What Is the State of Enlightenment?

The first sentence of the Heart Sutra states: "When the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara was practicing the profound Prajnaparamita, he perceived that the five skandhas are all empty and thereby transcended all suffering and distress." Practicing the profound Prajnaparamita and perceiving the five skandhas as empty means that at the very moment one realizes the Tathagatagarbha endowed with prajna wisdom, the mind becomes empty. The key word "practice" refers to the investigation and contemplation of the principles of prajna through meditation. "Profound" signifies both the depth of meditative concentration (samadhi) and the depth, clarity, and direction of the wisdom gained through this investigation. Under the condition of this profundity, the sixth and seventh consciousnesses give rise to great wisdom. This wisdom illuminates the true reality of the Dharma realm, realizing that all phenomena within the five skandhas arise from the prajna mind, the Tathagatagarbha. The substance of the five skandhas is empty; they are illusory, false appearances.

In this way, one knows deeply within that there are no real five skandhas, and thus there is no suffering. Instantly, one transcends all suffering and distress. All suffering and distress are illusions manifested by the Tathagatagarbha; they are false appearances, unreal. After perceiving the emptiness of the five skandhas in this way, the mind becomes empty and non-active (wuwei), and afflictions are severed. This is the merit and benefit attained upon seeing the path (darsana-marga) in the Mahayana and realizing the Tathagatagarbha. This is the seeing of the path by the manas (the seventh consciousness, the thinking mind), the samadhi state in which the manas realizes the Tathagatagarbha, where concentration (samadhi) and wisdom (prajna) are fully present and equally balanced. The so-called "perceiving" means sudden enlightenment. There is no time or effort spent on gradual understanding through intermediate pondering, analysis, or thought. Knowing is knowing; not knowing is not knowing. There is no hesitation or ambiguity.

After perceiving the emptiness of the five skandhas in this way, is it still necessary to additionally "align with" (zhuan yi) the Tathagatagarbha to be called realization? It is absolutely unnecessary. This is genuine, unambiguous realization and sudden enlightenment. It is not the kind of gradual understanding attained through analysis and reasoning. One has already entered the gate of the Mahayana and obtained genuine merit and benefit. If one uses the sixth consciousness (mano-vijnana, the discriminating mind) to reason, ponder, and speculate about a Tathagatagarbha, such speculation and reasoning yield no merit or benefit. Therefore, gradual alignment is needed. However, no matter how hard the sixth consciousness tries to align, if the manas has not realized it, alignment still cannot succeed. Consequently, a heap of unresolved mess remains, afflictions are still afflictions, and ignorance is still ignorance.

It is like those who mistake concentration (samadhi) for Chan. They cultivate a samadhi state of no-thought, believing this to be the true mind's state of non-conception, and thus mistake the false for the true. However, upon emerging from samadhi, deluded thoughts reappear. Fearing the disappearance of the true mind, they constantly cultivate concentration, striving to remain in samadhi for long periods, trying not to emerge, in order to "maintain and preserve" (bao ren) the samadhi state, ensuring the true mind is not lost—beautifully named "preservation." Yet, the samadhi state will eventually disappear; one must eventually emerge. Even if one remained in samadhi for immeasurable eons, the samadhi state is still not the true nature of the mind. If one is truly enlightened, what is there to "preserve"? If one has truly realized the true mind, what is there to "align with"? It is present right now. The mind is instantly empty and pure. It is like a carp leaping through the Dragon Gate—once it leaps through and becomes a dragon, would it fear leaping back and turning into a carp again? Unless one has never truly leaped through the Dragon Gate at all, trembling with fear, anxious about gains and losses—only then is "preservation" and "alignment" needed.