The Pale and Feeble Mantra

Many people think like this: Money is something that cannot be brought along at birth nor taken away at death, so it doesn't matter whether it's given away or lost, and whether one has it or not is inconsequential. Yet when the day comes that a large sum of money is truly lost, the mind becomes deeply restless, anxious, and filled with suffering. The feeling of indifference belongs to the conscious mind; in reality, no matter how indifferent the conscious mind may feel, it is of little practical use. Such verbal platitudes appear utterly feeble at critical moments. Many people deceive themselves in this way, only to find when faced with the real test that their hearts are unwilling to part and filled with stinginess. This shows that the conscious mind's habitual sayings are entirely lofty talk, while the root consciousness (manas) does not recognize this principle at all, being vastly different from the conscious mind's understanding; the two are completely out of step.

Many people's conscious minds hang onto arguments as if their cultivation had already reached the stage of a high-level Bodhisattva—such as not discriminating among all phenomena, having no desires for anything, seeing the emptiness of all things, severing self-attachment and dharma-attachment. Yet in reality, the state of their root consciousness remains that of an ordinary being's afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, with all kinds of attachments being extremely severe. Once matters concerning their own vital interests arise, all their lofty arguments vanish like similes of dreams and bubbles, and the true nature of the root consciousness is revealed. Observers then understand: "Ah, now I see!"

For in critical moments, deep-seated psychological issues of the root consciousness come into play. All actions are ultimately decided and controlled by the root consciousness; it is no longer as simple as the conscious mind's verbal platitudes. The conscious mind may speak freely, but action is always determined by the root consciousness. Since the root consciousness possesses greed, defilement, and stinginess, words and actions cannot be consistent; they may even be contradictory. For the deep-seated psychological issues of some people, ordinary persuasion and guidance are no longer effective. It is necessary to delve deep into the innermost heart, unearth the root cause of the affliction, and then apply the right remedy. Only by effectively guiding the root consciousness to subdue the afflictions of greed and stinginess can one begin to alter the deep-seated habits of greed and stinginess within the mind.

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