What Buddhist Practitioners Learn Is the Buddha's Mind and Conduct

The eighth consciousness does not cognize specific dharmas or the objects of the six sense-objects; that is what the seventh consciousness cognizes, and also the content cognized by the six consciousnesses. The essential natures of the true mind and the deluded mind, and the content they respectively correspond to and cognize, must be strictly distinguished; only in this way can one have correct understanding and wisdom. If the eighth consciousness knows but the mind consciousness does not know, what use is that? Only when the manas knows and the mind consciousness knows does it have meaning and function.

Even if one can read ten thousand books yet does not understand their meaning, that is not true diligence either. The fundamental purpose of studying the Dharma is to gain wisdom, not to amass countless items of knowledge and learning, not to study for the sake of studying, and certainly not to study for others to see. Therefore, in order to gain wisdom, what we should do and how we should do it is something we ought to ponder carefully. A student of Buddhism learns the Buddha's mind and conduct; it is not about collecting all of the Buddha's words, but rather, through the Buddha's words, understanding the Buddha's mind, and then learning the Buddha's mind and emulating the Buddha's conduct. Only in the end can one be equal to the Buddha without difference, and be compassionate toward others.