Why do we still feel that all dharmas are very real even after knowing they are illusory?

Question: I clearly know that all dharmas are illusory, yet when I see mountains, rivers, the great earth, flowers, grass, and trees, why do they still seem so real? And why do sensations of cold, heat, touch, and pain also still feel so real?

Answer: One's belief that all dharmas are illusory is based on knowledge learned from Buddhist sutra teachings; it is acquired knowledge, not yet realized through personal verification, lacking direct-perception experience and observation. Therefore, this kind of knowing is tantamount to not knowing. Only after actual practice and attaining genuine realization, at the very moment of contacting each dharma, can one personally experience and feel it. Only then are one's perception, sensation, and cognition real, direct-perception, trustworthy, and reliable. Acquired knowledge has no credibility, cannot be relied upon, and is riddled with doubts. After realizing that all dharmas are illusory, if one wishes to transform all dharmas and no longer be bound by them, one needs to cultivate the four dhyānas and eight meditative absorptions, transcending the domain of the aggregate of form, the domain of the aggregate of feeling, the domain of the aggregate of perception, the domain of the aggregate of volitional formations, and the domain of the aggregate of consciousness. Only in this way can one be liberated from all dharmas, transcend all dharmas, and transform all dharmas.

Even if many people can recite the Buddhist sutras from memory backward and forward, they still cannot eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi), cannot attain seeing the mind and seeing the nature, much less realize the illusory nature of all dharmas. So claiming that one can eradicate the view of self after listening to just one lecture is pure fantasy; even after listening to a million lectures, one might not even touch the edge of eradicating the view of self. This is because it cannot be realized merely by listening with the ears. What is heard is knowledge and theory; for theory to become actuality and become one's own direct-perception wisdom, it must pass through many stages of processing, and completing these stages requires paying a considerable price. Without paying any price at all, just leisurely listening to lectures, those dharmas are like the sound of wind passing by the ears—flashing by without leaving much of a trace. Moreover, this assumes those dharmas are taught correctly and without error; if there are errors, eradicating the view of self becomes even more remote and unattainable.

The eradication of the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) in the Small Vehicle and the seeing of the mind and seeing of the nature in the Great Vehicle are both cognitions of wisdom, correcting previous wrong views (mithyā-dṛṣṭi). Cognition of wisdom cannot yet change the state of the dharmas themselves; the state of the dharmas themselves is changed through meditative concentration (samādhi) and the power of supernatural powers, which includes three modes of cultivation: śamatha, samāpatti, and dhyāna. Only after all three modes of cultivation are brought to perfection can the body, mind, and world be completely transformed, transformed into the pure and perfect realm of a Buddha. At that point, the Buddha Way is accomplished. The specific methods of cultivation are all found in the Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment.