All Kinds of Meditative Concentration (Samādhi) Are Attained by the Manas

The understanding of the mind consciousness is not realization, because the mind consciousness is not the master of the five aggregates; it cannot be in charge of any dharma, including comprehending principles, awakening, and so on, and its views do not count. However, in cultivation, one first has those understandings of the mind consciousness, and then later the realization by the manas follows. Realization cannot be separated from understanding in the first place; as long as one does not remain stuck at the level of understanding, subsequent realization is only a matter of time.

The Śūraṅgama Sūtra says: 菩提涅槃。尚在遥远。非汝历劫。辛勤修证。虽复忆持。十方如来。十二部经。清净妙理。如恒河沙。只益戏论。汝虽谈说。因缘自然。决定明了。人间称汝。多闻第一。以此积劫。多闻熏习。不能免离。摩登伽难。

Here, has the World-Honored One not already made it clear that the cultivation and realization of bodhi is not so simple? Reciting and repeating the sūtras—all that extensive hearing—is merely conceptual proliferation (prapañca)? So I say: so many of those claimed realizations of the fruits and elimination of self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi), and awakenings to the true mind, are all just understanding, all just conceptual proliferation. If you still do not awaken to this, when will you ever?

If it were the mind consciousness that realizes samādhi and awakens to the true mind, then when the conditions ripen, we could organize several mass Dharma assemblies of ten thousand people each, explain to the assembly the various workings of the tathāgatagarbha within the five aggregates, and after listening, the majority of the assembly would understand. Then I would ask how many people have understood the workings of the tathāgatagarbha and realized the tathāgatagarbha, and all of you would raise your hands, and I would congratulate everyone on their awakening. In that case, twenty thousand bodhisattva certificates would absolutely not be enough; we would have to print another hundred thousand, and even that probably would not suffice. Would this work? If the mind consciousness understanding something counts as awakening, then let me tell you clearly: has your mind consciousness not all understood it already? If understanding counts as awakening, then why bother making everyone cultivate meditative concentration and investigate Chan, taking so many detours in vain?

If understanding by the mind consciousness counts as realization, then as long as one person in a world realizes it, they can tell everyone else, and one tells ten, ten tell a hundred—would not everyone in the entire world then have realized it? What would be the point of cultivating concentration or engaging in investigation? Why would the Buddha have his disciples cultivate precepts, concentration, and wisdom? Without keeping the precepts, as long as one's mind consciousness is clever, one could realize the Buddha-dharma and thereby end birth and death? What about the seven factors of enlightenment, the eightfold noble path, the thirty-seven factors of the path—none of these would need to be cultivated. The Buddha was truly making an unnecessary move, being so long-winded, making things hard for sentient beings. The Buddha-dharma is such a simple matter—why make it so complicated?

If understanding by the mind consciousness counts as awakening, then we could sit down, recall a dream, and then contemplate how the real world is just like a dream, and thereby realize the illusion-like contemplation, accomplishing the tenth dedication bhūmi and being about to attain the bhūmis. Then we could sit down again and contemplate how all dharmas are like images in a mirror; contemplating by comparing with the reflections in a mirror, and considering that indeed everything is like reflections in a mirror, we would then realize the mirror-image contemplation, fulfill the full mind of the first bhūmi, and become second-bhūmi bodhisattvas. Would studying Buddhism not be extremely easy and pleasant this way?

Why is realizing the Buddha-dharma and becoming a Buddha not so easy, requiring three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas? It is precisely because the manas is dull and its ignorance is deep and heavy, making the dharma meanings difficult to comprehend. If realization did not involve realization by the manas, and cultivation were indeed very easy, then becoming a Buddha would not require such a distant span of three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas at all; the whole journey would be completed very quickly.