The Difference between Understanding through Comprehension and Understanding through Realization

The difference between intellectual understanding and realization is very great. Realization means genuinely attaining it, being able to personally observe one's own true mind of suchness in present awareness; what is observed is fact, a valid direct perception. Intellectual understanding is merely comprehending the principle, feeling that the tathāgatagarbha is just like that, without having personally attained it. Therefore one cannot observe suchness in present awareness. If one cannot engage in genuine contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) as it truly is, then there is no way to truly accomplish the transformation of the basis upon the principle of suchness.

To better understand where the difference between the two lies, let us use an analogy. Intellectual understanding is like studying theories and knowledge about apples. One may study the theory quite well, even quite exhaustively, including the apple's place of origin, variety, transportation, storage, appearance, color and luster, and so on. But after all, one has never personally eaten one, so one does not know what an apple actually tastes like, how sweet and delicious it is, and thus one's body and mind have received no real benefit. Realization is having personally eaten the apple, genuinely knowing its sweet taste; one's experience of the apple is real and true, and one's body and mind have already received its benefit.

However, it is possible that the person who has eaten the apple cannot yet express its taste very well, let alone know information such as the apple's place of origin. The person with intellectual understanding may know all the theories about apples, but has never tasted a single bite; all his theories are merely theories, and he has gained no real benefit for his own body and mind. It is like the dullest disciple of the World-Honored One, Śākyamuni: after attaining the fourth fruit of arhatship, he could not expound the teachings of the liberation path, yet he had already attained genuine liberation, could truly end birth and death, escape the cycle of saṃsāra, and in the future would not have the slightest experience of suffering. But the ordinary beings of today have flourishing theories; not only can they talk glibly and produce piles of writings, their speech sounds just like a sage's. Yet within their minds there is not the slightest shadow of liberation. They speak like sages, but when they act they are utter ordinary beings. Their inner greed, hatred, and delusion have not been subdued in the least; their pride blazes fiercely, and others simply dare not provoke them.

Understanding and direct observation are two different levels, and the distance between them may be enormous. It is like many people who know clearly the apple's concept, its content, place of origin, and variety, and can even write papers about apples, but have never eaten one, and so do not know its concrete, real taste. Meanwhile, someone else has already eaten the apple, though much information about apples is still unknown to him for the time being; yet he can personally enjoy the apple and has genuinely tasted its sweet deliciousness. The difference between intellectual understanding and realization is just like this.

During the Buddha's time, Cūḍapanthaka was an arhat of the fourth fruit, yet he could not expound the teachings of the liberation path; whereas the ordinary beings of today have countless papers and books, yet do not even have the shadow of the first fruit. Nowadays there are very many people studying Buddhist theory who can expound one grand theory after another, but after all they have not attained realization; they merely circle outside the gate, like scratching an itch through a boot, just like the person who studies apples. Only the person who has eaten the apple can accurately describe its taste. Liberation is a realm of actual realization, not something that understanding can resolve. Only one who has realized it can receive genuine benefit, whether or not he can articulate it. Liberation is not on the lips but within the mind.

The difference between understanding and what is directly observed is enormous, though others cannot see it. The one who merely understands may express things very well, and others will think his wisdom is very deep—but it is not. One who has realized and awakened to the true mind perceives the tathāgatagarbha and speaks entirely on the basis of direct observation, whereas intellectual understanding contains an element of imagination. Intellectual understanding may be even worse; it would be better not to awaken at all for the time being, and instead wait until conditions ripen to attain realization. The path after intellectual understanding is hard to walk, extremely difficult—it is like picking unripe fruit; having picked unripe fruit and taken it home to ripen artificially, it still does not taste as good as fruit that ripened naturally.