Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra) (89)

Only by realizing the emptiness of all dharmas can afflictions be eliminated

The Buddha said that one who understands the transmigration of karma knows there is no agent and no experiencer. The arising, functioning, and ceasing of karmic activity are all empty: there is no person who creates karma, no person who receives karma, and no one who undergoes retribution. If you keep seeing emptiness all the way through, you can enjoy the retribution of a noble one; such a person is no longer an ordinary being, and no longer has the mental activity of an ordinary being. The afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion melt away quickly, just as boiling water dissolves snow. In that case, there is no need to expend great effort and energy to counteract all kinds of afflictions. Using various counteractive methods to fight afflictions is very exhausting for the mind; even after countering them for many lifetimes and many kalpas, the fundamental problem is not resolved—because all dharmas are taken to be real things, all regarded as existent. How could that ever counteract them thoroughly and solve the fundamental problem? If, right now, you recognize that everything is empty and illusory, is there still any need for counteraction? There is no need for counteraction at all.

Therefore, the practice of following along with the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion and then counteracting them is far too roundabout, too tortuous, and too slow; it is neither the most fundamental method nor the fastest shortcut. We must work from the root. For example, to remove a large tree, you must start at the root: cut through the root, and the whole tree falls and will never grow again. In practice, one must not pluck at branches and leaves, slowly picking off one leaf at a time—after picking them all, they grow back again, and after picking them all, they grow back again; this picking never ends. The counteractive method of practice is precisely plucking at the leaves of the tree, whereas the contemplative practices (vipaśyanā-caryā) described above are methods of severing the tree's root—completely and thoroughly cut off at the root, so that the leaves, branches, and trunk can never grow out again; there is no way for them to grow anymore, and they are extinguished. It is the same with eliminating afflictions: directly cut through the root of all dharmas and realize the emptiness of all dharmas; then, when facing all dharmas, afflictions will no longer arise.