The Practice of the Four Right Efforts (V)

Original text: 于其未生一切善法。为令生故生欲者。谓于未得。未现在前。所有善法。为欲令得。令现在前。发心希愿。发起猛利。求获得欲。求现前欲。而现在前。是名于其未生一切善法。为令生故生欲。

Explanation: Regarding all wholesome dharmas that have not yet arisen, one gives rise to aspiration for the sake of causing them to arise. This means that for all wholesome dharmas that have not yet been attained and have not yet manifested, in order to attain them and cause them to manifest before one, one resolves with hope and longing, giving rise to an intense desire to obtain them and a desire to have them manifest, until they finally manifest before one. This is called, regarding all wholesome dharmas that have not yet arisen, giving rise to desire for the sake of causing them to arise.

Original text: 于其已生一切善法。为欲令住。令不忘失。令修圆满生欲者。谓已获得。已现在前。所有善法。是名已生善法。于此善法已得不失。已得不退。依是说言。为欲令住。于此善法明了现前。无闇钝性。依是说言令不忘失。于此善法已得现前。数数修习。成满究竟。依是说言。令修圆满。于此善法发心希愿。发起猛利求。坚住欲求。不忘欲求。修满欲而现在前。是名于其已生一切善法。为欲令住。令不忘失。令修圆满生欲。

Explanation: Regarding wholesome dharmas that have already arisen, one gives rise to aspiration in order to make them abide, to prevent them from being forgotten and lost, and to bring them to perfection through cultivation. All wholesome dharmas that have already been attained and have already manifested are called wholesome dharmas that have already arisen. When wholesome dharmas that have been attained are no longer lost and no longer regress, this is called aspiring for wholesome dharmas to abide permanently. When one holds existing wholesome dharmas clearly in mind, lucidly and distinctly, without any dullness, this is called preventing the wholesome dharmas from being forgotten and lost. When wholesome dharmas that have been attained and have manifested are cultivated again and again until they reach perfection and ultimate completion without interruption, this is called bringing them to perfection through cultivation.

One gives rise to a hopeful mind toward wholesome dharmas, an intense mind of seeking, vowing to attain and hold them, and wishing to abide firmly within wholesome dharmas without regressing or forgetting, hoping to cultivate them to perfection. These desires and aspirations are called, regarding all wholesome dharmas that have already arisen, the desire that arises in order to make them abide and endure forever, to prevent them from being forgotten and lost, and to cultivate them to perfection.

When wholesome dharmas are not yet firm, one is sometimes wholesome and sometimes unwholesome—wholesome when encountering wholesome conditions, unwholesome when encountering evil conditions. Therefore, in the course of encountering conditions and facing circumstances, one must constantly examine one's own mind and constantly spur oneself on, maintaining wholesome mind, wholesome mindfulness, and wholesome conduct, until the wholesome dharmas become firm and unregressing, perfect and unobstructed. Only when the mind of evil and unwholesomeness is transformed into a wholesome mind—completely reborn—can one realize the Path and become a noble one. This is the process of cultivating the four right efforts, which is by no means easy, because sentient beings' minds are stubborn and hard to change, and their dispositions are difficult to shift. All methods of practice are for the purpose of subduing and transforming the mind. When the mind is ultimately purified, there is nothing more to learn from the Buddha's Dharma, and one becomes a Buddha at the fruit-stage of one beyond training (aśaikṣa). The mind is the master of all things; when the mind changes, all things change along with it. Therefore, repairing and cultivating the root of the mind is true and genuine cultivation; cultivating only in theory without cultivating the mind is mere performance.