All Kinds of Samādhi Are Realized by the Manas

The understanding of the mind consciousness is not realization, because the mind consciousness is not the master of the five aggregates; it cannot be the master over any dharmas, including comprehending principles, enlightenment and realization, and so on, so its views do not count. However, in practice, one first has the understandings of the mind consciousness, and then later the realization by the manas. Realization first cannot be separated from understanding; as long as one does not remain stuck at the stage of understanding, subsequent realization is only a matter of time.

The Śūraṅgama Sūtra says: 菩提涅槃。尚在遥远。非汝历劫。辛勤修证。虽复忆持。十方如来。十二部经。清净妙理。如恒河沙。只益戏论。汝虽谈说。因缘自然。决定明了。人间称汝。多闻第一。以此积劫。多闻熏习。不能免离。摩登伽难。

Here, hasn't the World-Honored One already clearly stated that the realization of bodhi is not so simple? Reciting and repeating the sūtras—all such extensive learning—is conceptual proliferation (prapañca)? So I say: so many of those claimed realizations of the eradication of the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) and seeing the mind are merely understanding, merely conceptual proliferation (prapañca). If you still do not awaken to this, when will you ever?

If it were the mind consciousness that attains meditative concentration (samādhi) and sees the mind through realization, then when the conditions ripen, we could organize several dharma assemblies with tens of thousands of people, explain to the assembly the various operations of the tathāgatagarbha within the five aggregates, and after listening, most of the assembly would understand. Then I would ask how many people have understood the operational process of the tathāgatagarbha and realized the tathāgatagarbha, and all of you would raise your hands—then I would congratulate everyone on having attained enlightenment. In that case, twenty thousand bodhisattva certificates would absolutely not be enough; we would have to print another hundred thousand, and even that might not suffice. Could things be done this way? If understanding by the mind consciousness counts as enlightenment, then let me tell you clearly: haven't your mind consciousnesses all understood already? If understanding counts as enlightenment, then why make everyone cultivate meditative concentration and investigate Chan, taking so many detours?

If understanding by the mind consciousness counts as realization, then as long as one person in a world realizes it, that person can tell everyone else, and one tells ten, ten tell a hundred—wouldn't everyone in the entire world then have realized it? What would be the point of cultivating meditative concentration or engaging in investigation? Why would the Buddha have his disciples cultivate precepts, concentration, and wisdom? Without keeping the precepts, as long as one's mind consciousness is clever, one could realize the Buddha-dharma and thereby end birth and death? What about the seven factors of enlightenment, the eightfold noble path, the thirty-seven factors of the path—none of these would need to be cultivated. The Buddha would truly have been making an unnecessary move, being so long-winded, making things hard for sentient beings. The Buddha-dharma would be such a simple matter—why make it so complicated?

If understanding by the mind consciousness counted as enlightenment, then we could sit down, recall a dream, and then contemplate how the real world is just like a dream, and thereby realize the contemplation of all things as like a dream, accomplishing the tenth dedication bhūmi and being about to attain the bhūmis. Then we could sit down again and contemplate how all dharmas are like images in a mirror—contemplating by comparing them to reflections in a mirror, thinking that indeed everything is like reflections in a mirror—and thereby realize the contemplation of objects as images, completing the full mind of the first bhūmi and becoming a second-bhūmi bodhisattva. Wouldn't learning Buddhism this way be extremely easy and pleasant?

Why is realizing the Buddha-dharma and becoming a Buddha not so easy, requiring three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas? It is precisely because the manas is dull and its ignorance is deep and heavy, making the dharma meanings difficult to understand. If enlightenment did not involve realization by the manas, and practice were truly very easy, then becoming a Buddha would not require such a distant span of time as three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas at all—the whole journey would be completed very quickly.