What Is the Relationship Between Karma of Body, Karma of Speech, and Karma of Mind?

Which karmas are easy to guard against, and which are most difficult to guard against? Which karmas are coarse and easily severed, and which are subtle and hard to sever? Which karma should be severed first?

All three types of karmic actions—physical, verbal, and mental—are governed and directed by the mental faculty (manas). Physical karma is the action performed by the six consciousnesses, verbal karma is the action performed by the six consciousnesses, while mental karma is divided into the mental formations (caitasika) of the mind-consciousness and the mental formations of the mental faculty.

Physical and verbal actions are governed by the mind; without the mind, one cannot create physical or verbal karma. Physical and verbal karma are created by the six consciousnesses, which are directed by the mental faculty. However, the mind-consciousness, understanding principle, can suppress the mental faculty, forcibly preventing the creation of physical and verbal karma. Therefore, physical karma is easiest to sever, verbal karma is next in difficulty, while the mental formations of the mind-consciousness are harder to sever, and the mental formations of the mental faculty are the most difficult to sever.

The mental faculty is extremely difficult to subdue and overcome. Therefore, the mental karma of the mental faculty inevitably involves continuous greed, hatred, and delusion. However, the mind-consciousness, understanding principle and knowing cause and effect, will suppress and subdue the physical and verbal actions, preventing the creation of unwholesome karma. If the defilements of the mental faculty are heavy, even physical and verbal actions cannot be subdued, and unwholesome karma will inevitably be created.

Thus, refraining from physical actions of killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct is relatively easier; refraining from verbal actions of divisive speech, false speech, frivolous speech, and harsh speech is slightly easier; but the most difficult is the mental faculty—the thoughts of greed, hatred, and delusion cannot be subdued and overcome, and are even harder to eradicate.

Some people, seeing that guarding the physical precepts is difficult and guarding the verbal precepts is also difficult, find an excuse, saying, "I will just guard the mental karma; as long as the mind is pure and the mental karma is not violated, whatever the body and speech do does not count as breaking precepts." This is a misguided view and practice. If one cannot even control physical actions, one certainly cannot control the defiled thoughts of the mental faculty. If one cannot restrain verbal actions, one even less can restrain the defiled thoughts of the mental faculty.

If the defiled thoughts of the mental faculty could be stopped, that is something only saints of the third fruition (anāgāmi) and above can achieve. How could an ordinary person directly guard the mental karma of the mental faculty, keeping the mental faculty pure and free from precept violations?

The five precepts, the eight precepts of the uposatha, and the monastic precepts for bhikṣus and bhikṣuṇīs in the Śrāvakayāna (Hīnayāna) generally focus on guarding against physical and verbal unwholesome actions. As long as the physical and verbal actions do not violate the precepts, even having unwholesome thoughts in the mind does not count as breaking precepts. The Mahāyāna precepts, such as those in the Brahmajāla Sūtra (Brahma Net Sutra), primarily guard the mind-ground and cultivate the mind-ground, while incidentally also guarding physical and verbal actions. The bodhisattva precepts in the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra are mind-ground precepts to be observed by bodhisattvas on the grounds (bhūmis) who have already eradicated defilements. Everything prioritizes the benefit of sentient beings. As long as it benefits sentient beings, physical and verbal actions may be inconsistent with Śrāvakayāna precepts, as long as they align with the pure mental faculty and mind-ground, and the mental faculty does not violate the Śrāvakayāna precepts. Thus, all mental actions dedicated to sentient beings constitute the Mahāyāna bodhisattva conduct, conforming to the norms of the Mahāyāna bodhisattva precepts. However, ordinary beings with uneradicated greed, hatred, and delusion, and noble (but not yet saintly) bodhisattvas, cannot receive and uphold the bodhisattva precepts in the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, due to their self-centeredness and defilements.