Arhats and Pratyekabuddhas Realize Through Direct Perception, Not Through Inference

The Agama Sutras describe the pratyekabuddha's contemplation of the twelve links of dependent origination in both forward and reverse sequences. Although the language describing the pratyekabuddha's investigation is concise and the presented cultivation process appears simple, the actual practice undertaken by pratyekabuddhas is far from easy, involving arduous and winding intermediate stages. During genuine contemplative practice and investigation, it occurs within profound meditative absorption (dhyāna). While the conscious mind (mano-vijñāna) engages in contemplation, the mental faculty (manas) simultaneously investigates. Consequently, the outcome is invariably one of direct realization (pratyakṣa). Without meditative absorption, only the conscious mind's contemplation is present; lacking the simultaneous investigation by the mental faculty, realization is impossible. Intellectual understanding may occur, but such understanding is ultimately useless.

The Buddha could not disclose the detailed practical process of the pratyekabuddha's cultivation. The purpose was to encourage future practitioners to exert diligent effort and attain realization themselves. Elaborating too much risks leading people to mere intellectual comprehension, preventing their practice from reaching its proper depth. Therefore, it was necessary to speak only in that simplified manner. Within those brief contemplations and dialogues, one must never think that the pratyekabuddha arrived at a result solely through conscious reasoning and logical thought. To say so would be equivalent to slandering the pratyekabuddha. The pratyekabuddha's meditative absorption is exceedingly profound; the function of the conscious mind absolutely cannot dominate, nor can it overpower the mental faculty. The investigation and contemplation of the mental faculty must be paramount. Individuals with deeper meditative absorption rely more on the mental faculty; conversely, those with shallower absorption rely more on the conscious mind, depending mainly on its imagination, reasoning, and speculation, rendering the mental faculty largely inoperative.

Similarly, Arhats all possess deep meditative absorption. When observing the five aggregates (skandhas) of the past and future, they do not rely on conscious reasoning, nor on inference (anumāna) or erroneous cognition (viparyaya). Their observation is solely direct perception (pratyakṣa), with the mental faculty participating. This is because those physical forms (rūpa-kāya) are identical to the present five-aggregate body, belonging to the same category. By realizing the present, one knows the past and future. Just as when inspecting a batch of identical products, sampling one reveals the state of the entire batch—provided no one has mixed in different products. Under the guarantee of perfect identicalness, examining one or a few samples allows understanding of the whole. Therefore, the realization of Arhats is direct perception: things are known as they truly are. There is no mode of thought based on imagination, nor a comparative mode of thought. Individuals lacking meditative absorption inevitably fall into the conscious mind's functions of inferential reasoning and erroneous cognition.