Imagination and Inference Are Not Equivalent to Direct Realization

For example, take the contemplation of the white skeleton (white-bone contemplation): the white skeleton that is imagined is the deliberative and analytical function of the mind consciousness; no meditative-concentration resultant form (samādhi-phala-rūpa) of the white skeleton appears, and there is no attainment of meditative absorption (samādhi), so it is illusory upon illusory. The white skeleton that arises spontaneously and self-aware is simultaneously witnessed by the manas and the mind consciousness; a meditative-concentration resultant form has appeared, and it is a samādhi state. Although it too is illusory, it is far more real than what is imagined.

Whatever dharma the manas personally realizes has a certain degree of reality; dharmas deduced through the mind consciousness's reasoning and inference have no reality to speak of, and therefore have almost no impact on body and mind and the world, remaining roughly the same as before. Both the process and the result of cultivation involve transforming body, mind, and the world. From the very first encounter with the Buddha's teachings countless eons ago, when one began to believe, accept, and practice, the transformation of body, mind, and the world began. Only upon truly eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) is there a clear transformation; at the stage of the anāgāmin the transformation is even greater, and thereafter transformations continue one after another until buddhahood is attained, the thirty-two marks appear, and the transformation of body, mind, and the world comes to an end, no longer changing.

And the transformation of body and mind is entirely brought about by the manas; however much the manas realizes, that much transformation occurs. During the actual practice of the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment, before attaining realization of the fruits and eradicating the view of self, body and mind already begin to transform bit by bit. For some people, even when they have genuine faith in the Buddha but have not yet truly practiced, body and mind undergo a certain degree of transformation, changing year by year, to the point of being able to influence and inspire close acquaintances with affinities to also believe in the Buddha. It is not as some people claim, that body and mind only begin to transform when one attains the fruit of the anāgāmin.

Ice three feet thick is not frozen in a single day's cold; likewise, long-accumulated solid ice cannot be melted in a day or in an instant. The obvious transformation of sentient beings' body and mind begins with the eradication of the view of self; at the stage of the anāgāmin, when the first dhyāna is attained and afflictions are eliminated, the transformation of body and mind is relatively great, and the contrast before and after is quite evident.