How to Attain Authentic Practice, Realization, and Direct Perceptual Wisdom

Many people mistake their intellectual understanding of the Dharma for genuine realization, often based on shallow comprehension or even mere conjecture, deduction, and speculation. They fail to discern the boundaries and differences between intellectual understanding, experiential insight, and ultimate realization, leading to grave misunderstandings and consequently, grave false speech. Many answers and conclusions in the Buddha Dharma were given by the Buddha himself, while others were expounded by great Bodhisattvas and virtuous teachers. Merely understanding these conclusions and answers during one's practice does not constitute realization; it does not even qualify as experiential insight and remains far distant from it. What then is genuine realization? For instance, when the Buddha declares that all phenomena are like a dream or an illusion, this is a conclusion reached through the Buddhas' cultivation and realization; it is the Buddha's level of realization. When others merely understand this intellectually, it remains just understanding, not even experiential insight. Genuine realization that all phenomena are like a dream or illusion is attained at the tenth stage of the Bodhisattva path (dasabhumi), just prior to entering the First Ground (bhumi). Can ordinary beings, merely by reading and intellectually understanding that all phenomena are like a dream or illusion, directly become great Bodhisattvas at the tenth stage? Clearly, this is impossible. Without fulfilling the precepts, meditative concentration, wisdom, and the six paramitas of a Bodhisattva, without perfecting any aspect of practice, not even having attained initial awakening, how could one leapfrog nearly a great asankhyeya kalpa (incalculable eon) to become a great Bodhisattva at the tenth stage? To genuinely realize that the world of the five aggregates is like a dream or illusion, one must, based on the complete cultivation of precepts, meditative concentration, wisdom, and the six paramitas, engage in contemplation and investigation from the shallow to the profound, progressively realizing the Dharma at various levels. This involves progressing through the initial barrier, the second barrier, and finally the third barrier in Chan (Zen) practice, ultimately attaining the realization of the dream-like nature. This requires many kalpas of time, nearly a great asankhyeya kalpa of cultivation. Understanding the dream-like nature is itself divided into many levels; even a complete, thorough, and ultimate intellectual understanding does not equate to realization, because it lacks the actual process of investigation and proof; the conclusion is not one's own. It is like a geometry proof problem. The final conclusion is given by the teacher; it is ready-made, not derived by oneself. One needs to prove it step by step oneself, with a process and steps, to finally prove the teacher's given conclusion. If the process is incomplete or untrue, even if one arrives at the same conclusion as the teacher, it is still wrong; it is not direct experiential proof (pratyaksa). The principle in the Buddha Dharma is the same. Anyone can state the final conclusion that all is like a dream or illusion. While the statement may be correct doctrine, it is not one's own direct experiential realization. In the Buddha Dharma, the Buddha has given us countless final answers and conclusions, all contained within the Tripitaka (Three Baskets) and the twelve divisions of the scriptures. Even if we memorize the entire Tripitaka and twelve divisions, even if we eloquently expound them, it still does not represent our own level of realization; it merely represents our understanding, which remains far removed from experiential insight, let alone ultimate realization. Every Dharma teaching, even every sentence spoken by the Buddha, requires us to contemplate, investigate, and observe truthfully and rationally within profound meditative concentration (dhyana) to have the possibility of realizing them one by one. The wisdom born from such realization is one's own direct experiential wisdom. Otherwise, any explanation is not what one has personally realized; genuine wisdom does not correspond to what is spoken. To genuinely realize and achieve attainment, one must even forget and set aside the finer details involved in contemplating the five aggregates. One should focus solely on contemplation and investigation; the details need to be clarified by oneself during the contemplation, only then can wisdom arise. Many people cannot apply their effort to the level of the manas (the thinking mind, the seventh consciousness). This is because they severely lack meditative concentration and cannot comprehend how to allow only the manas to engage in contemplation. If meditative power is insufficient, how can there be genuine experience? When lacking meditative concentration, it is best not to engage in any investigation at all. If the intellect (mano-vijnana, the sixth consciousness) is clever, it may deduce many things, but they lack real utility; they may be good for idle talk but are useless in practice. Such intellectual solutions are better left unsolved; it is best to reserve them for contemplation when meditative concentration deepens and conditions are ripe.