Learning Buddhism and Cultivating the Path Is to Transform False and Illusory Dharmas into Pure and Undefiled Ones.

All dharmas arise from the combination of the true and the false: the true is the true mind, and the false is the false mind—the seven transforming consciousnesses. All activities within the world of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) are the result of the joint and harmonious functioning of the eight consciousnesses. A bodhisattva's daily life, Buddhist practice and cultivation, and propagating the Dharma to benefit sentient beings can never be separated from the true, nor from the false; sentient beings will always depend on both the true and the false in order to exist. It is only because of the true that the false can be manifested, so the true is very important; but if there were no false and only the true, sentient beings could not exist, and all dharmas would not exist either, so the false is also very important.

Although the minds of the seven consciousnesses are subject to arising, ceasing, and change, they cannot be extinguished. Since they cannot be extinguished, they must be transformed; once the transformation is complete, one becomes a Buddha. Therefore, our Buddhist practice and cultivation is precisely the cultivation of the seven deluded consciousnesses: exhausting all the ignorance of the seven consciousnesses and transforming all their defilements, so that the seven consciousnesses are transformed from the consciousness-nature of ignorance into the nature of wisdom. Once the consciousnesses are transformed into wisdom, cultivation is brought to perfect completion. Thus, the purpose of cultivation is not to extinguish the seven consciousnesses, but to transform them; nor is it to extinguish all realms and states, but to transform all realms and states. When all the illusory dharmas of the three realms of existence have been transformed into purity—pure and without any defilement—that is the realm of the Buddha.