How to Practice Diligently to Realize Enlightenment

All eight consciousnesses have the function of holding onto the body; only the functions of each consciousness differ. If one or several consciousnesses are missing, the state of the physical body will be different. For example, without the body-holding function of the five sense consciousnesses, a person can neither sit still nor stand up; if the mind consciousness also does not hold the body, one will fall asleep, and the body will slump over this way and that.

Many people claim to have awakened, but in fact, in the dharma they claim to have awakened to, it is still the combined operation of the eight consciousnesses. If one cannot distinguish their respective functions, how can one claim to have realized the eighth consciousness? Taking the functions of all the consciousnesses as those of the eighth consciousness is simply misattributing one thing to another. Such "awakening" is very simple—anyone who knows that the tathāgatagarbha exists can "awaken" this way; it is not difficult at all. Even if one can distinguish the respective functions of the eight consciousnesses, if meditative concentration is insufficient and one relies on logical inference to deduce the functions of the eighth consciousness, it is still not realization; it is merely intellectual understanding, without any benefit of merit, unable to eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) and unable to attain liberation.

With many things, if you let a person know them too easily, there will be no impact on that person, nothing will take effect, and nothing about him will change. Only by letting him explore step by step himself and search for the truth of the matter will he truly believe it and be genuinely moved. People believe in themselves, not in ideas and concepts imposed on them from outside.

The manas is the same way: it does not easily believe the ideas and concepts of the mind consciousness; it only believes what it has seen with its own eyes. Therefore, one has no choice but to let the manas, based on the information provided by the mind consciousness, investigate and deliberate on its own. Only the result it arrives at through its own deliberation will it truly believe, thereby severing doubt.

In the process of investigation, when the mind consciousness exerts more mental effort, the manas exerts less; when the mind consciousness exerts less, the manas exerts more. Only by letting the manas exert more mental effort can there be realization, but this requires rather deep dhyāna and meditative concentration; otherwise the manas cannot apply mental effort, and only the mind consciousness will be doing the work. The best the mind consciousness can do is reasoning and logical thinking, but even that cannot substitute for the manas's own deliberation and investigation. One must learn to use the manas in order to give rise to genuine wisdom—the wisdom that plays the decisive role. When one's meditative concentration is not yet good enough, do not contemplate the fundamental dharma, do not investigate Chan, lest one end up with intellectual understanding without realization.