Levels of Learning and Practice

Learning and cultivation occur at two levels: initially at the shallow level of the mind consciousness, and only at the end can one reach the deep level of the manas. In learning any kind of theoretical knowledge, it is always the mind consciousness that begins to learn first; it has not yet reached the manas. While the mind consciousness learns, it simultaneously perfumes the manas. Once the perfuming succeeds, the theoretical knowledge is truly mastered and becomes one's own genuine insight, turning into one's own learning and skill, which can be brought into play anytime and anywhere without obstruction, and will not be forgotten. Only knowledge grasped by the mind consciousness can be forgotten, because it is learned, something belonging to others and not one's own. What belongs to oneself will never be forgotten, nor does it need to be deliberately memorized and held onto—it is available whenever used. This is called the spontaneous outflow from one's own mind, not a parrot mimicking speech. In the cultivation and realization of the Buddha-dharma, some also call it the outflow of self-nature (svabhāva).