Different Levels of Merit, Meditative Concentration, and Wisdom Lead to Different Levels of Awakening to the Path

Where there is a conscious mind, there are the feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness of the five aggregates (pañcaskandha). Through contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) on the illusory, non-self nature of the five aggregates, once you have contemplated and realized the illusory nature of both the physical body and the conscious mind, and have become fully certain and accepting of it, you can eliminate self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) and realize the fruits of the path. When merit and other causal conditions are complete, you can engage in contemplative practice and reflection on any dharma whatsoever: you can eliminate self-view, and you can also, through contemplative practice, realize the eighth consciousness—it all depends on merit, meditative concentration (samādhi), wisdom, and the timing of conditions. The elimination of self-view and realization of the fruits are divided into different levels, and seeing one's true mind and awakening to the true mind (enlightenment) also has many levels: there is the awakening at the stage of the seventh abode, the awakening of a bodhisattva who has attained the bhūmis, the awakening of bodhisattvas at various bhūmis, and the awakening at the buddha stage. Each person's level and depth of awakening is different, and thus the wisdom they attain will differ greatly.