The Effect of Contemplating the Immovable Consciousness

The manas does not sleep. When all six consciousnesses have ceased, there is neither sleeping nor not sleeping to speak of—then who is it that sleeps? Contemplating this question follows the same principle as the four foundations of mindfulness contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) that the Buddha taught us; it is the same method of applying effort. As long as you contemplate—contemplate with direct perception/valid direct cognition, without engaging in deliberation—there will be a direct, experiential realization, and the self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) will naturally be severed. Once the mind consciousness engages in deliberation, the felt sense changes, the realm of direct perception is lost, and the result is no longer intimate, no longer real.

The formless is emptiness/voidness (śūnyatā), and the endowed with form is also emptiness; so emptiness does not require that marks be extinguished—rather, while watching the marks, they are empty in the very moment. When you thoroughly understand these dharmas and your wisdom is fully penetrating, you become a Buddha. To thoroughly understand these dharmas, relying on the mind consciousness's deliberation absolutely will not work—the more you deliberate, the farther you stray from the Path, and the less you have the realm of direct perception. You must use the manas to perceive with direct perception, to make direct contact, and only then can you realize with direct perception. Only through personal experience and personal encounter can there be personal feeling. "Personal" means the manas itself, in person, without the mind consciousness substituting for it.

What is heard by the mind consciousness is one level; what is observed with direct perception is another level; and direct, experiential realization is yet another level. The felt sense at each level is different, and the responses of body and mind differ even more vastly. What is heard by the mind consciousness—looking at it now, what does it amount to?

Jun Ruolan: Today, after reading this passage from Master, I tried to stop thinking and just observe the people and things around me. There was awareness present, yet I felt my mind remained very still. At that moment, this passage the Master spoke became my own direct observation; when I speak of this passage in the future, it will no longer be something entirely learned from others.

Comment: This state is similar to "not a single thought arising." Although the mind consciousness's deliberation has stopped, the non-deliberating, non-moving, quiet mind consciousness is still aware and observing—it remains within the awareness and observation of the mind consciousness, not the direct perception and observation of the manas. The manas's direct observation must occur within meditation/meditative concentration (samādhi), within single-minded, wholehearted focus. Once you clearly recognize the various states of the mind consciousness, you can distinguish between the mind consciousness and the manas. Only by clearly distinguishing the respective characteristics and natures of the mind consciousness and the manas can you correctly judge whether your awareness and perception belong to the mind consciousness or to the manas.

Understanding again on the basis of what has been learned is still not realization. Since it is not realization, it is not something drawn entirely from one's own breast. Although there is observation with direct perception, the wisdom of such observation has many levels; the highest level can reach realization with direct perception, but before that, it is not entirely one's own wisdom—there is still an element of borrowed words.