Buddhadharma is the wisdom of all people and the light of the world. If people possess wisdom, then civilization is able to expand and go forward. If one has light, then even he, as an individual, can help to disperse the darkness of ignorance. Thus, wisdom and civilization are the right way for everyone to follow, and Buddhadharma illuminates the world.

Just what is Buddhadharma? It is a method to enable all beings to become Buddha. Buddha means Enlightened One, but the term can be extended to mean enlightening oneself and others are well as enlightening all people and all sentient beings. Because everybody, in reality, possesses the Original Nature of Enlightenment, everybody can, therefore, become a Buddha. However, people in the world, in their daily lives, are strongly bound by feelings of love and hate, etc., and they are, also, deeply confused by their desire for and grasping at material objects. They, thus, confuse their own Original Wisdom and cloud their own Buddha Nature and are ultimately overcome by all sorts of obstacles and delusions.

Therefore, the great Dharma Master T'ai-Hsu recommended that Buddhism should be promoted and spread everywhere. Thus, all people should be encouraged to understand the Dharma, increase their wisdom, purify their own minds, and be directed onto the open, wide and comfortable Path, that from numerous and various beginning points arrives, at last, at the Supreme Bodhi.

For this reason, Dharma Master T'ai-Hsu wrote The Practice of Bodhisattva Dharma, which recommends accepting the Three Refuges to link up with the Triple Jewel, practicing goodness and generosity, observing the Five Precepts and the Ten Virtues, and diligently performing the Six Paramitas and the Four All-Embracing Virtues. So, practitioners, whether following Mahayana or Hinayana, whether monks or layman, of whatever degree--with either shallow or deep understanding and ability--will see, if they practice regularly, responsibly and sincerely, the Fruits of Bodhi gradually increasing day by day.

I fervently hope and desire that all people and friends in the Dharma, after reading this work and following its recommendations, will discover that their blessings and wisdom are constantly on the increase. 
 

Dharma Master Lok To 
Young Men's Buddhist Association of America 
Bronx, New York 
March, 1999 
(Buddhist Year :2543)