Signs of Whether Spiritual Practice Is Progressing

If unwholesome thoughts arise in the mind, they should be concealed and, as much as possible, not spoken out; if words that should not be said—unwholesome words—are brazenly uttered, it shows that the afflictions within are extremely heavy and cannot be restrained. There is a self within the mind, believing that "I" am very important, that others should comply with me, and that everything must revolve around me. As one's practice steadily advances, the afflictions should gradually become lighter, and those unwholesome thoughts in the mind should no longer arise—only then is there progress in cultivation. If this "I" within the mind is very strong, it will be extremely difficult to eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi).

Cultivation means constantly checking and introspecting upon that "I" in one's mind, to see whether it is diminishing and shrinking day by day and month by month; if it remains as inflated as before, irreversibly so, then the practice has not gained strength and has not gotten on the right track. If eradicating the view of self feels very difficult, then seeing the mind will be even more difficult—after all, seeing the mind requires higher merit and more conditions in every respect, and demands that the bodhisattva's mental disposition be even better. For a person with a heavy sense of self, merit is not easily accumulated; a selfless mind resonates with the tathāgatagarbha, and in the future one's practice of the bodhisattva path will advance very rapidly.