The Pitfalls of Spiritual Practice

In the practice of learning Buddhism and cultivating the path, one can unknowingly fall into mistaken views. Some people fall into the error of thinking: since everything is empty and illusory, it doesn't matter whether I have anything or not; since feeling is empty, then let me just feel; since suffering is empty, then let me just suffer; since afflictions are empty, then let me just have afflictions; since birth and death are empty, then let birth and death be birth and death; since saṃsāra is empty, then let saṃsāra be saṃsāra.

Others fall into another error, thinking: since the matter of cultivating merit is empty, why should I still cultivate merit and practice generosity (dāna)? Since meditative concentration (dhyāna) is empty, why should I still cultivate meditative concentration? Since the bodhisattva path is empty, why should I still cultivate the six pāramitās? Since becoming a Buddha is empty, why should I still strive to become a Buddha? Since everything is empty anyway, cultivating or not cultivating is all the same.

Some people, having studied the tathāgatagarbha teaching, fall into yet another error, thinking: since the tathāgatagarbha never keeps precepts, why should I keep precepts? Since the tathāgatagarbha never cultivates meditative concentration, why should I cultivate meditative concentration? Since the tathāgatagarbha never cultivates merit, why should I cultivate merit? Since the tathāgatagarbha never transmigrates in saṃsāra, why should I still seek to end saṃsāra? Since the tathāgatagarbha is originally a Buddha, why should I still strive to become a Buddha?

Yet these people never say: since the tathāgatagarbha never has greed and desire, why should I still have greed and desire? Since the tathāgatagarbha never has afflictions, why should I still have afflictions? Since the tathāgatagarbha never kills, steals, commits sexual misconduct, lies, or drinks alcohol, why should I still kill, steal, commit sexual misconduct, lie, or drink? Since the tathāgatagarbha has never had ignorance, why should I still have ignorance? Since you believe everything is empty, then empty out all dharmas: if your employer pays you only half a month's wages each month, don't fuss about it. Why should emptiness be selective? Emptying out responsibility while not emptying out self-interest and greed—what kind of emptiness is that?