Comparison Based on Reasoning and Imagination Do Not Equal Realization

The meaning of bodhi, summed up, refers to all the Buddhadharma that should be fully possessed on the path to buddhahood; its levels, from shallow to deep, are many. The very first is the elimination of self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi), which includes the first fruit through the fourth fruit of liberation in both ways; then comes the Mahāyāna awakening to the true mind, realizing the fundamental tathāgatagarbha of bodhi, all the way to the perfectly luminous four wisdoms of the buddha-bhūmi. Realizing the tathāgatagarbha counts as realizing bodhi, but it does not equal realizing all of bodhi, because the nature of the tathāgatagarbha is deep, vast, and boundless; only when it is realized in full does one realize anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi. Therefore, realization is only a beginning—there are still many dharmas that must be realized one by one before bodhi can be brought to perfection.

If one merely knows that the tathāgatagarbha participates everywhere, that the shadow of the tathāgatagarbha is present everywhere, that all dharmas are the tathāgatagarbha, and that the whole is thusness itself, this is only a theory the mind consciousness has learned from books; it does not yet involve the manas and has nothing to do with the manas. Such a theory is not a conclusion drawn after one's own actual realization—it is merely learning words. Without actual realization, even one's understanding is not deep enough; one cannot even be said to know that it is so, let alone know why it is so. Then how can the problem of birth and death be resolved? If you can pry open a crack in your vision and peer a little bit inside, you will come to know a little bit of the truth.

After some people learn the theory that the whole is thusness itself, they play clever tricks and begin to exercise their imagination, saying: this is also thusness, that is also thusness, everywhere is thusness. Then, self-assuredly they say: "Haven't I attained enlightenment?" And so they go off to seek someone's certification.

If you can see how the tathāgatagarbha concretely exists and manifests, that would be quite remarkable—you could be said to have genuinely awakened. In studying Buddhism, one must first eliminate self-view; only when the principle that the five aggregates (pañcaskandha) are not self has been thoroughly understood will seeing the true mind afterwards not be difficult. For example, everyone knows that electric current flows inside the wires, yet the current cannot be seen; one can only see its applications—it makes the rice cooker cook rice, makes the washing machine wash clothes; when the hand touches the current, one is shocked into numbness and trembling—yet even this does not count as realizing the electric current. Seeing the washing machine wash clothes and knowing there is electric current relies mostly on understanding from theoretical knowledge; not yet knowing the concrete functioning of the current, it does not count as realization.