Contemplative Practice Must Also Introspect the Root of Greed, Hatred, and Delusion

Jun Ruolan's contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā): These past few days I encountered an unfair matter, so I began contemplative practice. Fairness was not obtained, and anger arose—this is attachment to dharmas (clinging to rules). Why cling to rules? It is to keep one's own interests from being harmed, which is to satisfy greed. Form, feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness are all empty—so what is there to be greedy for?
During the contemplative practice, at first the mind consciousness participated quite a lot, but later, at the last sentence, the mind consciousness's thinking stopped moving, and there was only a simple awareness present. At that moment I saw an image: "I"—a body, light and floating, half-dissipated there. Later, that half-dissipated image also ceased to exist, and there was only a light, floating sensation, until the end. After the contemplative practice ended, when I thought about this matter again, I found my mind very calm. Whenever something in real life stirs up emotions, I take time out to do contemplative practice. The more I practice, the more I discover how many problems my manas really has—self-grasping is deep and heavy.
Assessment: Jun Ruolan's contemplative practice is very much on point, which shows her wisdom is very good and her power of wisdom (prajñā-bala) is strong. I don't know whether her meditative concentration (samādhi) is as strong as her wisdom; I feel it is slightly weaker. However, at this pace, her meditative concentration will quickly strengthen again, and when meditative absorption (samādhi) appears, her practice will reach a great turning point. Seize it well, and seeing the path may be within reach.
Everyone's greed, anger, and delusion have an origin, that is, a root—and what is this root? It is the self, "I." Because of the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi), in order to protect the self and satisfy the self, greed, anger, and delusion automatically arise. Therefore, the phenomena of greed, anger, and delusion objectively reflect the view of self and self-grasping in the mind. Even though a person of the first or second fruit has already eradicated the view of self, it has not been eradicated thoroughly, so although the afflictions of greed, anger, and delusion have been subdued, they have not been uprooted. Only after the first dhyāna, upon reaching the third fruit, are the afflictions of greed and anger eradicated at the root, but the affliction of delusion still remains un-eradicated. This delusion refers to delusion regarding the dharmas within the three realms, not delusion regarding the Mahāyāna dharma.
The subduing and eradication of the afflictions of greed, anger, and delusion must come after effective contemplative practice, and especially after meditative absorption (samādhi) arises, the effect is very obvious: without the mind consciousness forcibly suppressing the afflictions, the afflictions naturally do not arise. During contemplative practice, once the manas clearly understands the falsity and unreality of the five aggregates of body and mind, its views and concepts change, and it no longer takes the physical body seriously. The coarse greed for the desire realm naturally does not manifest; one naturally becomes increasingly indifferent to the six sense-object realms such as clothing, food, dwelling, and daily activities—no longer picky, no longer caring, no longer pursuing. Anger is also naturally subdued; one feels indifferent to everything, and a single phrase of "it doesn't matter" dissolves many entanglements.
Practice means using theory to guide the actual; the actual is each present-moment link of the five aggregates, every bodily, verbal, and mental action. What is cultivated is precisely the body and mind, the bodily, verbal, and mental actions—this is the final point of landing, the ultimate goal. To observe the effect of each person's practice, one must observe their bodily, verbal, and mental actions, and observe every detail of the activity of their five aggregates—details determine success or failure, determine effectiveness. Why observe the details of the five aggregates and the bodily, verbal, and mental actions? Because views and concepts determine the bodily, verbal, and mental actions, and determine the details of the activity of the five aggregates. Only when theory is implemented in place will views and concepts transform; if theory is not implemented in place, it is merely theory, and there is nothing worth discussing.