Why Are Human Hearts Not at Peace

The human mind is unsettled, with disputes over right and wrong arising constantly. Why is it unsettled? Because within the mind reside the four marks, which carry distinctions of good and bad, high and low, creating internal imbalance. The mind is inherently level; what is unbalanced is the mind that perceives these marks. How then to achieve mental equilibrium? By smoothing out these marks. How to smooth them out? By contemplating the marks as equal and identical, seeing through their substance and essence. What is the substance and essence of these marks? They are merely combinations of the seven fundamental elements, merely fashioned by the Tathagatagarbha. Could there be any real mark that we perceive? It is like having an eye disease that causes one to see heights and depths, beauty and ugliness—a diseased eye sees flowers in the sky, but when the illness is cured, the flowers vanish. Spiritual practice is precisely about curing this disease to perceive the true reality; there is nothing else to it! This is to encourage others, and also to encourage myself.