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The Net of Love 2
The tree of practice needs three great roots deeply anchored in the soil of practice in order to remain balanced amidst all the storms of life.
The first root is faith—faith in the Three Jewels: faith in the capacity for understanding, love, and happiness (Buddha nature) within each person, based on right view—seeing clearly through contemplation, directly realizing in daily life (for example, mindful breathing, sitting meditation, the Five Precepts, the Ten Precepts), not based on superstition or mere theory.
The second root is aspiration—a deep aspiration, a profound ideal (bodhicitta), the energy that nourishes the soul and helps to transform suffering; the third root is practice—actions arising from faith and aspiration, expressed through cooking rice, sweeping the house, walking meditation… not as a compulsory duty but as an expression of love and the ideal of practice.
Sensual desire is the condition for all sorrow, a continuous stream flowing in accordance with our deep-seated habit energies and pride.
If we do not cut off sensual desire at its root, even if we trim it at the surface, the mind will sprout new shoots—sorrow will not end. If we want the mind to be at peace, we must:
- recognize the stream of habit energy (the seeds of our ancestors, carried through many lifetimes) and the pride attached to the self
- practice mindfulness to clearly see the operation of sensual desire in every contact, feeling, perception, and thought
- apply the seventh gatha: do not move in the direction of sensual desire but must uproot desire at its very root