The Relationship between the Mental Factor of Determination (adhimokṣa) and the Mental Factor of Wisdom (prajñā)

The treatises say that determination (adhimokṣa) is the validation and acceptance of an object\: knowing that the object is the object, believing the object to be the object, without error or doubt. For example, when the mind engages with a flower or the moon, it will determine them to be a flower and the moon, without wavering; being able to trust one's own understanding and not easily be swayed—this is determination. The word "determination" highlights the degree of understanding of the object, approaching the true reality of the object. But it is not yet the final, complete conviction, nor has the true reality of the object been realized. Therefore, there is still the mental factor of wisdom (prajñā) that follows; only when the mental factor of wisdom manifests can the object be realized, can conviction in the object be established, and can the objects of the flower and the moon be completely known.

Determination corresponds to knowing that something is so, while wisdom corresponds to knowing why it is so: one is understanding, the other is realization. Determination is shallow wisdom, the foundation of wisdom; wisdom is the ultimate, final cognition. In the cultivation and realization of the Buddha-Dharma, the mental factor of determination corresponds to intellectual understanding (interpretive awakening), while the mental factor of wisdom corresponds to direct realization. For intellectual understanding to become direct realization, it must pass through two stages—the mental factor of mindfulness and the mental factor of meditative concentration—firmly imprinting and holding the understood dharma in the mind, never forgetting it moment to moment, cultivating meditative concentration, with the mind fixed on this dharma in uninterrupted investigation; finally, the mind opens with conviction, great wisdom manifests, and direct realization is attained.

Determining the flower and the moon is a worldly matter and does not seem too difficult: as long as one possesses the concepts and knowledge of worldly phenomena, with the six faculties functioning normally and without obstruction, one can determine the flower and the moon, and this also contains a certain amount of relatively shallow understanding-wisdom. However, reaching the level of determination in the Buddha-Dharma is not so easy: one must possess the relevant knowledge and concepts of the Buddha-Dharma, and also cultivate the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment, reducing the obstruction of karmic hindrances, in order to achieve determination. But there is still a considerable distance to go before realization, and certain causes and conditions must be perfected before realization can proceed smoothly.