Can Being Certain Truly Mean No Doubt?

It is said that scientists used instruments to determine that the Earth is oval-shaped, and almost everyone believed it—moreover, it seemed to be the kind of belief that was firmly convinced, as if such belief had already taken deep root and could not be changed. If someone did not believe it, others would go and debate with him, even mocking and ridiculing him, but this is still not true belief with true non-doubt. Belief is divided into many levels; there are even people who believe firmly without doubt, convinced beyond question, without the slightest doubt. But without personal verification, all such beliefs belong to blind belief and superstitious belief, not belief through realization; therefore doubt still exists, only it is very deep and hidden, not easy to observe.

Knowing that the Earth is oval-shaped is merely hearsay, not seeing it with one's own eyes; that is knowledge the mind consciousness has obtained through hearsay. Since the manas has not seen it personally, doubt has not been eradicated. Even what many people see with their own eyes may not necessarily be true and real; there are very many cases of seeing wrongly, and even what the eyes see may not be real, so the manas's doubt cannot be eradicated. Once some other condition arises and it is said that the Earth is actually not oval-shaped but rhombus-shaped or triangular, quite a few people's former belief is shaken and turns into disbelief.

Why can faith be changed? It is precisely because there has been no personal realization. The mind consciousness's firm conviction, no matter to what degree it believes, is unreliable; once conditions change, the mind consciousness's doubt appears. Why? Because the manas never believed in the first place; the manas has not eradicated doubt, and once conditions change, without the support of the manas's personal realization, the mind consciousness becomes fickle and loses its backbone—or rather, the mind consciousness's backbone has always been the manas, and at critical moments it definitely turns along with the manas. Only by truly seeing the Earth, by genuinely witnessing the Earth's shape from an overall and macroscopic perspective, can the manas eradicate doubt and give rise to faith. In the future, even if conditions change, the manas will still believe firmly without doubt, and then the mind consciousness will believe firmly without doubt along with the manas; even if the mind consciousness has doubt, it will not take effect, and it will still trust the manas.

 Some people say that as long as you yourself are firmly convinced that you have eradicated the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) and have no doubt, you have attained the first fruit. How childish and laughable such a claim is. Is the ordinary person's firm conviction without doubt reliable? If it were reliable, why are sentient beings so fickle, changing as soon as there is the slightest disturbance, and ceasing to believe? If the ordinary person's firm conviction and non-doubt were reliable, why did the Buddha say, "Take heed not to believe your mind; your mind is not to be believed," and that only by attaining the fruit of arhatship can one trust one's own mind?

Historically recorded people who confirmed for others the eradication of the view of self and the attainment of the fruits are, first, the Buddha himself during the Buddha's lifetime, and second, the Fourth Patriarch Prajñāgupta after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa. As for the Buddha, there is no need to say more: immeasurable wisdom, unlimited supernatural powers, knowing everything, with the ability to know others' minds and the recollection of past lives (pūrvanivāsānusmṛti), he could know and see the thoughts of sentient beings exactly as they are; whether or not his disciples had attained the fruits, the Buddha could know immediately without even meeting them. As for the Fourth Patriarch Prajñāgupta, he had not only attained the fruit of arhatship but also possessed great supernatural powers; he even personally subdued Māra Pāpīyas's various disturbances and harassments, restoring purity to Buddhism.

Judging by the Fourth Patriarch's realization of liberation and his recollection of past lives (pūrvanivāsānusmṛti) and ability to know others' minds, he could of course also know immediately whether his disciples had attained the fruits, without error. Others who lack realization, whose wisdom and realization are insufficient, and who have no supernatural powers or spiritual strength, probably cannot observe other people's states of mind exactly as they are, and therefore cannot confirm for others whether they have attained the fruits. Those whose wisdom is extremely profound, who have attained the fruits countless times over life after life, and who are rich in experience, can confirm for others the matter of attaining the fruits exactly as it is even without supernatural powers; apart from such people, no one else has the ability or qualification to confirm attainment for others. How much less can ordinary people confirm themselves; lacking experience, errors of judgment are simply unavoidable, and the consequences caused are unimaginable.

 Practicing the Buddhadharma should be even more pragmatic and rigorous than worldly affairs; one must not treat the Buddhadharma as child's play, thinking the Buddhadharma is very simple. In fact, nothing is more difficult than the Buddhadharma, because sentient beings have been engaged in worldly affairs for beginningless kalpas and are too unfamiliar and too unacquainted with the Buddhadharma; added to this are layers upon layers of karmic obstructions, and the obstacles are often far greater than we can imagine. Therefore, studying the Buddha's teachings and cultivating practice in a down-to-earth manner is our proper duty; only in this way will we not further increase karmic obstructions and afflictions, sinking ever deeper into the abyss of birth and death.