Because of Self, Various False Speech, Afflictions, and Karma Arise

In the Dharma-ending age, among the offenses of false speech, not only are there many who commit the offense of major false speech, but those who commit medium and minor false speech are also quite numerous. Why do people commit the offense of false speech? Such false speech is nothing more than displaying one's abilities to others, showing oneself to be superior and excelling over others, in order to attract others' attention, making them envious and worshipful, and thereby gaining various benefits in worldly dharmas and satisfying one's various desires. All afflictions arise because there is a self in the mind; if there were no self, whence would afflictions come, whence would major, medium, and minor false speech come? Therefore, from various afflictions, one can discern the depth of the view of self and each person's degree of cultivation.

Some people, because they personally have no cultivation whatsoever and lack the merit of eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa), proclaim that cultivation has nothing to do with afflictions, and nonsense-claim that after realizing the fruit and eradicating the view of self, having any afflictions is normal, that after seeing the mind and seeing one's nature, having any afflictions is also normal, and they even say that afflictions are matters of phenomenal appearances and have nothing to do with the meaning of the Dharma—as long as the Dharma meaning is correct, phenomenal appearances do not matter. Using such wrong view (mithyā-dṛṣṭi) to adversely influence and teach sentient beings has extremely serious consequences, leading to no one being willing to genuinely cultivate and realize the truth, with counterfeit goods flying everywhere. By influencing and cultivating with correct Dharma meaning in accordance with the Dharma and practicing as it truly is, one can certainly subdue and eradicate afflictions and advance toward liberation, rather than perpetuating and aggravating afflictions. Only when the Dharma meaning is wrong and the direction of guidance is wrong will sentient beings be unable to subdue and eradicate afflictions, and it may even aggravate their afflictions.

The reduction and elimination of afflictions is the result of proper cultivation; if the result is not right, it shows that the person has not cultivated well and that the direction of guidance in the practice is mistaken. In some groups, the result of studying Buddhism has generally been an aggravation of greed, hatred, and delusion; this result shows that the direction of guidance in what they studied is wrong, running counter to the Path—not only do they not attain liberation, they have also added much attachment and bondage. This requires re-examining the Dharma one has studied and the person one follows; if one finds that something is amiss, one should quickly leave and correct it, to avoid falling into an abyss in future lives from which one cannot extricate oneself.

A certain group has always despised the Hīnayāna and arhats, has never valued the foundational cultivation of the thirty-seven factors of the Path, has never cultivated meditative concentration (samādhi), does not understand contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), and knows even less how to eradicate the view of self; yet after listening to a certain class for one hour, every single one attained the first fruit, everyone had eradicated the view of self—counterfeit fruits flying everywhere, fake saints walking all over the place. Afterwards they launched a great revolutionary movement, making Buddhism foul and murky, with no peace anywhere. Yet the originator of all this offered the list of these counterfeit fruits before the Buddha, brazenly deceiving the World-Honored One—in reality deceiving the faithful. How could the World-Honored One be deceived? If such a group continued to exist for a few more years, Buddhism would be destroyed and ruined beyond remedy. Fortunately, in the Sahā world the Buddha still presides, and Dharma-protecting deities provide protection, timely rescuing the situation and saving Buddhism.

Only being without self is the merit (gong) after cultivation; only being without afflictions is the virtue (de) after cultivation. Only with a selfless, mind-empty state can one possess virtue; with afflictions there is no virtue, and no virtue means deficient virtue; deficient virtue must be replenished, and replenishing virtue requires cultivating the Dharma of no-self and the Dharma of the empty mind. A person with merit and virtue does not create great afflictive karma, does not create unwholesome karma, does not harm sentient beings, and does not undermine Buddhism from within. But having blessings does not necessarily mean having virtue; with blessings but without virtue, given the opportunity, one will create great unwholesome karma, like the asuras, like Pāpīyas.