Under What Circumstances Can One Make the Vow to Remain in the Saha World

Only worlds like the Saha world have the three evil paths. If you wish to make a vow to remain in the Saha world, you must at the very least ensure that you can eliminate the karma of the three evil paths, extinguish the retributive results of the three evil paths, and be able to avoid falling into the three evil paths in future lives. To avoid the three evil paths, one must eliminate the three fetters. The three fetters are eliminated by the manas attaining the fruits, by the manas seeing the true mind, and are severed by the manas. Only in this way can the afflictive fetters be eliminated; otherwise, in future lives one cannot escape the suffering of the three evil paths. It is not the case that eliminating the three fetters by the mind consciousness alone can exempt one from the karma of the three evil paths. The afflictions and three fetters of the mind consciousness exist in dependence upon the manas. If the manas has not severed them, even if the mind consciousness has severed them, it is useless, for He is governed by the manas. 

Only after eliminating the five grades of desire-realm afflictions and becoming a candidate for the first fruit can one realize the first fruit and eliminate the three fetters. First observe whether you have the five grades of afflictions, whether they are severe, and whether they can be eliminated; only then can you judge whether you have any hope of eliminating the three fetters. Then, according to your actual circumstances, make your vow so that you may attain peace and happiness in future lives. If things go wrong—if you make a vow to remain in the Saha world yet suffer for a long time in the three evil paths—then you yourself become an object awaiting liberation, so how could you liberate others? In that case, would your future lives not be filled with great distress?

If you cannot guarantee the elimination of the three fetters, and cannot even guarantee that the fetters of the mind consciousness can be eliminated, then the three evil paths cannot be avoided. Even if the mind consciousness no longer has the three fetters, if the manas still has them, the karma of the three evil paths cannot be avoided. Moreover, if the manas' fetters are deep and its afflictions heavy, the mind consciousness's three fetters will arise at any time and place, beyond one's control, and in future lives one will surely tend toward the three evil paths. Such a vow would then be equivalent to vowing to remain in the three evil paths and suffer. Therefore, one must be extremely careful in making vows—what circumstances call for what kind of vow. According to your level of cultivation and realization and your actual situation, you must not act on a hot head, heedless of everything. Wisdom is a good thing; you must use your brain more, develop wisdom, and only then take action.