Prioritizing the Dharma and Be Free from Conceptual Elaboration

When it comes to Dharma practice, it is extremely crucial to refrain from conceptual elaboration; otherwise, one will find it difficult to attain genuine resonance with the practice. This is especially true in relation to the instruction I have given, toward which one must never adopt a dismissive attitude. Nowadays, people are too inclined toward conceptual elaboration, and as a result, their experiential realization in practice cannot deepen. One must guard oneself against being overwhelmed by conceptual elaboration, and even more so, one must not approach the Dharma in such a manner.

If one continues in this way, then the Dharma ceases to function as Dharma, and it will have no transformative effect whatsoever. The Dharma can only become efficacious through reverence and homage, through which one becomes resonated to it. If people are carried away by conceptual elaboration while practicing the Dharma, this constitutes a very serious loss, for the Dharma is not something to be treated lightly or turned into an object of idle speculation. Rather, one must thoroughly cultivate resonance and accord with the Dharma. If one approaches it frivolously, one will neither gain experiential understanding nor attain resonance with it.

Therefore, when listening to the teachings, one must not listen with a mind inclined toward conceptual elaboration; likewise, when putting the Dharma into practice, one must do so in a manner free from such elaboration. Only then will what we cultivate become genuine and truthful. If you spend your days immersed in conceptual elaboration, the mind will become restless and unstable, wavering without grounding or truth, and the Dharma itself will begin to feel like something distant and unattainable.

As educators, we strive to seek methods that will enable you to progress diligently in practice. In daily life, everyone receives this kind of training: earnestly trying to understand the teacher’s aspiration for everyone’s Dharma accomplishment. Yet when one’s inclination toward conceptual elaboration is overpowering, and when such conceptual elaboration is directed toward the Dharma itself, genuine realization becomes impossible. Why is it that many lay practitioners understand so much and yet fail to attain accomplishment? It is because they do not truly revere the Dharma; in other words, they harbor a frivolous attitude toward it. Therefore, in daily life, we must strive to engender both compassion and the aspiration for liberation. Liberation means letting go of afflictions; compassion means doing one’s utmost to give of oneself for others.

Letting go of afflictions is actually very easy, because those afflictions were never truly yours to begin with. Why, then, should you cling to them? Monastics are determined to renounce afflictions, so why should they keep carrying them? Monastics strive to cut off even familial attachments and worldly relations, yet despite the fact that we do not intentionally acquire these afflictions, why do we still suffer from them? Therefore, one must give rise to compassion and constantly remain mindful and accountable to one’s own inner mind; this itself is the liberation from afflictions.

Are we consistently vigilant regarding the softness and pliancy of the mind? For the mind’s softness is compassion. One must remember not to indulge one’s habitual tendencies. What is it like to indulge one’s habitual tendencies? It is like releasing a cow into a rice field and allowing it to trample the crops. The regulation and management of one’s habitual tendencies is called contemplative observation. Contemplative observation means clearly seeing the unreality and impermanence of these phenomena.