Mo Mingzhi's Contemplative Practice

Looking at a person's photos from youth and old age, they have almost completely changed — is the body at this moment still the same body as the body back then? I played the guzheng for several years and was also very interested in the guqin, but last year I gradually lost interest in it. One's attitude toward the same thing can slowly change — so is this mind that has lost interest still the same mind as the mind that once liked it? I observed the changes in my own body and the changes in my mental nature, and found that the cells of the physical body and my own mental nature are constantly arising and ceasing, changing moment by moment. From this perspective of understanding, all of these arise from the conjunction of causes and conditions, and are therefore not real existences.

Assessment: The observation and cognition are quite good. Being able to see through and let go of what one likes and loves shows that one has already matured, no longer like a small child attached to toys. All dharmas in the three realms are toys; different sentient beings like different toys. Sentient beings in the desire realm like the toys of the desire realm, sentient beings in the form realm like the toys of the form realm, and sentient beings in the formless realm like the toys of the formless realm — all of them cannot see through this, their minds are deluded by states, and thus they are trapped and unable to attain liberation. Being unable to see through states is caused by ignorance. Ignorance is hard to break through because it has shrouded us for far too long — one cannot break out of the darkness, and instead takes the darkness for light. Only under the guidance of the Buddha's teachings, by recognizing ignorance, recognizing the self clearly, and recognizing states clearly, can one break through the darkness bit by bit, dispel ignorance, cast off the entanglements, and be freely liberated.