphenomena, and so they lose the feeling of kinship with people who are suffering and distressed. We should abandon such self-righteousness and strive instead to save people from their sufferings. This attitude is called “abandonment.”
“Extinction” means to extinguish false discrimination between oneself and others, that is, to feel the unity of oneself and all creatures in the universe. We cannot reach this state of mind as long as we think only that we must save people who are suffering and distressed. We must wish to stretch out our hands to others spontaneously and embrace them. This feeling is the mental state of the unification of oneself and others.
The Difficulty of the Lotus Sūtra
In the “Life Span of the Buddha” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra the Buddha preaches about Himself, “I have been the Buddha since the eternal past, 500 (million) dust-particle kalpa (aeons).” We, ordinary beings, do not remember things in the past even things that occurred after our birth. How much more so can we remember things in the past life or two! How can we believe anything that took place as far away in the past as 500 million dust-particle kalpa ago?
The Buddha also spoke to His disciple Śāriputra predicting his future Buddhahood, “You will become a Buddha in the future after passing numerous and unimaginable number of kalpa (aeons). You will then be called the Flower Light Buddha.” Predicting the future of Mahā-Kāśyapa, the Buddha stated, “In a future life, you will become a Buddha named the Light Buddha during your last incarnation.”
These scriptural statements, however, are the predictions of the future, which does not seem possible for us ordinary people to put faith in. Therefore, this Lotus Sūtra is difficult for us, ordinary men and women, who have no knowledge of things in the past or in the future. Hence it does not make sense for us to practice the Lotus Sūtra. Yet it may be possible for some people to believe this Lotus Sūtra if there was someone at present who could present factual proofs to people in front of their very eyes.
Hōren-shō, Letter to Hōren, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 50
The Ten Epithets of the Buddha
Buddhism for Today, p76-77The Buddha then explained his identity with the following ten titles: “I am the Tathāgata, the Worshipful, the All Wise, the Perfectly Enlightened in Conduct, the Well Departed, the Understander of the World, the Peerless Leader, the Controller, the Teacher of Gods and Men, the Buddha, the World-honored One.” These are called the ten epithets of the Buddha, each of which represents an aspect of the Buddha’s virtue and power.
Tathāgata (nyorai) means “one who has come from the world of truth”; the Worshipful (ōgu), “one who deserves offerings in the human and the celestial worlds”; the All Wise (shōhenchi), “one who has the right and perfect wisdom”; the Perfectly Enlightened in Conduct (myōgyō-soku), “one who completely combines knowledge with practice”; the Well Departed (zenzei), “one who is free from everything”; the Understander of the World (sekenge), “one who can understand people in all circumstances”; the Peerless Leader (mujōji), “one who is unsurpassed”; the Controller (jōgo-jōbu), “one who is infallible in controlling men’s minds”; the Teacher of Gods and Men (tennin-shi), “one who leads all lives of creatures in the human and the celestial worlds”; and the Buddha, the World-honored One (butsu-seson), “the enlightened one who is most honored by the people of the world.” One who is possessed of these ten virtues and powers is called Buddha.
Because of such perfect virtues and powers, those who have not yet reached the mental state of being uninfluenced by changes in their circumstances, the Buddha causes to reach that state of mind; those who have not yet understood why their illusions occur and how they can be removed, he causes to understand; those who have not yet been comforted after their illusions are extinguished, he causes to be comforted; those who have not yet obtained true enlightenment, he causes to obtain it.
The Buddha also knows the present, the past, and the world to come as they really arc. He is the one who knows everything perfectly (issaichisha, the All Knowing), the one who discerns the real state of all things (issai-kcnsha, the All Seeing), the one who knows the true Way (chidōsha, the Knower of the Way), the one who makes all living beings understand the Way and leads them to it (kaidō-sha, the Opener of the Way) , and the one who preaches the Way to them (setsudō-sha, the Preacher of the Way).
Roots, Stalks, Twigs, and Leaves
Buddhism for Today, p74Roots, stalks, twigs, and leaves indicate faith, precepts, meditation, and wisdom. Roots are the most important part of plants. Without roots, they cannot grow stalks, twigs, or leaves. Therefore “roots” means faith. One cannot keep the precepts without faith. Because of keeping the precepts, one can enter into the mental state of meditation and can also obtain wisdom.
Conversely, however strong the roots may be, they will eventually die if the twigs and leaves wither or if the stalks are cut. In the same way, if man does not have wisdom, his faith will become corrupt. In short, in believing in a religion, man begins with faith and attains wisdom through the precepts and meditation. However, these four steps of his religious practice are always interrelated and exist together. When any one of the four steps is lacking, his religious practice cannot be perfect, and it will not progress to the next stage. Just as a tree may be big or little, superior, middle, or low, so different people are large- or smallminded, wise or ignorant.