The Importance of Personal Realization

Before many people attain enlightenment, they form all kinds of imaginings about true suchness and Buddha-nature. Yet after awakening and personally realizing it, they discover that true suchness and Buddha-nature are actually like this—everything before had been misunderstood. What is heard and learned from elsewhere, plus the mind consciousness's deliberation and processing, differs from reality by no small margin. How many people since beginningless kalpas have imagined it correctly? I believe not even a single one could exist. Therefore, what the manas personally verifies is the most reliable. To verify it personally, one must deliberate and weigh it oneself; one cannot simply accept the results of the mind consciousness's deliberation and take them as one's own conclusion of direct perception. This point is extremely important for studying Buddhism and cultivating practice.