The Arising of the Mindfulness Awakening Factor is a Prerequisite for Realizing the Dharma

The first of the seven factors of enlightenment is the mindfulness factor of enlightenment (smṛti-saṃbojjhaṅga). It means that after studying a certain dharma, one understands this dharma, recognizes this dharma, and remembers this dharma. Once the dharma has entered the mind, the mind holds this dharma, and in daily life one can recollect and hold this dharma, think of this dharma, and contemplate this dharma; when encountering sense objects, one can then observe this dharma as it really is — this is the prerequisite for realizing the dharma. If even one link or step in the middle is missing, then neither the mindfulness factor of enlightenment nor the seven factors of enlightenment are complete, and the dharma cannot be realized. And once the dharma has entered the mind and can be recollected and held, there is no longer any need to study this dharma every day with one's hands never leaving the books; otherwise, the mindfulness factor of enlightenment has not yet arisen. So at what stage of learning Buddhism and cultivating practice can one have the mindfulness factor of enlightenment?

What kind of person, after finishing the study of a dharma, no matter how they study it, cannot let it enter the mind, cannot remember it, cannot recall it, and must rely on books to understand the dharma, to contemplate the dharma expounded in the books? Those in whom the mindfulness factor of enlightenment has not yet arisen have no impression of or interest in the dharma; that is how it is — their power of mindfulness is very weak. Only after one's interest has been raised, after one knows the importance of the dharma, can the mind now and then keep the dharma in mind.

For example, after studying the Small Vehicle dharma that the five aggregates are without self, one knows from reading the books that the six sense objects — form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas — are all empty, false, and unreal. Yet after leaving the book, when one turns around and encounters the realms of the six sense objects, upon seeing forms one is still very picky and very concerned, wanting the best and unwilling to let oneself suffer the slightest grievance; upon hearing sounds one is still very picky and very concerned; upon smelling scents, one is still very picky and very attached to fragrance and stench; when encountering touch and dharmas, it is the same — very picky and attached, completely forgetting that just a moment ago one was still reading the sentence that the six sense objects are illusory and unattainable. These phenomena show that this person has not taken the dharma of the emptiness and falsity of the six sense objects into the mind, lacks the capacity to recollect and hold it, and cannot contemplate and observe it; the mindfulness factor of enlightenment has not yet arisen. Then when will one realize the impermanence and non-self of the six sense objects? There is no date — perhaps in the year of the donkey, perhaps in the month of the horse.