The merit of possessing the four wisdoms of direct realization (the highest worldly dharma, laukikāgra-dharma) (determination mental engagement, adhimokṣa-manaskāra)

Original text: 若行境界。由失念故。虽起猛利诸烦恼缠。暂作意时速疾除遣。又能毕竟不堕恶趣。终不故思违越所学。乃至傍生亦不害命。终不退转弃舍所学。不复能造五无间业。定知苦乐非自所作。非他所作。非自他作。非非自他无因而生。

Explanation: A practitioner who possesses the four wisdoms of direct realization, when situated amid sense objects, due to a momentary lapse of mindfulness, may give rise to fierce entanglements of afflictions; yet with only a moment of mental engagement (manaskāra) he can swiftly dispel those entanglements. Moreover, he will ultimately never fall into the evil destinies, will never deliberately think of transgressing what he has undertaken to learn and practice, and will not harm even the life of an animal. He will never regress or abandon what he has learned and practiced, and can no longer commit the five acts of immediate retribution. He knows for certain that suffering and happiness are not made by himself, not made by another, not made by both himself and another, nor are they born causelessly apart from himself and another.

Original text: 终不求请外道为师。亦不于彼起福田想。于他沙门婆罗门等。终不观瞻口及颜面。唯自见法得法。知法得法。证法源底。越度疑惑。不由他缘。于大师教。非他所引。于诸法中得无所畏。终不妄计世瑞吉祥。以为清净。终不更受第八有生。具足成就四种证净。如是行者。乃至世第一法已前。名胜解作意。

Explanation: He will never seek out adherents of non-Buddhist paths as teachers, nor will he regard them as fields of merit. Toward other śramaṇas and brāhmaṇas and the like, he will never gaze at their mouths and faces, watching their countenances, valuing what they say, or obtaining the Dharma from their mouths; he only sees the Dharma and attains the Dharma by himself. Seeing and attaining the Dharma on his own, he realizes the very depths and source of the Dharma, transcends and crosses over all doubts, and this does not depend on external conditions. Being able to realize the depths of the Dharma is due to the instruction of good spiritual friends (kalyāṇamitra); it is not drawn from anywhere other than the good spiritual friends. The practitioner is fearless amid all dharmas, and will never falsely cling to the various auspicious signs and omens of the world as being purity. He will never again undergo an eighth birth in existence, and he perfectly accomplishes the four attestations of purity. Such a practitioner, up until before the stage of the foremost worldly dharma, is said to be engaged in the mental engagement of adhimokṣa (resolute conviction).

After a practitioner has attained the four wisdoms of direct realization and cultivates the four aids to penetration (nirvedha-bhāgīya), all contemplative practice prior to the fourth aid—the foremost worldly dharma—is called the mental engagement of resolute conviction. This means that the deliberation and investigation done before direct, present-moment realization should all be called resolute conviction and comprehension of the Dharma. Only after such resolute conviction can one observe and attain it through direct perception, which is called actual realization. Actual realization occurs from the stage of the stream-enterer and above, whereas resolute conviction resides in the stage of the stream-enterer's aspiration or in the foremost worldly dharma among the four aids to penetration; only after the four aids to penetration can one actually realize and see the path. Therefore one should observe one's own wisdom as it truly is: is it wisdom of direct perception, or resolute conviction, or mere conjecture, inference, and analysis? Only by understanding the level of one's own wisdom can one properly plan the next step of one's cultivation.

A practitioner who possesses the four wisdoms of direct realization never obtains or knows the Dharma from elsewhere, and does not take what others say as the ultimate refuge. He relies on his own direct observation to attain realization. The matter of seeing and attaining the Dharma can only be accomplished through one's own power of investigation and contemplative practice; others cannot help with it. What others point out and instruct cannot substitute for one's own direct contemplative practice. Doubts must be resolved by oneself through contemplative practice; what others say cannot dispel the doubts within one's own mind, because it is not what one has personally seen and realized. Some people try every means to extract the fruits of others' cultivation. The Buddha-Dharma is such that whoever cultivates it obtains it; what is extracted from others cannot become one's own, nor can one thereby attain the wisdom of seeing the path. With the Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra as a guide, the principles of the Dharma become ever clearer. As for realizing the fruits and awakening to the true mind, there is nothing anyone can do if they refuse to accept it—otherwise, they may go and take the matter up with Bodhisattva Maitreya himself.