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

Understanding, as the name implies, is comprehension, starting from principles and involving mental digestion, including imagination, reasoning, organization, induction, speculation, and so forth. It can be considered preparatory work before actual realization. If this preparatory work is overdone, affecting and hindering the deepening of contemplative practice, it becomes difficult to achieve personal realization. In summary, the approach of understanding enters through principles, involving the digestion and dissolution of principles. This is the easiest and least strenuous starting point for Buddhist study and practice, and beginners often remain stuck at this stage, unable to progress beyond it.

Practice, as the name implies, is action. It refers to the actions taken after comprehending and mastering the principles, with the aim of achieving realization, such as contemplative practice, investigation, examination, and so on. The approach of practice involves concrete actions; only action can achieve the goal. Understanding alone, not yet put into practice, lacks the power of action and cannot accomplish the goal. Implementation steps include upholding precepts, cultivating concentration, abandoning evil and cultivating good, subduing afflictions, repenting karmic obstacles, removing hindrances, and then engaging in various practical methods within concentration, such as Chan investigation, inquiry, experiential realization, contemplative practice, and so forth. This is an essential process of practice for the actual and personal realization of the Dharma. The saying "practice yields true knowledge" encapsulates 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, often mistaking the approach of understanding for the ultimate approach of practice and the final entry into the path. They thus block their own gate to awakening, which is truly regrettable. Understanding is like imagination, while practice is like observation. Observation and imagination are vastly different. Imagination is the complete fabrication of a state out of nothing, equivalent to what is commonly called "mental fabrication" (脑补). No state spontaneously manifests, and certainly no samadhi state arises. Even if the imagined fabrication is completely accurate, it does not equate to having observed it. Observation, however, occurs when one's skill matures; the state spontaneously manifests, presenting itself automatically and consciously. One then perceives the state exactly as it is, without adding anything extra. Moreover, it is accompanied by the arising of a samadhi state.

Those who claim awakening without having attained it are essentially in the following situation: they mistake the Dharma imagined in their minds for the Dharma observed and realized through practice. This misunderstanding is severe. The difference between direct perception and imagination is something almost one hundred percent of people cannot clearly distinguish. Therefore, nearly all who consider themselves awakened or are considered awakened by others are, almost without exception, relying more on imagination than on direct perception. Their skill in contemplative observation is severely lacking. The reason I do not say that all claimed awakenings are one hundred percent false is to leave room in my speech, to be merciful with my words, not wanting to hurt others, nor to offend anyone and make everyone resent me.

Only after actual realization and personal realization can understanding and practice correspond. What one understands is confirmed; what one realizes aligns with what one understands. After confirmation, doubts are eliminated, bonds are severed, coarse afflictions are cut off. One's physical, verbal, and mental actions align with and correspond to the principles. Phenomena and principles are preliminarily harmonized and do not contradict each other. What one says is in accordance with principle; what one does is reasonable. Heart and speech are one; body and mind are consistent. There is no phenomenon of speech contradicting action, or physical, verbal, and mental actions contradicting the principles. When understanding and practice do not correspond, it indicates the absence of actual realization.