Why are material form and mind dharmas composed of a series of images?

Ru Zhao: Just now, I suddenly had an insight: this world is not dynamic, but is composed of one photograph after another. Seeing all people, things, and affairs as if they were composed of one picture after another, I no longer take all sorts of people and things particularly seriously; it feels like looking at photographs. The reason for this insight is that a few days ago my hand was scratched by a cat, and I watched with my own eyes as a streak of blood appeared on the back of my hand, and then the blood seeped out drop by drop. At the time I did not feel any pain, nor did I take this matter to heart. Deep inside (the manas) was thinking about something, but I do not know exactly what it was thinking.

After several days, the mind consciousness suddenly understood: all dharmas are composed of one picture after another. These pictures form what seems to be a continuous animation and psychological feelings. After having this insight, body and mind immediately became stable. Death is also like this—the material form in the animated film changes bit by bit, including the conscious mind; each comes from where it came from and returns to where it came from. All dharmas neither increase nor decrease, and there is no movement or turning. Looking at people and things in the external world becomes more and more like watching an animated film; even in dreams I am now stable, no longer rushing about, expending effort, or investing emotion in various scenes, and my sleep has also improved a great deal.

In the past I have always been observing myself, and many times I could sense the manas popping up to become active—each time I caught it, I caught it accurately. I thought: since I can catch the manas accurately, how should I catch the eighth consciousness? Theoretically I know it all—that which gives birth to and cooperates with the five aggregates is the eighth consciousness—but the manas does not truly understand, and I cannot attain enlightenment. So I stopped thinking about it, not letting the mind consciousness ponder it, burying this idea deep down, and continued cultivating and continuing to apply effort. I feel this method works quite well.

Assessment: All dharmas in the material world and the mental world arise, cease, and change moment by moment; they are not continuous. The preceding moment ceases, the following moment arises; the dharma of the preceding moment and that of the following moment are not the same one, but two different dharmas. Because these moment-by-moment connected dharmas evolve with extreme rapidity, the naked eye simply cannot detect the difference between before and after, and one mistakenly believes that the dharma has always existed, unborn and unceasing, feeling it to be very real. Thus grasping mind and actions arise, and from this the karmic actions of birth and death are produced.

The reason Ru Zhao has gained some insight into this dharma is that she cultivates very diligently, can give rise to the great bodhi mind, actively and earnestly cooperates with her master in propagating the Dharma to benefit sentient beings, has cultivated great merit, and her afflictions and afflictive obstruction (kleśāvaraṇa) have been effectively subdued. For this reason, her contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) is very good; she can objectively observe herself and others, and has finally gained a precious insight into the phenomenal world.

Was this insight on the part of the mind consciousness or of the manas? Mostly the mind consciousness, with a small part from the manas. Therefore, after this, the manas kept secretly and silently pondering and experiencing the question of how the pictures are composed. After mulling it over for several days, it understood the principle within, and let the mind consciousness know it. Because the manas gained the insight, both body and mind became stable, sleep also became stable, no longer worrying about the world of the five aggregates, and no longer fearing death.

Ru Zhao studies the nature of the manas very diligently; her concentration and observational ability are fairly good, and her observations of the manas feel fairly accurate, so she wanted to go a step further and be able to observe the eighth consciousness. But before attaining enlightenment, relying on the mind consciousness to think and ponder leads easily to intellectual understanding but not realization; one can only cultivate honestly, step by solid step. Through actual practice the mind becomes at peace; through realizing the Way the mind becomes even more at peace. If one can realize, do not merely understand—after merely understanding, it becomes very troublesome.