Selected Discourses on the Sutra of the Father and Son Compilation

Sentient beings lack wisdom due to their limited hearing and understanding. They listen to the Dharma little, possess scant exposure, fail to comprehend the true meaning of the Buddha's teachings, and do not understand the truths of the world; hence, they lack wisdom and intelligence. If we wish to possess wisdom, we must diligently study the Buddha Dharma, listen extensively to the sutras and teachings, delve deeply into the treasury of scriptures, for only then does wisdom arise, and wisdom can become as vast as the ocean. By faithfully accepting the Buddha's words, listening more to the sutras, and hearing more of the Dharma, we comprehend one principle, shatter one instance of ignorance, reduce one aspect of foolishness, purify our body, speech, and mind, and thus our inner heart will be joyful and free from afflictions.

Ordinary beings with limited hearing and understanding crave agreeable contact, which arises from pleasing sensations. Agreeable contact refers to bodily sensations that delight the consciousness, known as "wonderful contact" (miao chu). Examples include the body touching soft clothing, warm sunlight, or a comfortable bed. Among these, the most significant is contact between male and female, for the desire realm is primarily a world built upon this contact. What the body faculty (shen gen) and body consciousness (shen shi) come into contact with is called the object of touch (chu chen, tactile sense-object). For instance, warm and comfortable sunlight touching the body, cold or hot wind touching the skin, soft or hard clothing contacting the body – when the body consciousness perceives a sensation, it is called "contact" (chu), and the object being contacted is the "object of touch" (chu chen). Furthermore, sensations like hunger or thirst, the feeling in the stomach, are also contact – these too are objects of touch. Similarly, feeling fatigued after sitting for a long time, the fatigue is an object of touch; during meditation, feeling lightness and ease in the body, experiencing extreme physical comfort – these are all objects of touch.

Ordinary sentient beings are most attached to agreeable tactile sensations, primarily centered around male-female contact. When males and females come into contact, the mind gives rise to feelings of delight (ai le xin) and craving (tan ai xin), thereby becoming defiled. This craving is primarily centered on mental consciousness (yishi xin, the sixth consciousness), though it also involves the eye consciousness and body consciousness, but the main focus is the feeling arising from the sixth mental consciousness. Once mental consciousness gives rise to defilement and attachment, it creates karma. The next step after the mind gives rise to delight and craving is inevitably to create karma, and karmic actions will manifest. Those without cultivation will manifest foolish karmic actions of body, speech, and mind. Some practitioners, though their minds may sometimes harbor defilement, refrain from creating bodily or verbal karmic actions. The most accomplished practitioners do not even allow their minds to become defiled. The karmic actions created are as follows: bodily karma can create three types: killing, stealing, sexual misconduct; verbal karma has four types: false speech, frivolous speech, divisive speech, harsh speech; mental karma consists of three types: greed, hatred, delusion.