Note: After leaving the home life, Great Master Lian-Chi of the Ming dynasty travelled around and visited eminent masters. Laster he went to the capital to pay his respects to the two great Elder Masters Pian-Rong and Xiao-Yan, who were known in the Chan school for their lofty virtue. Being inspired, the Master became enlightened upon hearing a drum as he was passing by Dongchang. He composed this verse:

This matter has been a question for twenty years.
Three thousand miles away, I encountered the unusual.
Burning incense and throwing lances are like illusory dreams.
I have argued in vain about right and wrong, about Buddhas and demons.

When we read or study the sutras or shastras, we must use our wisdom to distinguish right from wrong; we cannot use our mind, intellect or consciousness. These three things, mind, intellect, and consciousness, deceive people. They not only confuse people, but also cause confusion about what is right and what is wrong so that one does not understand specific situations or their underlying principles. Some theories seem logical when we first hear them. However, when people with wisdom listen to them, they know that deluded people who enjoy such talk are being cheated.

Some people, who are like the blind leading the blind, do not act this way intentionally. They themselves do not understand the principles thoroughly. As a result, they lead people astray and gain no benefit. Therefore, we should not casually establish our own opinions or create erroneous theories about the root of the problem. It is said: “A hair’s breadth mistake can become the difference between the sky and the abyss.” It could even flip the world upside down and cause it to be gloomy and dark.

So, we must have a correct and clear understanding of theories and principles. If we only guess, criticize or praise certain things with our mind, intellect or consciousness, this is the same as renouncing the Buddha to enter demonic states. Such behavior is impermissible.

In speaking of the Buddhas and the demons, you must not accept certain people’s absurd statement that “Buddhas and demons are the same. They look different but are the same.” We Buddhists should not act like demons and believe this crazy talk. If this were true, then it would be pointless for people to believe in Buddhism. Some say, “Demons are good advisors who help us in the opposite way.” Such talk is based on compassion and is spoken to comfort and calm children so that they do not give rise to hatred. It is spoken to alleviate the disputes and animosity we might have so that we do not treat demons as enemies with a confrontational attitude. If we say that the demons help cultivators in the opposite way, how are we going to explain the incidents where demons swallow cultivators or cause their deaths? How could we qualify such actions as being helpful?

Hence, we must be firm about where we stand with respect to the fundamental principles, and bring forth proper thoughts at all times. As soon as we become greedy for speed, psychic powers, quick results or spiritual responses, the demons will take advantage of our weakness. Some people are very smart, so why do they sometimes talk demonically? It is because they do not have a clear understanding of the fundamental principles. If you comprehend the essentials, the demons’ mantras will no longer work. We do not have to recite mantras as long as we do not fight, are not greedy, do not seek, are not selfish, do not pursue personal advantage and do not lie, thus leaving no room for the demons to get us. The conclusion that I’ve reached from studying Buddhism for so many years is that the most beneficial practice is to follow these Six Great Principles.

The Buddhadharma is not about profound theories, deep talk or abstruse and wonderful sayings. Nor is it about false words about blessings and disasters, or predictions of misfortunes or prosperity. There are many people who can predict events before they take place. However, these are just the skills of experienced con-men obsessed with talking about spiritual penetrations, who confuse people with deviant words; all these behaviors are just boastful claims – nonsense and useless.

These people may know about the past and the future. For example, someone may tell you: “I know so and so will visit you and say such and such,” or he might say, “you did such and such in the past and I know exactly what you did.” However, people who say such things all have outflows such as lust, greed for money or cheating for lust. All these behaviors are the demons’ states. If a person fights, is greedy, seeks for fame or benefits or promotes himself and idol-worshiping, as well as being selfish, pursuing personal advantage and lying, you must know that this person is under the influence of demonic states.

When the Great Master Lian-Chi (Lotus Pond) visited the two Venerable Masters Rong and Xiao-Yan, both masters told him, “The sole purpose of leaving the home life is to end birth and death. Do not be burdened and tempted by fame and gain.” At that time, other scholars were also present at the lecture; however, they did not take this hint seriously. Great Master Lian-Chi was the only one who benefited greatly from this talk. He later left the capital for the city, Dongchang, where he suddenly became enlightened and spoke the following verse:

This matter has been a question for twenty years.
Three thousand miles away, I encountered the unusual.
Burning incense and throwing lances are like illusory dreams.
I have argued in vain about right and wrong, about Buddhas and demons.

This verse is secondary to my point. The key point to the entire story is to not be involved in seeking fame and gain. Do not think that Great Master Lian-Chi became enlightened in Dongchang all of a sudden. From the very beginning, he was already walking toward the path of awakening. When he saw the elders Rong and Xiao-Yan, he was awakened in a snap by the extreme words of the two elders. After Great Master Lian-Chi left home, he really was not attached to fame and gain. The detachment from fame and gain is the most efficacious mantra to quell all demon’s armies.

His verse goes like this:

This matter has been a question for twenty years. The great matter of birth and death had confused the Master for a long time. Since he had not understood this issue, he set out to look for good advisors to solve this mystery.

Three thousand miles away, I encountered the unusual. He traveled on a three-thousand-mile journey and finally arrived at the city, Dongchang, where he suddenly became enlightened. How wonderful was this awakening! It instantly shattered his attachments.

Burning incense and throwing lances are like illusory dreams. Burning incense to offer to the Buddhas is a good deed. Throwing lances to fight with the demon’s army isn’t. Throwing lances can also refer to throwing down one’s weapons and ceasing to fight. All of these matters seem like a dream. Why? Because he has not gained total understanding.

I argued in vain about right and wrong, about Buddhas and demons. Now he has understood that he was always working on the false. All these endeavors were in vain. Great Master Lian-Chi did not say that “Buddhas and demons are the same.” A demon is a demon, and a Buddha is a Buddha. Since the two have nothing to do with each other, what is there to argue about? In the past, right and wrong, which are illusory and unreal, were always being debated. If you would like to subdue the demons, you must have some true skill. This cannot be accomplished by mere talk.

Proceeding to another level, if there are no demons, the Buddhas do not manifest, and vice versa. Demons and Buddhas are relative to each other. It is not the case that when the Buddha was enlightened, demons and Buddhas became identical. After the Buddha’s enlightenment, the two are still different. However, the Buddhas do not have a hostile attitude toward demons because they treat all living beings equally. Since demons are also living beings, the Buddhas regard demons in the same way as they regard other beings. However, do demons treat Buddhas the same way as the Buddhas treat them? Absolutely not! Regardless of the time and place, the demons always want to overthrow the Buddhas.

Great Master Lian-Chi just realized the principle of non-contention after twenty years of cultivation. He realized: I have argued in vain about right and wrong, about Buddhas and demons. When one does not return the light to reflect within and does not clean up one’s own nature, then by fighting, one gets afflicted. The principles I am talking about here are very simple. I hope all of you will think this over in detail. We cannot make mistakes about this basic concept. We are too young to say that “Buddhas and demons are the same.” Only those with great enlightenment can say that because they have a different level of realization. We are like children in Buddhism; we should not take the words of ancient masters out of context and twist their meaning. That would be like letting a child who knows nothing about driving operate a vehicle. Accidents and deaths would certainly result. When ordinary people hear that “Buddhas and demons are the same,” they will think, “Why am I bowing to the Buddhas? Wouldn’t doing demonic work be the same as doing the Buddha’s work?” We must make clear distinctions about the principles and seek clarification. We should not let our views become muddled, and mistake fish eyes for pearls.