What is Direct Realization?

Original text of the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, Volume 34:由能知智与所知境和合无乖。现前观察。故名现观。如刹帝利与刹帝利和合无乖。现前观察名为现观。婆罗门等当知亦尔。

Explanation: Because the wisdom that knows the true dharma and the four Noble Truths that are known merge together, with no divergence between the two, this direct present observation is called direct realization (abhisamaya). For example, when a kṣatriya and a kṣatriya merge together without divergence and are directly observed in the present, this is called direct realization. The same should be understood for brahmins and so on.

The wisdom that knows refers to the sixth and seventh consciousnesses, which are able to see, know, and realize the dharma, possessing the wisdom of truthful observation. The known realm refers to the principles and dharmas observed by the sixth and seventh consciousnesses, such as the principle of the four Noble Truths and the dharma of prajñā, and so on. When wisdom and realm merge together without contradiction, this direct present observation is called direct realization.

Merging without divergence, without mutual contradiction, lies mainly in the wisdom realm, or the level of wisdom, of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses. When the wisdom is sufficient to correctly observe and cognize the dharma, it does not diverge from the principle-dharma, and it is direct present observation—not conjecture, inference, imagination, or analysis. As for dharmas existing in the present, whatever the facts are, that is what they are; direct perception observes and direct perception cognizes—this is called direct realization. At the moment of direct realization, the dharma is realized, and the dharma-knowledge and analogous knowledge are attained. Without direct realization, there is no dharma-knowledge or analogous knowledge, and no fruit of realization.

How does one distinguish whether the observation of a dharma is direct present observation or not? For example, in observing the truth of suffering, one feels that the five aggregates are suffering. After directly observing in the present that the five aggregates are suffering, one's inner cognition of suffering becomes very profound; at all times and in all places, with every thought, one perceives the suffering of the five aggregates, and with every thought one wishes to escape suffering and extinguish suffering. This mental state forms uninterrupted attention (manaskāra), without interruption. Uninterrupted attention is the attention generated by the manas; it is the manas that has perceived suffering, not merely remaining on the surface of the mind consciousness—this is the result of direct present observation.

Suffering that is not directly observed in the present does not form uninterrupted attention; it is intermittent, sometimes present and sometimes absent. One often forgets suffering and still pursues pleasure; the mind of renunciation is not strong, the capacity for awakening is not high, and the power of action is even weaker. When a pleasurable state appears, one loses oneself, sinking deep into the pleasurable state and no longer knowing suffering; one still has great hopes for the future, fantasizing about obtaining pleasure and maintaining pleasure. Thus, feeling suffering on one side while pursuing pleasure on the other—a state in which the mind and behavior contradict each other—is not direct present observation of suffering. Because those who lack direct realization have insufficient discriminating wisdom, they often mistake this situation for direct perception, believing they have realized the dharma; in fact, they are still quite a long distance from realization.

The common characteristics of those who do not directly observe in the present are: afflictions are not removed, ignorance is not severed, words and deeds do not match, the exterior and interior do not match—saying one thing and doing another, pointing east while heading west. The mouth speaks of emptiness, yet in behavior one clings to existence everywhere, with not a single place being empty; the mouth speaks of no-self, yet at all times and in all places there is self, which cannot be concealed even when one tries. Because there is no realization, they do not know the state of body and mind after realization, nor do they know that what they think and do is contrary to the state of realization; therefore they simply cannot conceal their characteristics as ordinary beings (pṛthagjana).