The Knowing of Mind Consciousness Occurs on Many Levels

Jun Ruolan's contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā): Sharing the process of contemplating the workings of the mind consciousness and the manas.

Closing my eyes, quiet. The mind consciousness clearly understands that seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing are not the self; understanding this is easy. So the mind consciousness throws out a question: Are seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing the self? This sentence, understood by the mind consciousness, slowly sinks downward, landing on an infinitely vast and solid energy body. One can be aware that this energy body, since beginningless kalpas, has taken seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing to be itself; that grasping is so solid, as if it had permeated every single cell.
That slowly descending sentence made the energy body's interior stir slightly, but it still could not strip away that grasping.

Are seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing the self? The mind consciousness keeps asking this. Then there seems to be panic within, with doubt, and also unwillingness to accept it; my back began to tremble slightly, and I felt like shedding tears. When such strong emotional feelings arose, at first I thought it was entirely a manifestation of the manas. When I continued to deepen my contemplative practice, I then understood that although this feeling involved a stirring of the manas, it was still mostly the feeling of the mind consciousness.
Because when I once again calmed my mind and felt that enormous energy body, I discovered that it still grasped at seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing as the self, just as before. This grasping is not expressed in words and language; it is presented as a kind of feeling.

Only then did I understand that in many cases, when we think we have greatly stirred the manas, although there is a very strong feeling and experience, it is still mostly the feeling of the mind consciousness. Because the manas's grasping since beginningless kalpas is engraved in the bones and permeated into the cells—how could it easily undergo a huge change from a single session of contemplative practice?

This discovery is just as observed above: after a great feeling arose, when I again calmly contemplated that enormous energy body, I found its grasping still there, and still so deep and heavy. Perhaps there was a slight stirring, but that slight stirring, compared to its overall grasping, was not enough to bring about a great change in it.

In sharing this passage, what I want to express is that this kind of stirring contemplative practice needs to be carried out again and again, countless times. One must never lightly assume that because a great feeling or experience appeared, the manas has fully accepted the correct understanding. We need the spirit of the foolish old man who moved the mountains; we must not be overly optimistic and self-confident, yet we must also not stop moving forward. Because the manas's grasping will always, under our deepening contemplative practice, diminish little by little.

Assessment: The mind consciousness's cognitive wisdom has many levels. As meditative concentration (samādhi) progresses, the mind consciousness's cognitive wisdom continually strengthens, deepens, becomes concrete, refined, and precise. The mind consciousness's true wisdom is also the wisdom after enlightenment; before that, it is never ultimate and will be changed and corrected. The deeper the meditative concentration, the wiser the mind consciousness, and the greater its role in perfuming and inspiring the manas. The more concrete the mind consciousness's cognition, and the more evidence and realization it has, the greater its perfuming and inspiring effect on the manas. Therefore, the mind consciousness's superficial, general knowing has little effect, like scratching an itch through a boot; only deep knowing can touch the manas.

The manas's cognitive wisdom also has many levels. As meditative concentration deepens and as the mind consciousness's wisdom becomes perfected, the manas's wisdom grows ever deeper. When it reaches a certain depth, it will decisively sever its former cognition, completely turn around its views so that they become insight, and enlightenment is realized. Many people, when the mind consciousness's knowing is still very shallow, believe they have realized it; in fact, realization is still very far away—perhaps several kalpas must pass before reaching the edge of realization. One must know that the mind consciousness's deep wisdom does not easily arise either.

Jun Ruolan's case belongs to using wisdom to lead into concentration: using the super-strong wisdom of the mind consciousness to fix the mind on the dharma being contemplated in the present moment, without distraction or scattered thoughts, so that the mind consciousness's cognition of the dharma gradually deepens and penetrates, driving forth the manas's cognition; then continually strengthening the cognition of both the mind consciousness and the manas, from which further wisdom arises—this is called advancing level by level. Those with strong wisdom can use wisdom to lead into concentration; those with weak wisdom can only cultivate concentration step by step, and then engage in contemplative practice to give rise to wisdom. But because their wisdom is weak, it is not easy to settle the mind; they need repeated pulling back and forth before the mind can be temporarily settled. So as long as there is wisdom, anything can be worked out; the prerequisite is having merit (puṇya), for merit is the foundation of all cultivation.