Contemplation of No Wisdom, No Attainment | There Is No Suffering

If, on the other hand, you do virtuous acts with no thought of accumulating good karma, then whether you receive retribution or not does matter to you. Retribution will come, but, in the no-self state, you will not see it as such. When you practice, there are always results. Whether you are attached to them or not, the results will be there. When you are attached to the results of your practice, you receive the retribution of an ordinary sentient being; when you are not attached to such results, you receive the retribution of saints.

When you practice with a goal of attaining fruition, what you get is the fruition of outflows. If you practice without a seeking nature, then it is possible to receive the retribution of the saint, but you would not consider sainthood to be attainment. To one without outflows, without a self-center, it would just be an experience. There would be no feelings of accomplishment, grandeur, or superiority. There would be no need for pride. The more you think of practice as an accomplishment, the less likely you will accomplish anything in practice. To avoid this kind of trap, you should remain humble and always be a beginner on the path.

Sentient beings speak of attainment in practice because they think there is wisdom to gain. The examples of the saints are beyond their experience. But the more you practice, the more you
will realize that you are not so much gaining anything, as you are leaving behind afflictions, attachments, and self-centeredness. The more you let go, the less there is to attain. When you reach true liberation, you will have left behind everything—there is no longer anything to attain, nor anyone who attains.

How do we contemplate “no wisdom and no attainment?” When we have afflictions or vexations, we lack wisdom. When we act or speak without wisdom, and we can realize and reflect on it, that clarity and recognition is itself contemplation. As our clarity increases, our thoughts and conduct will change, and our afflictions will lessen. The steadier and stronger our contemplation, the less self-centered and more considerate of others we become.

Our afflictions may take on many guises, and can include both pleasure and vexation. For example, feeling tired or energetic is natural and is not in itself an affliction. If however, we crave the energetic state and worry about the tired state that is vexation. Being hungry is a physical condition, and eating to satisfy your hunger is also natural. But desiring a gourmet dinner and eating beyond the limits of satisfaction is vexation. Whenever greed, anger, or delusion is involved, there is affliction.

Bodhisattvas help sentient beings, but attach neither to their own actions nor to sentient beings. We are not bodhisattvas and so cannot do this, but we can cultivate this aspiration by emulating them. A good place to start is with your own families. Parents look after and help their children, but they are strongly attached to them and to what they do. This causes vexations for both parents and children. Through cultivation, parents can learn to help their children and at the same time not be overly attached to them.

How do you practice this? When your body and mind are moving, reflect on whether your actions are with or without wisdom. In the beginning, it is easy to see which actions are based on a strong feeling of self-centeredness. With practice, you can experience expanded self as you feel the boundaries between yourself and others fade; or unified self, when you feel at one with all existence. However, you must be careful not to mistake unified self for enlightenment. It might be difficult to discern by yourself whether your level of clarity and stability is true wisdom or just unified mind. One way to tell is that when we experience unified mind, we also have overflowing feelings of love and compassion for others. This is still wisdom with outflows, not genuine wisdom, because the self-reference is still present.

True attainment refers to true merit and virtue in the Buddhist sense, of which there are two aspects—wisdom and compassion. Wisdom manifests when there is prajna without vexation. At that point, you will help others without thinking of yourself or others. This selfless wisdom is compassion. Thus, wisdom and compassion are not separate. Moreover, acts of compassion lead to more merit and virtue.

However, constantly thinking of merit and virtue can be burdensome and painful. If you do something for others only with the thought of receiving something good in return, ultimately you will be disappointed. This is a sign of a greedy mind. It is best to act with no thought of gain or loss. Then, whether or not merit and virtue come will not matter. Acting with personal gain as your motivation will bring vexation, not merit and virtue.

I like a particular phrase in the West. When you do something for someone and they say, “Thank you,” you reply, “My pleasure.” You do not feel pleasure because you expect a reward; you feel pleasure in the doing. I realize it is only a saying, and the person saying it may not be sincere, but it is a good phrase and it supports what I am talking about. If you truly feel this kind of pleasure when you say it, then you are someone who will be receptive to Buddhadharma.

In your practice you need to reflect on your true motives and intentions. This is another way of contemplating no wisdom and no attainment. Do you really mean it when you say, “My pleasure?” It is good practice to be aware of whether you do something for the doing’ s sake or for personal gain. If you maintain this awareness, you will tend to be peaceful, stable, smooth, and natural, not prone to swift changes in moods and feelings. However, it is difficult to maintain this level of awareness without cultivating it.

I myself need to cultivate such awareness all the time. Sometimes, people say I am not consistent because one moment I seem to be cheerful, and soon after I appear to be very serious. When I am concentrating on work and one of my disciples interrupts me, I practice awareness to notice what my expression is like, what my tone of voice is like. It is easy to get caught up in something, and being called to something else can cause tension. I try to remain aware of myself even at these times. This may sound insignificant, but it too is practice. My expressions, the tone of my voice, my body movements are all things to work on. I may not even be angry, but I may appear to be so when I turn to speak to my disciple. More than likely it is a look of concentration, but if it causes uneasiness in others, then I should work on it. So, it is practice for my disciple and me. I practice to be more aware of my expression and my disciple practices not to be so swayed by other people. We start small and work deeper and deeper. Ultimately, we need to contemplate whether our actions are based on wisdom or personal gain.

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