Wishing to speak in greater detail, Sakyamuni Buddha said to Subhūti, “There is nothing higher than this dharma, and there is nothing lower.” Therefore it is called Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. Although it is called the unsurpassed, proper and equal, right enlightenment, it is a dharma without a mark of self, of others, of living beings, or of a life. It is devoid of attachment to self, attachment to phenomena, and attachment to emptiness. You must cultivate wholesome practices and abstain from practicing unwholesome deeds. So it is said:

I vow to cut off all evil.
I vow to do all good.
I vow to save all living beings.

If you cut off evil and cultivate good, your good roots will increase and grow. By cultivating good practices you naturally obtain unsurpassed, proper and equal, right enlightenment.

After the Buddha had said that living beings were not living beings and not not living beings, Subhūti asked, “In attaining the unsurpassed, proper and equal, right enlightenment, the one resultant dharma of Buddhahood, there is not even the slightest dharma to be attained. Therefore it is called Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.” That is merely a false name, nothing more. There is no actual substance which one can point to and say, “That is Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.” Why is there not even the smallest dharma which can be attained? The principle was discussed before: if you want to know if something is attainable, you first must know if it has been lost. If it was certain that Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi had been lost, then you could retrieve it. But basically you have not lost it. It is what you have always had your basic nature. “In your clothing is a priceless gem, do not further seek outside.” Do not go outside in search of anything. The priceless gem is within your clothing. Cut open your clothing and you will see it.

Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, the unsurpassed, proper and equal, right enlightenment, is a special name for the perfect, full Buddha-fruit. Your Buddha-fruit is certainly not something that can be attained from outside. That which is called Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi also does not come from outside. It is what you have always had: your inherent family treasure. The riches are within your own household. If you turn away and seek outside you will be abandoning what you have had all along. You will not find anything that way.

Actually there is not the slightest dharma which can be attained. There is no dharma of unsurpassed, proper and equal, right enlightenment which the Buddha can attain. …

If you force it and say that the Tathagata attains something called Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, that Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi is neither true nor false. Being neither true nor false, it is the final meaning of the Middle Way; it is real mark prajña.

Therefore the Tathagata says that although there is no dharma which can be attained, yet all dharma are Buddhadharmas. There is nothing outside the Buddhadharma. Therefore all teachings are Buddhist. They do not go beyond the Buddha’s teaching, because the Buddha’s teaching contains all things. Buddhadharma is the totality of the dharma. Buddhism is the totality of all other teachings. All schools and teachings are born from within the Buddha’s teaching. Since they are all born from Buddhism, in the future they will again return to Buddhism. Therefore it is unnecessary to ask to what religion a person belongs. No matter what school, or sect, or teaching, or religion one believes none goes beyond Buddhism. The essential point is to have faith in something. Then although you may believe various teachings, switching back and forth from this one to that one, in the end you will certainly return to Buddhism. The Buddhadharma is that great. Although it says there is no dharma which can be attained, nonetheless there is not one dharma which is not the Buddhadharma. And since the Buddhadharma is ultimately unattainable, how could a single dharma be attained?