Only by Removing the Ignorance and Defilements of the Seventh Consciousness Can It Possess the Nature of Great Wisdom

Some people say that when consciousness does not discriminate, that is purity. This statement is clearly incorrect. Purity means that when the conscious mind discriminates all dharmas and engages in bodily, verbal, and mental actions, it is pure and undefiled; when the conscious mind discriminates, it carries no afflictions of greed, anger, or delusion, and carries no ignorance—only such a mind is pure. If the conscious mind did not discriminate at all, people could not survive and live normally. When there is ignorance, the conscious mind cannot be pure; it will discriminate in an inverted way, or discriminate unclearly, lacking the nature of wisdom, and thus cannot correctly understand dharmas. Many dharmas will not be easy to observe; one cannot see anything clearly, and cannot think anything through clearly.

If the mind of the seven consciousnesses wishes to possess discriminations endowed with great wisdom, it must remove defilement and remove ignorance. When ignorance is completely eradicated, discrimination endowed with wisdom reaches perfection, and one can perfectly understand all dharmas. If the mind of the seven consciousnesses has no ignorance, it is no longer inverted and can perfectly and clearly understand all dharmas. A mind that perfectly understands all dharmas is a mind with wisdom, and a mind with wisdom is untainted. Having neither the afflictions of greed, anger, and delusion nor ignorance is called being untainted; having afflictions and ignorance is being tainted. The less ignorance the conscious mind has, the more it can recognize the true and actual reality when discriminating all dharmas, and the clearer and more thorough its discriminations become. When there is ignorance and taint, the conscious mind's discriminations are not perfect or thorough, and there are obstructions. The more obstructions there are, the narrower the mind's capacity becomes, the narrower the scope of cognition, the shallower the degree of cognition, and the more insufficient the nature of wisdom. When the conscious mind is cultivated to the point of being untainted, wisdom becomes very vast—even vast to the point of being immeasurable and boundless. One can observe truths that could not be observed before, can observe all human affairs, things, and principles thoroughly and completely, clearly and lucidly, penetrating into the most ultimate reality and truth.