Various Afflictive Karmas of False Speech Arising from the Self

In the Dharma-ending age, among the offenses of false speech, not only are there relatively many who commit the offense of great false speech, but those who commit moderate and minor false speech are also quite numerous. Why do people commit the offense of false speech? Such false speech is nothing more than displaying one's abilities to others, showing off one's excellence and superiority over others, in order to attract others' attention, to make people admire and worship them, and thereby to obtain various worldly benefits and satisfy their various desires. All afflictions arise because there is a self in the mind; if there were no self, whence would afflictions come, whence would great, moderate, and minor false speech come? Therefore, from among the various afflictions, one can discern the depth of a person's self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) and the degree of each person's cultivation.

Some people, having no cultivation whatsoever and lacking the merit of eliminating self-view, proclaim that practice has nothing to do with afflictions, and nonsense that after realizing the fruit and eliminating self-view, having any afflictions is normal, and that after awakening to the true mind and seeing one's nature, having any afflictions is also normal. They even say that afflictions are a matter of worldly phenomena and have nothing to do with the meaning of the Dharma; as long as the Dharma meaning is correct, worldly phenomena do not matter. Using such wrong views (mithyā-dṛṣṭi) to negatively condition and teach sentient beings has extremely serious consequences, leading to no one being willing to genuinely practice and realize the truth, with counterfeit goods flying everywhere. By conditioning oneself with correct Dharma meaning in accordance with the Dharma and practicing as it truly is, one will certainly be able to subdue and eliminate afflictions and advance toward liberation; one will not perpetuate and aggravate afflictions. Only when the Dharma meaning is wrong and the direction of guidance is wrong will sentient beings be unable to subdue and eliminate afflictions, and may even have their afflictions aggravated.

The reduction and elimination of afflictions is the result of correct practice. If the result is wrong, it shows that the person has not practiced well and that the direction of guidance in the practice is mistaken. In some groups, the result of studying Buddhism has generally been an aggravation of greed, hatred, and delusion; this result reveals that the direction of guidance in what they studied is wrong, running counter to the Path—not only do they fail to attain liberation, they also add many attachments and bondages. This requires re-examining the Dharma one has studied and the person one has followed. If one discovers that something is amiss, one should promptly leave and correct course, to avoid falling into an abyss in future lives from which one cannot extricate oneself.

A certain group has always despised the Small Vehicle and arhats, has never valued the foundational practice of the thirty-seven aids to the Path, has never cultivated meditative concentration (samādhi), does not understand contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), and still less knows how to eliminate self-view. Yet after listening to a certain class for one hour, every single one attained the first fruit, everyone had eliminated self-view—counterfeit fruits flying everywhere, fake saints walking all over the place. Afterwards they launched a great revolutionary movement, throwing Buddhism into chaos and turmoil, leaving no peace anywhere. The originator of all this even offered the list of these counterfeit fruits before the Buddha, brazenly deceiving the World-Honored One—in reality deceiving the faithful. How could the World-Honored One be deceived? If such a group continued to exist for a few more years, Buddhism would be destroyed and corrupted beyond repair. Fortunately, the Saha world still has the Buddha presiding, with Dharma-protecting deities offering their protection, timely turning the tide and saving Buddhism.

Selflessness is the merit earned through practice; being without afflictions is the virtue gained through practice. Only with a selfless mind that is empty can one possess virtue; with afflictions there is no virtue, and no virtue means a deficiency of virtue. A deficiency of virtue must be remedied, and remedying virtue requires practicing the Dharma of selflessness and the Dharma of the empty mind. A person with merit and virtue does not create great afflictive karma, does not create evil karma, does not harm sentient beings, and does not undermine Buddhism from within. Yet having blessings does not necessarily mean having virtue; with blessings but no virtue, given the opportunity, one will create great evil karma, like an asura, like Māra Pāpīyas.