The Realization of All Dharmas Is the Result of Direct Insight

The realization of all dharmas should be the result of direct observation, not conclusions derived from imagination and analysis. What is direct observation? It is the immediate observation and practice, the present-moment experiential observation, where in the very instant when the six faculties contact their objects, one directly observes and experiences the arising, functioning, and changing birth and cessation of various dharmas. Whether consciousness is observing through direct perception, or whether the conclusions reached through thinking are factual, the mental faculty must continuously make judgments. However, judgments are sometimes correct and sometimes erroneous, because the mental faculty also has its own habits and tendencies, and when coupled with insufficient wisdom, it easily makes mistakes. The mental faculty generally acknowledges the direct perception observation of consciousness and thorough analytical thinking; only when there is sound reasoning and evidence can it inspire the wisdom of the mental faculty, allowing the mental faculty to confirm the results of its contemplative practice. It tends not to acknowledge the non-valid inference and speculation of consciousness. The direct perception observation of consciousness constitutes evidence; only when the evidence is conclusive will the mental faculty decisively endorse it.

Why is it that we often fail to convince ourselves? This is because consciousness lacks direct observation, lacks evidence, or the evidence is insufficient. Consequently, the mental faculty fails to recognize the reasonableness and correctness of the analysis and thinking done by consciousness, cannot be persuaded by consciousness, and cannot make decisions based on the results of consciousness’s analysis. Thus, consciousness must continuously re-analyze, reason, and deduce until the evidence is conclusive and the mental faculty acknowledges it.

Of course, this includes instances where consciousness engages in evil or erroneous direct observation—which is actually non-valid inference—but it can still be accepted by the mental faculty because it aligns with the mental faculty’s ignorance and afflictions. The mental faculty is then willing to agree. This describes someone without cultivation. When consciousness provides erroneous guidance to the mental faculty, the mental faculty is kept in the dark, unaware of the truth, and mistakenly takes non-valid inference for direct perception, treating imagination as fact, when reality is otherwise. Yet, the mental faculty sometimes goes along with it, feeling compelled to agree.