Besides, when a faithful disciple meets a Bodhisattva who claims to be a master of Tathagata Meditation, or a Bodhisattva who strictly follows the supreme principles of this Tathagata Meditation sutra to guide his or her followers by every means available. In this way, the disciple may acquire the meditation subject. However, that acquisition is not the Tathagata Meditation, that precisely is the Bodhisattva Meditation. It is the same for the Arahant, Solitary Enlightened One, Pràtyeka, Sràvaka, ordinary person, or heretic who could have the Tathagata Meditation sutra. They later instruct their faithful followers or Dharma friends in meditation by following the subject principle strictly to ensure the practitioners’ achievement. However, the highest level a practitioner achieves will correspond only to the degree of his or her instructor: that is, Arahant, Solitary Enlightened One, Pràtyeka, Sràvaka, ordinary person, or heretic.

Tathagata meditation is an extremely miraculous, mind-transmitted-to-mind, seal-attested subject closely connected with the basic rank of enlightenment. The subject is supreme, matchless, and all-embracing: nothing can be excluded from it. When its practitioner achieves the ultimate level is also the time he or she acquires these characteristics. Therefore, his or her instructor must be not only good, intelligent, and awake, but also completely enlightened, so that the disciple who is seal-attested in the initiative Bodhi-mind ceremony could enter the Tathagata flow. That is unthinkable, undiscussable, and thus wonderful for the practitioner of Tathagata meditation.

Tathagata Meditation cannot use reason, argument through writing, or research to penetrate the Tathagata Constitution’s Eyes. Neither can it be told to unenlightened people so that they can comprehend its essence. Why? Because the unenlightened person’s mind is still full of unreal expectations, doubts, and attachments, so he or she cannot judge the Tathagata meditation brightly. The more he or she uses intelligence to guess and reason as a way to comprehend, the more he or she gets lost from the principles. There are many Tao practitioners, who practice by training, accumulation of stillness, or fixed thought: The deeper they practice in these directions, the more profound the mistakes they make. The only exception is the one who has acquired the Dharma nature, is self-aware of the essential nature of Tathagata Meditation, and thus fully understands the meditation of the Tathagata—the only comprehensive meditation. 

The essential nature of Tathagata Meditation is naturally calm, perfectly still, all-embracing, and equal. When a practitioner acquires these characters, he or she has what is called meditative intelligence. This lets the practitioner clearly see the karma seeds in each meditation disciple who is holding them in his or her consciousness karma, and thus the level of attested practice becomes a class distinction, low or high. Being aware of others’ accumulated karma as well as his or her own, the practitioner has truly acquired complete liberation through knowing, seeing, and solving.

During the time when the Patriarchs was still teaching about the Meditation Sect, at that time there was still orthodoxy.[4] Furthermore, during that period, known as the Middle-Life Period, faithful followers completely reserved their trust and obedience to the Patriarchs. Research in that period was not a priority, so people had less reasoning with which to contradict the sect. Therefore, the findings were also fewer and less significant. In spite of that, the Patriarchs still ought to establish the authentic targets as a compass that faithful followers could rely on to follow their practiced route without diverging. These targets are sect, principles, essence, and application, as follows:

Later, when the Patriarchs were no more, some Most Venerables and Highly Virtuous Ones have still followed this method to establish the sect, the principle, the essence, and the application to guide their faithful followers. But through their lack of comprehension, they have made a lot of mistakes and got lost; they therefore have emphasized research, and practiced in accordance to their own desires. When the meditation nature – suchness truth, the essential nature – true enlightenment is reduced, the awakening – intuition is erased because of directing confused illusory consciousness toward research, one becomes a stickler for every written word and distinguishes the gain from the loss. Then one practices by following one’s wild reasons, without the mindfulness necessary to be acutely aware of meditation nature; thus, one gets lost and cannot obtain the result of the Dharma subject of liberation through solving.