How to Avoid Intellectual Enlightenment

Nowadays many people worry that in their practice of the Great and Small Vehicles they will only achieve intellectual understanding (jie wu), which will hinder their future realization. So now there is a question: how can one avoid mere intellectual understanding?

What is the situation of intellectual understanding? Intellectual understanding means one has become very familiar with the Dharma teachings, the practice approach of the Great and Small Vehicle teachings is already very clear, one almost definitively knows that it is that principle, that it is that way, as if there were no more doubts. But this still remains at the level of determination (adhimokṣa) regarding the Dharma; there is still some distance from realization. Although quite a few people at this point already consider themselves enlightened, and can also easily be guided and certified as enlightened. After determination there are still mindfulness, meditative concentration, and wisdom; only when that final true wisdom—the wisdom of the manas—is developed is it true awakening. Before that, there is still a long stretch of arduous road that must be walked; this stretch of road is extremely difficult and hard to endure, and one can only pass through it by means of perseverance, effort, power of vows, power of faith, power of fortitude, and power of compassion, arriving at a temporary endpoint, or what may be called the goal, the destination.

After the mind consciousness has achieved determination regarding the Dharma, one must still steep and lead the manas to also achieve determination; even after the manas has achieved determination it still does not count as enlightenment. One must form a power of mindfulness that is uninterrupted from thought-moment to thought-moment; only when the power of mindfulness matures can the power of meditative concentration appear; only when the power of meditative concentration is complete can wisdom be developed, and the wisdom of seeing the path of the Great and Small Vehicles appear—recognizing that path, realizing that path, confirming that path—only then can one never regress from the bodhi path of the Great and Small Vehicles, and never lose the merit of seeing the path. Otherwise, upon encountering conditions one will easily regress from the bodhi path, because the mind consciousness understands but the manas has not seen clearly, so it is the most normal thing for it to deny what the mind consciousness previously understood. This kind of regression is also a regression of the mind consciousness—the mind consciousness does not acknowledge it—but the manas has not regressed, because the manas never entered in the first place, never saw the path; how could it turn its face and refuse to acknowledge, how could it regress? This so-called regression is just making a commotion at the outer gate before seeing the path. Once one has entered through the gate, one will quiet down because of the genuine meditative absorption (samādhi) state of the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā; the mind becomes empty and tranquil, and there will be no commotion at all.

Determination, mindfulness, and meditative concentration—these three steps are all crucial; without the former there is no latter. Among them, the transmission of the Dharma teachings from the mind consciousness to the manas is an extremely crucial point. Once the manas acknowledges the Dharma, questioning doubt will arise, doubting with every thought-moment; at a certain point meditative concentration will certainly appear, and thereafter one comes to the two checkpoints of cultivating concentration and investigating Chan. After one has achieved a certain determination regarding the Dharma, how does one raise the power of concentration, and how does one investigate? For example, take the principle of eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa): one already has a rough understanding in the mind, and the thought of no-self is roughly clear; at this point it still does not count as realization. How should one practice going forward from here? At this point some people have no power of concentration, and some have some power of concentration but it is still insufficient. At this time, of course, the primary task is to find a way to cultivate concentration and raise the power of concentration.

After the power of concentration has been raised, the manas, within concentration, deliberates (manasikāra) on the intension and extension of the self, connecting through all the Dharma teachings concerning the self one by one, thereby clearly understanding what the self is. When the deliberation is thorough, the view of self may be eradicated. But this content is too much and too deep; it is impossible to deliberate it all clearly at once, so one needs to proceed bit by bit from the shallow to the deep, from the surface to the interior, with the intension becoming ever more penetrating and the extension ever broader, until in the end the entire self is laid out clearly in the mind.

The above is the method of investigating and realizing through contemplation within concentration. Practicing diligently by this method, one will avoid mere intellectual understanding. During investigation, the mind consciousness should try to forget the more detailed parts of the Dharma teachings it has learned, and not transmit them to the manas, or should not treat the more detailed Dharma teachings as the final answer. One must raise doubt toward the Dharma, must have questions—the deeper the doubt, the better—and ask "why" frequently. What the mind consciousness learns and knows is all knowing that it is so without knowing why it is so; through investigation, let the manas clarify the why, and wisdom will grow continuously and can be carried into future lives.

Actually many teachings do not need to be learned at all. Studying Buddhism is not about becoming a theorist or a debater, nor about becoming a jack-of-all-trades and a know-it-all. In genuine investigation and real inquiry, one will draw inferences from one instance to others; the Dharma teachings will spread bit by bit and become thoroughly integrated, and teachings one originally did not know or understand will, through deep contemplation, all be connected through one by one. The teachings that have been connected through are one's own possession, not learned from others; in this life and future lives one cannot forget them even if one wants to—they come out as soon as one opens one's mouth, without needing to think. People of deep wisdom all realize the Dharma themselves, investigate the Dharma themselves, rather than learning others' Dharma; what is learned is not one's own, and after death it is forgotten, and in the next life one has to learn it all over again. Quite a few people appear to be learned enough to fill five carts with books; when Dharma teachings are brought up, they talk eloquently, with a torrent of words, as if their eloquence were unobstructed, yet not a single Dharma teaching has they connected through, not a single one have they actually realized. Rich knowledge does not mean truly understanding the Dharma, does not mean true wisdom; once the mind consciousness disappears, nothing remains.

As for the teachings of the Great and Small Vehicles, at the stage of extensive listening, it is enough to clarify the general outline and make the threads clear; there is no need to keep learning everywhere and listening everywhere. Teachings that are more or less the same—no matter how much you learn of them, they are still like that, and cannot increase wisdom. True wisdom is investigated out through investigation. Investigate a little, and a little wisdom is born; at the same time one will draw inferences from one instance to others and realize more teachings; connecting them bit by bit, one comes to understand a great many teachings, and understands them truly—even while sleeping one can practice diligently. Once the thread of thought is clear, there is no need for reminders and guidance from the mind consciousness, so when there is no mind consciousness, the manas can still investigate on its own.