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Are limbless and devoid of faculties. (4.28ab)<ref>Fletcher and Blankleder, ''Way of the Bodhisattva'', 57.</ref> | Are limbless and devoid of faculties. (4.28ab)<ref>Fletcher and Blankleder, ''Way of the Bodhisattva'', 57.</ref> | ||
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Aversion and craving, together with ignorance, are indeed the parents of samsaric existence. All the afflictions, including both the root afflictions [LINK to glossary]<ref>(attachment, anger, pride, ignorance, doubt, and wrong view.)</ref>and the secondary afflictions [LINK to glossary]<ref>(belligerence; grudge-holding; concealment; spite; jealousy; miserliness; dishonesty; deceit; haughtiness; harmful intent; lack of sense of shame; lack of fear of blame; dullness; mental agitation; lack of faith; laziness; carelessness; forgetfulness; distraction; lack of vigilance.)</ref>are our own inner enemies. | |||
Śāntideva is careful to point out that these afflictions are not like ordinary physical enemies. He calls them "cowardly," "lazy," and "stupid" enemies. He asks himself, "How have I allowed these afflictions to reduce me to a state of abject slavery? Why do I still honor them?" | |||
The afflictions are not even clever about the way they deceive us, and yet how is it that they have managed to bring everyone—the high or low, strong or weak—under their spell? Attachment is seductive and appears as if a close friend whispering to us, "What you have right now is not sufficient. You need more." Driven by these thoughts, we do not rest, day and night, in the pursuit of fame and fortune. Anger also seems to come to us as a friend, often in the guise of helping protect us. But slaves to our aversion, we are thrown into committing actions which could even cost us our lives. | |||
As Śāntideva states in verse 29, the afflictions have made our own minds their residence, and as long as we allow them to remain there, often entertaining them like guests, they will harm us at their will. | |||
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With regard to this, Thrangu Rinpoche (1933–2023), the renowned scholar and teacher of the Kagyu school, in this section of his commentary to the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra'', [LINK to text] instructs us to ask ourselves the following questions: | |||
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|quote-text="Why do these disturbing emotions cause so much damage and harm, yet I am so patient with them? Why be patient with something so harmful? If I can't develop patience for a worldly human enemy, how would I have the capability of handling just a small fault? A human being provoking you can't cause your rebirth in hell. But your emotions can have the power to carry you to the extreme suffering of hell. So, don't be patient and forebear these neurotic emotions - fight them."<ref>Thrangu Rinpoche, ''A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life of Shantideva: A Commentary by the Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche'', trans. Ken and Katia Holmes and Thomas Doctor (Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 2016), 59.</ref> | |||
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