What Do You Need to Do to Attain Enlightenment?

Question: Everything of mine is transformed from the tathāgatagarbha, so how can I see the tathāgatagarbha? For example, when I sit in meditation, I see mental sense-objects (dharmas) and know that they are illusory manifestations of the tathāgatagarbha; I know that there is the manas' attention (manaskāra), and I also know that it is the mind consciousness that understands, and I know that the tathāgatagarbha is present in all dharmas. But even so, I still cannot see His true face. In direct perception, I only see the mental sense-objects, and then there is awareness and discrimination; everything else cannot be seen. Those teachings about illusory manifestation were also merely heard from others. How can one truly see the tathāgatagarbha?

Answer: First of all, all of this knowledge of yours comes from theoretical learning; it is all knowledge the mind consciousness has learned from elsewhere, and some of it belongs to the mind consciousness's reasoning, speculation, guessing, and mental interpretation—none of it is realized through personal verification, so none of it can be taken as true. Therefore, knowing these contents will have no substantive effect on your own manas. If the manas's cognition does not transform, the body, mind, and world will not change. In fact, this kind of knowledge is equivalent to not knowing, for after all, what is heard is unreal; only what is seen with one's own eyes is real. Theoretical knowledge and views learned from others are still far from actual realization; regarding the operation of the several consciousnesses, one remains completely in the dark. When encountering some adverse conditions, doubt will increase, and one may even deny these previous understandings, with one's views possibly turning to the opposite.

To truly see the tathāgatagarbha, one must diligently cultivate practice to realize and know the tathāgatagarbha, rather than reasoning based on theory or learning like a parrot mimicking speech. Realizing the tathāgatagarbha requires many causes, conditions, and prerequisites: first, karmic obstructions must be eliminated; merit must be increased; meditative concentration must be complete; faith must be perfect; the precepts must be strictly upheld; the practice of forbearance must be well developed; and one must be diligent in cultivating all these dharmas; finally, prajñā wisdom must also be complete. In short, realizing the tathāgatagarbha requires transforming the ordinary person's disposition into a bodhisattva's disposition: one's bodily, verbal, and mental actions must all match those of a bodhisattva in every respect; one's precepts, meditative concentration, and wisdom must be like a bodhisattva's; afflictions and afflictive obstructions must be lightened; one must possess the great merit and great wisdom of a bodhisattva; one's mind must be as vast as a bodhisattva's, always according with sentient beings, and one must make great vows to benefit and bring joy to sentient beings.

This is like being reborn with a completely new body and mind: the body, mind, and world must all undergo corresponding transformations, showing obvious differences and great progress compared with the stage of an ordinary person. In short, one must fully accomplish the bodhisattva's six perfections and myriad practices; if these are insufficient, one cannot see the Path and become a true bodhisattva. From now on, you should comprehensively perfect and improve yourself with plans and steps, and wait for the causes, conditions, and season to ripen. Do not have an anxious, impatient mind; do not worry about gain and loss; do not have a utilitarian mindset. Make great aspirations, strive on the level of causes, and accord with conditions on the level of results.