“Yatha-pratyata” (making the optimal response or reaction to an external stimulation so that the stimulation can be made the best of) is one of the frequently used expressions among the Buddhist votaries. One point needs to be made clear about the expression is that yatha-pratyata does not connote “being unduly submissive” or “laissez faireism”. To tell the truth, yatha-pratyata is the guiding principle we, Buddhist votaries, must abide by when we are in close contact and communication with the masses. In other words, we must adapt ourselves to the specific circumstances of everyday mundane life for the purpose of promoting our propagation of Buddhism. In this sense yatha-pratyata is actually the paramitas that are to steer us clear of all the difficulties which we might encounter in our close contacts with the mundane world. In yatha-pratyata is embodied the Buddha’s Dharma wisdom. The only valid test that can decisively demonstrate how successful a Chan practitioner’s endeavor is at mastering “sila and vinaya”, “Samadhi”, and “prajna” would be occurring in the milieu where he handles his preaching activities in close contact and cooperation with the masses. Such religious activities as “gaining access to Dhyana Heaven”, “reaching a certain status of Samadhi”, “acquiring the proficiency in chanting Buddhist Scriptures”, can hardly indicate a Chan practitioner’s success in his endeavor to cultivate, in his psyche, the obedience to sila and vinaya, the blossoming Samadhis, and the spontaneous prajna.

Prajna can be owned only by those who have scored real successes in their self-cultivation efforts. And their acquired prajna is bound to enable them to see through emptiness of the mundane life. Such prajna-generated practical flexibility in them is bound to circumvent all the tricks and traps that might compromise their Chan integrity and lead them to win the masses over to the Buddha’s side. If, in spite of his lifelong devotion to poring over mountains of Buddhist Scriptures, a practitioner ends up, notwithstanding, in a total effeteness in the face of the difficulties besetting him when he is asked to fulfill some preaching duty in a milieu of the mundane world, then can he be still esteemed as a bodhisattva capable of delivering the masses from the sufferings of the worldly life?(From My Heart My Buddha)