The Reasoning of Mind Consciousness Is Not Equal to Contemplative Practice and Investigation.

When cultivating meditative concentration and contemplating the breath, the mind consciousness should only observe the breathing—knowing the breath coming in and going out, knowing whether the breath is long or short—without adding an extra thought asking what the source of this knowing is. Do not concern yourself with what this knowing will ultimately turn out to be; that is a matter for later. Since the result has not yet emerged, do not speculate. The mind consciousness's reasoning is merely its wishful thinking, and wishful thinking can never solve problems. Only when the mind consciousness and the manas are both willing can things be resolved perfectly in one seamless stroke, and only then will the final result appear as it truly is—that is what is called realization.

The mind consciousness's reasoning is not bad in itself, but it is merely a signpost. Whether one actually walks and how one walks still depend on the manas's decision. If the manas does not make the decision, no matter how the mind consciousness points the way, it is useless. Sometimes, when the mind consciousness does not reason, problems can still be solved smoothly; reasoning actually delays matters. If the direction is correct, not reasoning may allow one to proceed faster and more steadily. Using the mind consciousness too much is not a good thing: the more the mind consciousness is used, the more incompetent the manas becomes; and when the manas is incompetent, it means you as a whole person are incompetent. If the operating and command system has problems, how can anything be operated at all?

Cultivation is something done by a "fool." If one is too clever, one will not do things in a steady, honest manner. Let the mind consciousness point out the general direction, then just close your eyes and rest, quietly supervising—do not meddle too much. Once the manas, relying on its own ability, walks out and reaches the destination, its capability is incredibly powerful. But if it has to be dragged along by the mind consciousness, the manas becomes feeble-minded and incompetent, and no great thing can be accomplished.

The mind consciousness's reasoning is, in essence, deluded thinking. Deluded thinking means not having seen; once one has seen, it is no longer called deluded thinking. Some people use the mind consciousness to imagine an eighth consciousness performing some function in some place, and then define this as seeing the mind and attaining enlightenment—no need to eradicate afflictions, no need to cultivate meditative concentration; at most, if the mind can settle down for a few minutes or a dozen minutes, one can supposedly see the Path. Everyone should be able to know what the consequences of doing this are. If this counts as enlightenment, then dreams would count too: if you dream of mountains of gold and silver, you should get rich when you wake up. But a dream is, after all, not reality, not fact—how can the speculations and various machinations of the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) be taken seriously? If you want great wisdom, genuine wisdom, then earnestly cultivate meditative concentration, contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), and investigation. Do not let the mind consciousness flexibly and cleverly deduce results; if the manas does not accept that result, everything the mind consciousness does is wasted effort.