A Guide to the Cultivation and Realization of the Mind: Part Two

Introduction

This book distills cultivation and realization experience drawn from the merit of genuine practice. It is a textbook-style practical instruction manual most worthy of being treasured and studied, one that almost takes the student by the hand and leads him across the threshold of investigating Chan (canchan), and further, across the threshold of cultivating the Path at even higher levels.

The chapters in this book on training the manas, on methods of investigation through the manas's deliberation (manasikāra/manana), and on actual practice and realization are the most direct, most practical, and most reliable entry methods for guiding students in their investigation. They may be called the essence of methods for cultivation and realization—a manual of practice methods unprecedented from ancient times to the present. Every method in the book is easy to get started with; as long as one is willing to put in the effort, one's practice will rise in a straight line, and seeing the Way will not be difficult. Once one method has been successfully trained, the other methods can also be mastered, and they will continue to be applicable in future lives; realizing even deeper dharmas will not be difficult, because the methods and paths for realizing any level of cultivation and realization are all interconnected. It is hoped that everyone will keep a copy at hand and diligently investigate and realize in accordance with the teachings in this book, not squandering time and missing this splendid opportunity.