Esteeming the Manas Is Esteeming Direct Realization

Why, in the Dharma-ending age, is it necessary to demonstrate extensively the nature, functions, and roles of the manas, and to distinguish it as much as possible from the mind consciousness? Because sentient beings of the final age are restless and superficial, their roots of goodness are scant, their greed is heavy, their merit is thin, they are unwilling to keep the precepts—keeping precepts is difficult, and cultivating meditative concentration is also difficult—their minds lack purity. Buddhist practitioners generally focus on acquiring knowledge, often taking the theories they have learned and the emotional conjectures and intellectual interpretations of the mind consciousness as realization, and taking the results of speculation, inference, and research as realization. They thereby delude themselves and then go on to mislead others, collectively committing the grave karma of great false speech and collectively falling into the fiery pit of the three lower realms. If one understands the nature of the manas, one will know what genuine realization looks like and how it differs from emotional conjecture and intellectual interpretation; one will understand the crucial pivot and key points of realization, and thus avoid falling into such errors, so as not to commit the offense of great false speech.

Sentient beings in the Buddha's era had deep roots of goodness and abundant merit, their afflictions were slight, their minds were pure, and their meditative power was strong. After learning the theoretical portion, they would spontaneously and conscientiously engage in deep and detailed contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), so realization was relatively easy. Because they possessed profound dhyāna, whatever dharma they learned could penetrate deep into the manas. As long as they attained realization of the fruits, it was true realization, not the false realization of the mind consciousness. Moreover, the Buddha personally verified and confirmed it. The Buddha's wisdom and supernatural powers are limitless, so his confirmations were extremely accurate, without any error; he would never mislead his disciples into claiming realization without having realized it, thereby damaging their progress on the path.

Even the monastic and lay practitioners before the Ming and Qing dynasties often possessed deep meditative concentration, and the conditions and environment for cultivating concentration were relatively good. Especially during the Tang and Song dynasties, Buddhist practitioners all emphasized dhyāna and samādhi; with meditative concentration, they could engage in contemplative practice and reflection. As long as the theories they learned were correct, realization was relatively easier, and the phenomenon of emotional conjecture and intellectual interpretation was very rare. If there was realization, it was true realization; the only difficulty was that scriptural teachings were hard to obtain. Therefore, sentient beings of that time could attain realization even without understanding the functions and roles of the manas.

In today's world of study and practice, many people cannot keep the precepts and cannot cultivate meditative concentration, and can only focus on learning theoretical knowledge. In this way, realization is impossible; without realization, one cannot practice accordingly, and it is mostly "Chan of the mouth"—speaking the principles eloquently and fluently, yet the mind does not accord with the Path, and greed, hatred, and delusion still prevail. Without meditative concentration, afflictions cannot even be subdued or suppressed—let alone severed. This is why Buddhist communities are even more chaotic than the secular world, with even fiercer strife: not only do they cling to worldly fame, reputation, and offerings, they also cling to personal interests within the Buddhadharma, so that their afflictions are even worse than those of the secular world.

In this era where "sages" fly everywhere, fake seals are stamped recklessly, and desires run rampant, it is necessary to emphasize keeping the precepts and meditative concentration, and necessary to emphasize realization through the manas, in order to save those who claim realization without having realized it—those who commit great false speech—from falling into the three lower realms when their lives end, and to keep them from harming other students of the Dharma, leading them together into the fiery pit.