Miscellaneous Discussions on Buddhism (Part One)
Chapter 3: Afflictive Obstructions and Afflictions
I. The Manifestations of the Mind of Self and the Nature of Self
The mind of self and nature of self of sentient beings can manifest from any aspect. Even if one disguises oneself completely, there will always be places where the horse's hooves show, always traces and clues to be found. Those without wisdom cannot see them, but a person with wisdom can glimpse this person's mind of self and nature of self from those traces and clues. Moreover, sentient beings today all have very coarse and heavy afflictive natures; what they reveal is far from being as faint and subtle as mere traces and clues.
The so-called self can be divided into many levels, from the small self and private self to the greater self. Some people take the five aggregates and eighteen realms alone as the self and what belongs to the self, and thereby create karma; some people expand it slightly, taking their parents, children, and close relatives as part of the self, and thereby create karma; some people take the small group they belong to as part of the self, and thereby create karma; some people take a region as part of the self, and thereby create karma; some people take the nation they belong to as part of the self, and thereby create karma.
Why do people create karma by taking a nation or group as part of the self? Because their own private interests are involved there. Without their own interests involved, ordinary people are unwilling to create karma; only when their own interests are involved do they go create karma. So no matter how large a group one creates karma for, in reality it is still for oneself, and there is still a mind of self.
Cultivating to true selflessness is not easy. Everyone has some private desires—if not for the small self, then for a somewhat larger self, because the greater self contains the interests of the small self. Sentient beings are always after either money or power; if not power, then fame; those who are not after fame are few—they are after personal benefits that can be more readily spoken of, such as benefits in the Buddhadharma like merit, virtue, and followers. In short, every sentient being has a self within; some light, some heavy; some hide it shallowly, some hide it deeply, and some simply do not hide it at all. True selflessness is extremely rare.
Some people's outward goodness is at the same time precisely the manifestation of great evil. Great evil may appear good on the surface—on the surface it can benefit somewhat more people, so it looks good, but in reality it is still evil, and great evil at that, because it harms the interests of even more people. Someone feels honored to go to the battlefield for the sake of one's own country, nominally to defend one's own homeland, yet it harms the homelands of others. One's own homeland is a homeland—are the homelands of others not also homelands? But sentient beings simply do not see it this way: as long as something relates to the self, it must be righteous, with no need to consider the other party's interests; one must do it, and thus creates karma openly and shamelessly.
Some people believe that as long as one does things for the group, it is selfless. But if the group does not include him, nor his interests, he will not be willing to work and create karma selflessly. If doing anything for one's own group were good, then if it harms the interests of more groups and sentient beings, is this action good or evil after all? It would be great evil. Often many people's outward goodness conceals even greater evil, yet sentient beings are foolish and do not understand this principle—it is all the outward manifestation of the manas secretly grasping at self.
Sentient beings usually take the self as the master. As long as something relates to the self, they will defend it no matter what, regardless of right or wrong. In reality, that is a very strong mind of self and nature of self. Whatever degree of self it is, as long as one's own interests are involved, it is a manifestation of the mind of self. Whatever relates to the self is good; whatever does not relate to the self is not good—this is the manifestation of the mind of self. Sentient beings are often unable to introspect, and are unwilling to introspect, because their wisdom is shallow and their mind of protecting the self is extremely heavy.
II. How to Break Through Emotional Attachment and Advance on the Path
Sentient beings today all have very deep and heavy emotional attachments, everywhere competing to be higher than others: I must be the best and the highest, I must be first, my group must be first—not only first, but the only one; only I will do, and everything else is disregarded. It is the same among Buddhists, not the least inferior to worldly people and groups. The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas see sentient beings very clearly; it is just that sentient beings cannot see themselves clearly and lack the power of introspection (pratyavekṣā-bala). Whatever relates to the self is good—this is the psychology of sentient beings' emotional attachment, and also their deep and heavy habitual tendencies of self-grasping. Sentient beings always want to defend the self and the relatives and groups large and small related to the self at all costs, without considering cause and effect at all, without considering consequences. This deep and heavy psychology of emotional attachment is very hard to change, and karma is often created because of emotional attachment.
Then we should discuss whether there is a "first" in the world, and who is the first. "Beyond a person there are other people; beyond the sky there are other skies"—the meaning is that there will always be people more excellent than oneself. Apart from the Buddha, no one is first; moreover, the Way of all Buddhas is the same, so there is no first Buddha either. All Buddhas are equal, all are the unsurpassed honored ones, so among the Buddhas there is no talk of first or second. A Bodhisattva cannot be first—there are always people higher and wiser than a Bodhisattva; ordinary beings even less can be first. So in the world there is really nothing worth competing for; the more one competes, the less one can be first. Because when the mind has competition, it has already fallen to a lower place. Only one who does not compete at all, whose mind is lofty and vast, can reach the summit, reach the peak.
To break through the psychology of emotional attachment, one must rely on great wisdom and the power of meditative concentration (samādhi). Settle the mind and contemplate deeply and subtly, and one will know that all dharmas are dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows—then what is there to grasp? Think carefully: what does this world have? Which is real? Which is worth grasping? Which is worth competing for? Which is worth being entangled with? Only the Buddhadharma is worth devoting one's mind to, worth our effort to give. But if one competes with others in order to become a Buddha, one instead cannot become a Buddha, and the speed of cultivation will slow down, which actually delays one's own buddhahood. Apart from becoming a Buddha, there is nothing else worth grasping or being entangled with; but even the grasping and entanglement of becoming a Buddha must be eliminated, and only then can one finally become a Buddha.
III. What Are Afflictive Obstructions and Afflictive Habitual Tendencies?
Afflictive obstructions (kleśāvaraṇa) are afflictions of the mental nature, corresponding to greed, hatred, and delusion, which can obstruct one's progress on the Path. Afflictive habitual tendencies are the inertial effects accumulated by the manas since beginningless kalpas. An arhat of the fourth fruit can only eliminate the manifest current of the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, but cannot eliminate the habitual tendencies and inertia, so sometimes the habitual nature will still erupt inadvertently; but it passes very quickly, leaving no trace in the mind—one will not still be angry and fuming long afterward, or hold grudges in the heart.
Ordinary beings, however, manifest all their afflictions; the specific manifestations are the actions and creations of greedy nature, the actions and creations of hatred and anger, the actions and creations of delusion, and these are the direct embodiment and outflow of the afflictive nature of greed, hatred, and delusion within. Habitual tendencies are like a car that, after braking, still moves forward for some distance due to inertia, not stopping immediately, but this force is relatively small; that stretch of road is the cultivation process between the first bhūmi and the eighth bhūmi Bodhisattva. Before the first bhūmi, it is all the manifest current of afflictions; the afflictions are not yet exhausted. Before the third fruit, before attaining the first dhyāna, the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion are all suppressed, not eliminated at all; after the first dhyāna, one only begins to gradually eliminate afflictions.
Those who have not seen the mind, not realized the nature, and not attained the fruits, even if they have cultivated the four dhyānas and eight samādhis, cannot eliminate afflictions—they are only suppressed; when the meditative concentration regresses in the future, all the afflictions will still manifest. Therefore the merit of attaining the fruits and of seeing the mind and realizing the nature is extremely great, enabling sentient beings in the future to have the ability to eliminate afflictions and escape the suffering of birth and death in saṃsāra, being at ease in every life.
IV. Afflictive Obstructions Affect Merit
A person is like a magnetic field, able to influence the people, things, and affairs around them. A compassionate and gentle disposition can bring an atmosphere of harmony to the surroundings and can transform everything around, and thus merit arises. Conversely, heavy greed, hatred, and delusion, and a coarse and violent temperament, will disturb the surrounding magnetic field, disturb people's hearts, and make others uneasy—that will consume one's own merit. When a person cannot cultivate meditative concentration well, one reason is insufficient merit, another is heavy greed with many things on one's mind that cannot be let go; with heavy greed, thoughts are ceaseless, which affects meditative concentration; yet another reason is heavy hatred—with heavy hatred, there are also many people, things, and affairs in the heart that cannot be set aside. Hatred obstructs meditative concentration most heavily, especially preventing the attainment of the first dhyāna.
The Buddha said that afflictive obstructions such as greed, hatred, and delusion obstruct meditative concentration, while the mind of arrogance obstructs the Path most of all, able to obstruct the arising of all wholesome dharmas. In cultivation, subduing afflictions is extremely important. Afflictions not only obstruct oneself, but also seriously affect others, affect a group, affect everything around, and diminish one's own merit. A person of gentle and compliant temperament has good cultivation and great merit; a person of great merit will progress rapidly on the Path. A person's face is a person's entire fengshui; from it one can see a person's cultivation and a person's mental nature; a person's merit and a person's temperament will all be revealed without reserve.
The mind of arrogance is deeply rooted and very hard to subdue. The deep and subtle conceit of self can only be eliminated by an arhat of the fourth fruit; everyone below the fourth fruit has arrogance. Arrogance does not necessarily manifest on the surface; sometimes it is hidden very deeply, dormant within the tathāgatagarbha. In the vast majority of cases there is no opportunity to manifest it, because the conditions are not yet ripe, the prerequisites for arrogance are not yet present, and one has nothing special in any aspect—compared with others, one is still inferior, so the mind of arrogance does not easily appear. Once conditions ripen and one has even a tiny bit of capital, the mind of arrogance immediately manifests.
Even if one is far inferior to others and has no capital for arrogance, arrogance will still manifest. For example, when a beggar crosses the street and a Lincoln drives over, honking its horn a few times to make him get out of the way, he helplessly steps aside; after the car passes, he curses behind its back: "What's so great about driving a beat-up car? When I have money, I'll drive one even more luxurious than yours." This is the manifestation of inferior arrogance. When in some life he becomes prosperous, his arrogance will manifest completely—such are sentient beings. When certain people gain power in some aspect, the mind of arrogance will soon appear; they themselves may not be able to detect it—first, because the mind is coarse, and second, because they believe they really are quite good.
Afflictions are deeply rooted, carried over from countless kalpas, and very hard to subdue. Once subdued, wisdom advances rapidly and cultivation becomes very fast. Afflictions are the conditions that obstruct the Path, covering one's own mind so that light is not seen—one is foolish and without wisdom, unable to correctly know others or correctly know oneself. Greed attaches to sense objects; hatred obstructs meditative concentration; arrogance obstructs everything, especially blocking the opening of wisdom—this is the most serious.
If this world has frequent disasters and failed harvests, it is all related to ourselves; frequent wars and world turmoil are also related to us—all are summoned by our own minds. Examine your own mind more, examine your own karmic obstructions more, look for your own faults more. When people's hearts are turbulent and greed and hatred blaze, the nation is not at peace, and the world is likewise not at peace. Cultivate the mind well, and everything in the world will change; cultivation can change everything. "A person of blessing dwells in a land of blessing; a land of blessing has people of blessing." As long as you have virtue and blessing, you need not fear that natural disasters and man-made calamities will befall you, and you can even bring peace and harmony to the world or the surrounding region. Cultivation is the master key: there is no knot in the heart it cannot open, no river it cannot cross. Everyone, examine your own mental nature more!
V. What Is the Definition of Afflictions?
Some say that worry, fear, and distress are afflictions; suffering is an affliction; frustration and things not going as wished are afflictions; the suffering of illness is an affliction; inner displeasure is an affliction. Then is happiness also an affliction? The afflictions defined in Buddhism are greed, hatred, delusion, arrogance, doubt, and wrong views (mithyā-dṛṣṭi)—these are afflictions, and these are the afflictions we need to eliminate through cultivation. Once eliminated, one is a person of the third or fourth fruit. Only when afflictions are exhausted can one attain nirvāṇa and coolness. If afflictions are strictly defined, a mind that is not stilled, a mind that is not tranquil, is an affliction.
Happiness is also an affliction; much of the time happiness is the manifestation of the affliction of craving and attachment. When happy, the mind is clamorous and not tranquil; at such times the mind is scattered and there is no way to contemplate the Buddhadharma. The mind does not abide in the Dharma; the Dharma principles are not penetrated, and one cannot gain Dharma benefit. So what benefit is there if we are happy for a whole lifetime? The devas are very happy; one day for them equals several hundred or even several thousand years in the human world. But because of happiness, time passes quickly and their lifespan soon expires, and they must then be reborn in the human world or the three evil destinies. As devas, because of happiness they are unwilling to study and cultivate the Buddhadharma, gaining no benefit from the Dharma, happily wasting several thousand years.
So in studying Buddhism and cultivating, we cannot merely seek happiness; we must find ways to cultivate more of our resources of merit and our resources of precepts, concentration, and wisdom. Only by perfecting these resources can we attain the corresponding fruits of the Path and gain true Dharma benefit. Otherwise, showing off our tongues every day—"speaking of food does not fill the belly"—however good the Buddhadharma is, it is not yours; even if you were originally a Buddha, you can only be an ordinary being, with birth and death and saṃsāra unceasing.
VI. What Are Upper Afflictions and Lower Afflictions?
Sentient beings' afflictions include lower afflictions and upper afflictions. Lower afflictions are greed, hatred, delusion, arrogance, doubt, and wrong views; an arhat of the fourth fruit has exhausted these afflictions. Upper afflictions are those that should be eliminated on the path of cultivation by Bodhisattvas after enlightenment, on the path of meditative practice—afflictions that do not correspond to the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, which Bodhisattvas at the first bhūmi and above gradually begin to eliminate.
These afflictions are also called jñeya (knowable obstructions): pondering how to become a Buddha, how to cultivate the wisdom of the varieties of paths, how to gain greater wisdom, how to know certain deeper levels of Dharma, how to cultivate and realize various contemplative practices (vipaśyanā-caryā), how to advance from bhūmi to bhūmi, how to attain the Buddha fruit and perfect bodhi, and so on. It also includes how to refute externalist teachings and wrong dharmas, how to lead sentient beings onto the right path, and so on. Without the mind to save sentient beings from wrong views, without the mind to save sentient beings to liberation, one is not a Bodhisattva in the true sense and has no qualification to enter the first bhūmi and enter the Tathāgata's family. These jñeya arise as one cultivates and cease as one cultivates—constantly eliminating the old and constantly generating the new. Only when upper afflictions are exhausted can Buddhahood be accomplished.
VII. Those with Heavy Mind of Self Have Difficulty Seeing the Path
When there are thoughts in the mind that are not in accordance with reason, they should be hidden away and spoken out as little as possible; if words that should not be said, words not in accordance with reason, are all spoken out brazenly, it shows that the afflictions within are very heavy and cannot be restrained; there is a self within, believing "I am important, others should comply with me, everything must center on me." As cultivation progressively advances, afflictions should gradually become lighter, and those unreasonable thoughts in the mind should no longer appear—only then is there progress in cultivation. If the self within is very serious, eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) will be extremely difficult.
Cultivation means constantly paying attention to examining and introspecting that self in one's mind—whether it is lightening and shrinking day by day and month by month; if it is still as strong as before, irreversibly, then cultivation has not gained power and has not gotten on the right track. If eradicating the view of self feels very difficult, then seeing the mind will be even more difficult; after all, the merit and various conditions required for seeing the mind are higher, requiring the Bodhisattva's mental nature to be better. Those with a heavy mind of self cannot easily accumulate merit; a selfless mind corresponds to the tathāgatagarbha, and future cultivation of the Bodhisattva path will be very rapid.
VIII. Why Is It Difficult for Sentient Beings to Attain a Human Body?
Sentient beings today almost all have extremely deep and heavy afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, yet they are unaware of it themselves. But greed, hatred, and delusion create boundless evil karma, and in the future they will basically fall into the three evil destinies; the hope of being human again is extremely slim. Sentient beings, because of ignorance, create karma of greed, hatred, and delusion; and precisely because of ignorance, they do not even know it is evil karma. What is precious about humans is self-knowledge; without studying the Buddhadharma and not understanding cause and effect, one remains in ignorance; or having studied the Buddhadharma, one still does not understand cause and effect, not knowing that all one's bodily, verbal, and mental actions have retribution, and thus acts willfully without the slightest regard for consequences. Whether one's actions are right or wrong—one's own judgment is not accurate; one must rely on the principles taught by the Buddha to judge. Sentient beings have created vast evil karma since beginningless kalpas, transmigrating through the six destinies without cease; the chance of obtaining a human body is minuscule. Therefore they do not know how to be human, do not understand the principles of being human, and cannot introspect their own afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion.
The Buddha compared the chance of sentient beings obtaining a human body over countless kalpas to this: in a surging, rushing great ocean there is a blind turtle, and on the sea floats a piece of wood with a round hole that just fits the turtle's head. The chance of this turtle, facing wind and waves, poking its head into the hole in the wood is extremely small—such is the smallness of the chance of obtaining a human body, said the Buddha. Once the Buddha grabbed a handful of soil from the ground and threw it away, asking the assembly: "Is there more soil in my fingernail, or more soil on the great earth?" The disciples answered: "The great earth has more soil." The Buddha said: the chance of sentient beings obtaining a human body is as little as the soil in my fingernail; the chance of not obtaining a human body is as much as the soil of the great earth.
The Buddha said in the Āgama sūtras that sentient beings spend the vast majority of their time in the three evil destinies; when part of the karma of the three evil destinies is exhausted and a little blessing remains, they obtain a human body again and become human; but as humans they do not do well, create much evil karma, and after death fall into the evil destinies again. In the three evil destinies, time in the hells is counted in kalpas, time as hungry ghosts is also counted in kalpas, and as animals, each kind of animal is at least five hundred times; only when the evil karma is exhausted do they return to the human world.
So we see that the vast majority of people do not know how to be human; people's moral character is not good, because they have spent too long in the three evil destinies and have had no opportunity to do human deeds, so they do not know how to be human. That we have obtained human bodies this life and encountered the Buddhadharma—we truly should cultivate well and diligently, sparing ourselves those long-kalpa sufferings. Why create evil actions to satisfy the afflictions of one's own greed, hatred, and delusion? A person with wisdom should calm down and contemplate, compare, and consider how to spend this life, consider how in the future to no longer suffer, in order to resolve the greatest problem of the suffering of birth and death.
IX. How to Discover and Subdue Afflictions?
Everyone has latent afflictions (anuśaya) that they themselves do not know or find difficult to observe, which only manifest under certain conditions. For these latent afflictions, is it better to actively participate in social activities to make them manifest, or better to cultivate alone behind closed doors and not let them manifest?
Latent afflictions mainly refer to afflictive habitual tendencies. Greed, hatred, delusion, arrogance, doubt, and wrong views are afflictions; without the first dhyāna and without reaching the third fruit, these afflictions cannot be eliminated; whenever there is an opportunity they will manifest—only some are light and some heavy. The meaning of latent afflictions is that afflictive habitual tendencies lie dormant in the consciousness-mind and are not easily discovered. These habitual tendencies begin to be eliminated from the first bhūmi Bodhisattva onward; ordinary beings and arhats still lack the ability to eliminate them. If the manifest current of afflictions is too heavy, one should cultivate more meditative concentration and contemplate more on the principle of selflessness. If one cannot discover them oneself and still wants to subdue them, one must temper oneself more among people, and when others point things out, be able to listen and be good at complying. If one cannot bear others pointing things out and instead gives rise to hatred and creates evil actions, then one should go less among people; if not, then one should be more among people introspecting one's own bodily, verbal, and mental actions, humbly listening to others' advice.
Subduing afflictions and eliminating afflictions both occur in the course of encountering conditions and objects: discovering the arising of afflictions, turning the light around to shine back, and cutting them off on the spot. If one stays away from the crowd, afflictions do not easily arise, cannot be discovered, and thus hide in the mind with no conditions for elimination. When one reaches other Buddha-lands, all is favorable circumstances; afflictions have no opportunity to arise, elimination is very difficult, and cultivation is very slow. Although one lives comfortably, progress on the Path is very slow.
X. Why Are Sentient Beings Versed in Human Relations?
If a person has high emotional intelligence and high intelligence, and is very versed in human relations, it shows that since beginningless kalpas this person has lived among humans somewhat longer than others, or lived in the three good destinies somewhat longer, is familiar with the human living environment, is good at understanding human psychology, is versed in human relations, and is very adept at dealing with people and affairs. His manas, having been steeped for a long time in human affairs, has a mental nature corresponding to humans. Even if in a previous life he was in the animal destiny, he was born into a kind of animal relatively close to humans, able to be near people and understand human psychology.
For example, animals like cats and dogs, because they live together with people, understand human psychology and habits; when reborn as humans, they understand human relations and are clever in dealing with people and affairs, even smooth and slick in every direction. Whichever destiny a sentient being dwells in for a long time, the habits of that destiny are heavy; so by observing a person's habits, one knows which destiny he belonged to in his previous life and from which destiny he was reborn. This shows that sentient beings' manas is subject to perfuming, and will manifest the perfumed seeds. So if we are long steeped in the Buddhadharma, in the Mahāyāna Dharma, in the Dharma of tathāgatagarbha, the seeds will be planted, and one day the seeds will manifest, blossom, and bear fruit.
XI. Methods for Subduing Afflictions
When afflictions arise in the mind, we should quietly watch them, observe them, and investigate where they manifest from, where their source is, and why this affliction manifests. Then analyze the cause of the manifesting affliction, and resolve that cause. The mind should continuously ponder that cause, then analyze whether, because of that cause, it is worth generating afflictions; what are the consequences of generating these afflictions, and how many problems can they solve. Then recall how many afflictions we have generated from childhood to adulthood, how those afflictions were resolved, how they disappeared, and what the final result was. Then contemplate how many afflictions we have had through past lives over countless kalpas, how much suffering there has been; those sufferings and afflictions were all our karmic retribution, and once retributed, they pass. Our afflictions in this life are the same—no matter what, they will pass. Why not view these afflictions correctly, untie the knots in the heart, and resolve them in accordance with reason?
We should contemplate that every one of us who studies Buddhism is a Bodhisattva, and a Bodhisattva's duty is to broadly practice the Bodhisattva path; then one cannot always be immersed in the afflictions of the small self. We must open our minds and look to the future; our future is to broadly practice the Bodhisattva path over countless kalpas, in the Buddha-lands of the ten directions, broadly delivering immeasurable beings. A Bodhisattva's mind should not have personal afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion; it can only have the upper afflictions arising from wanting to attain higher realization in the Buddhadharma, only the afflictions arising from how to better teach and transform sentient beings, only the afflictions arising from how to make the true Dharma continue forever. As long as the mind constantly thinks of the Bodhisattva path in future lives, one will not be bound by the small afflictions before one's eyes; the mind can expand, and the heart can open up. Looking to the future is extremely important!
XII. What Are Outflows and Non-Outflows?
Outflows (āsrava) are afflictions such as greed, hatred, delusion, and arrogance; non-outflows mean these afflictions have vanished and been eliminated. Conditioned (saṃskṛta) means there is creating, operating, and doing, including bodily, verbal, and mental actions; unconditioned (asaṃskṛta) means no mental activity, no creating, no bodily, verbal, or mental actions, no operating. The eighth consciousness is untainted and without afflictions; it is an unconditioned dharma, with no mental activity in the world of the three realms, no bodily or verbal activity, creating nothing—it is the mind of intrinsic purity.
But He also has a conditioned aspect: He transmits the seeds of the seven consciousnesses, stores karmic seeds, transmits karmic seeds, and transforms and manifests all dharmas—this is His conditioned part. Without the conditioned part, our five aggregates could not exist; toward the five aggregates He is purely selflessly dedicated. This conditioned dharma we should study well: we must both learn to transform the basis (āśraya-parāvṛtti) to His pure and unconditioned nature, and even more learn His conditioned nature of selfless dedication without seeking reward. When we have learned both of these well and the transformation of the basis is thoroughly successful, our cultivation will have reached its endpoint.
The prerequisite for eliminating afflictions is eradicating the view of self. After the first dhyāna, one begins to eliminate the affliction of craving-attachment; when the affliction of hatred is also eliminated, one is a person of the third fruit; when the afflictions of greed, hatred, delusion, and arrogance are exhausted, one is an arhat of the fourth fruit. Externalists who cultivate, without eradicating the view of self—no matter how pure their minds—are only suppressing afflictions, not eliminating them; so the transmigration of the six destinies is not ended, and when the power of concentration regresses, afflictions will arise again. Therefore relying solely on cultivating concentration cannot escape birth and death in saṃsāra; it must be combined with the wisdom of eradicating the view of self, relying on wisdom to escape the suffering of birth and death in saṃsāra.
Untainted conditioned dharmas refer, first, to the eighth consciousness's affliction-free operation within the body of the five aggregates, and second, to the conduct of affliction-free sages. Tainted conditioned dharmas are the actions and creations of those below the third fruit, especially the actions and creations of ordinary beings. Tainted unconditioned dharmas refer to people who have not eliminated afflictions entering samādhi, where the mind consciousness also ceases, with no creating of bodily, verbal, or mental actions—this is called tainted unconditioned dharma; only the samādhi of non-perception (asaṃjñi-samāpatti) is like this.
XIII. The Difference Between Subduing Afflictions and Eliminating Afflictions
The consciousness-seeds of the seven consciousnesses themselves are pure and without afflictions; it is the mental concomitants (caittas) of the seven consciousnesses that manifest afflictive natures in operation. The so-called wholesome or unwholesome nature refers to the wholesome or unwholesome nature of the mental concomitants of the consciousness-mind. The mental concomitants operate in conjunction with the seven consciousnesses: when the seven consciousnesses are pure, the eleven wholesome mental concomitants operate in conjunction with them; when the seven consciousnesses are defiled, the afflictive mental concomitants operate in conjunction with them.
After cultivation, the seven consciousnesses themselves do not change; it is the mental concomitants that constantly change. When the mental concomitants have not been thoroughly and completely transformed, the seven consciousnesses only suppress afflictions, and later will still manifest afflictive mental concomitants according to conditions. When the seven consciousnesses undergo the transformation of consciousnesses into wisdom, the mental concomitants have already changed: the afflictive mental concomitants are eliminated, and the wholesome mental concomitants increase and manifest. At this point one is a person of the third or fourth fruit—the afflictions are eliminated, not in a state of being subdued and suppressed. The subduing and the eliminating of afflictions differ qualitatively: when subdued and suppressed, the afflictions simply do not manifest but still exist; eliminating afflictions means the afflictions are uprooted entirely, no longer exist, and will never manifest again—this is the third or fourth fruit.
So subduing the five hindrances and eliminating afflictions also differ essentially. When the five hindrances are subdued, the afflictions still exist, just not manifesting; at this point the first dhyāna can appear. After the first dhyāna arises, relying on this power of concentration, one first eliminates the affliction of sensual desire—remember, eliminating is not subduing. After the affliction of sensual desire is eliminated, one gradually eliminates the affliction of hatred; how long it takes in between to eliminate the affliction of hatred varies from person to person. Remember, this is eliminating the affliction of hatred, not subduing and suppressing it—the two differ qualitatively. The affliction of hatred is harder to eliminate than the affliction of sensual desire, relatively difficult. Only when the affliction of hatred is thoroughly eliminated is one a true and genuine person of the third fruit. This is the process and detail of eliminating afflictions: first subdue and suppress so they do not manifest, then, under the effect of meditative concentration, cut off the afflictions.
Of course this is not apart from wisdom; the so-called wisdom is the wisdom of eradicating the view of self, the wisdom of knowing the five aggregates are without self. Without this wisdom realization, it belongs to subduing and suppressing afflictions—all externalists who have cultivated the four dhyānas and eight samādhis are like this. So those externalists all have quite good character and do not manifest afflictions, but the afflictions have not been cut off at the root; in future lives, when the power of concentration disappears, the afflictions will still manifest, and they will still be transmigrating in the six destinies, perhaps even falling into the three evil destinies. This is the difference between having the wisdom of eradicating the view of self and not having it.
XIV. The Evil Retribution of a Contemptuous Mind
When a person has a contemptuous mind, not only can the words spoken become evil karmic seeds that will bring evil retribution in the future, even the expressions representing contempt become karmic seeds, and one will suffer evil retribution for them in the future; even the initial applications and examinations (vitarka-vicāra) in the mind will be stored as seeds, and one will suffer evil retribution for them in the future, because the mind-ground is defiled and the karmic seeds are impure.
Whenever one has had a contemptuous mind, in whatever form, one should promptly repent; to avoid evil retribution in future lives, it is worth paying whatever price to remedy it. There are mental activities even more serious than contempt that should be repented even more, to avoid great evil retribution in future lives—for example, deception and lies, deliberate deception and malicious lies, should all be promptly repented. Small causes yield great fruits; these matters are no trifles—retribution is not false.
In the past, a young śrāmaṇera said of a monastic master that he ate like an ox chewing grass, and for five hundred lives he was an ox. When a monastic speaks verbal karma about a monastic, it is that serious—how much more serious when a layperson speaks verbal karma about a monastic. Everyone must examine themselves and repent of even the slightest fault, so as not to regret it beyond remedy when retribution comes in the future. Now there are many people who slander the Three Jewels—not a few—and they do so openly, publicly, self-righteously, unreasonably, inconceivably; these people may fall into the hells to undergo retribution. If one had supernatural powers and could take a trip through the hells, one would know that the beings in the hells are not all murderers and arsonists; quite a few are Buddhist practitioners who went there by creating great evil karma, who at the time did not know they were creating evil karma—some even thought it was wholesome karma and thought nothing of it. Among these, quite a few are people who considered their own cultivation quite good.
As long as the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion are not eliminated, one may create evil karma—especially Buddhist practitioners who, incited by people they trust, with heads heated, dare to do anything, thinking nothing will happen, not knowing the future retribution is extremely heavy. The more honored one is in the world, the more beneficial to sentient beings, the greater the sin of creating evil karma against them. Buddhist practitioners must first understand cause and effect, be careful with bodily, verbal, and mental actions, not create evil karma, and not receive evil retribution—this is the wise person. Those who truly understand cause and effect, who truly deeply believe and accept cause and effect, are almost at the first bhūmi Bodhisattva; Bodhisattvas before the bhūmis cannot yet fully believe and accept cause and effect, let alone ordinary beings. Because those who can realize the tathāgatagarbha and directly observe its operation know that bodily, verbal, and mental actions are stored into the tathāgatagarbha moment by moment without omission, and retribution is unavoidable—therefore they have no mentality of taking chances.
Regularly reading the cause-and-effect examples taught in the Buddhist sutras, one can understand cause and effect more, and one's bodily, verbal, and mental actions will be very careful. People whose heads are often heated and irrational are everywhere; the evil habits since beginningless kalpas are too deep and heavy, hard to restrain. "Know it as knowing it; not know it as not knowing it"—for what you do not understand, do not lightly open your mouth to comment and evaluate; do not be too confident. Overconfident people usually suffer losses—all losses they give themselves. Overconfident people are those whose self is inflated. In the final analysis, creating evil karma and receiving evil retribution is still because of the self within; that self, not being subdued, will keep popping out to create evil karma.
Having a sense of superiority within is the conceit of self (asmimāna), is having a self. As long as the mind takes any minute dharma as self, it is the conceit of self. The conceit of self is hardest to eliminate and hard for oneself to discover, because it is too habitual—often without awareness, it manifests very naturally. Most people have very coarse and heavy conceit of self, and very few can become aware of their own arrogant mind. Because concentration is insufficient and wisdom inadequate, they cannot introspect their obvious arrogance and hidden arrogance; if no one reminds them, it will be allowed to develop.
XV. Under What Conditions Can Ignorance and Afflictions Be Eliminated?
Because sentient beings lack supernatural powers, what they know is very limited; their horizons are too narrow, their vision too small. The consciousness-mind is limited by the body of the five aggregates, limited by afflictions and habitual tendencies, limited by karmic obstructions—many things are unknown, unseen, unrealized: this is ignorance (avidyā). When ignorance is exhausted, one becomes a Buddha. Many people want to avoid objects and avoid people and affairs, so as to gradually exhaust afflictions and ignorance; but ignorance and karmic obstructions are precisely eliminated through contact with people and affairs, in the course of doing things. If afflictions do not arise, if ignorance does not arise, one cannot direct attention toward and contemplate the arising of afflictions, and thus cannot eliminate afflictions. In interpersonal interactions, when encountering unpleasant things, being able to endure and take a step back is very difficult; and eliminating afflictions and habitual tendencies requires enduring amid adverse conditions before they can be eliminated. Some favorable circumstances also require endurance without becoming complacent, and only then can the craving-attachment to favorable circumstances be eliminated. Without objects, afflictions cannot be eliminated, because one cannot see the afflictions deep in the mind; if afflictions do not arise, they cannot be cut off, cannot be uprooted.
XVI. What Are Self-Grasping and Dharma-Grasping?
Self-grasping (ātma-grāha) is the clinging attachment to the self of the five aggregates, unwilling to let go. Eliminating self-grasping brings liberation—no longer bound by the five aggregates, no longer bound by the eighteen realms, no longer bound by any dharma in the world of the three realms, with the wisdom to transcend the three realms: this is the realm of the arhat of the fourth fruit. After they eliminate self-grasping, they no longer grasp the self of the five aggregates; at the end of their lifespan they can extinguish themselves and enter Nirvāṇa without remainder (Anupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa).
Dharma-grasping, also called grasping at the dharma-self, is grasping that within all the dharmas derived from the combination of the aggregates, sense bases, and realms there is an I, a self. Bodhisattvas on the bhūmis, by cultivating one portion of the patience with the non-arising of dharmas, realize one portion of the selflessness of dharmas and eliminate one portion of dharma-grasping. Because Bodhisattvas on the bhūmis need to retain delusion to sustain rebirth, keeping the body of the five aggregates, they deliberately do not exhaust self-grasping, and begin to eliminate dharma-grasping, realizing that within all dharmas born of the combination of the aggregates, sense bases, and realms there is no self and no belonging-to-self. When dharma-grasping is exhausted, Buddhahood is perfectly accomplished.
XVII. Śrāvakas' Aversion to Extensive Learning Is Because They Do Not Delight in the Mahāyāna Dharma
There is doubt of an afflictive nature: for example, grasping at self, having the conceit of self, having the view of grasping at views—then one groundlessly doubts others and other dharmas, grasping one's own views and opinions as correct, believing that even when one is wrong one is right, and that even when others are right they are wrong. Because there are afflictions and delusion, and one does not believe and accept the Buddha's words, one groundlessly doubts the teacher and doubts the Dharma. Arhats have already eliminated this doubt: they do not doubt the Buddha, do not doubt the Dharma, do not doubt the teacher. However, this is non-doubt in the domain of Hīnayāna realization; in the Mahāyāna Dharma, there are immeasurable doubts unresolved. These doubts do not relate to the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion; they are purely not understanding Mahāyāna Dharma principles—this is the neutral (avyākṛta) doubt. The Buddha eliminated all doubts, with nothing unclear, having realized omniscience (sarvākārajñatā).
It is said that śrāvakas are averse to extensive learning because they do not delight in the Mahāyāna Dharma, being satisfied with the Hīnayāna liberation path they have realized; attaining the mind of liberation is enough for them. Pratyekabuddhas are averse to contemplation: they retroactively deduce the twelve links of dependent origination, deducing back to the eighth consciousness, the Ālayavijñāna, and know that all dharmas arise from the eighth consciousness, but do not stir the mind to continue contemplating in order to realize the eighth consciousness, being satisfied with their realization of conditionally arisen dharmas; being able to escape birth and death is enough for them. Bodhisattvas, however, are never satiated with contemplation and contemplative practice, cultivate with heroic diligence, investigate omniscience, and finally accomplish the Buddha Way.
Śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas have the wisdom of liberation of the five aggregates, but it is not sufficiently pure. They know all dharmas are empty and have realized the wisdom of all knowledge, but their indriya are deficient and leaky; they only want liberation for themselves, to escape saṃsāra, and do not give rise to the great bodhi mind, do not care about the suffering of sentient beings, and do not want to accomplish the Buddha Way. The Buddha's wisdom is pure, with great mind and great capacity, vowing to deliver all beings. Śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas conduct themselves impurely, only seeking personal liberation, not broadly practicing the Bodhisattva's six perfections, ten perfections, and myriad practices to broadly benefit sentient beings. Even for the sake of accomplishing sentient beings, they refuse to violate even the smallest precept, fearing that thereby they could not enter nirvāṇa and attain liberation; everything they do is only for their own liberation. When the Buddha was a Bodhisattva, for the sake of sentient beings, He would rather commit the karma of killing and sexual misconduct, would rather fall into hell Himself, in order to save sentient beings—all He did was not for Himself. Śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas cultivate for themselves; everything they do is limited, whereas the Buddha's cultivation over three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas, the six perfections, ten perfections, and myriad practices, was immeasurable and boundless, delivering countless sentient beings.
XVIII. Beings of the Six Destinies Each Have Their Own Habitual Tendencies
For sentient beings to be reborn into a certain destiny among the six destinies, there must be karmic seeds and habitual tendencies corresponding to that destiny; otherwise one cannot be reborn into that destiny. After rebirth, one will manifest the habits and tendencies corresponding to the beings of that destiny; all actions and creations, dietary and living habits, naturally correspond to those beings. So we should cultivate more of the good habits and virtues of beings of the human and heavenly realms, subduing as much as possible the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion and bad behavioral habits; if our habits correspond to humans and devas, in future lives we can be reborn among humans and in the heavens.
As Buddhist practitioners, we should avoid keeping animals as much as possible, because dealing with animals long-term, together morning and evening, one will be perfumed by animal habits without awareness, and in future lives there is the danger of rebirth in the animal destiny. If we now have a stingy mind, we correspond to hungry ghost beings, and in future lives we may be reborn in the hungry ghost destiny. So generosity (dāna) can break our stingy mind; without a stingy mind, one will not be reborn in the hungry ghost destiny, because the mind does not correspond to hungry ghosts. Having hatred, ferocity, and evil in the heart corresponds to hell beings, and in future lives one may be reborn in hell; forbearance can break our ferocious and hateful mind, sparing us from falling into hell at death. Delusion corresponds to the animal mind; studying the wisdom of prajñā can break the deluded mind; being good at contemplation and discernment will eliminate ignorance and delusion.
Some people have coarse and evil mental natures: at home they contradict and insult their parents, outside they defy their teachers and elders, with no filial piety at all, centering everything on themselves at all times and places—in future lives they will be cut off from the human destiny and reborn in evil destinies. Do more human deeds, speak human words, be more filial to parents and respectful to teachers and elders, uphold the five precepts, and the mental nature will correspond to humans, preserving the human body in future lives. Cultivate the ten wholesome deeds, and the mental nature corresponds to devas, and in future lives one will ascend to the heavens to enjoy blessings. But Buddhist practitioners should try not to go to the heavenly realms to enjoy blessings; they should vow to remain among humans to continue cultivation, dedicating all cultivated merit (pariṇāma) to their own progress on the Path, so that the Path advances rapidly and they gain the greatest benefit on the Path.
XIX. How to Dissolve Self-Grasping
Everyone's self-grasping is very heavy; only through studying Buddhism and cultivation, after recognizing the true nature of the world, can self-grasping slowly dissolve. In past lives, some people studied Buddhism for a long time and some for a short time, causing each person's foundation in studying Buddhism to differ. However, whatever the foundation, as long as one enters the Buddhadharma, one is a person awakened before other sentient beings, and should feel fortunate for this. Behind us there are countless and again countless sentient beings who cannot even obtain a human body, let alone have the opportunity to encounter the Buddhadharma—their suffering is boundless and endless; by the time we become Buddhas, we would not even know what kind of existence they are. So we who study Buddhism should give rise to compassion, not only pitying ourselves but also pitying sentient beings, giving rise to the great compassionate mind to save sentient beings, so that on the one hand our resolve for the Path becomes firm, and on the other hand merit can accumulate rapidly, and cultivation can be very fast.
In studying Buddhism, cultivate as much merit as possible. The Buddha is the doubly sufficient honored one in blessing and wisdom; merit is an indispensable factor for becoming a Buddha. Only when merit accumulates to a certain degree can the Path advance and wisdom grow. Many people do not value cultivating blessings, so that after studying Buddhism for a long time, their knowledge and views of the Buddhadharma are still shallow, and wisdom gains no advancement at all—the fundamental problem is insufficient merit. Those who actively cultivate blessings progress quickly, and their wisdom also advances quickly. Whether cultivating blessings benefits oneself or not cultivating blessings benefits oneself—please think it over three times.
XX. Why Do Sentient Beings Have Arrogance?
Sentient beings have the conceit of self because they have a self. There are many kinds of arrogance, all taking pride and arrogance in the illusory appearances, false appearances, and marks of arising and ceasing (utpāda-nirodha-lakṣaṇa) possessed by this false self, the material body of the five aggregates, thereby giving rise to arrogance. Arrogance includes arrogance, superior arrogance, lofty arrogance, inferior arrogance, and so on. For example, sentient beings feel proud of the beauty, loveliness, and adornment of their own physical appearance; are proud of their perceiving mind being clever, astute, and knowledgeable; feel proud that their views are so correct and brilliant; feel proud of possessing great wealth; feel proud of their fame, power, and status; feel proud of their followers and of having outstanding children; are proud of parents with enormous property and relatives with power and status; feel proud of their learning, cultivation, and experience.
Because of pride and arrogance, the heart rejoices and delights, boasting to everyone one meets, displaying the self, consciously or unconsciously wanting others to know and envy oneself. All mental activities revolve around the false self of the five aggregates and manifest, not knowing the five aggregates are false, not truly existent in the first place, arising and ceasing and changing moment by moment, with no real, unchanging substance. Since even the self does not truly exist, how much more false are the things the self possesses. Those who are arrogant because they surpass others are still somewhat better; many people, clearly inferior to others or about the same as others, still believe they surpass others—this superior arrogance is very serious: it not only obstructs equal interaction and exchange with others, but also plunges oneself deep into greedy attachment, increasing the bonds of birth and death, preventing liberation.
There is also a kind of person who always believes they are inferior to others in every aspect and always feels very inferior. This is the result of constantly comparing one's own five aggregates with others' five aggregates; it also belongs to greatly valuing one's own mind of self—the I of the five aggregates is still heavy in the heart; within, one still hopes one's own five aggregates are somewhat outstanding, and therefore feels inferior—this is inferior arrogance. The conceit of self is the subconscious belief that a self exists, that this self has functions and influence, and the heart feels satisfied and delighted. This kind of arrogance is what arhats eliminate—it is still far from us and cannot be eliminated for now.
The arrogance that obstructs our cultivation as Buddhist practitioners is the arrogance we should most strive to overcome and change. For example, some believe: "The Dharma I study is all true Dharma, so sublime; others do not study as well as I do"—but in reality it is not so. "My master is so-and-so, a great virtuous one with great fame; the wisdom and views I learned are absolutely correct"—but in reality it is not so. Others say: "I have studied Buddhism for a long time, already thirty years, and have accomplished such and such; others are no good."
Because of this arrogance, one is unwilling to humbly seek advice from others; when meeting someone truly wiser than oneself, one cannot manage to ask questions without shame, and even takes delight in out-arguing the other party, vainly losing opportunities to study with teachers. These arrogant minds can all delay and obstruct one's progress on the Path, so that the Path cannot advance. All these arrogances arise from the self of the five aggregates, with the mind firmly grasping the five aggregates as self, as real—this is the root of obstructing the Path. Obstructing one's own progress on the Path in this way is truly a pity. Therefore it is necessary to contemplate the falsity of the five aggregates, break the view of self, and pull out the root of birth and death.
Where does a person's arrogance come from? It comes from the self—taking one's own five aggregates as the basis of arrogance, taking one's own perceiving mind as the basis of arrogance. Only by taking the false as the real self does arrogance arise: comparing one's own five aggregates with others' five aggregates and believing one's own five aggregates are better than others'; comparing one's own perceiving mind with others' perceiving minds and believing one's own perceiving mind is clever, excellent, and wise. This is our pitiful self! Once various afflictions form into habits, they are hard to change, and one cannot even detect them oneself. But they are clearly revealed between the lines of speech, and others can all detect them—only oneself does not know.
XXI. The Realm of Mind Liberation
When the first dhyāna manifests, no matter what encounters come from outside, no matter how others treat you, afflictions in the mind will not arise. Although sometimes one may feel sad, that is on the surface layer and cannot enter the depths of the mind. At that time the mind is like walls of bronze and iron—nothing enters from outside, nothing comes out from within; external insults cannot truly touch the depths of the mind, and the mind has a layer of protective film. This realm is called "afflictions do not invade the mind; the mind gives rise to no afflictions." This is what is said in the Āgama sūtras: the realm of the mind being at ease, the mind attaining liberation.
Cultivating to this stage, one will benefit life after life. So before the second fruit, the mind is still not completely at ease, with only partial liberation, because it is still connected with the root afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion. Mind liberation mainly refers to those of the third fruit and above who have eliminated greed, hatred, and delusion: the mind consciousness is liberated, without afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion; the manas is liberated, without afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion; the first five consciousnesses are also partially liberated, complying with the manas in not craving forms, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches. Only the arhat of the fourth fruit is the most liberated: the manas, the seventh consciousness, has eliminated self-grasping and the conceit of self, and has the ability to extinguish itself. True mind liberation is the fourth fruit, where all five upper fetters are severed and one can personally certify that one will have no more becoming.
XXII. Is Liking Music Greed?
As long as the mind considers something good, is interested, has joy—that is greed. As long as the mind dwells on these sounds and the mind is immersed in these sounds, that is greed. Because of craving-attachment, birth and death and saṃsāra are unceasing; as long as one likes something, one is bound by that thing and cannot be liberated. Liberation means the mind attaches to nothing at all. Arhats, because their every thought seeks liberation from birth and death, fear attaching to any object; when they contact the six sense objects, the faculties and objects touch only briefly and then move apart, not proceeding further, to avoid giving rise to greed and to feelings. They pay great attention to this cultivation, and we should also try to do this as much as possible; although we temporarily cannot, perfuming is always beneficial to us.
When we hear sounds, we should regard the sounds as echoes in an empty valley, knowing sounds are not real, and then not give rise to interest in sounds; toward the other six sense objects we should also practice such contemplation, not giving rise to craving-attachment, and the mind can be liberated. The Buddha said in the Saṃyukta Āgama, Volume One: craving-attachment to form is equal to delighting in suffering; liking feelings is equal to liking suffering; liking the aggregate of perception is equal to liking suffering; liking the bodily, verbal, and mental formations is equal to liking suffering; liking the consciousness aggregate of the six consciousnesses is equal to liking suffering. If one does not like suffering, then do not like the five aggregates of form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness; when the delight and craving for form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness is severed, one can depart from desire and sever suffering.
If we want to eradicate the view of self and attain liberation, we must first observe suffering and recognize suffering; only then can revulsion arise, and only then can we seek liberation. If the mind of revulsion does not arise, craving-attachment to the five aggregates will continue; then the view of self cannot be eradicated, and deeper meditative concentration also cannot appear. Only when we become weary of the five aggregates and life of the desire realm can the desire-realm concentration appear; only when we become weary of the five aggregates and living environment of the desire-realm devas can the form-realm concentration appear. As long as there is a mind that likes the five desires, no good state can appear, because your mind is already full, with no space; better states can only remain outside the mind, and you cannot enjoy them at all.
Looking at all sentient beings, none do not crave the pleasant contacts of the six sense objects, unwilling to give up contact and feeling of the six objects. In reality, craving-attachment is all suffering-feeling, with no pleasant feeling, yet sentient beings all dwell in the suffering of craving without knowing it. Countless Buddhist practitioners study Buddhism still for the purpose of enjoying worldly life, pursuing pleasant feelings, but the result is all suffering. Only, since beginningless kalpas they have lacked the wisdom to recognize this principle, blindly pursuing pleasure without ever truly enjoying pleasure—this is delusion. The affliction of delusion is hardest to escape; despite the World-Honored One's earnest, painstaking exhortations, sentient beings still remain in delusion and ignorance. Is cultivation easy? It is extremely difficult. That is why it is said that the initial difficulty of eradicating the view of self is harder than climbing to heaven. One should recognize this point, be realistic, and not be arrogant.
XXIII. How to Lighten Emotional Attachment and Liberate the Mind from Afflictive Suffering
If a person's emotional attachment is too deep and heavy, deep in the heart there are certainly endless entanglements and layers of distress. How can emotional attachment be lightened? The best way is to observe the impermanence of the world, observe the impermanence of every family, observe the ending of every family; observe the impermanence of every person, observe the ending of every person; observe the impermanence and change of one's own and others' minds; carefully contemplate what in these worldly dharmas is worth grasping; then contemplate all the emotions one has had through life after life—what were their final endings; contemplate what results sentient beings have obtained from soaking in all kinds of emotions over countless kalpas; observe what each person brought from past lives and what they can take away after death this life; what is the thing in oneself that never changes, what is the thing one can most rely on, what is the thing that forever belongs to oneself.
Then observe and contemplate one's parents, partners, children, friends, and all close relatives over countless kalpas—where are they now, where have those feelings gone; why have we transmigrated through life after life in endless suffering? It is all because of clinging to one's own and others' emotions, thereby binding one's own mind, unable to escape the transmigration of the six destinies. No matter what it concerns, sentient beings crave life after life, transmigrating through birth and death—with emotion as the root, with love as the root. Knowing this, one should no longer pursue the root of the suffering of birth and death in saṃsāra; one should gradually pull one's legs out of the mire of craving-defilement and gradually walk toward freedom and liberation.
