The Importance of Personal Verification and Direct Realization

Before many people attain enlightenment, they form all kinds of imaginings about true suchness and Buddha-nature. Yet after awakening and personally realizing it, they discover that true suchness and Buddha-nature are actually like this—they had misunderstood all along. What is heard and learned from elsewhere, combined with the mind consciousness's own deliberation and processing, differs from reality by no small measure. As for those whose imaginings were correct, how many have there been since beginningless kalpas? I believe not even a single one. Therefore, what is most reliable is still for the manas to verify it personally. To verify it personally, one must deliberate and weigh it oneself; one cannot simply accept the conclusions of the mind consciousness's thinking and take them as one's own conclusions of direct perception. This point is extremely important for studying Buddhism, cultivating practice, and awakening to the true mind and realizing enlightenment.