How to Grasp the Key to the Practice and Realization of the Buddha-Dharma

Question: The conclusions I generally arrive at are ones where the mind consciousness first holds something in doubt, and then after a while a thought suddenly pops up in my head and the doubt is resolved. What is going on here?

Answer: This is an idea given forth by the manas, though it is not yet ultimate. So while the mind consciousness appears on the surface to have stopped working, the manas has not actually rested and let go; the manas has been deliberating all along. Because the data supplied by the mind consciousness is insufficient, the manas cannot deliberate out a very satisfactory result.

There is only laziness of the mind consciousness; there is no such thing as laziness of the manas. Therefore, in cultivation one must still keep constantly spurring on the mind consciousness, engaging in much contemplative reflection and contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), actively collecting data and gathering materials, so that the manas possesses more evidence—then realization and enlightenment will come quickly.

When the mind consciousness is not thinking—when you are doing other things—and an answer suddenly appears, and the mind consciousness has not been deliberating, that is a provisional conclusion reached by the manas. Why does it come suddenly? Because the deliberating function of the manas is fundamentally unobservable to the mind consciousness. When the manas understands, it alerts the mind consciousness, and the mind consciousness feels that the understanding came suddenly. Hence the mind is astonished: Wow! So that's how it is!

If it is a problem the mind consciousness has been thinking about all along, then the understanding comes bit by bit in a continuous stream; it does not feel sudden, there is no astonishment, no sense of surprise—there is mental preparation.

Once you have mastered and learned to apply these methods and processes of contemplation, you have grasped the key to the realization of the Buddha's teachings. Your capacity for logical thinking will improve, and from then on your realization of the Buddha's teachings will advance rapidly.