What Is Cultivation?

At the ultimate stage of spiritual practice, is it about extinguishing consciousness or extinguishing the manas (the root of mentation)? Extinguishing consciousness is the cause, while extinguishing the manas is the result. Although extinguishing the manas is the ultimate goal, the starting point must still begin with consciousness. Consciousness dies every night, and the consciousness of a vegetative person is almost perpetually dead, yet they still cannot avoid the three lower realms in future lives, let alone the cycle of the six realms. What does this indicate? It shows that the authority over life and death lies in the hands of the manas. Therefore, spiritual practice must be implemented at the level of the manas—to comprehend the manas, to subdue the manas, and to eradicate the ignorance within the manas. How exactly should one operate to eliminate the ignorance of the manas? Ignorance gives rise to all afflictive mental factors (caittas). So, whose mental factors are primarily these afflictive mental factors? The ignorance of the manas leads to the suffering of birth, aging, sickness, and death. Which afflictive mental factors does the manas lack? If the manas does not possess all afflictive mental factors, then wouldn't spiritual practice be easy and joyful?

Some insist that the manas is neither wholesome nor unwholesome. If that is the case, do we still need to engage in spiritual practice? The Tathāgatagarbha is neither wholesome nor unwholesome; hence, the Tathāgatagarbha never practices and fundamentally has no need to practice. What is there to cultivate? What is there for it to correct? It has no ignorance, no evil, and no perversion. If the Tathāgatagarbha were to practice, it would likely deviate from the path and become distorted. Both wholesomeness and unwholesomeness stem from ignorance; where there is ignorance, there must be wholesomeness and unwholesomeness. The Tathāgatagarbha is free from ignorance; thus, it neither creates wholesome karma nor unwholesome karma. It responds according to conditions, without any deliberate intention. Only with ignorance does hatred arise, leading to the intention to kill. Only with ignorance does delusion arise, leading to the act of killing.