Only by Practicing the Buddha Dharma in Stages Can One's Merits Not Be in Vain

In studying the Dharma and cultivating practice, regardless of what level of Dharma one studies, those who have not eradicated the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) should contemplate and engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) that all these dharmas are impermanent, subject to change, arising and ceasing, that they are all born and manifested by the tathāgatagarbha, that none of them is the self, and none of them belongs to the self. Those who have not seen the mind and realized their nature should contemplate and engage in contemplative practice that all these dharmas are born and sustained by the tathāgatagarbha, that they are all brought into operation by the tathāgatagarbha, and should consider how to seek out the traces of the tathāgatagarbha and realize that all dharmas are born and operate through the tathāgatagarbha. Bodhisattvas who have seen the mind and attained enlightenment after realization should contemplate and engage in contemplative practice on how the tathāgatagarbha gives birth to all these dharmas, how it makes all these dharmas operate, how it cooperates intimately with the five aggregates (pañca-skandha), and how it works in harmony with the seven consciousnesses, so that their wisdom becomes ever deeper and broader.

In this way, no matter what level of Buddhist teaching we come into contact with, it can provoke our own deep reflection and we can derive benefit from it; our study of the Dharma will not be in vain, various contemplative wisdoms can all arise and grow, and only later can we gradually achieve the perfect integration of principle and phenomena. Principle usually refers to the mind-substance of the tathāgatagarbha, and since the tathāgatagarbha is ignorant of the realms of the six sense objects, it is not a mind-substance that can know the six sense objects, and thus does not know phenomena. And phenomena themselves are without root; the source of phenomena is the principle-substance of the tathāgatagarbha, so the root of phenomena is precisely the principle-substance of the tathāgatagarbha.

After seeing the mind, when one sees the Buddha-nature and attains the contemplation of illusoriness, the body, mind, and world feel illusory and transformed, unreal. Observing that all dharmas are conjured forth by the tathāgatagarbha, one feels that the body, mind, and world are not real—this is an actual feeling, not something imagined—and therefore one's mental activities change, and one's view of self and world changes. The change with respect to one's own body and mind is that the manas recognizes the truth that the Buddha-nature is real and that one's own five aggregates are illusory and unreal; consequently it relaxes its control over the physical body, the body and mind loosen, and there arise sublime states such as tranquility (praśama) and joy. In this contemplative practice, because the mind consciousness directly perceives the Buddha-nature and directly feels its sublimity and wonder, the manas knows and acknowledges that the Buddha-nature is real and can manifest the realms of the six sense objects, and that one's own five aggregates are conjured forth; thereupon it no longer binds the five-aggregate body, the physical body thereby attains a certain liberation, and a whole series of transformations and changes such as tranquility and ease appear. The manas's acknowledgment is direct realization; at this time the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion are all slight, but they have not been eradicated—this corresponds to the attenuated greed, hatred, and delusion of the second fruit of the Small Vehicle. Those who study the Great Vehicle, without having seen the Buddha-nature and without having attained the contemplation of illusoriness, cannot attenuate greed, hatred, and delusion, and are not persons of the second fruit (sakṛdāgāmin); if they feel that their greed, hatred, and delusion are slight, that is merely a feeling, not the direct realization of the second fruit.

After the first dhyāna, one contemplates and practices upon one's own and others' seven consciousnesses as being like a mirage—just like the illusory river formed by heat rising from a beach under the intense shining of the sun, unreal. This is an actual contemplative practice personally experienced, not something imagined. After attaining the mirage contemplation, one can directly observe that each person's consciousnesses are extremely false, and thus one removes a portion of the attachment and greedy affection toward self and others; the consciousnesses' feelings are extraordinary, because the manas has been touched. Without meditative concentration, this contemplative practice cannot possibly be brought forth in actual present practice, and one cannot personally realize it.

After passing the three barriers of the Chan school, one can personally contemplate and practice that all the people, affairs, and principles of the world are just like in a dream, all so unreal, and one can also contemplate and practice that one's experiences in past lives were all like things in a dream. One can come to know something of the affairs of previous lives, knowing something of one's identities in past lives, the things one did, the people one encountered, and so on. This too is a realm of personal realization, not something imagined, not something merely understood. All principles and dharmas that are merely understood are pale and powerless, lacking the liberating merit and benefit of realization. If one wishes not merely to understand and imagine, one must contemplate and practice and realize within meditative concentration; apart from this there is no other path.