Seeing Is Believing, Hearing Is Not

Question: Among the first seven consciousnesses, the true master of the household is the manas. Ordinary people believe that the mind consciousness is the master, thinking that whatever the mind consciousness understands and accepts constitutes one's own realm of wisdom. But eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) and attaining realization, or even seeing the mind and attaining enlightenment, is no trivial matter. It requires the manas to deny its own reality, which fundamentally contradicts the deep view of self and afflictions of self-grasping that the manas has accumulated over countless lifetimes. No matter how the mind consciousness contemplates the Buddha-dharma and cultivates correct knowledge and views, the effect it produces on the manas is very small. In this matter, the most persuasive thing is to enable the manas to have direct contemplation—that is, in meditative concentration (samādhi), to let the manas directly contemplate the illusory, arising-and-ceasing nature of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) and the seven consciousnesses. Faced with a realm of direct perception, the manas cannot but acknowledge that the five aggregates are not the self. Only then can it truly be said that the view of self has been eradicated. Seeing the mind is the same: it also requires the manas to directly contemplate the functioning of the tathāgatagarbha and acknowledge the existence of this true mind.

To use a worldly analogy: some people, educated in materialism from childhood, will not believe anything you say about religious faith, karma, and rebirth, no matter how you explain, and will even say you have gone mad. But as soon as someone displays a supernatural power, they believe instantly, more firmly than anyone else. Most people believe that seeing is believing. Is realization the same way?

Answer: Seeing is believing—that means the manas has realized it. If the eyes have not seen it and it is only heard about, the manas does not believe it. From the phrase "seeing is believing, hearing is unreliable," we can know whether it is the mind consciousness alone that realizes something, or the manas realizing it at the same time. Of course, they realize it at the same time. The phrase "seeing is believing" is wonderfully apt, for it allows us to clearly distinguish the mind consciousness from the manas. True belief is a matter that comes after realization; before realization, the mind consciousness has only heard about it without seeing it. When it is seen, the manas believes, because it has been personally realized.

By the same reasoning, eradicating the view of self and realizing non-self works the same way. The manas only acknowledges realms of direct perception; if the manas has not realized it and not seen it, it will not believe. "Hearing is unreliable" means the mind consciousness has merely heard about it, and the manas does not believe and dares not acknowledge it in its mind. It becomes increasingly clear that as long as one genuinely puts in the effort, the Buddha-dharma is actually not difficult to realize; questions one does not understand now will gradually all come to be understood.

When eradicating the view of self and seeing the mind, what is the manas doing? What is its mental state, its mental activity, its wisdom? If you clarify this, great wisdom will arise, and the subsequent contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) will be like the sun at high noon, shining brightly, with wisdom bursting forth uncontrollably. When eradicating the view of self and attaining enlightenment through seeing the mind, it is also the manas that is the master, because in every dharma whatsoever, the manas is the master. When the mind consciousness engages in contemplative practice, the content of that practice is transmitted to the manas moment by moment, but the manas does not easily accept or believe it; not accepting and not believing means the manas does not understand and has not realized it. Once the mind consciousness presents a fact or a realm of direct perception, the manas immediately accepts and believes it, and as master declares: "Right, yes." The manas is the master with respect to every dharma and at every moment; it is absolutely impossible that when eradicating the view of self and seeing the mind, He would cease to be the master—utterly impossible. Therefore, eradicating the view of self and seeing the mind are the manas's realization through direct perception, the manas's belief, and the manas's decision as master. This is beyond any doubt.