A Bodhisattva's Duties and Afflictions

When afflictions arise in the mind, we should quietly watch them, observe them, and investigate where they manifest from, where their source lies, and on account of what this affliction has appeared. Then we should analyze the cause that gave rise to the affliction, and resolve that cause. We should keep deliberating on that cause in our mind, and then analyze whether, because of that cause, it is worth generating afflictions, what the consequences of raising these afflictions would be, and how many problems they could actually solve. Then we should recall how many afflictions we have generated from childhood up to now, how those afflictions were resolved, how they disappeared, and what the final outcome was. Then we should contemplate how many afflictions we have had throughout our countless kalpas of past lives, how much suffering there has been—all that suffering and affliction was our karmic retribution, and once the retribution was paid, it passed away. The afflictions of this life of ours are the same: no matter what, they will pass. Why not view these afflictions correctly, untie the knots in our hearts, and resolve them in accordance with the Dharma?

We should contemplate that every one of us who studies Buddhism is a bodhisattva, and the duty of a bodhisattva is to extensively practice the bodhisattva path; therefore we cannot always remain immersed in the afflictions of the small self. We must open up our mind and look toward the future; our future lies across countless kalpas, in the lands of the Buddhas of the ten directions, extensively practicing the bodhisattva path and broadly delivering immeasurable sentient beings. A bodhisattva's mind should not harbor personal afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion; it may only hold the elevated afflictions that arise from the desire to attain higher realization of the Buddha-dharma, only the afflictions that arise from seeking how to better teach and transform sentient beings, and only the afflictions that arise from seeking how to make the true Dharma continue to be transmitted forever. As long as we constantly keep in mind the bodhisattva path of future lives, we will not be bound by the small afflictions before our eyes, our mind will be able to expand, and our heart will be able to open up. Looking toward the future is extremely important!