The Perception of Consciousness and the Perception of the Mental Faculty Demonstrate Significant Differences

A Disciple's Experience of Buddha-Recitation through Consciousness-Only: I originally planned to recite the Buddha's name for one hour in the evening, but ended up reciting for almost three hours, reluctant to stop. Finally, feeling that other practices were still unfinished, I forced myself to stop. Here is a report on my experience.

1. Slow Buddha-recitation makes it easier to gather the mind.

2. At the beginning, I visualized myself reciting alongside immeasurable sentient beings—sometimes chanting together, sometimes I led the recitation. Later, when I could no longer hear the recitation of others, I clearly heard my own recitation.

3. Household noises were still audible, but they didn't occupy my mind. Thoughts that usually disturb me felt very weak this time; they arose but were immediately abandoned. Only the Buddha-recitation was hard to stop. My heart was filled with joy.

4. In the final period, each word of the Buddha-recitation felt powerful. When I recited one word, my ears could hear many echoes. I waited until the echo of that word faded before reciting the next word. Each word felt imbued with power.

Comment: This indicates that the Buddha-recitation has developed some "stretchiness" (deepening continuity), carrying the flavor of meditative absorption (dhyāna), also known as dharmic joy (dharma-prīti). The factor of joy (prīti-saṃbodhyaṅga) has appeared, which is an effect of the Buddha's power blessing. After the mind settles, the four great elements (mahābhūtas) and the magnetic field of the physical body become harmonized, creating a sense of comfort, and joy arises. The mind becomes immersed in this state, reluctant to leave the current comfortable state. It may seem slightly like attachment, but the more one "clings" to the Dharma, the better the results of practice, and the faster samādhi appears.

When there is meditative stability (samādhi), each word of Buddha-recitation feels powerful—this perception arises more from the mind-consciousness (manas). When there is no stability, the feeling is flat—this perception arises more from the mental consciousness (mano-vijñāna). It's evident that what the mind-consciousness and the mental consciousness perceive and experience are different. Usually, perception by the mental consciousness predominates, feeling ordinary, mundane, and uneventful, without reducing ignorance and afflictions. When perception by the mind-consciousness predominates, the experience differs from the ordinary, sometimes even drastically, perhaps completely opposite. Therefore, at the moment of seeing the Path (darśana-mārga), it must be the mind-consciousness that sees the Path. The perception of the mind-consciousness is the standard, and the mental consciousness follows along.

Without meditative stability, whether listening to the sound of rain, the ticking of an alarm clock, or the sound of Buddha-recitation, the feeling is flat, causing no ripples or impact in the mind. However, with strong meditative stability, the sound of rain or an alarm clock becomes deafening, reverberating through the heart. Even the sound of breathing or the heartbeat seems very loud, and the sound of Buddha-recitation is even more likely to linger incessantly in the ears. If one continues to contemplate further, one discovers that the perceived dust-like phenomena (worldly objects) undergo a series of changes, and the state of mind also transforms accordingly. After this, one can see the Path. Although the perceived dust-like phenomena are the same whether one has stability or not, the perceived results are vastly different. This is due to the arising of wisdom in the mind-consciousness and mental consciousness.

When the effect of Buddha-recitation is exceptionally good, one should strike while the iron is hot and continue reciting to deepen the skill of Buddha-recitation. Do not think about other practices. Discern which is more important, be clear about the goal in mind, and do not perform practices merely as formalities.

Disciple Ru Chun said: I feel that when reciting the Śūraṅgama Mantra very quickly, I also enter a state of complete self-forgetfulness. It feels like only my two lips are moving, opening and closing. My eyes only need to glance slightly; I don't need to wait for the mental consciousness to fully see the words clearly. My mouth just slides down the line of words. That feeling is also very interesting.

Reciting the Buddha's name or sutras very quickly is also a form of samādhi, because there's no time for scattered thoughts. However, it consumes more energy (qi) and cannot be sustained for long periods. This situation occurs because the mantra is already very familiar, almost memorized, requiring little effort from the mental consciousness to read it. The mind-consciousness can almost play it automatically. When one can recite sutras and mantras from memory, one should learn to recite with the mind-consciousness—meaning the mind-consciousness recites, the sutra or mantra flows through the mind without words, language, or sound. Reciting silently and wordlessly allows one to enter samādhi very quickly and deeply.

Summarizing everyone's cultivation experiences, it becomes very clear: What exactly is "mental consciousness realizing the fruit" or "mental consciousness illuminating the mind"? It is nothing—a sheer deception. Whether the person who came up with this trick has meditative absorption (dhyāna) or genuine cultivation, a person with wisdom can see it immediately.