After prolonged contemplative practice, afflictions will naturally subside and wisdom will arise.

He Qianxing: As my meditative concentration grows deeper and deeper, gradually my brain seems unwilling to think, unwilling to give rise to thoughts. When someone asks me a question, I can still answer it right off the tongue. But after answering, I suddenly become aware of who it was that just spoke—it feels very strange and distant, as if it were not me who said it, and yet it was said. This is a very peculiar feeling. Walking down the street, driving through the city, seeing familiar places, it feels like I am saying farewell.

Comment: When the manas deliberates in samādhi for a long time, wisdom arises. Without the mind consciousness needing to spend time pondering and deliberating, the manas can make the mind consciousness speak out right away. And because the power of introspection is good, the mind has separated from the five aggregates, and one can become aware that someone has spoken—that speaking five aggregates seem not to be me, very unfamiliar. This state is not far from the elimination of self-view (ahaṃkāra-mamakāra-parityāga). Saying farewell to familiar places means the mind is gradually separating from the six sense objects, no longer tightly bound together with them—this is a sign that liberation is imminent!

He Qianxing: I have also observed that when a strong grasping (upādāna) mind arises, the area around the heart begins to tighten, and then the nervous system begins to tense up along with it, the muscles contract and become tense, the heartbeat begins to accelerate, the body starts to stiffen, and the complexion becomes unnatural. Lust seems to move from bottom to top, hatred from top to bottom; when craving and love arise, the heart area first tightens and lifts upward.

Comment: When the afflictions of the manas arise, the whole body cooperates with the manas, being firmly controlled by the manas through the central nervous system. These phenomena fully prove: First, the manas possesses afflictive mental factors (kleśa-caittas); the manas has emotions and is not neutral/indeterminate (avyākṛta) in nature. Second, the afflictive mental factors pertain primarily to the manas, and only secondarily to the mind consciousness. The afflictions of the mind consciousness are light and easy to subdue and eliminate, whereas the afflictions of the manas are heavy, not easy to detect, and not easy to subdue and eliminate. Third, any affliction that can produce changes in the body must belong to the manas; only when the body shows no change—afflictions that are of no real consequence—do they belong to the mind consciousness.

He Qianxing: Now my memory is indeed not what it used to be, because many people and matters no longer register in my mind, and I no longer repeatedly ponder and review them. In fact, it also feels as if I speak without going through the brain, blurting things right out. Yesterday I suddenly felt that speaking seems not to require the brain's participation—so what is the brain's function? Clearly the brain was in a state of complete blankness, yet the words came out, and what was said was even better than what would come after going through the brain's thinking. Even I found it strange—who was it that said those words?

Comment: For a person without (deliberate) mind, memory seems to have become worse, because the mind is selective: it applies itself only to matters important for cultivating the Path, and things it feels indifferent about cannot be remembered. If the mind made no selection and applied itself to everything, meditative concentration (samādhi) could not be cultivated—only by letting go can one gain. Speaking without going through the brain means bypassing the mind consciousness's process of deliberation; the manas gives the answer directly, and it is a wisdom-based answer, more accurate and reliable. The mind consciousness becomes puzzled: clearly I did not think and did not speak, so how did the words come out? Let the mind consciousness stay puzzled—in the end it will understand that it is not so important, that it is not needed for every single matter.

He Qianxing: Now the Buddha's name naturally wells up outward from within my mind. When I am not busy, the Buddha's name arises on its own—sometimes in four characters with six tones, sometimes in six characters with rhythm, sometimes purely recollected without rhythm. But I have not exerted any control; whatever rhythm the recollection of the Buddha takes, however many characters, it emerges inexplicably on its own—perhaps it is the habit-energy of previous recollection of the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti) surfacing. I am also striving to break out of this state and instead observe the body—skin, hair, sinews, bones, internal organs—as filthy and impure. Having observed up to now, I now see myself and everyone else as mechanical wooden figures. In a waking state, lust, greed, and hatred clearly no longer arise; occasionally a little suddenly emerges, but as soon as I become aware of it, it immediately vanishes. But I still feel my practice is insufficient, because in several dreams there was still lust and fear—that root is still there and very hard to eliminate.

Comment: In the past you recollected the Buddha frequently and were thus perfumed by it; now the manas automatically recollects the Buddha, in the same manner as before. Merely recollecting the Buddha is not enough—you should set about contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) to eliminate self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi), cultivate more merit, and investigate the Mahāyāna Dharma. I see that your wisdom is quite good; the elimination of self-view is no problem for you, and seeing your true mind (mingxin) is not too difficult either. For example, you said you see everyone as a mechanical wooden figure—investigate the mechanism behind the wooden figure and you can awaken to the true mind. Another example: you keep wondering who it is that speaks—keep up that questioning doubt; if you cannot figure it out, use the Mahāyāna method to investigate. Once you have fulfilled the conditions for Mahāyāna seeing of the Path, investigation will not be difficult for you either. Make the great resolve and strive—stop always dwelling on your own petty affairs. Personal matters are no matters at all. Work diligently for the sake of Buddhism, and you are sure to reap great fruit.