Pratyekabuddhas Realize the Twelve Nidānas, Not Merely Comprehend Them

The Agama Sutras describe the Pratyekabuddhas' practice of tracing the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination both forward and backward. Although the language describing their contemplation is concise and the introduction to their cultivation process is simplified, the actual practice of the Pratyekabuddhas was neither easy nor straightforward—it was arduous and fraught with difficulties. During genuine contemplative practice, it occurs within profound meditative absorption (dhyāna). While the conscious mind (mano-vijñāna) contemplates, the mental faculty (manas-indriya) simultaneously investigates. Thus, the outcome is invariably direct realization (pratyakṣa-pramāṇa). Without meditative absorption, only the conscious mind engages in contemplation; without the simultaneous investigation by the mental faculty, realization cannot occur. One may gain intellectual understanding (parijñāna), but such understanding is ultimately ineffective.

The Buddha could not disclose the detailed practical process of the Pratyekabuddhas' cultivation. The purpose was for future practitioners to exert diligent effort and achieve realization themselves. Revealing too much risks leading people to settle for mere intellectual comprehension, preventing their practice from reaching its proper depth. Hence, it was only described in that simplified manner. Within those brief contemplations and dialogues, one must never think that the Pratyekabuddhas arrived at their realization solely through the conscious mind's reasoning and logical thinking. To claim so would be tantamount to slandering the Pratyekabuddhas. The meditative absorption of a Pratyekabuddha is exceedingly profound; the role of the conscious mind absolutely cannot dominate. It cannot overpower the mental faculty. The investigation and deliberation of the mental faculty must be predominant. Those with deeper meditative absorption employ the mental faculty more extensively. Conversely, those who rely more on the conscious mind depend primarily on its imagination, reasoning, and speculation, rendering the mental faculty largely inoperative.

Similarly, Arhats possess profound meditative absorption. When observing the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) of the past and future, they do not rely on the conscious mind's reasoning, nor on inferential cognition (anumāna) or non-valid cognition (a-pramāṇa). Their observation is direct perception (pratyakṣa-pramāṇa), involving the mental faculty. This is because those physical forms (rūpa-kāya) are identical to the present five-aggregate body, belonging to the same category. By realizing the present, one knows the past and future. For instance, suppose there is a batch of identical products requiring inspection. Since all products are the same, random sampling of one reveals the condition of the entire batch—assuming no one has mixed in different products. Under the guarantee of perfect uniformity, inspecting one or a few suffices to know the whole. Therefore, the realizations of the Arhats are all direct perception. They perceive things as they truly are (yathābhūta). There is no thought process involving imagination, nor a mode of thinking based on comparison. Those without meditative absorption inevitably rely on the conscious mind's functions of inferential and non-valid cognition.