Only by subduing coarse craving and attachment can one attain meditative concentration and eliminate self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi)

Liking various forms of entertainment, including music, chess, calligraphy, painting, and all kinds of arts and so on, all fall within the category of craving and attachment. No matter how refined, noble, elevated, or wonderful these may be considered in worldly eyes, no matter how pleasing to the eye and mind, they run contrary to the Path and all belong to worldly existence; therefore they are all things of saṃsāra, and attachment to them prevents escape from saṃsāra. Moreover, when the mind has craving and attachment, it corresponds to the ghost realm, and at the end of life one will go to the ghost realm to receive retribution. The scope of craving is extremely broad—craving is present almost everywhere. As long as there is liking, caring about, or grasping (upādāna), it all counts as craving and attachment. Therefore, regardless of whether one studies Buddhism or not, as long as one's wholesome karma is insufficient to be reborn in the heavens or as a human, because of one's various cravings and attachments, one will almost always first go to the ghost realm to receive retribution, and afterward go to the animal realm to receive retribution. Only when the karma of the evil destinies is temporarily exhausted and some merit remains will one return to the human world. If one craves the dharmas of the desire realm, one cannot leave the desire realm; if one craves the dharmas of the human world, one cannot be reborn in the heavens, and one may not even be able to be reborn among humans.

The desire for food and drink is the coarsest and easiest affliction to subdue in the human world; it is the first gate of cultivation. If one cannot pass even this gate, other cravings will be even harder to subdue. The myriad faults and errors of ordinary beings (pṛthagjana) are manifested in the bits and pieces of craving in daily life—craving everywhere, grasping everywhere. Living with such fastidiousness—fastidious about what? Fastidious about everything, unwilling to let any dharma be emptied, pursuing only the best. Take eating alone: the varieties are endless, and the fastidiousness is immense. But retribution is often the opposite of what is sought: gluttony leads to rebirth as a hungry ghost, and arrogance makes the physical body short and small, and so on.

Sexual desire between men and women in the human world is the heaviest craving. If one can subdue it, one can attain the dhyāna of the first meditation, and by cutting off craving for sexual desire, one can be reborn in the first dhyāna heaven in later lives. If the cravings of human life for food, clothing, shelter, use, and travel can be subdued, one can attain preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi), thereby subduing the afflictions of the human world, and after death can be reborn in the desire-realm heavens. Those who cannot attain meditative concentration should examine the various cravings within their own minds. Enjoying high buildings, fine clothes, and exquisite food in the human world comes at a price: once one's blessings are exhausted, one can no longer survive in the human world and has no choice but to suffer in the three evil destinies. Therefore, those who love to enjoy wealth, glory, and splendor should awaken and plan early, see through the unreality of worldly splendor, and not admire vain glory.

Why do all meditative concentrations correspond to the heavenly destinies, such that one can be reborn in the heavens at the end of life? Beings in the heavens all have corresponding wholesome karma; their minds are wholesome, and their afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion are slight. The desire-realm heavens are mainly summoned by wholesome karma—they are the retribution of wholesome karma, with a small element of retribution from meditative concentration. The form realm and formless realm heavens are mainly the retribution of meditative concentration. Without corresponding meditative concentration, one cannot be reborn in the form realm or formless realm heavens. Therefore meditative concentration can certainly subdue afflictions and cut off afflictions. Both the elimination of self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) and seeing one's true mind and awakening to one's nature require at least preparatory concentration, and both require subduing the coarse and heavy afflictions of the desire realm. Fame and gain, and wealth, sex, fame, food, and sleep, are all afflictions within the desire realm. A person with such severe afflictions cannot possibly have meditative concentration, cannot possibly eliminate self-view, cannot possibly see the true mind and awaken to their nature, and even less can attain the bhūmis.

If someone claims that after eliminating self-view and seeing the true mind they are still just like ordinary people, with obvious afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, then it is not a true elimination of self-view nor a true seeing of the true mind. Worldly people do not understand matters of cultivation and realization, and they tend to overestimate their own and others' cultivation, with many misunderstandings. Because of self-view, they never misunderstand in the direction of the lower, only in the direction of the higher. In the past, some people told me they had eliminated self-view and awakened to the true mind, begging me to verify and certify it for them, and then they went on and on about how there is no self and how everything is empty. But such theories are found everywhere and are easily obtained. Can I, upon hearing these descriptions, necessarily judge whether they have truly realized anything? Of course not. Better to see with one's own eyes than to hear with one's ears.

In fact, in judging whether a person has eliminated something or realized something, the key is not to listen to what they say but to watch what they do—action is the most truthful. So a very simple method of judgment is to examine their words and observe their conduct: observe the person's bodily, verbal, and mental actions, their attitude toward food, clothing, shelter, use, and travel, their attitude toward material form (rūpa). These are where the coarsest afflictions lie, and they are the first things that must change in the process of cultivation. The slightly subtler afflictions concern one's attitude toward mind, consciousness, and the mental—namely a person's thoughts and views; these too must undergo some change. Otherwise, nothing has been eliminated and nothing has been realized. Since one has realized the non-self of the five aggregates (pañcaskandha), has realized emptiness (śūnyatā), and clearly knows it is empty and nonexistent, how could one continue to grasp and cling to the coarse and heavy dharmas without letting go or changing? This is the most direct, simplest, and most effective way to examine a person. How many people can withstand such an examination?