The Completeness of the First Stage of Enlightenment1
On the mountain road in Taiwu Township, Pingtung County,
I realized it has been some time since my last visit.
The morning following rainfall felt particularly pleasant.
I drove the route twice, still reluctant to depart.
I have already written about the “Four Stages of Enlightenment” in Buddhism,
so I will not repeat them here.
Basically, this path is about breaking through the idea of self—
starting from identity view, passing through ignorance, and then examining doubt.
This way, the foundation of the Dharma is already well-established,
the rest can be explored by those who are interested.
Excessive elaboration,
however, merely results in an accumulation of technical terms.
(Here, “doubt” refers to questioning the coherence of causes, conditions, and results in the Dharma.
If we explain “doubt” as the “four kinds of unshakable confidence,”
then it means having trust in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.
However, this seems to conflict with—and even contradict—the idea of the “purity of the Dharma-eye.”
This is because practitioners must personally cultivate and realize the “Dharma-eye”;
it is not something based on trust alone.
In my view, “four kinds of pure faith” within the Dharma
should be properly understood at the stage of developing “wholesome roots”
and “practice in accordance with the Dhamma”.)
Another way to understand this is:
if practitioners don’t even understand the Dharma,
how can they follow the path step by step?
“Following the Dharma” means moving forward step by step based on its guidance.
But if someone claims to believe in the Dharma yet doesn’t truly understand it,
then how are they supposed to proceed?
“Pure faith,” in this sense, is meant for the general public.
Master Banji