Intuitive Enlightenment Is True Enlightenment

Jobs said to believe in your intuition, as it transcends thought and allows you to see what thought cannot perceive. The intuition Jobs referred to is the awareness of the manas (mental faculty), while thought is the awareness of consciousness. The dharmas (phenomena) that consciousness can perceive are limited, whereas the awareness of the manas is limitless. Consciousness cannot perceive many dharmas that the manas is capable of perceiving.

Why is the awareness of the manas called intuition? Because the manas, relying on the tathāgatagarbha (Buddha-nature), can directly perceive all dharmas. Consciousness, however, must depend on the manas to perceive dharmas; its perception is indirect. As expressed in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, the manas silently accommodates all dharmas—it can swiftly connect with all dharmas. The extent to which it comprehends these dharmas is another matter. Thus, the awareness of the manas is extremely rapid; it directly encounters dharmas and discerns them swiftly and immediately—knowing is knowing, not knowing is not knowing—without undergoing the analysis or reasoning of consciousness. At this stage, consciousness has not yet arisen. Once dharmas enter the realm of consciousness, they inevitably undergo thinking, analysis, reasoning, and judgment, which takes a long detour and considerable time. The final result becomes unreliable because it contains elements of inference and conjecture; it is not an immediate seeing or knowing.

In the past, when Chan masters guided students toward enlightenment, if a student rolled their eyes and scratched their head in thought upon being questioned, the master would immediately strike them with a board, saying, "If you understand, you understand. What is there to ponder?" Masters always guided students to intuit the Way directly, without falling into thought. When questioned, one either awakened in that moment or did not—thinking with consciousness was not permitted. If a master guided you toward enlightenment and you pondered over and over, you should have been struck and sent home the moment you began to ponder. Who allowed you to ponder repeatedly? Nowadays, some claim enlightenment after pondering for hours or even days—such results are even less credible. The answer might be correct through pondering, but no matter how correct it is, it remains invalid because it arises from conscious deliberation, not direct seeing, not the manas’s firsthand witnessing.

If interrogating someone about whether they know something, and that person hesitates, thinks again and again, and does not answer directly, then their words are untrustworthy. Their thinking contains elements of concealment and falsification. For example, if you think, analyze, reason, imagine, and ponder the appearance of Beijing, and finally conclude what Beijing is like, congratulations—you might have pondered correctly, and Beijing is roughly like that. But because you have never been to Beijing, you are not someone who has seen Beijing firsthand. Only those who have been to Beijing and entered the city are firsthand witnesses. Their description of Beijing’s appearance would be true, detailed, precise, and utterly certain, leaving no room for doubt. This is equivalent to severing the three fetters upon eliminating the view of self—removing doubt entirely, without hesitation. Those who have never been to Beijing, no matter how they describe its appearance, feel unsettled inwardly, insecure, and dare not affirm it with absolute certainty. This resembles the intellectual understanding of consciousness, which cannot sever the three fetters and is unable to eliminate doubt and generate genuine faith.

Only when you have diligently prepared in silence, with just a little step remaining, can a Chan master guide you to enlightenment and realization of the Way. It happens naturally, like water flowing in a channel—utterly genuine, without the slightest affectation or falsity. Or, if only the right cause, condition, and timing are lacking, the master will observe you, pay attention to your state, and see if the time has come. When the time arrives, they will provide the opportunity for you to awaken. If observation reveals you are still far from ready, the master will absolutely not attempt to guide you. Yet nowadays, with students still tens of thousands of miles away from enlightenment, some forcibly drag them with iron hooks. The result is like pulling out a big radish—pulled to death. The karmic retribution in future lives is extremely dreadful.