3. Genuine Renunciation Weakens Self-attachment (ātma-grāha) and Makes Bodhicitta Easier to Arise
If renunciation (nekkhamma) is strong, self-grasping (ātma-grāha) will naturally be weakened, and bodhicitta will arise more easily. The absence of renunciation indicates that self-graspingis still powerful. Yet self-grasping and bodhicitta are mutually contradictory. Bodhicitta seeks to benefit others; self-grasping seeks to benefit oneself. The logic is very simple. If three million dollars are placed here—should they go to you or to me? Self-grasping immediately says, “Of course give it to me! Once I am satisfied, I might take a portion and donate it to you.”
But when bodhicitta is strong, let alone three million dollars—if you want my eyes, take them! If you want my hands, take them! The great bodhisattvas of the past were exactly like this. If you read the Jātaka tales—the Buddha’s past-life stories—you will find countless such examples. Why? Because there was no self-grasping.
If self-grasping remains strong, bodhicitta cannot arise. And if bodhicitta does not arise, yet one hopes to realize emptiness (śūnyatā)—has such a thing ever truly happened? It seems not.
Some may question this: “In the Chan tradition, weren’t there great masters who did not explicitly speak about bodhicitta, yet still realized emptiness?” Actually, that is not quite the case. Generally speaking, those Chan masters who realized emptiness had relatively pure mental continua.
There is a slight difference between the Chinese and Tibetan approaches. In Chan, when masters realized emptiness—even at a relatively initial level—there would naturally arise a direct, uncontrived bodhicitta. One might tentatively call this “ultimate bodhicitta” (paramārtha-bodhicitta). Then, from the realization of prajñā (wisdom), they would in turn nourish and deepen bodhicitta. In the Tibetan tradition, the approach is somewhat reversed: one begins by cultivating bodhicitta, and through that path gradually ascends to the ultimate realization of prajñā—emptiness itself.
—Excerpted and adapted from Conceptual Renunciation and Genuine Renunciation
This article is a preliminary translation draft and has not yet been reviewed or proofread by the speaker.
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