Observing the Five Aggregates to Cut Through the View of Self (Part 2)
Chapter 12: Miscellaneous Discussions
I. What Does "Love Latent Tendency" (anuśaya of craving) Mean?
The latent tendencies of craving and afflictions — the literal meaning of "latent tendency" (anuśaya) is "accompanying sleep," meaning hidden, operating behind the scenes, accompanying. In the activities of the five aggregates, craving and afflictions accompany one at all times and places; when a critical moment arrives, craving and afflictions jump out and become manifest, defiled karma appears, defiled seeds are stored up, and future suffering accumulates.
When there are latent tendencies of craving and latent tendencies of afflictions, the mind is veiled and cannot see true principles; due to delusion, the light of wisdom is obscured. Therefore, even a trace of affliction is ignorance — the mind is not clear and bright, it is dark, and the light of wisdom does not manifest. Severing craving is severing suffering; heavy craving means heavy suffering and rebirth in Sahā; light craving means light suffering and rebirth in heavenly realms; without craving, one is in the land of bliss (sukhāvatī) in the present moment.
II. Phenomena After Cultivation Becomes Effective
After practicing right effort, if the direction of cultivation is correct, one will derive benefit: desires become light, grasping and afflictions diminish, and body and mind will undergo a certain transformation. Knowing the impermanence, emptiness, and non-self of the world, material desires fade, attachment to material form (rūpa) will lessen, and greed will decrease. As long as material desires are few and one does not crave enjoyment, living in this world basically requires little money and material things. Those accustomed to depending on worldly material things certainly have blazing greed, will have many demands for money and material things, and no matter how desperately they make money, they still feel it is not enough. Enough or not enough lies in the mind, not in the amount of material things and money; only those who well know contentment will have peace of mind and happiness.
After right effort in cultivation becomes effective, one will encounter adverse conditions, which greatly help eliminate karmic obstructions and obscurations. The Diamond Sutra says: "Because people in the world despise him, this person's sins from past lives will be extinguished." After one's cultivation gets on track, one will attract some adverse conditions, and these adverse conditions are also enhancing conditions for cultivation. Adverse conditions can eliminate sinful karma for cultivators; at the minimal cost of being despised by others, grave sinful karma can be extinguished, so one should joyfully accept adverse conditions. Sometimes, when clearly you have done nothing, someone still frames and slanders you; if you can silently endure, the adverse conditions will pass and karmic obstructions will be eliminated; if you cannot endure and strike back, not only will you create new karma, but the old karma will also not be eliminated. Therefore the Buddha said that forbearance is virtue, is merit, increases blessings and wisdom. Treating such circumstances well can aid the Path.
III. The Difference Between the Enlightenment Factor of Relinquishment and Equanimity of Volitional Formations
The enlightenment factor of relinquishment is the last of the seven enlightenment factors; the seven enlightenment factors are the enlightenment factor of mindfulness, the enlightenment factor of discrimination of dharmas, the enlightenment factor of effort, the enlightenment factor of joy, the enlightenment factor of tranquility, the enlightenment factor of concentration, and the enlightenment factor of relinquishment. Relinquishment means discarding all burdens and encumbrances of body and mind — whether wholesome or unwholesome, painful or pleasant, any experiential feeling is relinquished, and the mind is pure and non-active.
Equanimity of volitional formations, also called non-harming, means relinquishing evil and unwholesome actions and conduct. For example, originally one wanted to take revenge on someone, but now no longer wants to, having relinquished the act of revenge; originally one was jealous of others and wanted to harm them, but now is no longer jealous and no longer wants to harm anyone — evil conduct is abandoned, the mind is pure, or abides in the wholesome. However, the experiential feelings may not necessarily be relinquished; there may be joy and bliss in the mind, or tranquility, or other experiential feelings, which differs from the enlightenment factor of relinquishment.
IV. Conditioned Dharmas of Impermanence and Dharmas of Permanence Are Equally Dharmas of Suffering
All dharmas are impermanent, and emotions are also impermanent; they all have developmental stages of arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing. Whether good or bad, none can endure unchanged or exist forever. If the emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness arising from the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion could exist forever unchanged, imagine what would happen to sentient beings? The result would be mental breakdown and finally death. Even if a mind of joy and bliss without the nature of afflictions remained permanently unchanged, such a person would not have profound meditative concentration (dhyāna).
The worldly law of impermanence is suitable for the survival of sentient beings; if that dharma became permanent, sentient beings could not endure it. Although impermanent dharmas cause sentient beings suffering, permanent dharmas are equally painful, so the world is suffering.
V. The Meaning of the Aggregate of Volitional Formations
All dharmas that change, flow, and are not still belong to the aggregate of volitional formations, or the saṃskāra-skandha. This includes both body and mind, but bodily movement is actually also movement of the conscious mind; if the conscious mind does not move, the body cannot move. The transmission of the object-aspect (nimitta) is also movement — that is, the arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing of sense-object realms, caused by the movement of consciousness. The ceaseless thoughts of the conscious mind moment after moment and various mental activities all belong to the aggregate of consciousness. If these changing dharmas can obscure one's own reasonable and lawful cognition of identifying the true nature, and one only recognizes the moving marks of volitional formations, then these changes are the aggregate of volitional formations; if one simply emphasizes the operational and active nature of dharmas, it is called the saṃskāra-skandha.
VI. When Can Emotional Attachment Be Severed?
First understand the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) and eradicate the view of self, then break self-grasping, and only afterward can emotional attachment be severed. Emotional attachment is gradually severed after self-grasping, and it is extremely difficult. First there is greed and desire, then emotional attachment; greed is completely severed at the third fruit, but emotional attachment can only be completely severed between the first and second immeasurable kalpas. Because greed is relatively coarse and easy to sever, while emotion is very subtle and especially hard to sever.
VII. What Is the Meaning of This Virtual World's Existence?
The existence of this virtual world is not manipulated by humans; it is the inevitable result of the karmic conditions of sentient beings, so it cannot be said to be meaningful or meaningless. Because sentient beings have karmic seeds of the three realms, as long as the karmic seeds are not eliminated, the virtual world will continuously appear, allowing sentient beings to actualize their karmic seeds and receive karmic retribution; Buddhist practitioners can use this virtual world to cultivate.
Sentient beings clearly face only electrical signals — there is nothing there — yet they interpret a colorful, splendid world of the six sense objects. Those electrical signals are also not real existents; they are illusorily manifested from seeds that cannot be seen or touched. In fact, there is nothing in the world, and there is no world; sentient beings have an eye disease (like cataracts) yet insist on discriminating the world and all dharmas within the world. As for the world and all dharmas within it, if you think it is meaningful, it is meaningful; if you think it is meaningless, it is meaningless. Dharmas have no mind, things have no mind, scenes have no mind, the world has no mind — it is sentient beings who have minds. Whatever meaning is given to a scene, that is the meaning the scene has; whatever meaning is given to the world, that is the meaning the world has. If you have no mind, there is no world; with a mind, there are all dharmas.
VIII. Letting Go of Fixations Is Letting Go of Self
The Buddha's teachings speak of a kind of prohibited and mistaken precept (duḥśīla), which refers to precepts established by non-Buddhists that are unreasonable and cannot lead to liberation; Buddhist disciples are not permitted to grasp at and uphold them. Therefore, in Buddhist cultivation and realization, to sever the view of self, one must break the non-Buddhists' prohibited and mistaken precepts and not observe those precept rules; only then can one correctly and lawfully uphold the Buddha's precepts and sever the view of self. So we also have no need to keep grasping at those meaningless vows and wrong aspirations from the past, wasting energy and mental effort in vain. Where there is grasping, there is birth and death, and there is no liberation. Being a bodhisattva requires great wisdom; the bodhisattva's great wisdom far exceeds that of all kinds of worldly elites. Things that bring no benefit to sentient beings, bodhisattvas will not waste time and energy doing; they only do beneficial things, or greatly beneficial things, doing the most important things.
Letting go of unnecessary concerns about face in front of others is letting go of a kind of self. Be indifferent to others' meaningless evaluations and opinions of you, because fundamentally there is no self — why still care about those unreasonable evaluations? As long as you do correct things, as long as you do things that benefit people, as long as you have not wasted time, as long as you are worthy of the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and sentient beings, anything goes. Insisting on an unreasonable fixation, being unable to be flexible and harmonious, is delusion. As long as there is a fixation, Māra (Pāpīyas) will exploit this psychology and make you do foolish things. Without mind (being without such mental activity), one will not be exploited by others, no one can take advantage of you, and there will be no evil consequences. The Buddha always taught bodhisattvas not to care about false fame and reputation; whether slandered or praised, the mind should not waver — only uphold the truth.
Adjust your cultivation goal well and head straight toward it; do not care about unnecessary things — the loss outweighs the gain. Use wisdom, not emotion; do not fear becoming a failure in others' eyes. Success and failure in worldly dharmas are both illusory false marks; failing in the worldly makes it easy to succeed in the Buddha's dharma. Do not consider your unnecessary image in others' minds — that is a self. Only by extinguishing all kinds of self is one truly one who has severed the view of self.
IX. The Sūtra of Past and Present Causes and Effects, Volume Three
Original text:尔时太子。即便问曰。我今已知汝之所说。生死根本。复何方便。而能断之。仙人答言。若欲断此生死本者。先当出家修持戒行。谦卑忍辱。住空闲处。修习禅定。离欲恶不善法。有觉有观。得初禅。除觉观。定生入喜心。得第二禅。舍喜心。得正念。具乐根。得第三禅。除苦乐。得净念。入舍根。得第四禅。获无想报。别有一师。说如此处。名为解脱。从定觉已。然后方知非解脱处。离色想。入空处。灭有对想。入识处。灭无量识想。唯观一识。入无所有处。离于种种想。入非想非非想处。斯处名为究竟解脱。是诸学者之彼岸也。太子若欲断于生老病死患者。应当修学如此之行。
Explanation: Prince Siddhārtha asked by what expedient method the root of birth and death could be severed. The ascetic (ṛṣi) replied that one should first leave home, uphold precepts, cultivate forbearance, dwell in a quiet place, and cultivate meditative concentration (dhyāna). Entering the first dhyāna means leaving the evil and unwholesome dharmas of the desire realm, with initial application and sustained examination (vitarka-vicāra); entering the second dhyāna is without vitarka-vicāra, with concentration-born joy and bliss; entering the third dhyāna means relinquishing the mind of joy, attaining right mindfulness, and possessing the faculty of bliss; entering the fourth dhyāna, the feelings of suffering and bliss are extinguished, one attains pure mindfulness, enters the faculty of equanimity, and obtains the ripening of the sphere of no-perception (asaṃjñi). Another ascetic teacher said that cultivating to this sphere is attaining liberation. Actually it is not; after emerging from the samādhi of the sphere of no-perception, one then knows this is not a place of liberation.
The ascetic continued: leaving behind thoughts of the form realm, one enters the samādhi of the sphere of infinite space of the formless realm; extinguishing the perception of opposition, one enters the samādhi of the sphere of infinite consciousness; extinguishing the perception of infinite consciousness, observing only one consciousness, one enters the samādhi of the sphere of nothingness; leaving behind all kinds of perceptions, one enters the samādhi of the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception — this is the place of ultimate liberation, the shore of liberation that all practitioners aim to reach. Prince, if you wish to sever the afflictions of birth, old age, sickness, and death, you should cultivate and study in this way.
Original text:尔时太子。闻仙人言。心不喜乐。即自思惟。其所知见。非究竟处。非是永断诸结烦恼。即便语言。我今于汝所说法中。有所未解。今欲相问。仙人答言。敬从来意。即问之曰。非想非非想处。为有我耶。为无我耶。若言无我。不应言非想非非想。若言有我。我为有知。我为无知。我若无知。则同木石。我若有知。则有攀缘。既有攀缘。则有染着。以染着故。则非解脱。汝以尽于粗结。而不自知细结犹存。以是之故。谓为究竟。细结滋长。复受下生。以此故知非度彼岸。若能除我及以我想。一切尽舍是则名为真解脱也。仙人默然。心自思惟。太子所说。甚为微妙。
Explanation: Hearing the ascetic's words, the prince was not pleased and thought to himself: what the ascetic knows and sees is not a place of ultimate liberation, not a method for forever severing all fetters and afflictions. He then said: "There is something in what you teach that I do not understand, and I wish to ask now." The ascetic replied: "I respectfully welcome your question." He then asked: "In the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception, is there a self or no self? If there is no self, it should not be called the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception. If there is a self, is the self aware or unaware? If the self is unaware, it is the same as wood and stone; if the self is aware, there is engagement (攀缘, clinging to objects), and since there is engagement, there is defiled attachment; with defiled attachment, there is no liberation.
Although you can exhaust the coarse fetters, you yourself do not know that the subtle fetters still remain; that is why you consider it ultimate. But when the subtle fetters grow, one will again receive a lowly rebirth; therefore this cannot cross to the other shore of birth and death. If one can eliminate the self and the notion of self, and relinquish everything, that is called true liberation." The ascetic fell silent, thinking to himself: what the prince said is extremely subtle.
The ascetic pointed out the road to nirvāṇa, yet this road was not the road to nirvāṇa, because along the way there was only precepts and concentration, without the wisdom of liberation. Having concentration without wisdom is non-Buddhism, and liberation cannot be attained. Liberation is the mind's liberation through no-self; only when the mind has the wisdom of no-self can liberation be attained. Liberation means all fetters and afflictions are forever severed without remainder; it is not the case that merely having theoretical knowledge and views of liberation while afflictions remain can be called liberation. Therefore in cultivation, if one's afflictions are no different from before, yet one takes pride in one's theoretical knowledge and views and despises others, one is in fact an ordinary person replete with afflictions. Hence, both at the beginning and the end of cultivation, the goal is to break the self-mark of ignorance and sever afflictions; merely acquiring theoretical knowledge and views cannot be called studying Buddhism. With wisdom, there is no ignorance and no afflictions; with afflictions there is ignorance, with ignorance there is no wisdom, and without wisdom one remains in birth and death without liberation. Therefore, testing the results of one's cultivation lies in whether ignorance and afflictions have become attenuated, and to what degree they have been attenuated.
