The Unreliability of Ordinary People's Direct Perception

From the ultimate perspective, all dharmas are directly perceived (pratyakṣa) for the Buddha, but are non-valid cognitions (a-pramāṇa) for ordinary beings, because the Buddha comprehends them completely and as they truly are, while sentient beings perceive them erroneously. The six consciousnesses of sentient beings have, since beginningless kalpas, continually deceived their mental faculty (manas), whether intentionally or unintentionally, transmitting only non-valid perceptual realms to it. Consequently, the defilements of the mental faculty become increasingly severe, and ignorance (avidyā) grows progressively profound. If the mental consciousness (mano-vijñāna), through contact with the valid scriptural authority (āgama-pramāṇa) of the sages, engages in proper mental application (yoniso manasikāra) and correct contemplation, it can enable the six consciousnesses and the mental faculty to attain a direct perceptual realm that accords with principle and the Dharma. Thereby, they can know the true reality of all dharmas. Ordinary beings, observing all dharmas through direct perception, deem them to be real; yet, in truth, the results are entirely illusory. Ordinary beings have never reached a single correct conclusion—the conclusions they draw are invariably mistaken. The direct perception of ordinary beings is unreliable because it lacks the true wisdom (prajñā) of the Buddha Dharma. Relying on this so-called direct perception, they consequently suffer the misery of birth, death, and transmigration (saṃsāra) life after life due to these erroneous conclusions.