There are many who like to say that these are five sects, or types of Buddhism, which leads to all kinds of doctrinal squabbling. It is not accurate; the schools might better be called five basic approaches to cultivation. Each of these Dharma-doors has special appeal to certain types of people, but only one can be said to be equally easy for all to cultivate, and that is the Pure Land Dharma-door.” (WM 17-18)

Teachings

The Teachings include the Buddhist doctrinal schools, such as the eighteen Hinayana schools, the Mādhyamaka and Yogācāra schools of the Mahayana, and sutra-based Mahayana schools such as Tiantai and Huayan.

“The Teachings Schools emphasize using skillful expedients, and therefore capitalize on beautiful expression and elegant phraseology. Adherents to these schools are well-versed in terminology and characteristics. They determine the different periods of the teachings and divide them into categories. Thus, the sea of meanings billows, and the Dharma’s principles run deep. They serve to focus the audience’s rambling thoughts, and to gather in stray mental activities that leak out through seeing and listening. When this occurs, it’s as if one has entered the hall of samadhi, and ascended the six heavens of the desire realm. Layer upon layer one bores in; step by step one ascends. Even if one wanted to stop, it would be nearly impossible, and it’s hard to fathom the very source.

“Regarding the teachings of the Teachings Schools—such as the Four Teachings of Tiantai, the Five Esoteric Meanings of Xianshou (i.e., Huayan), the Dharma-mark propagated by Consciousness only—each has its strengths." (WM 74-75)

“The cultivation of the Teachings Schools, while serving as an excellent cure for the disease of ignorance, does demand certain qualifications. It cannot, for example, be cultivated by the illiterate, by those who do not know the languages in which the teachings are written, or by the very ignorant. And so, although the teachings are universal and there is not a single being who cannot benefit from them, in their literary form there is a definite group of people to whom they are best suited.” (WM 18)

Moral Regulations

“The Vinaya School stresses the study of precepts, the rules and regulations. In the four comportments of walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, one has to be stern and dignified, and the three karmas of body, mouth and mind have to be pure. Upāsakas and upāsikās [laymen and laywomen], the two lay assemblies, may maintain the Five Precepts and the Eight Precepts, as well as the Ten Major and Forty-eight Minor Bodhisattva Precepts. Srāmaṇeras and srāmaṇerikās [male and female novices] take the Ten Novice Precepts. Bhikshus [monks] have 250 precepts, and Bhikshunis [nuns] have 348 precepts.

One should maintain each and every one of those precepts without ever violating them and believe in them, accept them, and offer up one’s conduct. One should be mindful of the agony of revolving in birth and death. If we lose this human body, it will be hard to recover it in ten thousand aeons. Therefore, at all times, we should strictly cultivate the vinaya and never be lax.” (WM 75-76)

“The Vinaya, or ‘Rules and Regulations’ School, requires not only that one be literate, but also that one be living a monastic life. There is no way for the worldly man to perfect cultivation of the vinaya. Pure maintenance of this Dharma-door serves as a supremely efficacious cure for greed, desire, and arrogance. Much of it, however, can be practiced by men and women in the world, and it can be an immense help in cultivation.

All real practicers of Buddhadharma, Sangha members or lay people, formally maintain precepts, ranging from the five for lay people to the more than three hundred for Bhikshunis. There are few more awesome people in the world than the masters of Vinaya, perfect in the three thousand rules of deportment.” (WM 18)

Esoteric

“The Esoteric School specializes in the holding of mantras and maintains that one can realize Buddhahood in this very life. And yet, if practitioners are the slightest bit reckless, they can easily fall into the Dharma Realm of asuras. That is because the majority of those in these practices have not subdued the anger in their minds, and their tendency to seek revenge is extremely strong. They lack thoughts of kindness and compassion, and rarely practice the art of patience. Many of them are prone to be arrogant, and their pride and conceit are deeply rooted. In holding secret mantras they dare to slight others, and wielding their vajras they are not afraid of bullying people. However, if one can be rid of the bad habits described above, then one’s practice of samadhi can become successful, and one can go on to achieve the fruition that is bodhi. In that case, this Dharma-door is also a skillful expedient for cultivators of the Way.” (WM 76)

“The Esoteric School requires among other things both a good memory to hold its many mantras and dhāraṇīs, plus a good deal of money to carry out its elaborate and splendid rituals. A fully adorned bodhimaṇda (way-place) is required as well as a profusion of images and various Dharma instruments. Also essential are numbers of Dharma Masters well-trained and conversant with the esoteric lore of this school. They are hard to find.
Without them and without special instruction, it is not possible to be successful with the teachings of the Esoteric School.” (WM 19)

I have preached the truth without making any distinction between exoteric and esoteric doctrine; for in respect of the truths, Ānanda, the Tathāgata has no such thing as the closed fist of a teacher who keeps some things back. (Rhys Davids, tr. Dialogues of the Buddha II 107)

Meditation〈Chan〉

“The Chan (Zen) or Dhyāna-meditation School stresses the practice of meditation, and its cultivation requires a special set of circumstances. First, it is essential to have an advisor, one of great wisdom and skill, who can teach the student by all manner of expedient means. Without such a teacher, there is no way for ordinary people to have any success in Chan meditation. They may achieve some measure of attainment, but due to lack of wise counsel, they will be turned by their experience; thinking that they are like the great Chan Masters of old, they will go around committing all sorts of deluded and even dangerous or immoral acts. Such so-called ‘enlightened masters’and ‘patriarchs’ are too often well meaning practicers of Chan who have either not met or not submitted to the teaching of a good and wise advisor. Too many of them have entered into the various demonic states that the Buddha discussed in the Sūraṅgama Sutra. Anyone who professes to be a follower of the Buddha should act in accordance with his teachings and find a capable advisor, one whose experience and lineage are unquestioned.

“In addition to the above qualifications, Chan cultivation requires a certain temperament which is rarely found. While some immediately get a response in Chan cultivation, there are many for whom it represents unbearable difficulty. If this is the only means of cultivation presented to them, many people will flee from the Buddhadharma as a small child screams upon seeing a tame but incredibly fierce-looking tiger on a leash.” (WM 18-19)

Pure Land

“The Pure Land School Dharma is the most perfect and the most instantaneous, the simplest and the easiest. It is a Dharma that everyone can cultivate; one and all can practice it. Hence it is described as ‘universally including the three types of faculties (superior, average, and inferior capabilities), and gathering in both the keen and the dull.’

One only has to singlemindedly uphold the great name ‘Namo Amitābha Buddha,’ that of the teaching host of the Land of Ultimate Bliss of the West [pure land]. When one recites this name and arrives at the point of single-minded concentration, then one will definitely be reborn in the West from a lotus flower. When that lotus blooms, one will see the Buddha, awaken to a forbearance with the not coming into being of dharmas, and attain irreversible anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. Therefore, if all cultivators only become replete with deep faith and earnest vows, and actually realize the three requisites—faith, vows, and practice—they all will most certainly reach their destination. It is my hope that all of you good people will exhort each other onwards.” (WM 76-77)

“Recitation is the central practice of the Pure Land Dharma-door. ‘Namo Amita Buddha.’ ‘Namo’ means ‘to return in reliance,’ ‘to take refuge.’ ‘Amita’ means ‘limitless’ and refers to the fact that this Buddha has both ‘Limitless Light’ (Amitābha) and ‘Limitless Life’ (Amitāyus). ‘Buddha’ means ‘Enlightened One.’ And so ‘Namo Amita Buddha’ means ‘I take refuge with and return my life in worship to the Buddha of Limitless Light and Life. ’ The constant repetition of this Buddha’s name is the core of the Pure Land Dharma-door.

“The Pure Land Dharma-door requires no great learning. Many illiterates attain inconceivable spiritual benefit through it. Many, too, are the high and learned masters who praise this door. The Pure Land Dharma-door shows us how to purify our minds, and as such it is identical with the Teachings Schools, whose complex and learned systems serve to keep the mind from wandering off on useless excursions. To be able to hold (in one’s mind) the elaborate systems of the Teachings Schools requires prolonged concentration on the Buddhadharma. Concentrating on what is pure is fundamentally identical with recollection of the Buddha.

The Pure Land Dharma does not require that one lead a monastic life and perfect the three thousand awesome deportments. This Dharma door can be cultivated right in the midst of the most ordinary life. Lay people and vinaya specialists alike can cultivate this Dharma. Nor does it require elaborate rituals and expensive ceremonies, or secret, esoteric lore to be learned from specialized teachers. The secret of the Pure Land School—and there is indeed a great secret to it—lies in the response. It is a secret clothed not in elaborate ritual and ceremony but in the simplicity of faith and sincerity. Its secret, which is right out in the open, is in fact the highest secret.” (WM 19)

“The Five Schools all issued from Buddhism. Since they came forth from Buddhism, they can return to Buddhism as well. Although the Five Schools serve different purposes, their ultimate destination is the same. It is said:
“There is only one road back to the source. But here are many expedient ways
to reach it.” (Shambala Review, v.5, nos.1-2, Winter, 1976, 26)

五大宗