How to Avoid Intellectual Awakening

Nowadays many people worry that in their practice of the Great and Small Vehicles they will only gain intellectual understanding/interpretive awakening (解悟), which will obstruct their future direct realization. So now there is a question: how can one avoid interpretive awakening?

What is the situation of interpretive awakening? Interpretive awakening means that one has become very familiar with the meaning of the Dharma, the approach to practicing 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, and there is still a distance from realization. Although quite a few people at this point already believe they have attained enlightenment, and can easily be guided and certified as enlightened. After determination there are still mindfulness, samādhi, 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; only by means of perseverance, skill, power of vow, power of faith, power of forbearance, and power of compassion can one pass through it and arrive at a temporary endpoint, or what may be called the goal, the destination.

After the mind consciousness has gained determination regarding the Dharma, one must still steep and lead the manas to also gain determination. Even after the manas has gained determination, it still does not count as enlightenment. One must form an unbroken, moment-to-moment power of mindfulness; only when the power of mindfulness matures can the power of meditative concentration appear; only when the power of concentration is complete can wisdom be developed, giving rise to the wisdom of seeing the path in the Great and Small Vehicles—recognizing that path, realizing that path, confirming that path—so that one will never regress from the bodhi path of the Great and Small Vehicles and will 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 while the manas has not seen clearly, and it is the most normal thing to deny what the mind consciousness previously understood. This kind of regression is also a regression of the mind consciousness—the mind consciousness refuses to accept it—but the manas has not actually regressed, because the manas never entered in the first place, never saw the path; how could it turn its face away and deny it? How could it regress? This so-called regression is just making a fuss outside the gate, before entering the path. Once one has entered through the gate, one will quiet down because of the genuine samādhi state of the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā; the mind becomes empty and tranquil, and there will be no more fuss at all.

Determination, mindfulness, and samādhi—these three steps are all crucial; without the former there is no latter. Among them, the transmission of the meaning of the Dharma from the mind consciousness to the manas is an extremely critical point. Once the manas accepts the Dharma, questioning doubt will arise, doubting in every thought, moment after moment; at a certain point, meditative concentration will inevitably appear, and thereafter one comes to the two gateways of cultivating concentration and investigating Chan. After gaining a certain degree of determination regarding the Dharma, how does one improve the power of concentration, and how does one investigate? For example, take the principle of eliminating self-view: one already has a rough understanding in mind, and the thought of no-self is more or less clear; at this point it still does not count as realization. How should one practice going forward from here? At this time, some people have no power of concentration, and some have some power of concentration but it is still insufficient. Of course, the primary task at this point is to find a way to cultivate concentration and enhance the power of concentration.

After the power of concentration has improved, the manas, within concentration, deliberates (manana) on the connotations and extensions of the self, connecting all the teachings related to the self one by one, thereby understanding what the self is. When the deliberation is thorough, self-view may be eliminated. But these contents are too many and too deep to be deliberated clearly all at once; one needs to proceed bit by bit from shallow to deep, from surface to interior, with the connotations becoming ever more penetrating and the extensions ever broader, until finally the entire self is laid out clearly in the mind.

The above is the method of investigating and realizing through contemplation within concentration. Practicing with this method, one will avoid interpretive awakening. In the course of investigation, the mind consciousness should try to forget the more detailed parts of the teachings it has learned and not pass them on to the manas, or at least not treat the more detailed teachings as the final answer. One should raise doubts about the Dharma, have questions—the deeper the doubt, the better—and ask "why" frequently. What the mind consciousness learns and knows is only knowing that things are so without knowing why they are so. Through investigation, the manas comes to understand 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 does not mean becoming a theorist or a debater, nor does it mean 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 a whole category, and the meaning of the Dharma will gradually spread and become integrated. Teachings one originally did not know or understand will, through deep reflection, all be connected one by one. Teachings that have been connected in this way become one's own; they are not learned from others, and in this life and future lives one cannot forget them even if one wants to—they come forth as soon as one opens one's mouth, without needing to think. Those with deep wisdom realize the Dharma themselves and explore the Dharma themselves, rather than learning others' Dharma. What is learned is not one's own; 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—loaded with five cartloads of books—and when the meaning of the Dharma is brought up, they talk fluently, eloquently, as if they had unobstructed eloquence, yet they have not connected with a single teaching, have not realized a single one. Rich knowledge does not mean truly understanding the Dharma, nor does it mean true wisdom; once the mind consciousness disappears, nothing remains.

As for the teachings of the Great and Small Vehicles, in the stage of extensive listening, it is enough to clarify the general outline and make the framework clear; there is no need to keep learning and listening everywhere. With essentially the same teachings, no matter how much you learn, it is still the same and cannot increase wisdom. True wisdom is investigated out through contemplative inquiry. Investigate a little, and a little wisdom is born; at the same time, one will draw inferences across categories and realize more teachings. Connecting them bit by bit, one comes to understand a great many teachings—and understands them truly—even being able to practice while asleep. Once the framework of thought is clear, there is no need for reminders or guidance from the mind consciousness, so when the mind consciousness is absent, the manas can still investigate on its own.