Enlightenment Without Distinguishing Reality from Illusion Is Mere Speculation and Conjecture

The mental faculty integrates the six consciousnesses to operate collectively upon forms, sounds, scents, tastes, tactile sensations, and dharmas. It can be said that this is the combined functioning of the eight consciousnesses, involving both the true mind and the deluded mind. The absence of either would prevent the arising and functioning of any dharma. Therefore, when some claim to have attained realization regarding a certain dharma, yet within the operation of that dharma both true consciousness and deluded consciousness are present, what exactly is realized? Is it the true mind, the deluded mind, or the combined entity of true and deluded? If this crucial point remains unclear, any claim of realization or non-realization is fundamentally indistinguishable.

Some might say, "I know that the Tathāgatagarbha exists within this dharma; that is my realization." However, within this dharma, the seven consciousnesses also exist. Without the Tathāgatagarbha, the seven consciousnesses alone could not bring any dharma into existence. How then could it function? To arbitrarily attribute the functions and roles of the seven consciousnesses to the Tathāgatagarbha results in realizing nothing more than the combined entity of the eight consciousnesses. What kind of realization is that?