眾生無邊誓願度
煩惱無盡誓願斷
法門無量誓願學
佛道無上誓願成

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Dharma Teachings

16 Jun 2018    Saturday     3rd Teach Total 644

Direct Realization Alone Transforms Manas

How does the manas change? Only through direct experiential realization can the manas be changed; nothing else can alter it. For example, a child does not understand the danger of fire. When an adult tells them not to play with fire, they do not listen. Only after being burned one day do they recognize the severity of fire and stop playing with it. This is because the manas has directly experienced the danger of fire. Without further thought or observation, it immediately accepts this, immediately remembers, and immediately decides never to play with fire again—thus the manas changes its habit of playing with fire. Similarly, while it is widely publicized that smoking harms health, smokers cling to a sense of complacency until they develop lung disease, at which point they finally quit. When the manas directly experiences the harm of nicotine, it changes the habit of smoking. Many examples illustrate that the manas only believes and changes after personally experiencing and directly realizing something, and the degree of change corresponds to the depth of belief.

Attaining the fruits of enlightenment follows the same principle. When the manas directly realizes the selflessness of the five aggregates and the eighteen elements, it changes and attains the merit and benefit of liberation. The degree of change corresponds to the depth of realization, from the first fruit to the fourth fruit. As the manas progressively deepens its direct realization of the selflessness of the five aggregates and eighteen elements, its understanding continuously deepens. Upon fully realizing the selflessness of the five aggregates, the ignorance arising from a single thought is completely eradicated, self-attachment is fully severed, and one is liberated from the three realms of existence, ceasing all karmic creation. In the first three fruits, the depth of the manas's direct realization is still insufficient; afflictions and the ignorance of a single thought have not been fully eradicated, so karmic creation persists, and immediate liberation from the three realms is not yet possible. Even for a wisdom-liberated Arhat, insufficient meditative concentration and lack of direct realization of spiritual powers result in limitations for the five aggregates, preventing complete freedom of movement.

If the manas does not eradicate the view of self at the first fruit, when will it do so? It must eradicate the view of self eventually—but when exactly? It occurs at the first fruit. Afterward, through deeper practice, afflictions and the ignorance of deluded thoughts are eradicated. This involves further profound contemplation and reflection on the dharmas of the five aggregates and eighteen elements. As the wisdom of selflessness deepens continuously, the manas gains more evidence, realizes more profoundly, and changes more significantly, ultimately eradicating afflictions, severing self-attachment, and eliminating craving for the three realms. This pertains to the Hinayana path.

This illustrates the varying degrees of eradicating the view of self. Differences in wisdom lead to varying degrees of transformation in the manas. From the first to the fourth fruit, the differing levels of wisdom attained by the manas regarding the selflessness of the five aggregates result in different fruition stages, varying levels of presence or absence of afflictions, and differing degrees of subduing and eradicating self-attachment. The same applies to attaining the fruits in the Mahayana path. The varying depths of realizing the Tathagatagarbha result in different levels of wisdom, differing extents of eradicating ignorance, and distinct fruition stages.

In the Mahayana context, upon directly realizing the Tathagatagarbha, the manas changes accordingly. The degree of change corresponds to the depth of realization, progressing until the realization at the Buddha stage, where the manas is completely transformed, fully turning consciousness into wisdom, requiring no further transformation. The Buddha then abides in the non-abiding nirvana.

——Master Sheng-Ru's Teachings
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