He now is just me; I now am not him.

Question: Who does "he" refer to? Who does "I" refer to? What is the relationship between the two? Master Dongshan pointed at his reflection in the river and said: You right now are precisely me, yet I am not you. The reflection is the five aggregates manifested and reflected by the eighth consciousness; it comes from the eighth consciousness and is the shadow of the eighth consciousness. Speaking from the ultimate meaning of Yogācāra, the five aggregates can be said to be the eighth consciousness, but the eighth consciousness is certainly not the five aggregates. These dharmas can be understood just by thinking them over and pondering them—nothing extraordinary. You may call it intellectual understanding, or you may say there was no intellectual understanding; but to call it realization requires a thorough examination from the inside out and from top to bottom. Examine what? Examine whether his mind has changed and whether wisdom has arisen. Because realizing that the five aggregates are merely a shadow must come as quite a shock, with waves surging in the mind—everything one previously believed and grasped was wrong. What state is the mind in at that moment? For someone who has not realized it many times over, for someone without the power of knowing others' minds, how could one know whether this person has realized it or merely understood it intellectually? Ordinary people absolutely cannot detect it—one could say one hundred percent cannot detect it—they can only parrot what others say. Realization is great wisdom; being able to accurately examine whether someone has realized it is an even greater wisdom, far, far greater than the wisdom of realization itself. 

Realization enables one to observe the comparatively simple and coarse operation of the eighth consciousness directly in the present, which intellectual understanding cannot compare with. With intellectual understanding, there is only a hazy shadow in the mind, something that cannot be articulated clearly, not knowing exactly how the eighth consciousness operates or how the five aggregates are born. No matter how much theory he expounds, there is not a single bit of precise, detailed content—like floating on the surface of the water, unable to enter the water, not knowing the situation beneath. Some people claim to be great bodhisattvas who have awakened and realized the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha, yet for years this "great bodhisattva" has never expounded even a slightly detailed account of how the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha, operates—only vague, fuzzy, broad-brush theories. Those theories could roughly be figured out just by reading the sūtras and the treatises of the bodhisattvas; there is nothing remarkable about them. As for the Chan koans, by watching the masters gesturing and posturing when they ascended the seat to receive students, one can roughly glean a little something; imitating their manner, quite a few people can do it too—nothing remarkable. Even the little young disciple of the One-Finger Chan master could also use the one finger, outwardly just like his master, yet it was not Chan. Modern people's capacity for fakery is unparalleled, true in both the secular world and Buddhism, caused by heavy karma, heavy afflictions, and a heavy sense of self. 

Those who imitate the gestures and postures of the Chan patriarchs may be said to have intellectual understanding, or may be said not even to touch the edge of intellectual understanding. Taking the function of the mind consciousness to be the function of the eighth consciousness—this is an outsider's path (non-Buddhist view). Taking the combined function of the eight consciousnesses to be the sole function of the eighth consciousness—this is inference and speculation. Laypeople absolutely cannot see through it and are often left dumbfounded, thoroughly intimidated. This trick can deceive even the heavens, because sentient beings' insight is far too shallow—they are truly foolish and easily intimidated. So when you are deceived, you should turn back and examine yourself: why were you able to be deceived? Why are other people clear-eyed and sharp-minded, not deceived? When you accidentally bump into someone on the street and that person glares at you and says: "I am a noble one who has realized the fruit—how dare you bump into me?" Upon hearing this, you just burst out laughing, say "sorry," and that is the end of it. There is no need to be surprised, and no need to say anything more.