First, one should study and contemplate the scriptures and treatises related to renunciation and bodhicitta. For example, within the Nyingma tradition, The Great Perfection Preliminary Practices is an important guide, and Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö’s Luminous Wisdom is also well worth reading. These works explain in great detail why practitioners must develop the determination to leave saṃsāra, as well as the methods for doing so. They discuss fundamental contemplations such as the defects of saṃsāra, the preciousness of human rebirth, the impermanence of life, and the infallibility of karma.
When studying and contemplating these fundamental teachings, some people may find them tedious and think, “Why do we keep talking about the same things?” In reality, however, we usually understand these truths only at a conceptual level, while our minds fail to act in accordance with them. The purpose of discussing The Relationship Between Buddhist Theory and Practice is precisely to bring our conceptual understanding into alignment with the actual behavior of our minds. If the two are not aligned, a split arises between what we know and how we actually behave.
I have previously mentioned the great Confucian scholar Wang Yangming, who proposed the famous principle of the unity of knowledge and action. “Knowledge” refers to understanding and conceptual cognition, while “action” does not merely refer to outward behavior but also includes one’s inner thoughts and emotions. When concepts and conduct are in harmony—when behavior embodies one’s understanding and understanding genuinely guides behavior—this is called the unity of knowledge and action.
Many people may say, “Saṃsāra is truly terrible. I really want to escape from it!” Yet in reality, they are deeply attached to saṃsāra. At the sight of an attractive person, their eyes glue to her; at the sight of money, they would risk their lives for it. In such cases, knowledge and action are clearly not unified.
The same applies to bodhicitta. There are many instances where knowledge and action fail to correspond. Everyone says that they study Buddhism for the benefit of others and aspire to generate bodhicitta. Every day they recite, “ To benefit all sentient beings, may I attain Buddhahood,” yet they are discourteous to the Dharma companions around them. Every day they try to benefit “the remote” beings at the edge of the earth, while failing to benefit the "the immediate" beings right beside them.
When it comes to emptiness , the situation becomes even more striking. Many people can recite phrases such as “the union of luminosity and emptiness” and explain numerous doctrines concerning emptiness, yet they have no experiential realization whatsoever of the actual experience of emptiness. This, too, is a form of disunity between knowledge and action. (“Emptiness” itself is called the Term; the doctrinal explanation of emptiness is called the Characteristic; and the direct experiential realization of emptiness is called the Actual Reality. These constitute the three aspects discussed in Buddhist logic and epistemology.)
Therefore, we must diligently study and contemplate the texts just mentioned, allowing genuine renunciation and authentic bodhicitta to arise within our minds.
—Excerpted and compiled from The Relationship Between Buddhist Theory and Practice.
This article is a preliminary translation draft and has not yet been reviewed or proofread by the speaker.
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