Can Bodhi Be Attained Without Severing Kleshas?

Some say that realizing the mind's true nature and attaining the first fruition do not involve severing afflictions, nor do they bring about any changes or transformations in body and mind, and that this is normal. Yet this is highly abnormal. Such a monumental matter concerning life and death, overturning previously grave erroneous views, shifting the perception of the five aggregates from existence to emptiness—how could there be no changes in body and mind? When the Four Right Efforts are practiced in accordance with the Dharma, how could body and mind remain unchanged? When the Seven Factors of Enlightenment are cultivated according to the truth, how could body and mind fail to transform? If the mind does not change, how can one attain fruition or realize the mind's true nature? Even in worldly matters, when the mental faculty truly comprehends something significant, it may cause extraordinary excitement, profound bodily changes, overwhelming emotional agitation—tears may well up, the body may tremble, the expression may turn solemn, or one may lie sleepless for days.

Before attaining fruition, during the practice of the Thirty-Seven Aids to Enlightenment, body and mind gradually undergo changes, becoming markedly different from before. If the difference becomes pronounced and the five grades of defilements in the desire realm are severed, one enters the stage of approaching the first fruition. If body and mind show no changes at all, it indicates failure to practice according to the Dharma, incorrect direction in practice, lack of diligence, mere intellectual understanding without internalization, or excessive engagement with worldly matters without genuine absorption of the Dharma principles.

The Abhidharma-kosa states that true and proper cultivation of the path inevitably subdues and severs afflictions and defilements during the process, and even more so in the result. Only then can one approach the first fruition and ultimately attain it. Without severing even a single strand of affliction, without transformation of body and mind, one remains an ordinary being bound by fetters, tightly constrained by afflictions and unable to move. How could such a one advance on the path to bodhi or transform their identity? Forcing a claim to such an identity results in mere empty titles devoid of reality—this is deceiving the world to gain fame.

Many assume that merely being able to expound the Dharma signifies genuine realization. Yet this is not so. If one teaches without having realized the truth through practice, the guidance lacks true significance. Having never traversed that path oneself, one cannot guide others on how to walk it concretely. If one’s own mind burns fiercely with greed, hatred, and delusion, riddled with leaks everywhere, it is impossible to guide others in subduing and severing afflictions.

There is a "One Finger Zen" anecdote: When a nun guiding her teacher raised a single finger, the teacher instantly attained enlightenment. A young novice witnessed this and thought, "So this is enlightenment!" Thereafter, in the teacher’s absence, whenever someone inquired about the Dharma, the novice would likewise raise a single finger, declaring it to be the true suchness—a perfect imitation, like a parrot mimicking speech. Nowadays, what passes for enlightenment is no different from that novice’s "enlightenment." Though one may gesticulate similarly, echoing the methods of ancestral masters as if wielding sharp pointers or guiding others, it only deceives the uninformed—experts see through the facade. All such pointers involve the interplay of the eight consciousnesses, blending truth and falsehood. Failing to distinguish truth from falsehood, mistaking the false for the true, no amount of gesturing constitutes a genuine pointer.

A hundred years after the Buddha’s parinirvana, Ananda heard a young novice misrecite "impermanent" (生灭法) as "water old crane" (水老鹤) and corrected him. But when the novice asked his teacher which was correct, the teacher said, "Don’t listen to Ananda—he’s senile. Recite as I taught you." Thus, the novice continued reciting incorrectly. Hearing this, Ananda thought: "The Buddha’s Dharma has already been distorted so severely just a century after his parinirvana. In future ages, further removed from the Buddha, what will become of the Dharma? Sentient beings are so deluded!" Grieving, Ananda resolved to enter parinirvana immediately, unwilling to witness the gradual ruin of the Dharma. Even then, the Dharma had already deteriorated—how much more so thousands of years later! Ours is not an era where saints fill the streets; many gravely misunderstand the cultivation and realization of the Dharma.

Today, neither the Mahayana nor the Hinayana teachings are regarded as precious or rare. Merely hearing the Dharma and pondering it is thought sufficient to attain fruition—no need for precepts, meditative concentration, wisdom, or the practice of the six paramitas and myriad virtuous deeds. Those who uphold precepts and cultivate concentration are deemed fools. Now, any fruition seems easily attainable: the fruition of dream-like contemplation, illusion-like contemplation, or even the Ten Grounds of Bodhisattvahood are considered effortless. Methods for contemplating and realizing the Tathagatagarbha, passed on orally, are believed to bring fruition straight to one’s door. The delusion and inversion of sentient beings have reached a point beyond words.