Before the Lord Buddha entered Nibbana, he talked about Four Reliance in learning Buddhist Dhamma, which are also the yardsticks in judging the Right Dhamma. The Lord preached for forty-five years. His teaching covered the needs of Three Roots of people, therefore people may have different interpretations of his teaching. We have to use the Four Reliance to recognize the Right Dhamma, and reject the false ones.

What Buddhists should abide in when cultivating the Right Knowledge and Right Views

1. To abide in the dhamma and not the person

   To submit to the dhamma and not to the person, the Practitioner should adhere to the Buddhist dhamma and not to the person. If the person is an ordinary human being or a non-Buddhist, but if the doctrines that he speaks of tally with the Right and True Dhamma, they could be observed and practiced. On the contrary, if the person exhibits all the good physical features of a Buddha, but his teachings do not tally with the Right and True Dhamma, then he should be discarded and should not be abided in.

2. To abide in teachings of Ultimate Truth and not of Incomplete Truth

   In Buddhism, there are teachings of Ultimate Truth and of Incomplete Truth.

   By scriptures of Ultimate Truth are meant those sutras spoken of spontaneously by the Lord Buddha and they are the ultimate teachings expounding on the Real Truth of the Middle Path, the very cause of Lord Buddha's appearance in this world. By teachings of Incomplete Truth are meant those teachings spoken of by the Buddha in a skillful and expedient way to cater to the different capabilities of sentient beings. For the Treader of the Path, the right thing to do would be to abide in the Real Truth of the Middle Path and not to abide in teachings of Incomplete Truth.

3. To abide in the meaning and not the word

   Practitioners should abide in the meaning rather than the word itself and should abide in the transcendent meaning of the Middle Path rather than the superficial language.

4. To abide in Wisdom and not in Consciousness

   Practitioners should abide in True Wisdom and not in human sentiments and Consciousness.