How to Obtain the Supreme Mundane Dharma?

The Buddha taught that those who fully observe the Five Precepts attain human rebirth, while those who perfect the Ten Wholesome Deeds are born in the heavens. In the present age, how many people can fully uphold the Five Precepts? Heavenly beings who perfectly observe the Five Precepts and create no evil karma will undoubtedly be reborn as humans after death. However, if at the moment of death, the karmic conditions from their past evil deeds ripen, they will fall directly into hell—how could they possibly obtain a human body? Among humans, those who fully observe the Five Precepts, if at the moment of death the karmic conditions from their past evil deeds ripen, will directly fall into the Three Evil Realms—how could they possibly obtain a human body? To attain a human body in the next life, one must first fully observe the Five Precepts and second eliminate the evil karma from past lives. How many people can accomplish this? Only those who have severed the view of self, those who have realized the mind and seen their true nature.

There are methods to sever the view of self, yet people do not exert effort in genuine practice. Instead, they devote their energy to grasping at worldly dharmas, only to reap the karmic retribution of the Three Evil Realms. Is it worth it? What is there to grasp in the Three Evil Realms? Many never calmly calculate this account. How many people in the world are truly wise? Those who study Buddhism yet still commit grave evil deeds, who are incited by others to commit the great evil of slandering the Three Jewels—are they not the most foolish? This is no different from scattering sand into the pot while eating, or throwing filth into the well while drinking—it is equivalent to smashing one’s own rice bowl.

Since we are grasping at worldly dharmas, what is the most reliable and secure method? How can we obtain more, greater, and more sublime worldly dharmas? The answer lies in practicing the Six Perfections of a Bodhisattva, realizing enlightenment to become a Bodhisattva or a Buddha. Accomplished sages and saints are not only free in transcendental dharmas but also free in worldly dharmas. In the human realm, saints can become kings, or even the Four Great Wheel-Turning Sage Kings—the Golden, Silver, Copper, and Iron Wheel-Turning Monarchs. They can govern not only a single nation but an entire continent, even the Four Great Continents. Moreover, they can ascend to the heavens to become rulers of various heavenly realms, governing the heavens of the Desire Realm and the Form Realm. How can the blessings and honors of ordinary humans compare to this? Furthermore, saints with great spiritual powers, and Bodhisattvas of the Eighth Ground and above, can transform an entire planet, the entire Sahā World, or even other Buddha-lands in an instant, let alone the various jewels and treasures within those worlds.

Why does no one calculate this account? Because poverty restricts imagination and obscures vision; insufficient merit prevents consideration of such matters, as even trivial matters before one’s eyes are overwhelming. Consider further: where have the emperors and kings of countless eons and dynasties gone? What are they doing now? Most are likely still in the Three Evil Realms. Who possesses blessings and honors comparable to those emperors? Yet they are suffering in poverty within the Three Evil Realms—what, then, is truly worth grasping for ordinary people in this world? Many harbor arrogance. Reflect: what do you have to be arrogant or proud of? Holding some official position, possessing stacks of paper money or silver coins—what is there to be conceited or boastful about?