Consciousness Attainment is a Misguided Path in the Dharma Ending Age

Within the Saha World, there are numerous bypaths in cultivation. Without substantial wholesome roots and merits, it is truly difficult to discern the correct direction, especially in subtle matters. Without having walked that path, one can easily go astray. Even a minor detour is sufficient to waste an immense amount of cultivation time, and extricating oneself is not easy, let alone major detours, which are even harder to discern and withdraw from. Is the issue of realizing the fruition and illuminating the mind merely a matter of the conscious mind attaining realization, or must the manas (mental faculty) together with the conscious mind realize the fruition and illuminate the mind? Is this question a minor detour or a major one? Is the notion that one can realize Bodhi without severing afflictions a major detour or a minor one?

The issue of realizing the Dharma is the most significant matter for both individual sentient beings and the entire Buddhist community. It is a critical issue of life and death, a pivotal turning point. Therefore, while any other Dharma teaching may be mistaken, this issue absolutely must not be wrong. If this issue is mistaken, it becomes a fundamental problem of principle, a major issue concerning the fate of sentient beings and Buddhism itself.

As we approach the Dharma-Ending Age, the number of detours in Buddhist cultivation and realization increases. In ancient times, people learning Buddhism engaged in cultivation and practice, whereas most modern learners of Buddhism can only be said to study, rarely involving cultivation and practice. Yet, among the ancient practitioners, awakening was slow and rare, while among learners in the Dharma-Ending Age, awakening seems fast and common. Isn’t this highly abnormal? Of course, it is extremely abnormal. The future extinction of the Dharma will occur precisely here, extinguished at the very root of cultivation and realization. Without genuine realization, the Dharma will struggle to endure. Therefore, for many years, I have been expounding on manas realizing the fruition and manas illuminating the mind, having written several books on manas, fearing that the Dharma might be rapidly manipulated into extinction.

I have explained manas realizing the fruition from every conceivable angle without omission, yet there are still obtuse scholars and teachers who stubbornly refuse to accept this principle, not daring to acknowledge it. For once they acknowledge it, their own fruition status in both Mahayana and Hinayana would vanish, disappear, and cease to exist, reducing them to mere ordinary beings. How unwilling they are! But acting this way is highly irrational. It is the behavior of those who do not prioritize the path, who do not take the Dharma and truth as their refuge. Evading facts is not the conduct of a true gentleman; it is an expression of self-attachment.

If sentient beings possess deep wholesome roots and merits, even if they encounter detours, they will ultimately emerge from them through their own wholesome roots and merits, returning to the correct path. Therefore, every Buddhist practitioner should cultivate merits extensively and plant wholesome roots abundantly to ensure they do not enter detours in this life or future lives, possessing the eye for discerning the Dharma and the power of discrimination, avoiding being misled and falling into evil destinies. As the Dharma-Ending Age approaches, opportunities to cultivate merits and plant wholesome roots increase. Those who genuinely aspire to attain the Way and have made great vows should seize every opportunity, planting wholesome roots and merits abundantly. Not only will they benefit immeasurably across lifetimes, but they will also accelerate the process of Buddhist cultivation and realization, attaining wisdom and liberation sooner, benefiting themselves and others.