The Vast Difference Between Understanding and Realization

Question: "If one sees that all marks are not marks, then one sees the Tathāgata." If someone understands it this way—regarding everything they perceive (like the content displayed on a TV screen), being able to constantly and everywhere recognize that all of it is the illusory manifestation of the substance and functions within the tathāgatagarbha (like the TV screen itself)—has such a person then realized the tathāgatagarbha? Is that so?

Answer: All of the above is the mind consciousness's crudest, most superficial understanding; there is no actual realization, and it is not observed through direct perception. No matter who says it, it all belongs to mere understanding. Because those things are spoken of in the sūtras, and others speak of them too—whatever is spoken by others does not belong to one's own personal realization. Personal realization means realizing what specific role the tathāgatagarbha plays in the five aggregates, and this requires practicing Chan, putting in real effort to investigate. Without any effort at all, relying merely on one's own feelings and guesses, understanding just a little bit—actually, what specific role the tathāgatagarbha plays is completely unknown, and all ignorance remains intact.

Believing that all dharmas are like the content within a TV screen is not personal realization and cannot be called realization. Believing that all dharmas are created by the tathāgatagarbha, and that we all live within the one true dharma realm—this is not enlightenment. If a single sentence from the Buddha could enable sentient beings to become enlightened so easily, then the Buddhadharma would be far too easy. Even a three-year-old child who hears this sentence and roughly understands a bit of it would count as enlightened. Then how effortless becoming a Buddha would be! The karmic obstructions of birth and death over countless kalpas upon countless kalpas would not obstruct anything at all, and all that ignorance would count for nothing. In reality, nothing so easy exists.

Without having practiced Chan, without having investigated and gathered evidence, without having collected data and proof, how could the manas confirm that these statements are the truth and accept them with faith? True awakening to the truth requires knowing the details of how the eighth consciousness operates—specifically how it gives rise to all dharmas, how it gives rise to the five aggregates and eighteen realms of sentient beings. All of this must be understood, all of it must be known, and all six perfections of the bodhisattva must be cultivated. It is not a matter of understanding some portion of content—those portions were spoken by the Buddha or by others; no matter how much you understand and elaborate on them, it is not something you have personally contemplated, investigated, and realized through your own verification. Without observation through direct perception, the mind cannot rest on solid ground—it remains deeply insecure.

From this kind of understanding to actual realization—perhaps it takes one year, perhaps thirty years, perhaps a hundred years, perhaps ten thousand years, perhaps a countless kalpa; there is no telling. What the mind consciousness understands is useless; it vanishes the moment it vanishes. Even the mind consciousness itself does not know or realize the details, let alone the manas. At the critical moment, it is still the manas that takes charge. If the manas has not confirmed it, ignorance remains, and all the mind consciousness's understanding becomes like child's play at the time of death, dissolving into bubbles, unable to determine the destination of future lives.

Ask yourself "why" often in your mind, and resolve all the whys—perhaps that brings you close to the edge of realization, but it still may not be realization. Such is the Buddhadharma: sacred and beyond speculation.