How to Eliminate the Affliction of Craving and Attachment

Cultivation is for the purpose of eliminating craving and attachment. Craving arises at the places where the six sense faculties contact the six sense objects, so one must stop craving right where the six faculties contact the six objects. When the eye faculty contacts material form, if the mind does not give rise to craving, craving is stopped; when the ear faculty contacts sounds, if the mind does not give rise to craving, craving is stopped; when the nose faculty contacts scents, if the mind does not give rise to craving, craving is stopped; when the tongue faculty contacts tastes, if the mind does not give rise to craving, craving is stopped; when the body faculty contacts tangibles, if the mind does not give rise to craving, craving is stopped; when the manas contacts mental objects, if the mind does not give rise to craving, craving is stopped. According to the habitual tendencies of craving in the mind, craving for form, sound, scent, taste, touch, and mental objects would ordinarily arise, but because one's cultivation has sufficient strength, the manifestation of craving is checked and craving is stopped. This is the merit of cultivation; being without craving is the virtue of cultivation, and thus merit is born from cultivation. Virtue means moral character and virtuous conduct—the wholesome mental state of the mind. With wholesomeness, one tends toward liberation; with wholesomeness, one draws near to ease. The afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion are bondage—no liberation, no ease.

Merit is not easy to bring forth, because the greed, hatred, and delusion accumulated over beginningless kalpas are deeply rooted, with heavy habitual tendencies, and are not easy to subdue and uproot. It requires long contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) over many kalpas, contemplating the suffering of craving, subduing craving bit by bit. If one does not know the suffering of craving, one cannot subdue it. Because sentient beings all delight in pleasure, all tend toward pleasure and avoid suffering, only when they directly observe suffering will they choose to avoid it and eliminate the peril of suffering. Therefore the first step of cultivation is to observe suffering, recognize suffering, and perceive suffering; only then can the mind be withdrawn from the places where the six faculties contact the six objects, and by not plunging deep into the six objects, the suffering born of craving does not arise. Without the first step of observing and knowing suffering, there is no second step of eliminating craving's origin, no third step of aspiring to cessation, and no fourth step of cultivating the path. So for a person, giving rise to the aspiration for the Path is extremely difficult—this is due to the habitual tendencies of craving.

Looking over all sentient beings, none fail to crave the pleasant contact of the six sense objects, unwilling to give up contact and feeling with the six objects. In fact, craving is entirely suffering, not pleasant feeling at all, yet sentient beings all dwell in the suffering of craving without knowing it. Countless Buddhist practitioners pursue Buddhism still for the sake of enjoying worldly life, chasing after pleasant feeling, yet the result is always suffering. It is only that for beginningless kalpas they have lacked the wisdom to recognize this truth, blindly pursuing pleasure without ever truly enjoying it—this is delusion. The affliction of delusion is the hardest to shake off. Even with the World-Honored One's earnest, tireless exhortations, sentient beings still remain in delusion and ignorance. Is cultivation easy? It is extremely difficult. That is why it is said that the initial elimination of self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) is harder than ascending to heaven. One should recognize this, be realistic, and not be arrogant.