Taming Oneself, Enjoying the Spiritual Dimension

Do you know why, no matter how much we practice, afflictions still arise? Is it because our practice is insufficient? Or because our meditative concentration is inadequate? It is certainly not merely a matter of insufficient meditative concentration, although such insufficiency may indeed be present. The path of practice is the training and taming of the mind, and to tame the mind is precisely to practice the path. If one is unable to tame oneself, there is undoubtedly a problem. To tame ourselves, we must eradicate self-attachment and the view of self.

If, in the course of daily life, we are able to tame ourselves to attain the selflessness of the individual, transforming the narrow self into the greater self and ultimately into selflessness, then the sphere of our life will no longer be confined by boundaries. Self-attachment and the view of self create only a small and limited space of our own, and it is within this narrow sphere that afflictions arise. Why, then, do we engage in the bodhisattva path and work for the liberation of sentient beings? It is precisely to gradually dismantle the confines of this self-centered dimension, allowing it to expand into the greater self, and through this path of practice, to realize selflessness.

Therefore, those of us who are connected by karmic affinity must strive together in order to attain awakening and to experience awakening within the midst of life itself—to enjoy compassion and bodhicitta, that is, to gain direct experiential validation of them in the course of life. The direct experience gained through practice amidst the ongoing awareness of daily life is far more vivid and powerful than the experiences that arise during sitting meditation alone. If, in the midst of life, we are truly able at every moment to maintain the mind of practice and thereby validate this experience, we will indeed attain great accomplishment and acquire the power of liberation. We should remain awake at all times, rather than allowing ourselves to fragment into numerous small, self-enclosed spheres on account of trivial concerns.

For every Dharma practitioner, this constitutes a guiding principle; for those who genuinely put the Dharma into practice, it becomes a course of action. Only through action can understanding be gained through experience. Action manifests itself through practice and the circumstances of daily life. Thus, whether in activity or in stillness, we should reveal the realm of the tathagata, which is present within our luminous awareness at all times and in all places. Accordingly, we should apply ourselves wholeheartedly to practice, realization, and embodiment, and establish within our lives the mind of equanimity.

How is self-attachment to be eradicated? It must begin with equanimity. The wisdom associated with selflessness is called the “wisdom of equality.”[1.1] Yet what ordinarily manifests in us is not the “wisdom of equality,” but rather the afflictions arising from discrimination and inequality that constantly surge in daily life. To dismantle self-attachment is actually quite simple: one must cultivate the “wisdom of equality.” From where does equality arise? It arises from the realization of emptiness. Wisdom is the luminous awareness of this emptiness; through directly knowing emptiness with luminous awareness, one arrives at selflessness.