Is the Knowledge of Past and Future through Dharma-sthiti-jñāna Considered Pratyakṣa-pramāṇa, Anumāna-pramāṇa, or Apramāṇa?

With the wisdom of abiding in the dharmas, one can attain liberation. Therefore, the wisdom of abiding in the dharmas is the direct perception that realizes the twelve links of dependent origination. Even if it can know the past and the future, it is still direct perception, not inferential cognition. Wisdom gained through inference is shallow; wisdom that relies on a particular dharma to be known is unreliable and incomplete. Once the dharma it depends upon does not manifest, the inferential knowledge vanishes. Within inferential cognition, there is no process of the manas (the seventh consciousness) personally investigating; thus, the manas cannot directly realize it, nor can the mental consciousness (mano-vijñāna) know it independently. Some parts of reasoning belong to inference, while others belong to non-valid cognition. Even if the reasoning is correct, it is not direct perception because the manas does not know it. The knowing of the manas is immediate: it either knows or it doesn’t, with a very swift demarcation presenting itself instantly, without the mental consciousness’s slow, deliberate thinking and investigation.

Some say that since one cannot see the past and the future, and the dharmas of the past and future cannot be present, knowledge of past and future dharmas should necessarily be inferential. This view is incorrect. What is called "present" does not necessarily mean appearing before one’s eyes. Wisdom is not initiated by the visual consciousness; it is initiated jointly by the mental consciousness and the manas. The mental consciousness and the manas are fully capable of directly realizing and confirming the dharmas of the past and future. Especially the manas, which is fundamentally unimpeded by time and space, can know all dharmas along with the ālaya-vijñāna (storehouse consciousness). The dharmas of past lives can be recalled whenever one wishes to recall them; the dharmas of future lives can be known whenever one wishes to know them. Dream states and meditative states illustrate this point. Therefore, what the manas cannot know cannot be direct perception. When the mental consciousness knows through direct perception, the manas does not necessarily know through direct perception, and the mental consciousness’s knowing can be overlooked or negated according to different conditions.