Reasoning Is Not Direct Perception

The Buddha knows and perceives all dharmas with direct perception—what something is and what it is not, He knows it in the very moment, without any need for inference at all. Only when one cannot know something through direct perception does one resort to inference, which shows that the wisdom of the manas and the mind consciousness is insufficient, and one must rely on inference to obtain accurate information. The Buddha, however, possesses unsurpassed wisdom, perfectly complete in both merit and wisdom, and there is no dharma that He does not know through direct perception.

Bodhisattvas at the causal stage and all sentient beings do not have perfect wisdom; there are still dharmas that they cannot know and realize through direct perception, and therefore they are sometimes compelled to use inference. The more they use it, the more it reveals a deficiency in their wisdom. Those with sufficient wisdom know in the very moment, without any obstruction. Therefore, it is said that during the process of investigation and verification, if one uses the method of inference, it shows that this person lacks the wisdom of direct perception and has no choice but to adopt a secondary method, an unskillful method, to obtain information. Moreover, inference is similar to guessing and conjecturing; when one's power of observation and judgment is insufficient, one can only conjecture and guess, making judgments in a manner that cannot be certain, and the conclusions drawn are not based on direct perception and cannot be entirely correct—even if entirely correct, it would be mere coincidence and happenstance.

Those with the wisdom of direct observation express their views with complete certainty; those with insufficient wisdom express themselves in half-affirmative sentences; those without wisdom express themselves in interrogative sentences, showing a lack of confidence. Those who use inference lack confidence; when others raise doubts and challenges, their minds will waver and falter, lacking firmness, which shows that they have no assurance about the source from which they obtained their information.

In short, in the process of cultivating and realizing the Buddha-dharma, inference is merely an auxiliary means, to be used only when there is no alternative; one should then use the method of investigation to verify the correctness of the inference. Because inference employs the mind consciousness, while genuine investigation and verification employ the manas, and the manas is the master, the conclusions He reaches are naturally weighty and resounding, forceful and unshakable, and no one can do anything about them. Conclusions reached by the mind consciousness are not like this—He does not take charge, and must wait for the one in charge to approve before the final gavel falls, so the mind remains unsettled and anxious. At the final critical moment of cultivating and realizing the Buddha-dharma, it is better, more wonderful, and more ultimate to use the mind consciousness sparingly or not at all. This is the conduct of a great person, not something that those of small faculties and small capacity can compare with.