Learning Buddhism is for awakening to and illuminating one's own mind in order to subdue afflictions

Many people have studied Buddhism for over a decade, or even twenty or thirty years, yet still do not know what studying Buddhism is for. They have learned a great deal of Buddhist principles, yet still do not know how to use them to illuminate and observe their own mind, to subdue their own mind, and to transform their own mind; instead, they insist on using them to scrutinize others. Consequently, when they encounter troublesome people and affairs, great waves arise in their minds that remain uncalm for a long time, conflicts and disputes never cease, and they deviate from the purpose and direction of studying and practicing Buddhism. The principles they have learned remain merely principles, and the matters they encounter remain merely matters; principle and matter cannot be combined, nor can they be harmonized, and they cannot obtain the merit and benefit of their own mind. If a Buddhist practitioner's view of matters becomes severely divorced from principle, so that matters become things existing independently, then the principles they have learned also lose their meaning.

So how should one face the disputes and afflictions of people and affairs in the Saha world? Those who have studied the Mahāyāna dharma all know that all dharmas are conjured forth by the tathāgatagarbha; there are no people, affairs, objects, or principles that actually exist—all are generated by the tathāgatagarbha, this magical illusionist, which outputs the seven great seeds in accordance with conditions. It is like a painter splashing ink to produce painting after painting: we should not take the paintings as real things, nor take the figures and landscapes within the paintings as real and thereby crave or loathe them. All these paintings are merely sprayed and rendered with colored ink, nothing but piles of pigment. How could a wise person grasp at and discriminate among piles of pigment, giving rise to mental activity and thoughts? Likewise, a truly wise person should not, when facing the people, affairs, objects, principles, mountains, rivers, and the great earth piled up by the tathāgatagarbha using the seven great seeds, give rise to grasping thoughts.

By engaging in this contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) frequently and constantly illuminating and observing, one will not let one's own mind become mired in disputes over people and affairs and be unable to extricate oneself, thereby failing to obtain the true benefit of studying and practicing Buddhism, and laboring in vain at the accumulation of various theoretical Buddhist knowledge—a painted cake cannot satisfy hunger.