What the Manas Wants Is Evidence and the Process of Proof

Each day one can take the physical body as the object of observation, contemplating that the physical body becomes a pile of particles, and acknowledging that it is illusory, transformed, and unreal. Practice this contemplation whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, and the elimination of the view of body will probably come quickly. Results: 1. The physical body will be unobstructed and healthy; knowing its illusory and unreal nature, the view of body is eliminated. 2. Meditative concentration (samādhi) will be accomplished. 3. The capacity for contemplation will improve, and various kinds of meditative absorption (samādhi) can be achieved.

Practice contemplation in sequence: first contemplate the skin, then contemplate the other parts inside, expanding bit by bit, until the entire body fully appears as a state of fluctuating particles, confirming that it is subject to arising and ceasing, impermanent, and not self.

Science has proven that all material form seen by our naked eyes is not a real realm-appearance. Cognitive ability, obscured by ignorance, is very inferior. Therefore, in our cultivation we must remove ignorance and folly, so that we are not deceived by ourselves, and can recognize the truth and return to the origin.

We have seen these thirteen images; even if the mind consciousness understands them, has the manas also understood them? No! Even if the mind consciousness repeats this principle to the manas ten thousand times, the manas will not understand it, will not cognize this principle.

Then what should be done? One must actually practice contemplation within meditative concentration, letting the manas come to recognize and understand bit by bit on its own. He needs to know why; what He wants is evidence, a process of proof, not a conclusion. With a correct process of proof, the manas will naturally arrive at a correct conclusion—and that is realization.

For example, take the phrase "all dharmas are without self." If the mind consciousness recites it in the mind constantly, moment after moment, every day, for twenty years, will the manas truly understand why all dharmas are without self? The entire world of the five aggregates, the whole world of the three realms and all dharmas, is the one true dharmadhatu; the whole of it is suchness. If the mind consciousness tells the manas this every day, after twenty years can the manas truly understand this principle?

The manas of every sentient being has gone through immeasurable kalpa after immeasurable kalpa of birth and death, of suffering upon suffering. Yet even now, has the manas recognized how fearsome birth and death are? Has the manas recognized the suffering of life? Has the manas recognized the impermanence of the five aggregates? Does the manas have any thought of seeking liberation?

None of these. It still needs to rely on the Buddha's teachings, to be steeped in the Dharma of the Four Noble Truths, and no one knows when the manas will come to recognize suffering and wish to escape it. It is evident that no matter what the manas experiences, it will not automatically understand the principle. It must undergo deep deliberation (manana), search for evidence, and repeatedly prove it over and over, until the evidence is conclusive—only then will the manas accept this principle.

If the mind consciousness recites the phrase "the five aggregates are illusory" one hundred thousand times, can the manas thereby recognize that the five aggregates are illusory? Absolutely not; the reasoning is the same as above.

If we practice contemplation like this every day, then we will be able to understand that material form is being renewed and transformed moment after moment; we will be able to understand that material form does not arise, change, and cease naturally on its own; we will be able to understand that clothes do not wear out naturally on their own, that people do not age naturally on their own, and that houses do not decay naturally on their own. It is not that after the tathāgatagarbha gives birth to dharmas, it no longer concerns itself with them; all material things are managed by the tathāgatagarbha. The particles of the four great elements are given to matter by the tathāgatagarbha, and the constant arising, ceasing, and transformation of these particles is the result of the tathāgatagarbha's functioning. The one true dharmadhatu means exactly this.

The thirteen images presented by scientists are evidence, but one still needs to carefully practice contemplation within meditative concentration, deliberating and acknowledging it oneself. Another person's conclusion is not one's own conclusion; the mind consciousness's conclusion is not the manas's conclusion. Each deliberates and each arrives at their own conclusion; one cannot substitute for the other.