Why Do We Still Follow Illusory Phenomena Despite Knowing Their Unreality?

The dharmas that serve as objects for consciousness include dharmas in the realm of mere images and dharmas arising simultaneously with the five sense objects. The recollections, delusions, and fantasies of isolated consciousness all take the realm of mere images as their objects, where it is relatively easy to observe and recognize them as illusory shadows. However, when the eye perceives form, it becomes more difficult for consciousness to discern the dharmas it observes as mere shadows.

Consciousness perceives everything as illusory and unreal, so why does it still follow circumstances and become swayed by them when encountering sensory experiences? The reason is that during the initial stages of contemplative practice, the depth and breadth of contemplation are insufficient, its scope relatively narrow, and the various dharmas cannot be coherently interconnected. Consequently, consciousness cannot effectively influence and guide the manas. Since the contemplative practice of consciousness has not yet gained the recognition of the manas, nor penetrated deeply into the mind of the manas, the underlying beliefs of the manas remain unchanged. Therefore, when encountering circumstances that require decision-making, the manas still treats these circumstances as real, taking charge and compelling consciousness to regard them as genuine.