What Is Mental Supplementation?

What is imagined through rich imagination, rather than conclusions derived from practice, is called mental fabrication. Mental fabrication is essentially a misunderstanding, having no basis in reality. Just as the attainment of fruition and enlightenment claimed by many are products of mental fabrication, not cultivated through practice; they are the results of an overactive imagination.

Only when consciousness is rendered half-paralyzed does genuine spiritual practice truly begin to take shape and show some sign of progress. Clever consciousness is precisely the hindrance on the path; the Way manifests only when the mind is less clever. Cultivating the Way is the work of "fools"; the clever do not cultivate the Way but merely think about it. The Way conceived through thought is but an illusion, a bubble, a shadow—utterly useless. Thinking about the Way is easy, but cultivating it is hard. Therefore, most people take shortcuts, relying solely on the method of thinking rather than the method of practice.