Samādhi Is the Pratyakṣa Domain of Manas (Part 2)

Journal of White Skeleton Contemplation Practice (Part Two): This morning during seated meditation with eyes closed, I felt a slight itch at my right ankle bone. Suddenly, I saw (with eyes closed) that the itchy area of the ankle bone had festered. Upon visualizing a swipe with my finger, all the flesh throughout my body fell away, leaving only the skeleton. However, blackish-red blood threads and flesh strands still clung to it—not the pure white bones that appear at the final stage of White Skeleton Contemplation. I believe this is merely an intermediate stage of the practice: first the skin falls away, then the flesh, leaving tendons and bones. These stages manifest progressively; one cannot suddenly perceive the white skeleton from nothing. Progress in this practice occurs step by step. This is an intermediate level; further, more advanced states will appear later, after which the white skeleton will manifest. At that point, White Skeleton Contemplation is accomplished, and the fruit of realization is attained.

Commentary: In the initial stages of contemplative practice, the solitary mental consciousness (manovijñāna) can gradually penetrate using non-valid cognition (apramāṇa), or employ non-valid methods for verification. The eye consciousness and mental consciousness do not perceive the white skeleton; it is the solitary mental consciousness imagining the body as a skeleton—this is non-valid cognition. This non-valid cognition perfumes the mental faculty (manas). Although challenging, because the ultimate result is a fact, the mental faculty will eventually perceive this reality. When successfully perfumed, the mental faculty accepts the body as a white skeleton, and the white skeleton realm manifests as direct perception (pratyakṣa)—this is directly perceived by the mental faculty. During the contemplation of the five aggregates (skandhas), there is also a transition from the non-valid cognition of the solitary mental consciousness to the state directly perceived and realized by the mental faculty. For instance, contemplating the material body of past lives or future lives belongs to the non-valid imagination of the mental consciousness. However, once the mental faculty is fully perfumed and accomplishes realization, it witnesses the emptiness of the five aggregates of past and future, recognizes the selflessness of the aggregates, and thus attains the fruit of realization.

Why are all states arising from the mental faculty directly perceived? Because all cognition of the mental faculty is presented by the Tathāgatagarbha (Buddha-nature). Whatever phenomena the Tathāgatagarbha presents, the mental faculty directly apprehends and recognizes them as they are. Therefore, the discernment of the mental faculty is direct perception, without inference (anumāna) or non-valid cognition. At this stage, the solitary mental consciousness also cognizes through direct perception. During mental consciousness contemplation, there may be no direct perception, only inference or non-valid cognition. But once the mental faculty is perfumed, its cognition is invariably one of direct perception.

Observing from the manifested state of White Skeleton Contemplation and from the state of samādhi, one should understand who realizes the Dharma first: certainly, the mental faculty realizes the Dharma first, followed by the solitary mental consciousness directly discerning it. The mental faculty’s realization is instantaneous enlightenment. After sudden enlightenment, wisdom arises, fundamentally different from previous cognitive understanding. At this moment, one might slap their thigh and exclaim, "So this is how it is!" Slapping the thigh or forehead expresses astonishment at understanding previously unknown principles, overturning former cognition. This is called sudden enlightenment—a sudden, immediate comprehension. The realization of all dharmas manifests the state of samādhi. At the moment of sudden enlightenment, the samādhi state is present. It is not gradual understanding achieved through the mental consciousness reasoning step by step; such reasoning never leads to ultimate comprehension, and the mysteries within the Dharma remain obscure. When the mental faculty realizes, it is starkly clear: yes or no, utterly real, without falsehood.

The samādhi state of White Skeleton Contemplation, and indeed all samādhi states, cannot be perceived by the five sense consciousnesses no matter how hard they try, nor by the sense-accompanying mental consciousness (pañcavijñānakāya-manovijñāna). Only the solitary mental consciousness can perceive them. Direct discernment must be a state of direct perception. The white skeleton cannot be seen by the five sense consciousnesses nor by the sense-accompanying mental consciousness; only when the solitary mental consciousness and the mental faculty possess the wisdom of direct perception can it be seen. When the six consciousnesses cannot perceive the white skeleton, White Skeleton Contemplation is non-valid contemplation—an imagining of the skeleton. When the white skeleton truly manifests, the solitary mental consciousness and the mental faculty together directly discern it, demonstrating that all realization is a state of direct perception. If the state is inferred or imagined through inference or non-valid cognition, there is no realization, nor is there a samādhi state. The realization of the fruit (of the path) and the realization of the mind (bodhicitta), the realization that all dharmas are thus—this principle, the relationship between direct realization and inferential reasoning, should be very clear to us. How to proceed diligently thereafter should also be very clear.