What State of Realization Is Enlightenment?

What is the realm of realization and awakening? The first sentence of the Heart Sutra says: "When Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva practiced the profound prajñā-pāramitā, he illuminated and saw that the five aggregates (pañcaskandha) are all empty, and thereby crossed over all suffering and adversity." Practicing the profound prajñā-pāramitā, he illuminated and saw that the five aggregates are all empty. This means that at the very moment one realizes the tathāgatagarbha, the mind endowed with prajñā wisdom, the mind is empty. The key word here is "practiced," which means investigating through Chan the meaning and principles of prajñā. "Profound" refers to two things: one is depth of meditative concentration (samādhi), and the other is depth of the wisdom of investigation, with a clear direction. On the premise of this profundity, the sixth and seventh consciousnesses give rise to great wisdom, which wisdom illuminates the real suchness of the dharmadhātu, realizing that all dharmas within the five aggregates in the dharmadhātu are manifested by the prajñā mind, the tathāgatagarbha, and that the substance of the five aggregates is empty—false appearances, illusory and transformed phenomena.

In this way, deep in one's heart one knows that the five aggregates are not real, and thus there is no suffering; in an instant one crosses over all suffering and adversity. All suffering and adversity are false appearances, unreal, illusorily manifested by the tathāgatagarbha. After thus illuminating and seeing that the five aggregates are all empty, the mind becomes empty and non-active, and afflictions are eliminated. This is the merit and benefit of attaining realization of the tathāgatagarbha through seeing the path of the Mahāyāna. This is the manas seeing the path, the manas attaining the samādhi realm of realizing the tathāgatagarbha, complete in both samādhi and wisdom, the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā. The so-called "illuminating and seeing" means sudden enlightenment—there is no time or effort of slowly understanding through pondering, analyzing, and deliberating; one knows or one does not know, without hesitation. 

After thus illuminating and seeing that the five aggregates are all empty, is it still necessary to additionally accomplish the transformation of the basis as tathāgatagarbha before it can be called realization and awakening? Not at all. This is genuine, unambiguous realization and sudden enlightenment, not that kind of gradual interpretive awakening, gradually clarified through analysis and inference. One has thus already entered the gate of the Mahāyāna and obtained genuine merit and benefit. If one uses the mind consciousness to reason, ponder, and guess at the tathāgatagarbha, such guessing and reasoning has no merit or benefit whatsoever, and therefore one must slowly accomplish the transformation of the basis. Yet no matter how hard the mind consciousness strives at the transformation of the basis, if the manas has not realized it, the transformation of the basis still cannot be accomplished. Consequently, a whole pile of messy affairs cannot be dealt with—afflictions remain afflictions, ignorance remains ignorance.

This is like those who take meditative concentration as Chan: they cultivate a samādhi in which not a single thought arises, and take this to be the thought-free realm of the true mind, mistaking the false for the true. But after emerging from concentration, deluded thoughts appear again. Because they fear in their hearts that the true mind will disappear, they constantly cultivate concentration, remaining in long-term meditative concentration, striving not to leave concentration, in order to preserve and maintain the state of concentration and ensure the true mind is not lost—calling it, in fine-sounding terms, "preserving and maintaining." However, the state of concentration will eventually vanish, and one must eventually emerge from concentration. Even if one did not emerge from concentration for countless kalpas, the state of concentration is still not the self-nature of the true mind. If one has truly awakened, what is there left to preserve and maintain? If one has truly realized the true mind, what is there left to transform? It is right here and now; at this very moment the mind is empty and pure—the carp leaps over the Dragon Gate. Having leaped over the Dragon Gate and become a dragon, would one still fear leaping back and turning into a carp? Only if one has never leaped over the Dragon Gate at all, with a heart trembling in fear, anxious about gain and loss, would one need preserving and maintaining, and the transformation of the basis.