What Counts as Actual Realization of Samādhi?

Realizing electricity means that one of the five sense faculties, together with the manas, has contacted electricity, discerned electricity, and clearly known electricity. Discernment is the clear and distinct discrimination and perception of direct perception; clearly knowing is knowing through direct perception without doubt or with doubt severed. Regarding the meaning of severing doubt and being without doubt, many people still do not understand; in the future I will have to write another post to elaborate on this specifically. Otherwise, some people will again claim that they have severed doubt and are without doubt. The meanings of the terms "direct perception" and "manifestly present" also need to be explained in more detail, with specific explanations and examples; otherwise some people still will not understand and will casually claim that their direct perception is manifestly present in this or that way. Even when the meaning of every concept and term has been explained clearly, once it touches upon their own interests, some people will still quibble, claiming how good and how correct they are. The obstacle of language is already considerable, and the obstacle of the human mind is even greater—such is the current condition of sentient beings in the Saha world.

Realizing electricity means personally realizing electricity: either the eyes see electricity and genuinely discern the state and appearance of electricity; or the ears hear electricity and genuinely discern the sound of electric current flowing; or the nose smells electricity and genuinely discerns the scent of electricity; or the tongue tastes electricity and genuinely discerns the taste of electricity; or the body touches electricity and genuinely discerns the tactile sensation of electricity, and feelings must arise. Knowing is not the same as realizing. Realizing means that the manas and one of the five sense faculties have contacted it, with a tingling sensation, feeling the flow of electricity and its unique characteristics. Knowing is what the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) infers by association—there is no sensation or feeling at all, and the nature and characteristics of the electric current are also unclear.

The difference between knowing and realizing is great. For example, you may know where the endpoint of the Long March is, but what use is knowing? After all, you have never seen what the endpoint looks like, nor have your feet ever reached it. Knowing is not the same as realizing; you must walk step by step to the endpoint, and only when you have seen the scenery and appearance of the endpoint can it be called realization. For example, all Buddhist practitioners know that the land of bliss (sukhāvatī) exists, but to realize the land of bliss, one must personally go there. You have heard that Amitābha Buddha receives and guides beings to rebirth there, but since you have not yet seen Amitābha Buddha, you have not realized this matter. As for anything that has been realized, one can describe it in points one, two, three, four, and five; but what is merely known cannot be articulated at all—without seeing it, there is no way to describe it.

What does it feel like to be shocked by electricity? Only a person who has actually touched electricity can personally experience it; hearsay does not count. So who, exactly, has realized electricity? Seeing electric wires does not count as seeing electricity—wires are not electricity. Seeing a washing machine wash clothes does not count as seeing electricity—the rotation of the washing machine is not electricity. Seeing a rice cooker cooking rice does not count as seeing electricity—the state of the rice cooker cooking rice is not electricity. Seeing various electrical appliances working and having knowledge of electricity arise in the mind, thinking that there is electricity at this moment—this is conjecture and speculation; even if the conjecture is correct and the thought is right, it still does not count as seeing electricity or electric current with one's own eyes. Some say that when it comes to electric eels, they have realized electricity—but that is the eel realizing electricity, not you. Regarding the principle of realization, after ten years of arguing, many people still have not understood. The sentient beings of this world are truly so difficult to deal with.

After realizing electricity, one almost certainly dies or gets injured, so only people who have been electrocuted to death or harmed by electricity are qualified to say they have realized electricity. Moreover, no matter which faculty contacts an object, the manas must first contact it and remain in continuous contact; therefore realization must be the realization of the manas. When the body faculty contacts electricity, the manas knows it and has feelings; the manas feels it is not good, and upon being shocked, it makes the body immediately spring away, immediately leaving the electricity. Because the manas knows that being shocked is no fun, from then on it is highly vigilant about electricity and tries to stay away from it as much as possible—the mind consciousness is incapable of doing these things. Therefore, all realization is the realization of the manas, within which there is the realization of the mind consciousness, and perhaps also that of one of the five consciousnesses.

Only after realization can one observe electricity in an all-around, targeted way, gaining an ever deeper and more comprehensive understanding of electricity, becoming ever more familiar with the correct methods of using it, able to develop more applications, with wisdom growing ever deeper and inventions and innovations ever more numerous. But the person who merely knows there is electricity upon seeing electrical appliances remains the same their whole life, still knowing nothing about electricity—knowledge may not even increase, let alone the wisdom of observation.

It is the same with realizing the tathāgatagarbha. Those who have genuinely realized it have the ability and the standing to observe the tathāgatagarbha as manifestly present; their understanding of the tathāgatagarbha grows ever deeper, their minds become ever more empty, their virtue ever more perfect, their wisdom of observation continuously increases, the wisdom of specific characteristics and the wisdom of the varieties of paths gradually arise, and the Dharma they teach becomes ever more profound. But those with false or counterfeit realization remain at the same level of understanding and wisdom as before, without increase; whatever they teach is the same old thing, repeated in a monotonous, formulaic way—quantity without quality.