In Learning Buddhism, One Should Work on Both Mind-Nature and Technique

So-called technical skill in the Buddha-dharma means studying theoretical knowledge and realizing theoretical knowledge; being diligent in technical matters means sitting in meditation to cultivate concentration, working hard to study theoretical knowledge, earnestly investigating, researching, and contemplating, in hopes of realizing and attaining some dharma, attaining some fruit, qualification, or reputation, and obtaining a certain result.

So-called work on the mind's nature refers to observing the selflessness of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha), subduing the self, subduing afflictions, being gentle and kind in mind, possessing the selfless disposition of sages, removing selfishness and self-centeredness, and thereby being able to benefit oneself and being willing to benefit others. Concretely, this means the earnest practice of the bodhisattva's six perfections: gradually perfecting the accumulation of merit, upholding the precepts, being patient with all people and affairs in order to subdue one's own mind, replacing laziness and laxity, cultivating meditative concentration (samādhi) to enhance the power of contemplation, subduing afflictions, immersing oneself in the principle of the emptiness (śūnyatā) of prajñā, and letting the mind gradually draw near to emptiness. Mind-nature and technique complement each other: mind-nature is the eyes, technique is the feet; the eyes determine the direction and height of the technique.

In studying Buddhism and cultivating practice, one should combine mind-nature and technique and cultivate both together; one cannot cultivate only one side while ignoring the other—only by walking on two legs can one keep balance. So-called one-sided cultivation at the technical level means engaging only in theoretical study without subduing one's self-nature, so that theory and practice are disconnected. The Buddha-dharma is originally meant to help sentient beings subdue the self, realize selflessness, and attain liberation and ease. Yet the aim and result of sentient beings' practice of selflessness is instead the growth of self-nature and self-grasping, with the self swelling ever more; their mind-nature is actually worse than before, and the gap from the proper results of practice is enormous. This is the result of not cultivating mind-nature and only cultivating technique.

Cultivating only at the technical level and not at the level of mind-nature results in virtue not matching one's position, and great disorder follows afterward. Treating the practice of the Buddha-dharma as a form of capital, once one has mastered the techniques of the Buddha-dharma, one considers oneself above everyone and stronger than everyone, believing one can be a person above others, smugly self-satisfied with this technique, growing in arrogance, using it as capital to overpower everyone else. This is precisely the severe marks of self, person, and sentient beings—the result of cultivating only at the technical level, a pitiable evil fruit that runs counter to the Buddha-dharma. In severe cases, one can even use arrogance and self-grasping to corrupt and disorder the Buddha-dharma and Buddhism, and to undermine sentient beings' faith in the Buddha-dharma and Buddhism. 

The method of practice can never be a one-sided technical task of purely theoretical study; what is more important is the cultivation and transformation of mind-nature. If studying Buddhism and practicing were only technical effort, the Buddha would not have sentient beings make pure great vows, using the power of vows to draw and guide their practice; if studying Buddhism and practicing were only technical effort, why is it that some people bury themselves day and night in studying the sūtras and various theories, diligent in various contemplative practices (vipaśyanā-caryā), able to explore theories unknown to ordinary people, seemingly gaining something from study, yet their greed, hatred, and delusion still blaze fiercely, and perhaps their whole life they remain stuck at the seventh, sixth, or fifth stage of abiding—despite having learned an enormous amount of Yogācāra theory, they still cannot take a step forward. 

If studying Buddhism and practicing were only technical effort, why is it that some people sit in meditation day and night for thirty or fifty years yet still cannot attain the first dhyāna, while for others the first dhyāna manifests within one or two years; some people have been enlightened for thirty years and still have not seen a shadow of the first dhyāna. Yet some people, not long after studying Buddhism, upon encountering theory and doing just a little contemplative practice, can realize various fruits—even though many of the technical terms of the Buddha-dharma are not yet clear to them, the wisdom of contemplative practice has already arisen. 

If studying Buddhism and practicing is technical effort, then the bodhisattva's six perfections—are they technical cultivation or cultivation of mind-nature? The perfection of generosity (dāna)—does it belong to the technical level or the level of mind-nature? Does upholding precepts belong to the technical level or the level of mind-nature? Is patience a matter of technique or of mind-nature? Is meditative concentration a matter of technique or of mind-nature? Wisdom—for a person of poor mind-nature, what kind of wisdom is it? Does such wisdom correspond to bodhisattvas and Buddhas? Diligent effort: there is right effort (samyag-vyāyāma) and wrong effort; wrong effort belongs to the technical level, while right effort is precisely cultivating mind-nature. Can people with ulterior motives obtain genuine benefit from the Buddha-dharma? The mark of a bodhisattva's true accomplishment is loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity; if mind-nature has not transformed, there will never be the mental conduct of loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity, and the bodhisattva's fruits can never be fulfilled.

Between the mind-nature of an arhat and that of a bodhisattva, whose is better? Whose path of practice advances more? Whom does the Buddha favor most? Who becomes a Buddha first? Whose is cultivation at the technical level, and whose is cultivation at the level of mind-nature? Those who do technical work—did the Buddha not scold them as scorched sprouts and rotten seeds, fallen into the pit of inactivity? The final result of studying Buddhism and practicing must surely be possessing both virtue and talent—having talent, but even more having virtue; without virtue, talent is merely crooked talent, perhaps put to use on deviant paths, committing evil karma without even knowing it. There are many talented people in the world, but not all of them necessarily use their talent to create wholesome karma; many use it to create unwholesome karma, and if it is used to create evil karma, it would be better to have no talent at all. 

For those who study Buddhism and cultivate practice, virtue must occupy first place, placed at the very front; with virtue, one need not worry about lacking talent. If a person has only talent and no virtue, however great the talent, it has no proper use. But a person with virtue and no talent can be cultivated into one with both virtue and talent; with their bodhisattva mind-nature, the Buddha's power will bless them to swiftly attain the Way.

Therefore, studying Buddhism and practicing is not merely technical work; the most essential thing is the cultivation of mind-nature. Only a person who is selfless is a true bodhisattva; if within one's heart there is only oneself, only one's personal self-interest, and one's whole mind is only for oneself, such a person is not a true bodhisattva.

Technical work is always many times easier than the work of mind-nature. With technical work, as long as one puts effort into studying and researching, one can surely dig something out of the texts and gain some harvest; add cleverness and quickness, and quite a few techniques can be acquired. But what about mind-nature? Even a hundred years may not suffice to subdue it—innate disposition is hard to change. A bodhisattva who has acquired techniques but has not subdued mind-nature is still not a true bodhisattva, merely a nominal, fake bodhisattva, an impostor of a bodhisattva, forever unable to play the role of a bodhisattva.

Many people painstakingly engage day and night in contemplative practice, research, and study, yet never examine their own minds; no matter how assiduously they study the scientific techniques of the Buddha-dharma, they cannot subdue their self-nature and selfishness, cannot truly eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi), and cannot truly see the mind and attain enlightenment. Such people are not bodhisattvas, even though they have mastered the scientific techniques of the Buddha-dharma! In this present age, how many people who study Buddhism are merely doing technical work, never putting effort into their own mind-nature. The techniques have been produced, but virtue does not match position—wherever they go, they inflate themselves, indulge themselves, and in the end wherever they go, disorder follows. Studying Buddhism becomes about standing out, about indulging the self, and never about subduing the self. The more they learn, the more high-profile they become; the more they learn, the heavier the self grows; the more they learn, the more chaotic the world becomes. The ways of the world have been thrown into disorder. Many people study Buddhism just to rise above others, to stand on other people's shoulders, never once thinking of extinguishing the self, of letting the self vanish without a trace—is this eradicating the view of self, or increasing it? If Buddhism develops like this, in the end there will be great chaos in the world.

Therefore, if you truly want to cultivate yourself into a genuine practitioner, you must grasp with both hands: put effort into the ground of the mind to make yourself gentle and pliant, and also put effort into contemplative practice and investigation, striving for real realization, becoming a sage in the true sense.