Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (126)

Arrogance Stems from Foolishness

The less ignorance a person has, the more aware they become of their own ignorance, and thus the more humble they are; the more ignorance a person has, the less aware they are of their own ignorance, and thus the less humble and more arrogant they become. Why do sentient beings have arrogance? Because of ignorance, because of foolishness. In the sequence of eradicating afflictions, both greed and anger are easier to eradicate than foolishness and ignorance. Greed is the easiest to eradicate, followed by anger; after eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) and attaining the first dhyāna, greed is eradicated first, and only after a period of sustained cultivation is anger eradicated, and after that, one thought of ignorance is eradicated. When one cultivates to the stage of a first-bhūmi bodhisattva of the Great Vehicle, one begins to eradicate the afflictive habitual tendencies of greed, anger, and arrogance, as well as the ignorance as numerous as dust and sand; when the ignorance as numerous as dust and sand is completely eradicated, one becomes a Buddha. At each stage of cultivation, the degree and types of ignorance differ: bodhisattvas before seeing the mind, bodhisattvas after seeing the mind, and bodhisattvas after entering the bhūmis—each stage of realization corresponds to various different kinds of foolishness and ignorance. Even bodhisattvas of the ninth and tenth bhūmis still have slight foolishness and delusion; only upon becoming a Buddha, attaining omniscience/wisdom of all aspects (sarvākārajñatā), can all the ignorance and delusion in the mind be completely eliminated.