Vajra Sutra: 11 Kinds of Good Roots

“World Honored One, at present, I, Subhūti, hear the Vajra Prajña Pāramita Sūtra and with pure faith I understand the wonderful dharma of prajña, can receive it with my mind, hold it with my body, and not forget it. I do so without difficulty.” Why was it so easy for Subhūti? Because he had planted good roots for many kalpas. If he had lacked good roots, then upon hearing the wonderful dharma of prajña his faith would have been defiled by doubts and skepticism. However, in the past he had made offerings to limitless Buddhas and had planted all good roots of which there are eleven kinds:

  1. Faith;
  2. Shame;
  3. Remorse. You would do well to produce a mind of shame and remorse, recognizing your own wrongdoings and changing the bad to good. In that way you plant good roots. Lack of shame and remorse indicates a lack of good roots;
  4. Absence of greed;
  5. Absence of hostility;
  6. Absence of stupidity;
  7. Vigor;
  8. Tranquility, which refers to the light ease of sitting in Dhyana;
  9. Non-laxity, which means not being careless or lazy, not running wild and being too casual. It also means not disobeying rules. If you are not lax then you follow rules;
  10. Non-harming, which means not hurting other creatures; and
  11. Renunciation, which means practicing giving without attachment to the mark of giving.

These are the eleven good phenomena of the fifty-one that belong to the mind.

The Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra, p110-111