The Distinction Between Understanding and Realization

Understanding pertains to the consciousness, while the mental faculty neither understands nor knows. Realization involves both knowing and understanding, leaving no ignorance. Regarding a dharma, when the consciousness understands, it knows the "what" of it; when the mental faculty realizes, it knows the "why" of it. Knowing the "what" means grasping the superficial phenomenon without comprehending the inner reality; it is a relatively shallow and coarse form of knowledge, lacking observational power. If asked about specifics, essence, details, etc., one would be entirely ignorant, only able to grasp rough and coarse aspects of the dharma. Unable to observe more deeply, thoroughly, or concretely, one cannot explain the dharma clearly, much less exhaustively, giving a vague, unsatisfactory feeling like scratching an itch through the boot. Knowing the "why" means understanding the inner principle of the dharma, penetrating both surface and depth, grasping the essence and the complete context of the dharma. With strong observational power, one can know the specific details of the dharma, with clear thinking, thorough reasoning, rigorous and meticulous logic, and powerful wisdom. Therefore, to assess a person's level of understanding of the dharma, observe whether their description remains at the level of coarse superficial phenomena or can delve into specific details. The more specific the description, the deeper the degree of realization and the deeper the wisdom; the coarser the description, the less realization there is, the further one is from realization, the shallower the wisdom, the more it is merely the understanding of consciousness, and the less the function of the mental faculty.