The Mental Factors of Mahāyāna Bodhisattvas Should Be Transformed Even More

Some people say that the practice of Mahāyāna bodhisattvas is completely different from that of Hīnayāna practitioners: Hīnayāna practitioners seek to eradicate afflictions and seek liberation, whereas Mahāyāna bodhisattvas, like the tathāgatagarbha, should neither eradicate afflictions nor seek liberation. But does the tathāgatagarbha have any afflictions to eradicate? Has the tathāgatagarbha been bound by any dharma? The tathāgatagarbha originally has no afflictions and is intrinsically liberated; there is no need to seek the eradication of afflictions in order to attain liberation. The tathāgatagarbha has no ignorance, and therefore there is no ending of ignorance. However, the seventh consciousness of a bodhisattva has afflictions, so afflictions must be eradicated; if the seventh consciousness is not liberated, liberation must be sought; if the seventh consciousness has ignorance, ignorance must be broken through. If a Mahāyāna bodhisattva has heavy afflictions and is bound by birth-and-death, such a bodhisattva is not a true bodhisattva and cannot deliver sentient beings. If one is still in the river of birth-and-death and unable to escape it oneself, how can one rescue sentient beings?

Furthermore, not to mention that a Mahāyāna bodhisattva has fundamental afflictions, there are also the eight universally associated afflictive mental factors—non-faith, laziness, non-diligence, torpor, restlessness, forgetfulness, non-discernment, and distraction—as well as the two intermediate afflictive mental factors of shamelessness and lack of remorse, blatantly displayed before the world. What kind of bodhisattva is this? When the mind does not correspond to any of the eleven wholesome mental factors, what kind of Mahāyāna bodhisattva is this? Can such a bodhisattva serve as a model and exemplar for sentient beings? What can the vast multitude of sentient beings learn by following such a bodhisattva? If the perverse trend of wanting only fruits, benefits, and fame, without wanting the merits of liberation, is not curbed, Buddhism will surely perish swiftly.

Genuine Practice Involves the Transformation of Body, Mind, and World

The change in mental factors can be taken as a quantifiable standard of practice results. For example, if anger has diminished, greed has diminished, delusion has diminished, and the other afflictive mental factors have all correspondingly lessened, and the mind-ground corresponds less and less to afflictions such as greed, anger, and delusion, and this persists for a relatively long time—if this is the case, it indicates that one's practice has achieved results. Changes in afflictions have corresponding changes in mental factors as their counterpart, and the transformation of wisdom likewise has corresponding changes in mental factors as its counterpart. Using tangible, measurable quantifiable standards to gauge one's progress in practice may perhaps benefit the practice of the general public. Measured by these standards, one can check oneself and assess oneself; every step of progress has a standard by which to measure it, and in this way confidence in practice can be increased.

The change in mental factors is the result of practice and can serve as a standard for measuring the degree of practice, but there is also the question of to what degree specific afflictions have decreased, and to what degree wholesome mental factors have increased and strengthened—this is hard to grasp, and it likewise involves the transformation of body and mind. The transformation of body and mind is a major, obvious, and clear marker. The attainment and realization of each fruit-stage must be accompanied by a corresponding degree of transformation of body and mind—this is the marker. There are also hints of certain states, such as indications in dreams, which show the degree to which a person has realized the fruit-stages of the Great and Small Vehicles, the degree to which afflictions have been eliminated, and the degree to which the mind has been purified. Each time a practitioner advances to a higher fruit-stage or a higher level of practice, there are displays and hints in terms of states: one is the shock and change experienced in body and mind, and the other is the hint of auspicious dreams, indicating the degree to which the mind has been purified, the degree to which afflictions have been subdued, the depth of the state of wisdom, and how future development will proceed.

Why must genuine realization involve the transformation of body and mind, and why is the transformation of body and mind a major and clear marker? Because from beginningless kalpas until beginningless kalpas henceforth, the body-mind-world has all been controlled and regulated by the manas. When the manas's cognition changes, its views change, and its wisdom changes, the body-mind-world will correspondingly transform. The reactions of body and mind are the barometer of the manas; the venting of the manas's emotions, the expression of its thoughts, and so on are all reflected through body and mind. If the manas's thoughts are touched or shaken by something, it will inevitably simultaneously draw along and influence the body-mind-world, triggering a chain reaction in body and mind.

Those dreams with special significance have important meaning and serve the function of hints and warnings, enabling one to judge oneself; they are the basis for judging the degree and progress of one's practice, and among these dreams there are also hints and indications from the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The markers of accomplishment in practice are, first, the change in afflictions, and second, the transformation of wisdom—these two are the most important, and both are transformations of mental factors. When mental factors have truly changed, that is the stage of third-fruit and fourth-fruit persons and bodhisattvas who have attained the bhūmis. Before this, afflictions are merely subdued, and there cannot be an obvious and clear change in mental factors. Therefore, before the third and fourth fruits, there is no way to accurately quantify the standards.