The Process of Enlightenment

The process of attaining enlightenment through learning Buddhism is extremely difficult if you say it is difficult, and easy if you say it is easy. It is difficult because reversing and changing the manas's ingrained cognition, so that He accepts a truth or reality, is by no means easy. It is easy because the steps involved are not complicated, involving only the cognitive issues of the mind consciousness and the manas. First, through study, the mind consciousness comes to know that there is a tathāgatagarbha permanently abiding within the five-aggregate body, giving birth to all dharmas; through repeated cultivation and permeation, the manas also comes to know that there is a tathāgatagarbha which is the true self, the true master. But the manas will certainly doubt this matter, believing that He Himself is the true master, that everything is decided by Him and under His control.

In order to remove the manas's doubt, one must first let the manas realize that the five aggregates and eighteen realms are not the self, including the manas Himself, who is also subject to arising, ceasing, and change, and is not real. In this way, the manas will establish a reliance and acknowledge that there is a tathāgatagarbha to depend upon. The next step is for the mind consciousness and the manas to investigate Chan together, investigating the tathāgatagarbha. If the mind consciousness investigates on its own, that is called reasoning and speculation, called emotional thinking and intellectual interpretation; the conclusion reached is called understanding or intellectual awakening, obtaining a kind of dry wisdom not moistened by the water of meditative concentration, in which realization and practice cannot correspond, and liberation is impossible. To make the manas investigate together with the mind consciousness, there must be meditative concentration, using the questioning doubt and the huatou to tether the manas, cutting off the manas's random grasping and deliberation, so that He constantly attends to the questioning doubt and the huatou from morning to night. One day, one will surely see the mind and see one's nature.

The method of awakening to the Way is to start from the mind consciousness and penetrate deep into the manas, delivering what the mind consciousness has deliberated upon to the manas so that the manas understands it. When the mind consciousness, acting as this messenger, needs to transmit information, it must employ skillful means, be meticulous and wise, deliberate thoroughly and rigorously, fully attract the manas's attention, mobilize the manas's initiative, and leave the manas no way of retreat, so that He has no choice but to deliberate, examine, and approve seriously. After the mind consciousness has organized the collected information and handed it over to the manas, it is best to then wait quietly, standing by at all times to await the manas's instructions, not stirring up trouble or adding confusion for the manas. This requires quite good meditative concentration, allowing the manas to deliberate and investigate in concentration without interference—this is the most efficient way of investigating.