The Difference Between the Gate of Understanding and the Gate of Practice

Understanding, as the name suggests, means comprehension—entering through the principles, deliberating and digesting them, including imagining, reasoning, organizing, summarizing, speculating, and so on. It can also be described as preparatory work before realization. If this preparatory work is carried too far, affecting and obstructing the deepening of contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), then direct realization becomes very difficult to attain. In short, the gate of understanding is entry through principles; it is the digestion and dissolution of principles. This is the easiest and least laborious method of approach for studying Buddhism and practicing, and beginners all remain stuck at this stage, unable to get past it.

Practice, as the name suggests, means action—after understanding and grasping the principles, taking action in order to realize them, such as contemplative practice, investigation, initial application and sustained examination (vitarka-vicāra), and so on. The gate of practice involves concrete action; only action can achieve the goal, whereas understanding has not yet been put into practice and lacks the power of action, so it cannot achieve the goal. The steps of implementation include keeping precepts, cultivating meditative concentration (samādhi), eliminating evil and cultivating goodness, subduing afflictions, repenting of karmic obstructions, and removing hindrances; then, within concentration, investigating Chan, probing, personally experiencing, contemplating, and many other methods of practice. This is a process of practice that is indispensable for realizing and personally verifying the Buddha's Dharma. The saying "true knowledge comes from practice" expresses exactly this principle. Without this process, true knowledge cannot emerge; even if one knows something, it is not true knowledge.

Many people do not clearly understand the distinction between understanding and practice, and cannot tell them apart. They often mistake the gate of understanding for the ultimate gate of practice and the final place of entering the Path, blocking their own gate to enlightenment—a great pity. Understanding is like imagining; practice is like contemplation. Contemplation and imagination differ greatly: imagination is entirely adding a realm out of nothing, equivalent to what the secular world calls "making things up in one's head"—no realm automatically presents itself, let alone a state of meditative absorption (samādhi). Even if one imagines and fabricates with complete accuracy, it does not equal having contemplated it. Contemplation, on the other hand, is when the practice has matured: the realm naturally presents itself, appearing spontaneously and automatically, and then one sees the realm as it truly is. The realm is seen exactly as it is, with nothing extra added, and moreover a state of meditative absorption will appear along with it.

Those who claim enlightenment without being enlightened are basically in the following situation: they take the Dharma they have imagined to be the realized Dharma they have contemplated—a very serious misunderstanding. The difference between direct perception (valid direct cognition) and imagination—probably one hundred percent of people cannot distinguish it clearly. Therefore, among almost all who believe themselves enlightened or are believed by others to be enlightened, nearly one hundred percent have a greater component of imagination, not directly perceived observation; their contemplative practice is severely insufficient. The reason I have not said that all enlightenment is one hundred percent false enlightenment is that one should leave some room when speaking—also showing mercy in speech, not wanting to hurt people, still less wanting to offend people and make everyone hate me.

Only after realization and personal verification can understanding and practice correspond. What one has understood is confirmed; what one has realized accords with what one has understood. After confirmation, questioning doubt ceases, the bonds and fetters cease, coarse afflictions cease, and one's bodily, verbal, and mental actions accord with and conform to the principles. Principle and phenomena achieve initial perfect harmony, no longer diverging from each other: what one says is in accord with principle, what one does accords with reason, mind and mouth are as one, body and mind are consistent. There is no phenomenon of speech and action running counter to each other, of bodily, verbal, and mental actions running counter to principle. Only when understanding and practice do not correspond is this the case—which indicates that there has been no realization.