Imagination Based on Ideas Is Not Equal to Actual Realization

The meaning of bodhi, taken as a whole, refers to all the Buddhadharma that should be fully possessed on the path to buddhahood. Its levels, from shallow to deep, are many: the first is the elimination of self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi), encompassing the first fruit through the fourth fruit of arhatship with liberation in both ways; then comes the Mahāyāna awakening to the true mind, realizing the fundamental tathāgatagarbha, all the way to the perfectly luminous four wisdoms at the buddha stage. Realizing the tathāgatagarbha counts as realizing bodhi, but it does not equal realizing the entirety of bodhi, because the nature of the tathāgatagarbha is deep, vast, and boundless; only when it is realized in full is anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi realized. 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 merely a theory learned from books. Such a theory is not a conclusion drawn after one's own actual realization—that 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 one can open a crack in one's vision and peer a little further inside, one will come to know a little bit of the truth.

Some people, after learning the theory that the whole is thusness itself, play clever tricks and begin to exercise their imagination, saying this is thusness and that is also thusness, that thusness is everywhere, and then self-assuredly declare: "Haven't I attained enlightenment?" They then go seeking someone to certify their realization.

If one can see how the tathāgatagarbha concretely exists and manifests, that would be quite remarkable—it could be called true enlightenment. Studying Buddhism means first eliminating self-view; only when the principle that the five aggregates (pañcaskandha) are not self is thoroughly understood will seeing the true mind afterward not be difficult. For example, everyone knows that electric current flows inside 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 this still does not count as realizing the electric current. Seeing the washing machine wash clothes and knowing there is electric current relies mostly on theoretical understanding; not yet knowing the concrete functioning of the current, it does not count as realization.