The Imaginings of Mind Consciousness Cannot Replace Actual Practice.

Sometimes after learning some Buddhist teachings, the mind consciousness feels that it can clearly change everything, can command the wind and rain, that with a bit of effort anything can be accomplished, that there are no difficulties, and that even becoming a Buddha is not that hard. Yet in reality, one cannot control even a single thought of one's own mind; when clinging stubbornly to something, one simply cannot let go, and one's bodily, verbal, and mental actions cannot be changed at all. What is going on here? Because there is no realization through the manas, whatever the mind consciousness takes for granted, understands, or thinks is useless—it cannot land on solid ground; one has strength but cannot exert it, and one often feels helpless. Therefore, even if one feels that becoming a Buddha is extremely easy, one must still honestly pass through the three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas; even if one feels that attaining realization and seeing the mind is as easy as eating cabbage, one must still cultivate the Four Right Efforts, the Seven Factors of Enlightenment, and the Noble Eightfold Path step by step, honestly uphold the precepts and cultivate meditative concentration (samādhi), cultivate the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, and honestly complete the bodhisattva's six perfections. None of these paths of practice taught by the Buddha are useless ornaments; they must be actually carried out. For the vast majority of people, it is already quite good if they can complete these prerequisite conditions in a lifetime. If these conditions cannot be perfectly fulfilled, then relying on the mind consciousness's reasoning and speculation to attain realization and see the mind will be of no avail. 

Why is this said? Because actual practice and realization involve the manas. In the process of cultivating the thirty-seven factors of enlightenment and the bodhisattva's six perfections, one is constantly immersing and training the manas, changing the manas's ingrained views. Only when the cultivation reaches the proper stage can the manas's views be changed, and then everything changes along with the change in the manas—only then can one attain realization and see the mind. But the manas is not so easily made to change its stubborn views; if the manas does not change, nothing can be changed. Therefore, in learning Buddhism one must still honestly engage in actual practice. The mind consciousness's imaginings are useless; even if one feels one can become a Buddha tomorrow, it will still only happen after three great immeasurable kalpas. Some people also hold forth grandly about not taking marks and making discriminations, about the mind dwelling nowhere and grasping nothing—but that should be discussed when one reaches the stage of a several-bhūmi bodhisattva; pre-bhūmi bodhisattvas (pūrvabhūmika bodhisattvas) simply cannot do it. The mind consciousness eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa), the mind consciousness attaining realization, the mind consciousness seeing the mind, the mind consciousness becoming a Buddha—try it in a dream first and see whether it works or not.