How to Master the Key to the Cultivation and Realization of the Buddha Dharma

Question: The conclusions I generally arrive at are ones where the mind consciousness first holds something in doubt, and then after a while a thought suddenly pops up in my head and the doubt is dispelled. What is going on here?

Answer: This is an idea given forth by the manas, though it is not yet ultimate. So while the mind consciousness appears on the surface to have stopped making effort, in fact the manas has not rested and let go; the manas has been deliberating all along. Because the data supplied by the mind consciousness is insufficient, the manas cannot deliberate out a very satisfactory result.

There is only a lazy mind consciousness, never a lazy manas. Therefore, in practice one must still keep urging on the mind consciousness, engaging in much contemplation and contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), actively collecting data and gathering material, so that the manas possesses more evidence—then realization and enlightenment will come quickly.

When the mind consciousness is not thinking—when it is doing other things—and an answer suddenly appears, the mind consciousness has not been deliberating; that is a provisional conclusion reached by the manas. Why does it seem sudden? Because the deliberating function of the manas is something the mind consciousness simply cannot observe. When the manas understands, it alerts the mind consciousness, and the mind consciousness feels that the understanding came suddenly, and so the mind is astonished: Wow! So that's how it is!

If it is a problem the mind consciousness has been thinking about all along, then the understanding comes bit by bit in a continuous stream; it does not feel sudden, there is no astonishment, no surprise—one is mentally prepared.

Once you have mastered and learned to apply these methods and processes of contemplation, you have also grasped the key to the cultivation and realization of the Buddhadharma; your capacity for logical thinking will improve, and from then on your cultivation and realization of the Buddhadharma will proceed rapidly.