One cannot attain enlightenment when the true and the false cannot be distinguished

Investigating the huatou: "Who is reciting the Buddha's name?" Here, who is being sought through investigation? Is one seeking the tathāgatagarbha, or the manas, or the sixth consciousness? When reciting the Buddha's name, the three consciousnesses—the seventh, eighth, and sixth—all participate, yet there is a distinction between true recitation and false recitation of the Buddha's name. The one who appears to be reciting may not actually be able to recite, while the one that cannot recite may be the true reciter. When one attains a profound state of meditative concentration (samādhi), the sixth consciousness may cease to give rise to thought; without thought arising, there is no recitation of the Buddha's name, and only the seventh and eighth consciousnesses remain in the samādhi of Buddha-recollection. Who is the one that can truly recite the Buddha's name—who is the key to recitation? This is extremely important. What Chan investigation seeks is precisely this mind consciousness. These mind consciousnesses that can recite the Buddha's name must all possess the mental factor of mindfulness (smṛti); otherwise, they could not recite. Without thought arising, how could one recite? At the outset, all three consciousnesses participate in recitation, so all three must possess the mental factor of mindfulness—without it, how could they recite the Buddha's name?

The tathāgatagarbha participates in the operation of every single dharma. Some people, based on this characteristic—or one might say, this theory—infer that the tathāgatagarbha is present in certain dharmas operating within the five aggregates and eighteen realms, and infer how the tathāgatagarbha operates, roughly what function it performs, and thereupon believe they have become enlightened. In reality, the operation of any dharma within the five aggregates and eighteen realms is the result of the harmonious functioning of all eight consciousnesses, not the result of the tathāgatagarbha operating alone. If one claims to have realized the tathāgatagarbha, then in the course of the operation of the five aggregates and eighteen realms, one should be able to locate all eight consciousnesses and distinguish them from one another, clearly pointing out which one is the tathāgatagarbha and how it specifically operates, while also negating the functions and roles of the seven consciousnesses as being real, and realizing that the five aggregates truly are without self. Only this constitutes genuine enlightenment and seeing the true mind; otherwise, one does not even qualify as having interpretive understanding.

In fact, the vast majority of people cannot deduce or guess this; they inquire everywhere and are given hints by others. If the hints were correct, that would be fine—but the problem is that the person giving the hints has not themselves clearly distinguished which of the eight consciousnesses is which within the five aggregates and eighteen realms, how each operates, and what function each performs. They lump the carrot together with the scallion, tell people, "This is the function of the tathāgatagarbha—knowing this counts as realization." Yet the distance from this to true realization is immeasurable, and they brazenly claim to have awakened. In reality, they have been misled—the "mis" of misleading others and themselves. It is pitiable. I have encountered some people misled in this way: such people cannot uphold even basic precepts, lack even basic knowledge and views of the Buddha-dharma, have not a trace of meditative concentration, and are laden with the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion—possibly mere beginners in Buddhism.

The dharma-appearance of Buddha-recollection is produced by the harmonious, joint operation of all eight consciousnesses. If someone infers that the one reciting the Buddha's name is the tathāgatagarbha, and on the basis of this inference believes they have realized the tathāgatagarbha and thus seen the true mind, then we must ask: can the tathāgatagarbha actually recite the Buddha's name? If the tathāgatagarbha could recite, then one could extinguish the six consciousnesses and let the tathāgatagarbha recite by itself, or extinguish the manas and let the tathāgatagarbha recite by itself. In that case, within nirvāṇa without remainder, the tathāgatagarbha could likewise recite the Buddha's name—would nirvāṇa without remainder still be tranquil and unconditioned? Would it still be a nirvāṇa state? Clearly not. Therefore, the conclusion that the tathāgatagarbha recites the Buddha's name is erroneous; it does not constitute realization and seeing the true mind. At most it is interpretive understanding—or perhaps it does not even touch the edge of interpretive understanding. If the tathāgatagarbha could recite the Buddha's name, then at the time of death, no matter how wretched the six consciousnesses and the manas may be, no matter how deep their greed, hatred, and delusion, no matter how heavy their karmic obstructions, it would suffice that the tathāgatagarbha can recite—and it would resonate with Amitābha Buddha and be received by the Buddha into the land of bliss (Sukhāvatī).

By the same reasoning, everyone who considers themselves enlightened and claims to have realized the tathāgatagarbha does so because they have inferred that in the operation of some dharma, it is the function of the tathāgatagarbha at work. But the actual situation is that no dharma whatsoever is the tathāgatagarbha operating alone; all are the result of the harmonious operation of the eight consciousnesses, containing both the true and the deluded. Without negating the deluded dharmas, how can one realize the true tathāgatagarbha? If one cannot clearly distinguish the true and deluded among the eight consciousnesses—which is deluded and what function it performs, which is true and what function it specifically performs—how can this be realization of true suchness (tathatā)? To take dharmas in which the true and deluded operate together and regard them all as the functions of the tathāgatagarbha—can this count as enlightenment and realization of the tathāgatagarbha?

If this counted as realizing the tathāgatagarbha, then according to the pattern of the tathāgatagarbha's operation—since it operates within all dharmas and participates in all dharmas—one could simply point to any particular dharma and declare, "This dharma is the tathāgatagarbha." Would that not mean most people could realize the tathāgatagarbha and thereby see the true mind and become enlightened? Could everyone in the world who cannot distinguish the true from the deluded, knowing just a little of the tathāgatagarbha's nature, become enlightened? Without upholding precepts and cultivating concentration, without deep prajñā wisdom, could they all become enlightened? Without cultivating the thirty-seven factors of enlightenment, without cultivating the bodhisattva's six perfections, without eliminating self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi), could they swiftly see the true mind and attain enlightenment?

How deep and how murky are the waters of Buddhism? How many seekers have been drowned in them—who truly knows? And how this should be dealt with—who can know?