Intellectual Understanding Is Not Realization

Permanence, bliss, self, and purity are the four virtues of nirvāṇa. Permanence refers to the fact that the Buddha's undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna) no longer undergoes seed transformation, forever remaining constant and unchanging. Bliss refers to the fact that in the Buddha, all karmic obstructions have been exhausted without remainder; there are no seeds of suffering-feeling left in the undefiled consciousness, and all that remains are wholesome karmic seeds of bliss-feeling and neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā), whose retribution is the bliss of quiescence. Self refers to the fact that in the Buddha's undefiled consciousness, all karmic seeds of arising and ceasing have been extinguished, no longer burdened by karmic obstructions—this is complete self-nature, and thus it can be called "self." Purity refers to the fact that the Buddha's undefiled consciousness has extinguished all defiled seeds, being thoroughly pure and undefiled.

The eighth consciousness is also obscured by karmic obstructions. If there were no seeds of karmic obstruction stored within the mind-substance, the eighth consciousness would exercise its boundless merits, its light illuminating the great thousand worlds—no different from the Buddha's undefiled consciousness, with no dharma it does not pervade, no dharma it does not encompass, no dharma it does not manifest. But because sentient beings' eighth consciousness is limited by karmic obstructions, it cannot manifest extremely many sublime and wondrous realms, cannot transform and create emanation-bodies of sentient beings, cannot transform and create Buddha-lands, and cannot universally cognize all objects. What is meant by the eighth consciousness being limited is that it has infinite and inexhaustible merits and functions that cannot be exercised—not that it lacks sublime merits and functions. At the buddha-stage, the eighth consciousness is no longer subject to any limitation, and all its merits and functions are exercised in full.

Do you understand and know all the principles above? Can you explain them to others? In the study of the Dharma, all understanding and knowing fall upon the mind consciousness, not upon the manas. Although one has understood and known, one is still a hundred thousand miles—eighteen thousand li—away from realization, even far more than eighteen thousand li. Even if one can explain to others and write a hundred books, one is still eighteen thousand li away from realization. Regarding the non-self of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha), even if one can understand it all and know it all, and one's understanding may be very deep and thorough, it is still not realization; perhaps one is still extremely far from realization. Regarding the eighth consciousness, no matter how one understands and knows it—perhaps one's understanding is very deep, and one can even infer and figure out the functions of the eighth consciousness—it still belongs to understanding, not realization; perhaps one is still extremely, extremely far from realization.

Many people take this kind of understanding to be realization. Those with good eloquence, in the capacity of good teachers (kalyāṇamitra), go everywhere expounding the sūtras and speaking the Dharma with a torrential flow of words. But no matter what, a dharma that enters through the ears and exits through the mouth is not realization. Take, for example, Su Dongpo's understanding of the Buddha-dharma: "The eight winds cannot move me; I sit upright on the purple-gold lotus." The Chan master's assessment was: "Fart!" When Su Dongpo saw this, he immediately became displeased: I wrote it so well, and you actually call it a fart? So he at once crossed the river to find the Chan master and argue the point. The Chan master said: "Aren't you the one whom the eight winds cannot move? How is it that a single word, 'fart,' brought you running across the river to settle accounts with me?"

Therefore, intellectual knowledge is of no use; only realization works. Some people say they have seen the mind and attained enlightenment, yet as soon as they encounter a situation, they get carried away by it. Then they use the mind consciousness to counsel themselves; they are fine for a while, but when the situation comes again, they are carried away by it once more. Repeating like this for many years, they cannot gain mastery over themselves—have such people truly realized the fruit and seen the mind? If one cannot even subdue the coarsest afflictions, cannot remain indifferent or unmoved upon meeting an attractive member of the opposite sex, with thoughts flying and self-control failing—can such a person be one who has seen the mind and realized the fruit? Whoever constantly uses the mind consciousness to suppress and persuade themselves has not realized. When one has truly realized, one will accomplish whatever one has realized.

Quite a few people also claim to have made the carp's leap over the Dragon Gate, yet they set the threshold of the Dragon Gate very, very low, or even dismantled the threshold altogether, and thus passed over with ease. In reality, they swam across rather than leapt across—is this the carp leaping over the Dragon Gate? Having swum across such a Dragon Gate, one is still a carp, not a dragon.