Only by Removing the Defilement of Ignorance from the Seventh Consciousness Can One Attain Great Wisdom

Some people say that consciousness without discrimination is purity. This view is clearly incorrect. Purity refers to a state in which the conscious mind discriminates all dharmas while engaging in bodily, verbal, and mental actions without defilement; a mind that discriminates without the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, and without ignorance—such a mind is pure. If the conscious mind ceased all discrimination, humans would be unable to live and function normally. When ignorance is present, the conscious mind cannot be pure; it discriminates perversely or unclearly, lacking wisdom, and thus fails to correctly understand the dharmas. Many dharmas become difficult to observe; one cannot clearly perceive or comprehend anything.

For the seventh consciousness to possess the discrimination of great wisdom, it must eliminate defilement and eradicate ignorance. When ignorance is completely severed, the discrimination of wisdom reaches perfection, enabling the perfect comprehension of all dharmas. If the seventh consciousness is free from ignorance, it ceases to be perverse and can perfectly and clearly comprehend all dharmas. The mind that perfectly comprehends all dharmas is a mind endowed with wisdom, and a mind endowed with wisdom is untainted. The absence of the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, as well as ignorance, is called "untainted." The presence of afflictions and ignorance is called "tainted." The less ignorance the conscious mind possesses, the more truthfully and thoroughly it can perceive the reality of all dharmas during discrimination. When ignorance and taint are present, the discrimination of the conscious mind is incomplete and obstructed. The greater the obstruction, the narrower the mind's capacity becomes, the more limited the scope of cognition, the shallower the depth of understanding, and the more deficient the wisdom. When the conscious mind cultivates to the untainted state, wisdom becomes vast—even immeasurably and boundlessly vast. It can perceive truths previously unobservable, thoroughly and penetratingly comprehending all human affairs, phenomena, and principles, perfectly and clearly penetrating to the ultimate reality and truth.