Selected Lectures on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (67)

This is the same as the worldly principle that "seeing is believing, while hearing is doubting." Listening to what others say is equivalent to the mind consciousness's understanding—it has not been verified, so deep down one still feels uncertain and does not dare to take it as firmly established. Afterwards, when one has seen with one's own eyes, only then does one truly know, and one will say: Ah! So that's how it is! At that point, one knows how to handle people and matters. Seeing with one's own eyes is equivalent to the manas's realization, while hearing is equivalent to the mind consciousness's understanding—these are two entirely different levels. The mind consciousness's understanding is heard from others, whereas the manas's realization is亲眼所见—direct perception, truly seeing. Understanding is like hearsay, and it differs greatly from actually seeing with one's own eyes. For example, hearing about how a certain person is, one forms a view in one's mind and acquires a certain impression; but when one meets the person and observes, one finds, "So this is how it actually is"—not entirely consistent with the impression in one's mind. The feeling and impression at the meeting are more real and credible, and only then can one adopt an appropriate attitude toward this person. After genuinely understanding and observing, one's views, opinions, thoughts, actions, and conduct are no longer the same as when one was merely listening. Therefore, we must diligently cultivate and permeate ourselves, permeating down to the depths of the mind, genuinely engaging in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) on how all faculties are like illusions and the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) are without self. Contemplative practice is the sixth consciousness's thinking and analysis; after the analysis, it is handed over to the manas, and the manas verifies the truth of this principle—that is attaining the fruits of realization. If the manas does not accept the principle that the mind consciousness has contemplated and analyzed through practice, then it is useless. If one wants the manas to realize this as quickly as possible, the evidence must be conclusive, reaching as much as possible the level of direct perception. Within contemplative practice there are still many procedures, many paths to walk, many dharmas to cultivate; one must continuously accumulate various provisions and provisions for the Path, continuously accumulate the provisions of merit, as well as precepts, patience, meditative concentration (samādhi), and wisdom, continuously perfecting the conditions of these six perfections. All dharmas are entirely empty and quiescent—this is called the gate of emptiness liberation. Even emptiness has no mark of emptiness; the dharma of emptiness itself has no mark of emptiness—it is merely a name and concept, without any mark. Emptiness has no appearance of emptiness; there is not a single mark at all, not even a mark of emptiness—this is called the gate of marklessness liberation. If all marks are gone, what longing do we still have? What wishes and aspirations remain? All dharmas are empty—what more could you hope for? With no more aspirations, this is called the gate of wishlessness liberation. When these three dharmas are practiced together with emptiness, the mind is liberated—this is called the three gates of liberation. Emptiness, marklessness, and wishlessness—this "wish" means longing, aspiring toward results, the vows one makes and issues; because there is nothing at all, whatever one grasps is empty, and even becoming a Buddha is ultimately empty. The Diamond Sutra has said that the fruit of buddhahood cannot be attained. If even the fruit of buddhahood cannot be attained, what else could you want to obtain? No matter what we think we have obtained, after careful analysis and verification, we know that nothing has been obtained—there is fundamentally no one who obtains, let alone any dharma that is obtained. Someone will ask: if nothing can be attained, then what are we cultivating for? Cultivation is precisely first knowing the principle that all dharmas cannot be attained, then realizing that all dharmas are indeed unattainable, and finally the mind being utterly empty—then one can attain great liberation, no longer bound by the notion of "having obtained," and thereby be liberated from all the suffering of birth and death. Even if there is truly nothing to be attained, we must still attain this dharma of non-attainment; otherwise the cycle of birth and death will not cease. All dharmas are false and unattainable; the suffering retribution we undergo is unreal, yet none of us wishes to undergo suffering retribution; committing evil deeds is unreal, yet we should still not commit evil karmic deeds; killing is unreal, yet we should still not kill; hell is unreal, yet none of us is willing to go there; becoming a Buddha is unreal, yet we all wish to become Buddhas. Cultivation is just like this: false dharmas have the function of false dharmas, and the real has the function of the real. Since we cannot extinguish them all, we must make the false dharmas better and purer. Our seventh-consciousness mind is false, yet it has great function, so we must certainly make it perform good functions; we cannot abandon and discard all that is false—that way one cannot become a Buddha. This dialectic may seem contradictory, but after attaining the fruits of realization, one will know that it is not contradictory.