What Kind of Psychology Is It to Like False Attainments?

A returning practitioner without the mystery of the intermediate state (antarā-bhava) is a sage from birth, not deluded about any dharma, knowing his own stage of realization and the level of his wisdom. Because the manas already realized it in a past life, although the mind consciousness of this life is new, it possesses the recollection of past lives (pūrvanivāsānusmṛti), and the Buddhadharma realized in past lives is known just the same in this life, without the slightest delusion. Since neither the sixth nor the seventh consciousness is deluded, both possessing wisdom, they can connect with past lives; therefore such a person is a sage from birth and need not realize it anew.

If in a past life only the mind consciousness realized it but the manas did not, and the manas remains deluded, then in this life the manas is deluded and the mind consciousness is also deluded. When both consciousnesses are deluded, they must together cultivate meditative concentration, contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), and deliberation in preparation for realizing the fruits. However, because the manas did not realize it in past lives, there is not the slightest impression of the non-selfhood of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha), and it is extremely difficult to permeate and influence the manas. The mind consciousness is also new, with no impression of past-life cultivation, and must start from the beginning. In that case, a very long time of permeation and cultivation is needed, which is extremely difficult.

A returning practitioner with the mystery of the intermediate state, who in this life anew realizes the fruits and sees the mind, still needs several years of very diligent study and cultivation before he can once more realize the fruits and see the mind. So how could ordinary beings with no foundation from past lives realize the fruits within a mere two or three years, three to five years, of encountering the Buddhadharma in this life? What kind of spiritual faculties (indriya) would that be? Even faster than a returning practitioner?

The Buddha said that the prerequisites for realizing the fruits and seeing the mind are the complete fulfillment of the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment, the complete fulfillment of the bodhisattva's six perfections, and the complete fulfillment of precepts, meditative concentration, and wisdom; only afterward, when the conditions are complete, can one realize the fruits. But now it is no longer so—the Buddha's words have become empty talk. There is no need to laboriously cultivate the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment and the bodhisattva's six perfections, nor to cultivate precepts, concentration, and wisdom; the precepts need not be received or kept, meditative concentration need not be cultivated, Chan inquiry need not be undertaken—just understand a little, know some shallow principle, and the fruit is in hand. The less meditative concentration one has, the heavier one's afflictions, and the less able one is to keep the precepts, the easier it is to realize the fruits; whereas those who step by step honestly cultivate according to the World-Honored One's instructions find it harder to realize the fruits. Such is the chaos of this inverted age.

The tathāgatagarbha is the true master, while the manas falsely assumes itself to be the master. This false master regards all dharmas as "I" and "mine," regards the functions and activities of the eighth consciousness as "mine," and regards the functions and activities of the six consciousnesses as "mine." If the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) is to be eradicated, and this master does not eradicate the view of self, what use is it for the six consciousnesses to follow along and eradicate it? The master, the manas, all day long thinks "I, I, me, mine" and will not let itself eradicate the view of self, yet one lets his advisor, errand-runner, assistant, subordinate, and follower eradicate the view of self—what use is that?

Those who still do not wake up should truly examine their brains—has some part of them rusted? Is there any way to apply some rust remover to the brain? I have explained the principle that the manas and the mind consciousness realize the fruits and see the mind together, over and over again, until I am quite weary and almost unwilling to explain it anymore. Yet there are still some who insist that it is enough for only the mind consciousness to realize the fruits and see the mind. Why on earth is the wisdom of these people so inferior that they cannot even figure out such a simple question? What karmic obstructions are blocking their own minds, making them insist on clinging to their false stage of realization and refusing to advance a single step? Because it is easy for the mind consciousness to realize the fruits, realizing the fruits with the mind consciousness consoles one's own mind; compared with the manas realizing the fruits, which is indefinitely far off, it still provides some small comfort.

Fond of a stage of realization, fond of others looking up to and worshipping oneself, fond of mutually flattering each other—"you are a bodhisattva, I am a bodhisattva, we are all bodhisattvas"—this is still a self. If this self is not removed, can one be a person who has eradicated the view of self? This self of theirs is far heavier than the self of worldly people; compared with the self of worldly people, they have an additional self that has realized the fruits and become enlightened, and they feel extraordinary, utterly beyond comparison with worldly people. This self is even harder to abandon than the self-conceit (māna) instilled in worldly life.