The Enlightenment That Does Not Distinguish True from False Is Guesswork and Speculation

The manas governs and encompasses the six consciousnesses as they operate together upon form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas; one could say this is the combined operation of the eight consciousnesses, in which both the true mind and the deluded mind are present—lacking even one, not a single dharma could arise or function. Therefore, some people say they have become enlightened with respect to a certain dharma, yet in the operation of that dharma both the true consciousness and the deluded consciousness are present; so is what they realized the true mind, the deluded mind, or the combined entity of true and deluded? If this extremely crucial point is not understood clearly, then there is fundamentally no difference between the enlightenment they speak of and non-enlightenment.

Some people will say, "I know that the tathāgatagarbha exists in this dharma, so I am enlightened." But the seven consciousnesses also exist in this dharma; if there were only the tathāgatagarbha without the seven consciousnesses, no dharma could exist at all—how could it continue to function? To forcibly attribute the functions and roles of the seven consciousnesses to the tathāgatagarbha—what is realized is nothing more than the combined entity of the eight consciousnesses. What kind of enlightenment is that supposed to be?