Why There Is a Misunderstanding of Failure to Distinguish Truth from Falsehood

The human mind consists of concepts and views formed by the conscious mind through various mental activities such as discrimination, analysis, judgment, thought, reasoning, and comparison. The nature of the conscious mind varies from coarse to subtle. When subtle, it is difficult for us to detect its operation, as it functions moment by moment, continuously perceiving and cognizing. Only when consciousness ceases does it become inactive and lose its discriminative function. At all other times, as long as consciousness exists, it discriminates against dharmas (mental objects), yet we ourselves cannot introspectively observe this process. Why is it impossible to introspect? Because wisdom is insufficient and meditative stability is lacking.

When unable to introspectively observe the conscious mind discriminating against dharmas, some claim to have attained a state of no-mind or assert they are free of thoughts. Others declare they have realized the True Mind, which is free from delusional thoughts and mental activity. However, this constitutes a profound misunderstanding. It clearly demonstrates a failure to distinguish between the true and the deluded, indicating a fundamental misunderstanding of the Heart Sutra. The Heart Sutra teaches that the True Mind neither arises nor ceases, yet these individuals mistake the conscious mind—which has transformed from having delusional thoughts to being free of them—for the True Mind. Such a so-called True Mind is actually a phenomenon of arising and ceasing: the True Mind does not exist when delusional thoughts are present, yet seems to appear when thoughts subside. This is completely different from the True Mind described by the Buddha.