Contemplative Practice Transforms the Manas

Through contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) and investigation of the four elements—earth, water, fire, and wind—within meditative concentration (samādhi), one finds that they have no place of coming and no place of going, that they are devious and illusory. From this, one can arrive at the Hīnayāna conclusion of emptiness and nothingness, and thereby no longer regard water as a real dharma, nor as something possessed by self, nor as belonging to self. As for the Mahāyāna contemplative practice, being able to contemplate and realize that these are born from the tathāgatagarbha is extremely difficult. Understanding it, however, is not difficult; contemplating the emptiness of water from the Hīnayāna perspective is also easy to understand. But understanding is, after all, merely understanding, and cannot be taken as realization. Some may say, "I truly acknowledge that earth, water, fire, and wind are all empty, illusory, and without self; I am very certain, and I have already eradicated doubt." But this kind of certainty is still the certainty of the mind consciousness; the manas has not yet become certain. It is rather difficult for the manas to become certain, because ignorance is deep and heavy, and the habitual tendency of regarding dharmas as real is quite entrenched and not easily shaken. Only long-term cultivation through immersion can loosen its views, or transform its cognition.