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In chapter 8–15, Śāntideva turns to the topic of purification and discusses the various practices bodhisattvas can engage in to purify themselves of sinful actions and afflictive emotions. These actions include: confession and atonement, the practice of patience, putting forth effort in study and learning, purifying the mind through meditation, and applying the mind to the practice of mindfulness.
Chapter 11: Praise of Wilderness
Chapter 11 begins with an exhortation to reflect on the flaws of a householder's life and live in solitude. Śāntideva cites The Moon Lamp Sūtra to point out the problems associated with a householder's life and the advantages of living in solitude to seek enlightenment. If, for reasons of attachment to followers and material gain and so forth, one cannot leave behind the worldly life, the sūtra highlights the problems of association with the unreliable, fickle, and childish worldly people and the peace and happiness one can find in solitude, where there is no one whom one likes or dislikes. The messages conveyed by the verses Śāntideva quotes from this sūtra are also very eloquently presented in the seventh chapter of his Way of the Bodhisattva.
The benefits of living in the wilderness, the sūtra continues, are having less worldly occupations, having no conflicts, being able to think of impermanence, having no desires, having afflictive emotions under control, restraining one's body, speech, and mind, being aligned to liberation, and eventually reaching the state of liberation. Living alone like a rhino will quickly lead to attainment of meditative stabilization. The citations from The Questions of Rāṣṭrapāla Sūtra (Skt. Rāṣṭrapālaparipṛcchāsūtra) reiterate the same benefits and add that a hermit in solitude will have no pleasure in gain or displeasure in loss and can pursue the six perfections with a mind firm like a diamond.
Śāntideva cites The Questions of Ugraḥ Sūtra and also The Jewel Heap Sūtra (Skt. Ratnakūṭasūtra) to make the point that if one, after having obtained this human birth and learned and studied a great deal of Dharma, does not put one's knowledge into practice to purify the mind, one would be deceiving the world. It would be like a man who is tormented by thirst while drowning in the sea. Thus, in order to practice Dharma, one must abide in the wilderness, which is neither too close nor too far for one to come and collect alms. The place should be spacious, not too steep, quiet, easy to access, have good clean water and soil, and have trees, flowers, and fruits but no ferocious beasts. At such a place, one must recite sūtras and practice meditation without distraction or dozing off to sleep.
Should someone such as a king, minister, Brahmin, or some others visit the hermitage in the wilderness, the sūtras give instructions on how the hermit bodhisattva should interact with them by including words of greetings and seating etiquette. The Questions of Ugraḥ Sūtra underlines the point that living in the wilderness does not by itself make someone a śramaṇa, or virtuous ascetic, for even deer, monkeys, birds, thieves, and outcasts live in the wilderness. One must fulfill the qualities of a virtuous practitioner having examined why one has come to the wilderness. An ascetic bodhisattva goes to the wilderness out of fear of distractions, company, attachment, hatred, ignorance, pride, cover-up, clinging, jealousy, stinginess, form, sound, smell, taste, touch, evil forces, wrong views, self-love, rebirth, etc. He must think it is useless to be in the wilderness if one clings to the self, holds on to the self, grasps at the self, recognizes the self, talks about the self, views the self, abides in the self, thinks of the self, protects the self, or clings to what belongs to the self, holds on to what belongs to the self, and so forth.
One should not also cling, hold on to, grasp, or view others. To abide in the wilderness or solitude is to abide in nothing and nowhere, to abide without clinging, without grasping, and without relying on form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and phenomena. It is to see everything with equanimity and tranquility, to live with contentment, to escape from afflictive emotions, and to seek full liberation. A bodhisattva renunciate must remain in the wilderness without fear, just as grass, bushes, and trees remain without fear. Knowing that there is no real self or person, one must not have fear, and one must also have no attachment to the surroundings and remain without any afflictive emotions.
Having gained firm grounding and mastery in virtuous actions, a bodhisattva must teach Dharma in palaces, villages, towns, and cities. The Questions of Ugraḥ Sūtra also teaches how a bodhisattva must behave if he goes out to receive or give teachings in the midst of other people. It also broaches how a bodhisattva should act without fear in the case of encountering a snake, a ferocious wild beast, a nonhuman spirit, or a celestial deity. A bodhisattva must reflect on how the grass, stumps, bushes, and trees come and go without any creator or external effort but depending on the convergence of the right causes and conditions and how they lack arising and ceasing in the ultimate sense. A bodhisattva must be aware that one is without any human company to remind them of dos and don'ts having come to live alone in solitude but that one is constantly seen and one's thoughts noticed by gods, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, and the buddhas. Thus, to give in to negative thoughts such as desire, malice, etc., one would be no different from people pursuing distractions in busy settlements. One would be letting down the buddhas and nonhuman spirits, who support virtue. Thus, it is important, the sūtra says, to cultivate the thought to conduct oneself appropriately in order to avoid harm and criticism and please the buddhas.
Additional resources
Here we need to think about what would be particularly useful to the student/reader at this point. Link to key terms found in chapter one? Any thoughts?
The Way of the Bodhisattva
The Compendium of Training
