The Mental Factors (Caittas) of Mahāyāna Bodhisattvas Should All the More Be Transformed

Some people say that the practice of Mahāyāna bodhisattvas is entirely different from that of the Hīnayāna practitioners: Hīnayāna practitioners seek to eliminate afflictions and seek liberation, whereas Mahāyāna bodhisattvas, like the tathāgatagarbha, should neither eliminate afflictions nor seek liberation. But does the tathāgatagarbha have any afflictions to eliminate? Has the tathāgatagarbha been bound by any dharma? The tathāgatagarbha originally has no afflictions and is originally liberated in itself; there is no need to seek the elimination of afflictions to attain liberation. The tathāgatagarbha has no ignorance, and therefore there is no cessation of ignorance. However, the seventh consciousness of a bodhisattva has afflictions, so afflictions must be eliminated; if the seventh consciousness is not liberated, liberation must be sought; if the seventh consciousness has ignorance, ignorance must be broken through. If a Mahāyāna bodhisattva has heavy afflictions and is bound by birth-and-death, such a bodhisattva cannot be called a true bodhisattva and cannot liberate sentient beings—if one is still in the river of birth-and-death and unable to escape, how can one rescue sentient beings?

Furthermore, not to mention that a Mahāyāna bodhisattva has fundamental afflictions, he may also display the eight great universal secondary afflictions—lack of faith, laziness, non-diligence, torpor, restlessness, loss of mindfulness, lack of clear understanding, and distraction—as well as the two medium universal secondary afflictions of shamelessness and lack of embarrassment, plainly laid out before the world. What kind of bodhisattva is this? If the mind does not correspond to any of the eleven wholesome mental factors, what kind of Mahāyāna bodhisattva is this? Can such a bodhisattva become a model and exemplar for sentient beings? What can the vast multitude of sentient beings learn by following such a bodhisattva? If the perverse trend of wanting only fruits, benefits, and fame, without wanting the merits of liberation, is not curbed, Buddhism will surely perish swiftly.

The change in mental factors can be taken as a quantifiable standard of one's cultivation achievements. For example, if anger has lessened, greed has lessened, delusion has lessened, and the other afflictive mental factors have correspondingly diminished, and the mind-ground is increasingly out of accord with afflictions such as greed, anger, and delusion, and this persists for a relatively long time—if this is the case, it indicates that one's cultivation has achieved results. Changes in afflictions have corresponding changes in mental factors as their counterpart, and the transformation of wisdom likewise has corresponding changes in mental factors as its counterpart. Using tangible, measurable standards to gauge one's progress in cultivation may perhaps benefit the practice of the general public. Measured by these standards, one can compare and assess oneself; every step of progress has a standard by which to measure it, and in this way confidence in cultivation can be increased.

The change in mental factors is the result of cultivation and can serve as a standard for measuring the degree of cultivation, but there is also the question of to what degree specific afflictions have been reduced, and to what degree wholesome mental factors have increased and strengthened—this is hard to grasp, and it likewise involves the transformation of body and mind. The transformation of body and mind is a major, obvious, and clear-cut mark. The attainment and realization of each fruit must be accompanied by a corresponding degree of transformation of body and mind—this is the mark. There are also hints of certain states, such as indications in dreams, which show the degree to which a person has realized the fruits of the Great and Small Vehicles, the degree to which afflictions have been eliminated, and the degree to which the mind has been purified. Each time a practitioner advances to a higher fruit or raises the level of their cultivation, there are displays and hints in terms of states: one is the shock and change experienced in body and mind, and the other is the hint of auspicious dreams, indicating the degree to which the mind has been purified, the degree to which afflictions have been subdued, the depth of the state of wisdom, and how future development will proceed.

Why must genuine realization involve the transformation of body and mind, and why is the transformation of body and mind a major and clear-cut mark? Because from beginningless kalpas in the past until beginningless kalpas in the future, the body-mind-world has all been controlled and regulated by the manas. When the manas's cognition transforms, its views transform, and its wisdom transforms, the body-mind-world will correspondingly transform. The reactions of body and mind are the barometer of the manas; the venting of the manas's emotions, the expression of its thoughts, and so on are all revealed through the reactions of body and mind. If the manas's thinking is touched and shaken by something, it will inevitably simultaneously drive and influence the body-mind-world, triggering a chain reaction in body and mind.

Those dreams with special significance carry important meaning and serve the function of hints and warnings, enabling one to judge oneself; they are the basis for judging the degree and progress of one's practice, and among these dreams there are also hints and indications from the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The marks of achievement in cultivation are, first, the change in afflictions, and second, the transformation of wisdom—these two are the most essential, and both are transformations of mental factors. When mental factors have truly changed, that is the stage of third-fruit and fourth-fruit persons and bodhisattvas who have attained the bhūmis. Before that, afflictions are merely subdued, and there cannot be an obvious and clear-cut change in mental factors. Therefore, before the third and fourth fruits, there is no way to accurately quantify the standards.