The Stages of Practice

The elimination of habitual tendencies extends from attaining the first bhūmi after seeing the mind and seeing one's nature, up until the eighth bhūmi. First one sees the mind and sees one's nature, then eradicates afflictions, and only afterwards can one eradicate the habitual tendencies of afflictions—this is the sequence of cultivation. Afflictions can only be eradicated through the wisdom of seeing the path combined with meditative concentration (samādhi); without wisdom and without meditative concentration, one cannot eradicate afflictions, let alone eradicate the habitual tendencies of afflictions.

If seeing the mind and seeing one's nature is compared to turning on a light, this is merely switching on a small lamp, not yet bright enough. The final seeing of the mind and seeing of one's nature at the time of buddhahood is the most brilliant of all, when every lamp has been turned on. If seeing the mind and seeing one's nature is compared to waking from a dream, then the initial seeing of the mind and seeing of one's nature is not yet a complete awakening from the dream—it is a small awakening. Only upon becoming a Buddha does one fully awaken from the dream, never to dream again from that point onward.