Meanwhile, Li Qi's heart began to spawn endless distracting thoughts.
Wrong views arose in the mind; regarding the truths of all things, they made inverted deductions and calculations. Defiled wisdom was their nature; they could obstruct wholesome views and brought suffering as their karma.
Li Qi's wisdom, thoughts, the fury and indignation in his heart—all of it filled his mind.
Joy was the heart's delight; anger was the heart's affliction.
Sorrow was the heart's piercing pain; fear was the heart's panic.
Love was the heart's craving; hatred was the heart's loathing; desire was the heart's longing.
What was the heart?
The heart was neither the physical heart nor the brain, but a person's thoughts—the element behind all psychological activity. What arose from the heart was the stirring of thoughts, intent, simply called mind; where the heart went was where thoughts gathered, and gathered thoughts became aspiration. Thoughts sprang up and vanished abruptly, like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows.
When the heart sensed something, one's nature stirred. It arose through encountering distinct circumstances, not like universal mental factors that existed at all times, but only came into being upon encountering a particular state.
Nature was free of faults and defilements, and benefited both oneself and others alike. Thus, all treatises said that Bodhisattvas regarded others as themselves; benefiting others was still benefiting oneself, and so it was called goodness. Afflictions gave rise to six kinds, from greed to wrong views.
These natures were the root afflictions. They could produce subsidiary delusions, and thus were called roots. Affliction meant disturbance; vexation meant disorder. They disturbed sentient beings and kept them forever in birth and death. Sentient beings was another name for humans and all living creatures; because they possessed consciousness, they were called sentient beings. Possessing greed and the like, their bodies