The Importance of Understanding the Difference Between the Manas and the Mind Consciousness in the Dharma-Ending Age

Nowadays people do not cultivate meditative concentration (samādhi), and cannot cultivate it well; they only play with words, read a couple of books, and once the mind consciousness has understood a little, they believe they have awakened—not even qualifying as intellectual understanding/interpretive awakening—and yet claim to have attained realization. Therefore, it is necessary to let sentient beings in the Dharma-ending age understand the difference between the manas and the mind consciousness, and to let everyone know what counts as intellectual understanding/interpretive awakening and what counts as realization, so as to prevent sentient beings from committing the great lie of false claims of attainment.

The chaos of the Dharma-ending age is very severe; sentient beings are deeply bound by emotional attachment. They often say with their mouths to rely on the Dharma and not on the person, but in reality they do the opposite. If sentient beings could all cultivate in accordance with reason and the Dharma, truly relying on the Dharma and not on the person, shouting fewer slogans and doing more actual work, striving to do things thoroughly, truly relying on what the Buddha has taught, then the Buddha would feel somewhat at ease. Not going against the Buddha, and practicing in accordance with his teachings, is tantamount to repaying the Buddha's kindness.

Subdue emotional attachment a little, and you will see the truth of reality a little more clearly. Take the Path as your priority, not emotional attachment. Emotional attachment cannot save anyone; each person undergoes their own karma, and no one can substitute for another. If your mind can be broader and your energy more abundant, you should take Buddhism as your priority and take the birth and death of sentient beings as your priority. Moreover, first you must understand the Buddha's kindness and find ways to repay it; do not speak or act in ways that make the Buddha sad and sorrowful. Know that the tathāgatagarbha is storing seeds moment after moment; in every instant of our speaking and acting, of our bodily, verbal, and mental actions, there is the tathāgatagarbha supervising and recording. Therefore we must hold the tathāgatagarbha in awe and revere cause and effect—not merely shouting it with our mouths while in reality acting otherwise.