The Four Preparatory Practices and Four Good Roots of Cultivated Wisdom

Is the contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) of the four foundations of mindfulness related to the Four Noble Truths? In the process of contemplating the four foundations of mindfulness, each foundation of mindfulness must be contemplated in light of the principles of the Four Noble Truths; combined together, this means observing sixteen aspects of practice. When the sixteen aspects are contemplated in full, one will attain four kinds of wisdom states, which are the four roots of goodness. These four roots of goodness are warmth (ūṣma-gata), summit (mūrdhan), patience (kṣānti), and the foremost worldly dharma (laukikāgra-dharma), also called the four aids (nirvedha-bhāgīya). This is a stage that must be passed through before seeing the path. The four aids and four roots of goodness belong to wisdom cultivated through meditation (bhāvanā-mayī-prajñā); before this, one is at the stage of wisdom from hearing (śruta-mayī-prajñā) and wisdom from reflection (cintā-mayī-prajñā), which is relatively shallow and has not yet been instilled into the manas. Only when it is instilled into the manas, when the manas is touched and changed, becoming compliant with suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self, and giving rise to compliance with the stage of the decisive discrimination of the path (nirvedha-bhāgīya), does one have wisdom cultivated through meditation. Only when wisdom cultivated through meditation is present and brought to fullness will one see the path. Therefore the four aids are extremely important; everyone should understand this, and I will gradually teach some dharma in this area.

Another theory that needs to be perfected for everyone is the thirty-seven factors of enlightenment (bodhipākṣika-dharma). I will explain it in a bit more detail, so that each person knows whether they are cultivating the thirty-seven factors of enlightenment, and to what degree they have cultivated them. Finally, I will also talk about, in the process of cultivation before seeing the path, which of the coarser afflictive obstructions (kleśāvaraṇa) of the desire realm need to be eliminated through meditative concentration (samādhi). Subtle afflictions can only be eliminated after seeing the path; before seeing the path they cannot be eliminated, and the afflictions of the form realm are even less possible to eliminate. With this, the dharma of the Small Vehicle will basically be sufficient, and there is no need to teach more.

In cultivation, in fact ninety percent of the time is spent on one's own personal effort, with very little time used for listening to the dharma and absorbing theoretical views in order to guide one's practice, so as not to go astray onto wrong or divergent paths. Once the theoretical views absorbed are more or less sufficient, it is entirely a matter of concentrating one's mind and applying effort single-mindedly; spending more time studying theory would delay things. So in the future I do not wish to teach too much dharma, lest it delay everyone's actual practice. If in the future I find there are still theoretical deficiencies, I will slowly supplement them; the specifics should still focus on actual practice—having theory that is sufficient is enough. Being greedy for more will not be of much use and will only waste time.

In the cultivation stage of the four aids, because the manas has been effectively instilled, both body and mind will undergo change: the mind becomes purer than before, afflictions become lighter, and bodily, verbal, and mental actions are transformed. Only in this way can one gradually correspond to the qualities of mind and conduct of the sages after seeing the path, and only then can one see the path. So it is not the case that if one's body and mind have changed and afflictions have lightened, one has already seen the path and attained realization—that is still far off. Those who constantly suspect that they have awakened to the Mahāyāna dharma, if they have not cultivated these dharmas, not cultivated them to fullness and completeness, then from now on let go of this doubt—no need to doubt: you have not awakened, not even an intellectual awakening. Some people, after awakening, show little change in body, mind, and world compared to before awakening, or no change at all, having merely gained a bit more knowledge and views; some people do not even have sufficient knowledge and views. Such people have not cultivated the thirty-seven factors of enlightenment at all, have not cultivated the four aids, and are merely at the stage of hearing and reflection. Such a misunderstanding is simply enormous. Why would such a misunderstanding arise?