Life is like an ocean, in order to transcend the shore of suffering to the other sure of ultimate bliss, one must rely on the ferry of Dharma. The desire to be free from suffering can only be fulfilled by learning from the Buddha; but the conditions for each indi-vidual to do so is different, thus there is no need to be envious of others. Nevertheless, while the conditions may be different, the attitude towards learning can still be the same. In other words, all of us need to abide by the Four Reliances{1} in the process of learning from the Buddha and his Dharma{2}.

1)Rely on the Dharma rather than the teacher{3}

Dharma refers to truth{4}, which is something learners of Buddhism need to regard as the founda-tion of everything they do. The truth should be the principle based on which we act, because no individ-ual opinions are sufficient to act as this basis, as human beings change their ways of thinking constantly, their views differ from one another, and they go through the process of birth, old age, sickness and death{5}. Dharma (or the truth) on the other hand, will remain consistent for eternity. This is why a learner of Buddhism needs to rely on the Dharma rather than the teacher and try not to run from tem-ple to temple, which may cause them to be tied up by personal obligations and fail to follow their true belief. The Buddha himself also instructed his disciples to believe in, understand, practice, and prove the validity{6} of his every teaching, so that they won’t be blinded by personal factors and become obligated to only certain people or temple in their search for the real Dharma.

2)Rely on wisdom rather than common af-flictions{7}

Wisdom refers to the supreme prajna wisdom{8}, while common afflictions represent the dis-criminating consciousness{9}. Living in a world of delusion, the world we perceive through our six consciousnesses{10} is constantly changing with the delusive phenomena. Thus the world we perceive and understand through our consciousness is not ul-timately real. Prajna wisdom on the other hand, is like a perfect mirror{11} that reflects the real side of the myriad phenomena{12}. It is also like a ray of light that shines upon us to reveal our true selves. Thus not only should we rely on wisdom rather than common afflictions, we also need to strive to take a step further and turn consciousness into wis-dom{13} so as not to be confused by the delusive phenomena{14} of this world.

【Key Words】

1.Four Reliances 四依止

2.learning from the Buddha and his Dhar-ma 學佛

3.Rely on the Dharma rather than the teacher 依法不依人

4.truth 真理

5.birth, old age, sickness and death 生老病死

6.believe in, understand, practice, and prove the validity 信解行證

7.Rely on wisdom rather than common af-flictions 依智不依識

8.prajna wisdom 般若智慧

9.discriminating consciousness 分別意識

10.six consciousnesses 六識

11.like a perfect mirror 大圓鏡智

12.myriad phenomena 森羅萬象

13.turn consciousness into wisdom 轉識成智

14.delusive phenomena 幻象