How to Check Whether It Is Understanding-Based Awakening or Realization-Based Awakening

When Chan Master Dongshan crossed a river, he saw his reflection in the water and suddenly awakened, composing the verse: "He now is precisely me, yet I now am not he." Question: Who does "he" refer to? Who does "I" refer to? What is the relationship between the two? Chan Master Dongshan pointed at the reflection in the river and said: "You now are precisely me, yet I am not you." The reflection is the five aggregates manifested by the eighth consciousness; it comes from the eighth consciousness and is the shadow of the eighth consciousness. Speaking from the ultimate meaning of Consciousness-Only, the five aggregates can be said to be the eighth consciousness, but the eighth consciousness is certainly not the five aggregates.

These dharmas can be understood simply by pondering and mulling them over—nothing extraordinary. You may call it intellectual understanding, or you may say there was no intellectual understanding; but to call it direct realization requires a thorough examination from the inside out and from top to bottom. Examine what? Examine whether his mind has changed and whether wisdom has arisen. Because upon realizing that the five aggregates are merely a shadow, one is surely greatly astonished, with waves surging in the mind—everything previously believed and grasped was wrong. What is the state of the mind at that moment? For someone who has not realized many times, and who lacks the power of knowing others' minds, how could one know whether this person has achieved direct realization or mere intellectual understanding? Ordinary people absolutely cannot detect it—one could say one hundred percent cannot detect it—they can only parrot what others say.

Direct realization is great wisdom; being able to accurately verify whether someone has realized is an even greater wisdom, vastly greater than the wisdom of realization itself. Direct realization enables one to observe the eighth consciousness operating in the present, in a relatively simple and rough manner, which intellectual understanding cannot compare with. With intellectual understanding, there is only a vague, hazy shadow in the mind—something that cannot be articulated clearly—one does not know exactly how the eighth consciousness operates or how the five aggregates are born. No matter how much theory he expounds, there is not a single bit of accurate, detailed content; it is like floating on the surface of the water, unable to enter the water, knowing nothing of what lies beneath.

Some people claim to be great bodhisattvas who have awakened and realized the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha. Yet for many years, these great bodhisattvas have never expounded even slightly detailed accounts of how the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha, operates—only broad, vague, sweeping theoretical frameworks. Those theories could roughly be figured out by reading the sūtras and the treatises of the bodhisattvas; there is nothing remarkable about them. As for the Chan koans, by watching the masters gesture and gesticulate when ascending the hall to receive students, one can roughly glean a little something. Imitating their example, quite a few people can do it too—nothing remarkable. Even the little disciple of the One-Finger Chan master could gesture with a single finger, outwardly just like his master, yet it was not Chan. Modern people's capacity for fakery is unparalleled, true from the worldly realm to Buddhism—caused by heavy karma, heavy afflictions, and a heavy sense of self.

Those who imitate the maneuvers of the Chan patriarchs, gesturing and gesticulating, may be said to have intellectual understanding, or may be said not even to touch the edge of intellectual understanding. Taking the function of the mind consciousness to be the function of the eighth consciousness—that is an outsider's path (non-Buddhist view). Taking the combined functions of the eight consciousnesses to be the function of the eighth consciousness alone—that is inference and speculation. Laypeople absolutely cannot see through it and are often left dumbfounded, thoroughly intimidated. This trick can deceive even the heavens, because sentient beings' insight is too shallow—they are truly foolish and easily intimidated. So when you are deceived, you should turn back and examine yourself: why were you able to be deceived? Why do others have clear eyes and bright minds and are not deceived? When you walk down the street and accidentally bump into someone, and that person glares at you and says: "I am a noble one who has realized the fruit—how dare you bump into me?" Upon hearing this, you just burst out laughing, say "sorry," and that is the end of it. There is no need to be surprised, nor to say anything more.