Intellectual Understanding Is Not Realization

Permanence, bliss, self, and purity are the four virtues of nirvāṇa. Permanence means that the Buddha's undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna) no longer undergoes seed transformation, forever remaining constant and unchanging. Bliss means that all of the Buddha's karmic obstructions have been exhausted without remainder; there are no seeds of suffering feeling left in the undefiled consciousness, and all that remains are seeds of wholesome karma yielding blissful feeling and neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā), with retributive feeling (vipāka-vedanā) being the bliss of cessation. Self means that in the Buddha's undefiled consciousness all seeds of arising-and-ceasing karma have been extinguished, no longer burdened by karmic obstructions—it is complete self-nature, and thus can be called "self." Purity means that the Buddha's undefiled consciousness has extinguished all defiled seeds, being thoroughly pure and undefiled.

The eighth consciousness is also obscured by karmic obstructions. If there were no karmic obstructions, it would manifest boundless meritorious functions, its light illuminating the great trichiliocosm—just like the Buddha's undefiled consciousness, with no dharma it does not pervade, no dharma it does not encompass, no dharma it does not manifest. But sentient beings' eighth consciousness is limited by karmic obstructions: it cannot manifest extremely many supremely wondrous realms, cannot transform and create emanated bodies of sentient beings, cannot transform and create Buddha-lands, and cannot universally cognize all objects. What is meant by the eighth consciousness being limited is that it possesses infinite, inexhaustible meritorious functions that cannot be brought forth—not that it lacks supreme meritorious functions. At the buddha-stage, the eighth consciousness is no longer subject to any limitation, and all its meritorious functions are brought forth in full. 

Do you understand and know all the principles above? Could you explain them to others? In the study of the Dharma, all understanding and knowing fall upon the mind consciousness, not upon the manas. Even though one has understood and known, one is still a hundred and eight thousand miles away from realization—indeed perhaps even farther than a hundred and eight thousand miles. Even if one could explain to others and write a hundred books, one would still be a hundred and eight thousand miles from realization. Regarding the non-self of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha), even if one can understand it all and know it all, and one's understanding may be very deep and thorough, it is still not realization; perhaps one is still extremely far from realization. Regarding the eighth consciousness, no matter how one understands and knows it—however deep that understanding may be, even to the point of being able to infer and fathom the functions of the eighth consciousness—it still counts as understanding, not realization; perhaps one is still extremely, extremely far from realization. Many people take this kind of understanding to be realization, and those with eloquence go around expounding the sūtras and teaching the Dharma in the capacity of good teachers, speaking with a torrent of words. But no matter what, any dharma that enters through the ears and exits through the mouth is not realization. 

Su Dongpo's understanding of the Buddha-dharma was: "The eight winds cannot move me; I sit upright on the purple-gold lotus." The Chan master's assessment was: "Fart!" When Su Dongpo saw this, he immediately became displeased: I wrote something so good, and you call it a fart? So he crossed the river to find the Chan master and have it out with him. The Chan master said: "Aren't you the one unmoved by the eight winds? Why did you come rushing over to settle accounts with me over a single word, 'fart'?"