What Is the Direct Perception of Self-Mind?

The Buddha said that all dharmas are the manifestation of the self-mind. The self-mind is the true mind, the mind that never perishes. "Manifestation" refers to things that exist in reality, that can be presented in the present—not fictional or imagined, nor derived through comparison. What is derived through comparison is called inferential cognition, while what is imagined is called non-valid cognition. All dharmas arise from causes and conditions; thus, they are conditioned dharmas. All phenomena within conditioned dharmas manifest upon the self-mind. That is to say, all dharmas are manifested by the self-mind and transformed by the self-mind. Apart from the mind, there are no dharmas whatsoever; apart from the mind, there are no conditioned dharmas either.

Since conditioned dharmas are the manifestation of the self-mind and arise from the self-mind, they are not true dharmas. Dharmas that are produced can perish; what has birth must have death, while what is unborn is imperishable. All dharmas arising from causes and conditions are subject to birth and death—they arise when causes and conditions are complete and cease when causes and conditions disperse. Therefore, they are illusory dharmas, not real dharmas. Thus, the World-Honored One instructs us to relinquish attachment to these dharmas arising from causes and conditions. Clinging to these false dharmas is birth and death in the cycle of rebirth; it is suffering. The true dharma is something the World-Honored One never asks us to abandon, because it is fundamentally inseparable. However, we should not cling to it either, for clinging to anything is incorrect. The intrinsic nature of the self-mind has always been free from attachment; it has never clung to anything. The World-Honored One teaches us to align with the self-mind, and thus be free from the afflictions of birth and death.