What Kinds of Actions of Body, Speech, and Mind Accord with the Dharma?

A practitioner who diligently cultivates will introspect their mind in daily life. When observing their mental state while eating, they may notice greed towards food and thus slow down their eating pace. In fact, wolfing down food when hungry isn’t necessarily greed; savoring each bite slowly might actually be greed. Craving sensory pleasures like taste is one form of greed. Greed towards food includes attachment to its color, aroma, flavor, and texture. As long as one isn’t attached to these sensory aspects and eats merely to satisfy hunger, it isn’t greed. Therefore, it’s possible to eat without greed—even eating quickly without greed.

How does one distinguish greed from non-greed? In the past, a lay disciple asked Great Master Dazhu Huihai: "Master, how is your eating and sleeping different from that of ordinary people?" Master Huihai replied: "Ordinary people do not eat when they eat—they seek a hundred things. They do not sleep when they sleep—they calculate a thousand schemes. I, however, have no such thoughts; I simply eat and sleep." Having no thoughts about eating doesn’t mean thinking of nothing while eating and focusing solely on the act. Rather, it means having no additional demands towards food—no pickiness, no greed.

What are the "hundred things" ordinary beings seek when eating? Broadly speaking, they are nothing more than attachment to form, aroma, flavor, and texture, and the nourishment of the physical body for its upkeep. As for the countless detailed demands, they all boil down to greed—manifestations of self-view and body-view at work. When an enlightened person eats, spoiled or leftover food makes no difference; as long as it fills the stomach and doesn’t hinder cultivation, there are no other requirements. What are the "thousand schemes" ordinary beings calculate when sleeping? Generally, they involve calculations about the six sense objects—form, sound, aroma, flavor, touch, and mental phenomena. In detail, it’s calculations about the room, bed, bedding, and so on—all essentially expressions of self-view and body-view.

Whether someone has genuine cultivation can be clearly seen in the trivial details of daily life. Every little action reveals whether self-view is present. Those who haven’t severed self-view have many demands for their physical body. To maintain these demands, they display countless acts of greed, often without realizing it. Unconsciously, greedy behaviors arise—this is the greed of the mental faculty, a habitual tendency. Because it’s habitual, it’s mistaken as normal and rightful. If someone acts differently—attached to nothing and picky about nothing—they are seen as abnormal. This is called delusion. One must be adept at observing and distinguishing which daily actions align with the Dharma and which do not, continually correcting oneself to attain realization sooner.

Physical and verbal actions are governed by the mind. If the mind is that of an ordinary being—attached and greedy—physical and verbal actions will unconsciously reflect greedy mental activities. Some ordinary people without genuine cultivation always try to appear cultivated, so they pretend to be. Yet they don’t know what behavior truly reflects cultivation and what does not. Even if they pretend, they can’t sustain it for long. The key issue is they don’t even know how to pretend, so they occasionally reveal their uncultivated behavior—though outsiders may not discern it.

In truth, from the moment an ordinary person wakes up in the morning, opens their eyes, begins daily activities, to sleeping at night—even in dreams—throughout the day, almost none of their physical, verbal, or mental actions align correctly with the Dharma. Is this an exaggeration? No. When the mind doesn’t resonate with the Dharma, physical and verbal actions won’t resonate with it either. Every moment, everywhere, there is nothing but actions born of ignorance and afflictions.

If one knows what mental activities align with the Dharma, they will recognize what physical and verbal actions reflect genuine cultivation and which do not. This allows a rough judgment of whether someone has realized the truth, attained fruition, possesses genuine cultivation, or what level of practice they’re at. Once discernment is clear, one will no longer be deceived or exploited.