Today in this statement, first of all, please forgive us for speaking harshly, but it is all for your own good.
A few days ago, I issued a statement regarding the issue of "seven teachers and ten certifications". Some Buddhists still don't understand, and even say that there is no such thing as "several teachers and several certifications" in Buddhism. These are all my own ideas, and some say that this is unnecessary work.
The people who say these things are ignorant or haven't thought it through. Buddhism has the Tripitaka and the Twelve Divisions, have you read half of them? Not to mention the Ten Secret Scriptures, how many of them have you read? In addition, there are the Water Treasury Division, the Hidden Treasury Division, the Mind Transmission Division, the Oral Transmission Division, the Ear Transmission Division, and other Buddhist teachings, how many of them have you seen? Buddhist studies and teachings are as vast as the ocean, let alone you beginners, even Nagarjuna Bodhisattva once made mistakes in speaking without seeing, can the disciples of today's Buddhism compare to the profound knowledge of Nagarjuna Bodhisattva? You don't know and understand too much! Denying something without seeing it is not ignorance, is it wisdom? In Buddhism, even if you receive the Three Platform Precepts, you must have three teachers and seven certifications, let alone verifying the achievements of the holy path!
Think back to your experience of learning Buddhism, and you will suddenly realize that in your life, you may have heard many people claiming to be high monks, seeming to have profound knowledge of Buddhism and extraordinary spiritual attainments. Some claim to have profound samadhi, some claim to have reached the state of opening the crown chakra, some claim to be able to open your mind, and so on. These are all self-proclaimed or spread by others, have you actually seen them? You have heard of opening the crown chakra, but have you actually seen anyone who has truly opened it? You have heard of transforming the body and transcending the consciousness, but have you actually seen anyone who has this ability? You have only heard empty legends, and have not seen real manifestations, right? You have never encountered a true holder of Buddhism, only encountered Buddhist theorists, biased views, at most just a good spiritual friend, but a good spiritual friend does not necessarily have achievements or knowledge of Buddhism, without true virtue, how can you need an exam? Just like in the world, without genuine materials, there is no need to arrange them for appropriate use. Can you find a genuine Buddhist saint, a holder of the Dharma, to take the seven teachers and ten certifications exam? Even if you find one, perhaps they would not dare to come, what if they fail the exam? Because of this, the seven teachers and ten certifications become useless, naturally making you see and hear less.
By avoiding the rules of Buddhist teachings and only thinking about worldly conventions, do you really think you are so foolish and naive? Do you really believe that it is better without the seven teachers and ten certifications, and that it is worse with the assurance of the seven teachers and ten certifications? That's like saying that FDA-approved food is not good or harmful, and that untested and inferior food is the best. Are your nerves so confused?
In the Dharma-ending period, it is difficult to distinguish between the true and false in the Buddhist world, it is chaotic. Mahayana breaks against Hinayana, Hinayana resists Mahayana, Esoteric Buddhism belittles Exoteric Buddhism, Exoteric Buddhism opposes Esoteric Buddhism, Pure Land Buddhism slanders Vinaya Buddhism, Hinayana claims to be the true original Buddhism, Mahayana declares itself as the path to enlightenment, Esoteric Buddhism claims to attain Buddhahood in this very body, and Zen Buddhism claims to attain Buddhahood through enlightenment. Just within Buddhism, it is already chaotic, and on top of that, there are social figures, scholars, Buddhist researchers, and attacks from external paths, it is completely a muddy water! Everyone throws out scriptures and theories, making Buddhists confused and disoriented. In fact, people have not understood one principle, theories are just words and language, they are not real, as long as someone has read the scriptures, memorized some terms, they can basically talk and theorize, as if it is something important, regardless of who it is, reading more scriptures will lead to theories. However, Buddhism seeks liberation from suffering, life and death matters are not about talking and theorizing, just talking about things that have no practical effect, misunderstanding the scriptures, not only cannot liberate from birth and death, but it is actually slandering the scriptures and the Dharma! The goal of a practitioner is to attain liberation and accomplishment, only when they have realized and manifested actual spiritual attainments, the theories they rely on and speak out are true theories, true and false, without being verified through practice, one does not know if it is a diamond or glass.
Any theory borrowed from the scriptures, as long as it does not lead to actual practical accomplishments, it indicates a wrong view theory, and the person speaking it has not truly understood the essence of the scriptures. However, there are many people like this in the world, they have the identity of high monks and great virtuous ones, their theories are abundant, they write books and give speeches, they appear impressive on the outside, but they lack one thing: a lifetime of theories cannot give them actual skills, because their theories are wrong views, because they have not understood the true essence of the scriptures spoken by Shakyamuni Buddha. Not to mention reaching a state of transcendence and realization, they can't even find a single opening on top of their heads, let alone an opening of two fingers wide, not even a millimeter of opening, how can they talk about liberation from this stinky body? They are just like ordinary beings, going through the cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death, they can only deceive some offerings in this life with empty theories, they have not truly understood the scriptures, they take the wrong path, and only speak false Buddhist theories that slander the Buddha and the Dharma. For example, these people often "explain" the great Buddha's teachings in the Diamond Sutra, the Heart Sutra, and the Shurangama Sutra, with half-baked wrong views, so-called explaining emptiness and wisdom, but they fall into extreme views and ordinary views, they misunderstand cause and effect, and they even use these fallacies to resist the wonderful uses, denying the actual spiritual attainments shown by Shakyamuni Buddha in the scriptures. This is essentially the behavior of demonic people, but it is mistaken by Buddhist disciples as the teachings of high monks and great virtuous ones, truly an endless sin!
Buddhist disciples, do not forget, Shakyamuni Buddha spoke of emptiness, wisdom, supernatural powers, and the practice of bodhi, it is a complete and perfect teaching, it must be relied upon as a whole by practitioners. Only false teachers and demonic beings use emptiness to resist the wonderful, to cling to extreme views, only fools and ignorant people do not seek deep understanding, only listen and believe blindly!
To verify the truth, the examination of the seven teachers and ten certifications is very important, because in this world, there are many people who have only partial understanding, empty theories, no actual spiritual attainments, and even fraudsters and bad people. There are even laypeople who shave their heads and call themselves monks, there are living Buddhas who have no Buddhist practice but claim to be enlightened, there are people who claim to be Dharma kings without being certified by the three teachers and seven certifications, and there are bhikkhus who have broken their precepts but claim to be high monks and great virtuous ones. In short, they are all pretending on the outside but empty on the inside, calling themselves saints in the mundane world, deceiving and cheating! These fraudsters all have a common characteristic - they use scriptures to spout nonsense, empty theories without any spiritual attainments. And the present-day good men and women, without true knowledge of Buddhism, without understanding the interplay of theory and practice, without understanding that practice must ultimately be verified by actual spiritual attainments, they are always deceived by false teachers and demonic teachers, and even delay their lifelong practice and end up suffering in the evil realms.
Everyone must remember, without spiritual attainments, there is no foundation for liberation, a theory without spiritual attainments is just an ordinary person. The difference of a sage lies in having attained liberation and spiritual attainments through theory, and this kind of spiritual attainment is not something spoken with the mouth, it is not about putting on a smiley face on the Dharma platform, making a show, organizing a group of people to praise, and then claiming to be a high monk or great virtuous one. A true sage must demonstrate their actual spiritual attainments, with seventeen masters and Rinpoche personally invigilating and checking, demonstrating their true skills, and the seventeen invigilators swearing and guaranteeing as witnesses, that is a truly accomplished person, because no invigilator would be willing to take such a solemn oath to guarantee a fraud or a false saint. Those who claim to be high monks among ordinary beings are saints pretending to be fraudsters, these people distort the correct principles of the Buddhist scriptures into wrong view theories, precisely because they do not understand the true essence of the scriptures, they only understand it wrongly, so they do not have the spiritual attainments of a sage, of course, they cannot pass the examination of the seventeen invigilators. As long as there is an on-site examination of the seven teachers and ten certifications, no matter how powerful an ordinary person is, no matter how deep they delve into the scriptures, as long as they misunderstand the scriptures, they do not have true skills, they cannot pretend to be saints, fraudsters cannot become high monks, it can be said that the seven teachers and ten certifications are the true vajra staff that protects the interests and lives of sentient beings!
Everyone, ask yourselves honestly, do you only want to listen to theories and not want to attain actual spiritual attainments? Don't forget, in the scriptures of the founder Shakyamuni Buddha, there are records of the manifestation of the holy state everywhere, while the present false teachers and false saints can only talk nonsense with theories, without any spiritual attainments. In this way, they can only fiercely oppose the holy state realm manifested by Shakyamuni Buddha in the scriptures, otherwise how can they protect themselves? In secret, they are all ordinary beings with bad habits, engaging in fraudulent behavior, when it comes to Buddhism, they talk about non-action, emptiness, all dharmas are empty, the Dharma body is formless, there are forms and supernatural powers, it is all illusory, and so on, using Buddhist catchphrases to deceive everyone, in addition to empty theories, their theories are also empty, the realm of Buddhism, the accomplishment of spiritual attainments, that is what they absolutely need to avoid, if they don't avoid it, their disciples will see through them.
Buddhist disciples, do you really believe in empty theories only? Or do you believe in actual skills? Can you attain liberation without actual skills? Can you become a high monk or saint without actual skills? Life is precious, every day we are moving towards death, one wrong step - entering the three evil realms, one correct step - entering the realm of liberation. Don't waste your time, it is time to seek the truth, without a clear mind, this life will be ruined!
International Buddhist Sangha Association
October 30, 2011