Chapter 6: The Relationship Between Meditative Concentration (Dhyāna) and Seeing the Path Cultivation and Zen Practice for Attaining Enlightenment (Part Two)

Chapter 6: The Relationship Between Meditative Concentration and Seeing the Path

1. What Kind of Meditative Concentration Is Needed for Seeing the Path

Is the power of meditative concentration needed for realizing enlightenment upon seeing the path something that must be maintained continuously without interruption, or is it that concentration exists when one brings it up, is available when needed, and is absent at ordinary times? If the meditative concentration one has cultivated is relatively firm, the mind will remain in concentration all along, only sometimes strong and sometimes weak; when there are many worldly affairs, the mind will be distracted, and at such times the power of concentration will weaken. If the meditative concentration one has cultivated is not firm, there is concentration while sitting on the cushion, but after rising from the seat the mind becomes scattered and the concentration is gone.

The meditative concentration needed for attaining the fruits and for seeing the mind is relatively firm concentration. With such deep concentration, contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) and deliberation can be deep, detailed, and continuous; the skill can be sustained, and the wisdom of contemplative practice can become better and better and deeper and deeper. This is like boiling water: only when the fire burns continuously without interruption can the water in the pot become hotter and hotter, and finally boil. If the fire is intermittent, the water in the pot will be hot for a while and then cool down again, and there is no telling when this water will ever boil.

The minimum level of meditative concentration required for practice is that there must be continuous concentration during contemplative practice and deliberation; one must engage in contemplative practice and deliberation within meditative concentration, ensuring that the deliberation and contemplative practice are continuous, sustained, and constantly deepening, and that one can sustain contemplative deliberation for a long time with sufficient power of concentration. Otherwise, the skill easily breaks off, cannot be maintained, the deliberation becomes disjointed, and one cannot carry contemplative practice through to completion so as to eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa). Moreover, the most important function of meditative concentration is to ensure that the manas can engage in deliberation (manasikāra/manana)—single-mindedly deliberating and investigating without interruption. When concentration is shallow, the manas has many objects of attachment and cannot focus on deliberating the Buddha-dharma, and thus cannot see the path. As long as the meditative concentration is deep enough and the other causes and conditions for seeing the path are complete, with precepts, concentration, and wisdom all complete, realization of the path may occur at any time.

2. Only with Complete Meditative Concentration Does One Have the Ability to Investigate the Buddha-dharma

Studying Buddhism is not about learning knowledge and doing research; rather, one must have the ability to investigate and to seek verification, not merely to seek understanding. If meditative concentration is insufficient and the various causes and conditions for seeing the path are not complete, then because of cleverness, if one happens to infer the tathāgatagarbha by speculation, and the inferred result is more or less similar, roughly approximating the state of the tathāgatagarbha, it may become difficult to continue doing the work of investigating Chan. And if one then believes oneself to have awakened, that would be real trouble. When the precepts, concentration, wisdom, and the causes and conditions for seeing the path are not yet complete, the matter of the tathāgatagarbha should first be kept covered and concealed, so that when the causes and conditions for investigating Chan are complete, one can investigate and realize enlightenment. Therefore I do not wish for you all to engage in research, because the dharma is already quite clear; if clever people keep researching and arrive at a roughly similar result, it is really troublesome. Better to wait until the bodhisattva's conditions are complete and investigate within meditative concentration. Only by cultivating much meditative concentration can one have the ability to investigate and engage in contemplative practice, and only then can one personally realize the Buddha-dharma.

Among those who excelled in worldly schools, how many have become pillars of society? Knowledge can only help a person survive well; it does not necessarily confer creativity. If one wants to personally realize the dharma in studying Buddhism, one should be different from worldly scholarship; otherwise studying Buddhism is just learning knowledge, and knowledge cannot liberate a person—only personal realization can liberate. The Buddha's great disciple Cūḍapanthaka was a great arhat of the fourth fruit; before he attained the fruit he was very dull, and even after attaining the fruit he could not expound the Buddha-dharma, yet he was a great arhat liberated in both ways (ubhayatobhāga-vimukta). None of us are that dull, so regarding the comprehension and learning of knowledge, know when to stop, and devote the main energy to investigating and awakening to the Buddha-dharma, to personal realization.

3. The First Dhyāna Can Be Attained Without Seeing the Mind or Attaining the Fruits

There is no necessary connection between the first dhyāna and seeing the mind; without seeing the mind and attaining the fruits, one can still attain the first dhyāna. The non-Buddhist practitioners (tīrthikas) were just like this; some of them even attained the concentration of neither-perception-nor-non-perception of the formless realm, far surpassing the first dhyāna. This is because the non-Buddhist practitioners of past eras had very tranquil (praśama) minds, could distance themselves from the worldly realm, went into deep mountains to cultivate the path, had no greed for worldly dharmas, and could easily bring forth dhyāna. Moreover, at that time the hearts of people in society as a whole were relatively simple and pure; material goods and information were undeveloped, environmental conditioning was not so severe, and the thoughts in people's minds were very few, so attaining concentration naturally came quickly.

In the environment of modern society with its developed material goods and information, cultivating concentration is not so easy, and the first dhyāna is even harder to attain. Therefore, only after eradicating the view of self does it become somewhat easier to attain the first dhyāna; before attaining the fruits and seeing the mind, it is very difficult to attain the first dhyāna—but this does not preclude exceptions and special cases. In the meditative absorption (samādhi) newly attained upon realizing the fruit, if one can strike while the iron is hot and continue to add fuel to the fire, the first dhyāna may appear not long afterward. Once past this stage of samādhi, the mind will become somewhat lax, concentration becomes harder to cultivate, and the first dhyāna will not easily appear. Therefore, grasping the right timing for cultivating the first dhyāna is crucial and important.

4. In What Meditative Concentration Can One Attain the Fruits?

Meditative concentration is also called the three samādhis: the first is the samādhi with initial application and sustained examination (savitarka-savicāra-samādhi); the second is the samādhi without initial application but with sustained examination (avitarka-savicāra-samādhi); the third is the samādhi without initial application and without sustained examination (avitarka-avicāra-samādhi). The third, the samādhi without initial application and sustained examination, is also called without searching and without scrutiny; it is the dhyāna state of the second dhyāna, at which time the five sense consciousnesses have ceased, the mind consciousness is faint, there is no awareness, no examination, and no power of introspection (pratyavekṣā-bala); one does not know the state, nor does one know oneself has entered concentration. Since within the second dhyāna wisdom is weak and examination cannot arise, the wisdom of no-self and the like cannot be brought forth, so one cannot attain the fruits within the second dhyāna. Generally this is the case, though exceptional individuals may be excluded.

The second, the samādhi without initial application but with sustained examination, is the intermediate concentration between the first and second dhyānas; there is no coarse, heavy awareness of the mind consciousness, but there is subtle examination. In this concentration the mind consciousness is faint; if the manas has not been conditioned and there is no questioning doubt in the mind, eradicating the view of self and attaining the fruit is somewhat more difficult. But in the dhyāna state of the first dhyāna, with initial application and sustained examination, single-minded focus, and strong observational power, it is easier to eradicate the view of self and attain the fruit. In the preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi) prior to the three samādhis, the power of concentration is also very strong, single-minded and focused, and one can also eradicate the view of self and attain the fruit.

When cultivating concentration and contemplative practice reaches the state of sustained examination (vicāra), that is the skill of investigating Chan. Once this skill is accomplished, one benefits endlessly for lifetime after lifetime, because the realization of any dharma is attained in the state of sustained examination. In shallower concentration, there is always an element of intellectual understanding, and the wisdom is not very genuine or reliable.

5. The Realization and Practice of All Bodhisattvas Cannot Be Separated from Meditative Concentration

All the bodhisattvas of ancient times who cultivated the path had very deep meditative concentration. There is no record in the Buddhist sūtras of a case where the path was cultivated apart from cultivating concentration—which bodhisattva cultivated without practicing meditative concentration, or attained the various samādhis without going through profound meditative concentration? And all meditative concentration is inseparable from the stillness-concentration of sitting meditation. The processes by which many bodhisattvas attained samādhi are recorded in the various Buddhist sūtras; without the process and experience of sitting in meditation to cultivate concentration, one is not a bodhisattva in the true sense. Although bodhisattvas all cultivate the mind, when practicing, mind and body cannot be separated, because body and mind mutually influence each other; if the body is not well, it will affect the calm of the mind, afflictions cannot be subdued and eradicated, and if the mind is not quiet it is not refined, unable to engage in deep contemplative practice and investigation, and one will not realize the path.

Chapters five and six of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra describe the processes by which the great bodhisattvas realized the various samādhis—all were attained in the stillness-concentration of sitting meditation, gaining profound wisdom. The Buddha's cultivation over three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas is fully described in the Jātaka sūtras; there was not a single life in which he did not realize the path by sitting cross-legged in meditation to cultivate concentration. When investigating Chan and pondering dharma meanings, and when pondering other questions, examine carefully: is thinking clearer while sitting in meditation, or while walking or standing? In what state is the mind most stable, most serene, most refined? It is always in quiet sitting. Only when the body is stable and steady can the mind be stable and steady, can one settle the mind, quiet down, and deeply and serenely ponder and investigate.

Among the patriarchs and Chan masters of the past, there was not a single one who cultivated without sitting cross-legged in meditation; their stillness-concentration was all excellent, and many even had the fourth dhyāna. For those with the fourth dhyāna or the second dhyāna, which of them could attain it while standing or walking? Even the first dhyāna and the preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi)—who could attain them apart from sitting meditation? Some people may feel they have never sat in meditation yet seem to have the preparatory concentration, but even if such a person has the preparatory concentration, it is only momentary, cannot last long, and there is not much firm skill in investigating Chan. No matter what kind of Chan, it cannot be separated from the skill of sitting meditation; only with a foundation in sitting meditation can one achieve "walking is Chan, sitting is Chan; whether speaking or silent, moving or still, all is at ease."

There are also those who say that cultivating concentration wastes too much time, and it would be better to abandon meditative concentration and save the time to listen to more dharma and deliberate more. This notion is too childish and ignorant. As the saying goes, sharpening the axe does not delay the work of cutting firewood: with a sharp axe one can quickly chop firewood, and in a short time chop up a large pile; but with a dull blade, or going up the mountain empty-handed to cut firewood, how many branches could one break? True practice is not spending the bulk of one's time on extensive hearing, merely wanting to absorb other people's knowledge and ready-made theories; rather, it takes one's own cultivation and realization as the mainstay, and the development of the wisdom within one's own mind as the mainstay. Sentient beings become Buddhas through wisdom and merit, not through knowledge and theory. Wisdom is gained and ignorance and fetters are eradicated not by theoretical knowledge, but by the meditative concentration plus wisdom that one has cultivated and realized oneself. And to cultivate and realize wisdom, only within meditative concentration, relying on meditative concentration, can true wisdom arise. With knowledge alone, one still cannot escape saṃsāra and the cycle of birth and death.

There is also another group of extremists who only cultivate meditative concentration without using their heads, sitting foolishly all day long, without the skill and ability to think, unable to deliberate the Buddha-dharma; even after rising from the seat their minds are not on the dharma meanings. What they cultivate is purely withered Chan, without the arising of wisdom. Practicing the Buddha-dharma must be comprehensive and balanced; one must not go to extremes—clinging to either side makes accomplishment impossible. In propagating the Buddha-dharma, one must also propagate correct practice methods that accord with what the Buddha taught, taking as the standard the facts of how the Buddhas and bodhisattvas practiced. Departing from the facts means not according with the facts, and then it is not truth; if it is not truth, relying on it to practice, one cannot attain the Way and realize the path.

6. Personal Realization of the Buddha-dharma Necessarily Requires Cultivating Concentration

If everyone could practice according to the method of the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sūtra, meditative concentration would certainly be accomplished, and the Hīnayāna fruits would quickly be attained. When the Buddha dwelt in the world, the bhikṣus all practiced in this way. But nowadays people's minds are too scattered to complete these contemplative practices. Looking at it now, the theoretical portions of the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna that we need for practice are already more or less sufficient; what is lacking is only actual practice. Actual practice must involve cultivating precepts, concentration, and wisdom, completing the bodhisattva's six pāramitās, especially the two aspects of merit and meditative concentration. When individual practice is difficult, group practice is needed. When the Buddha was in the world, he never led disciples in group practice; each person sat cross-legged, contemplated and deliberated the dharma the Buddha had taught, and then attained the fruits.

Modern people are too busy with life and work and have no time to sit in meditation, yet meditative concentration truly cannot be cultivated upward, deliberation remains shallow and not detailed, and personal realization is impossible—this too is a fact. The difference between the concentration after quiet sitting and the concentration that exists only in walking, standing, sitting, and lying down is so great that only those who have done quiet sitting can appreciate it. Find your own way; you must take responsibility for yourself. It is not that mastering a pile of theories means one has the Way, nor that being able to talk fluently means one has the Way. After personal realization, even if one is not eloquent, one still has the Way; being eloquent without personal realization is also not the Way. Only personal realization can solve the great problem of birth and death. No dharma is more important than the enterprise of the Way; one should rather die than fail to accomplish the enterprise of the Way. Otherwise, however successful one is in worldly dharma while alive, it is of no use.

7. How to Improve One's Cultivation and Realization

Today's world is too chaotic and tumultuous. Even if Buddhist practitioners wish to be diligent, constrained by their own minds and their environment, they cannot be fully diligent; many people feel the spirit is willing but the strength is insufficient. If one wants to make breakthroughs and achievements in the Buddha-dharma, and one's theoretical understanding is already fairly deep and complete, then when it is time for personal realization, one should distance oneself from worldly dharma for a period of time, leave the familiar environment that binds one's body and mind, find a secluded place free from disturbance to cultivate concentration and investigate Chan, and raise up one's cultivation and realization. If one wants to attain the fruits, one all the more needs a separate, pure place for contemplative deliberation, investigation, and practice; otherwise there is no way to improve oneself, to the point of being unable to see the path and attain the fruits.

8. What Is the Most Crucial Concentration?

The most crucial concentration in cultivating concentration is the concentration that accords with the goal one aims to achieve through cultivating concentration. What is the goal of cultivating concentration? It is to understand principle and realize principle, to open wisdom. Then the mind must be concentrated on the principle and dharma one aims to understand, with every thought within the dharma, single-minded on the dharma one cultivates. Only thus can one deliberate with focus, and finally, when the deliberation becomes clear, one realizes the dharma and gains the wisdom of samādhi. Therefore the most crucial and primary concentration is the manas being concentrated within the dharma, having the aspiration to realize the dharma, the aspiration to understand principle, the aspiration for contemplative practice, the aspiration to investigate, the aspiration for liberation—only thus can one engage in contemplative practice and investigation with single-minded devotion. Once the direction of cultivating concentration is clear, the rationale of cultivating concentration and cultivating the path is clearly distinguished from that of the non-Buddhist paths.

If the manas does not yet have these aspirations, it cannot be concentrated on the dharma being cultivated, and then meditative concentration cannot be cultivated, because with insufficient internal motivation, external power of concentration cannot be developed. When the roots of goodness, merit, and causes and conditions are all insufficient, and the great bodhi mind has not been aroused, there will be no motivation, and one cannot break through the conditioning and limitations of one's environment, like a silkworm bound by its cocoon. If the manas lacks motivation and cannot be concentrated on the dharma, meditative concentration will not be cultivated well, and contemplative practice will be ineffective. Those who cannot cultivate concentration well should examine whether they have aroused the bodhi mind, whether their aspiration is pure, and whether there is motivation within.

The concentration of the manas is first being concentrated on the dharma; only then can the mind consciousness be concentrated on the dharma without distraction, engaging in focused contemplative practice. Because the mind consciousness turns following the manas, and the manas's baton commands the mind consciousness at every moment, instant after instant—if the manas is not concentrated, waving the baton about everywhere, the mind consciousness simply cannot be concentrated. Therefore the most crucial point of meditative concentration is still to fix the manas in concentration. Once the manas is fixed in concentration, constantly mindful of the dharma, one will practice diligently, with strong motivation, and the cultivation of meditative concentration will progress quickly. When the manas is concentrated on the Hīnayāna Four Noble Truths, it will diligently cultivate the thirty-seven aids to the path; when concentrated on the Mahāyāna prajñā wisdom, it will diligently cultivate the bodhisattva's six pāramitās. Only when the manas diligently cultivates the Buddha-dharma can the mind consciousness be diligent; if the manas is lax, the mind consciousness cannot be diligent. When the manas is complete with the thirty-seven aids to the path, the mind consciousness is necessarily complete.

9. The Relationship Between Meditative Concentration and Seeing the Path

Meditative concentration, beginning from the preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi), can counteract afflictions and subdue them. Only when afflictions have been subdued, and the obstructions removed or lightened, can the first fruit be attained. Although a person of the first fruit has only the view, having only severed the three fetters to be severed by seeing, severing the three fetters necessarily requires the preparatory concentration. Although the preparatory concentration must be brought forth after cultivating concentration, it cannot be equated with the afflictions to be severed by cultivation; the two are not the same thing.

The view of the first fruit is the view-delusions severed at the time of seeing the path; the afflictions of cultivation-delusion are not yet severed. Although cultivation-delusion afflictions are gradually severed after seeing the path through further cultivation of the path, they still belong to the view: the more thorough and complete the view, the deeper the degree to which self and what belongs to self are severed, the emptier the mind, and the lighter the afflictions. Although the view-delusions of the first fruit are severed at the first seeing of the path, that first seeing of the path is itself the result of gradual cultivation of the path; without cultivation, view-delusions cannot be severed. The content of cultivating the path is the thirty-seven aids to the path, and one of the thirty-seven aids is meditative concentration. Without cultivating the thirty-seven aids, or if the thirty-seven aids are not cultivated to completion, one cannot see the path, much less sever view-delusions. Therefore the preparatory concentration is the necessary condition that a person of the first fruit must possess for seeing the path.

Before the first fruit's seeing of the path, one must subdue the previous afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion to a certain degree, so that these afflictions do not influence and obstruct one's seeing of the path. In the process of cultivating the thirty-seven aids to the path, the extremely heavy afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion are gradually subdued; the afflictions gradually become thin, the mind gradually becomes soft and pliant, wisdom gradually becomes clear and bright, and all the obstructions, like dense dark clouds, gradually thin out, so that the sunlight of wisdom can shine through the clouds—thus one sees the path. The lightness of afflictions before seeing the path is only relative to the previously severe afflictions; it is not the degree of lightness of greed, hatred, and delusion at the second fruit. The two are different; both are spoken of from a relative perspective. Although the words are the same, the connotations are absolutely different, so the two must not be confused.

The content of the Four Noble Truths includes the Noble Truth of Suffering, the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering, the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering, and the Noble Truth of the Path to the Cessation of Suffering. The Noble Truth of the Path to the Cessation of Suffering is the truth of cultivating the path, the theoretical basis. The study of this theory begins before the first fruit and continues until attaining the fourth fruit of arhatship. Therefore cultivating the path does not begin only after seeing the path; it begins when one comes into contact with the Four Noble Truths, begins when one first practices the contemplation of the four foundations of mindfulness. Without cultivation, how could one see the path? Among the thirty-seven aids to the path are the four right efforts (samyag-vyāyāma): first, causing already-arisen unwholesome dharmas to cease; second, causing not-yet-arisen unwholesome dharmas not to arise; third, causing not-yet-arisen wholesome dharmas to arise; fourth, causing already-arisen wholesome dharmas to increase. These contents of cultivating the path—cultivating good and eliminating evil—are precisely what counteract sentient beings' afflictions. Only after counteracting and subduing the afflictions, making them light, can one see the path.

10. Attaining the Fruits Is the Product of the Union of Concentration and Wisdom

The non-Buddhist practitioners cultivate the four dhyānas and eight concentrations; when they cultivate to the concentration of no-perception (asaṃjñi-samāpatti) of the form realm, the mind consciousness disappears. Regarding this state in which there is no mind consciousness but the material body still remains, they believe this state without mind consciousness is real, and so they cling to this state without letting go, unable to eradicate the view of self and attain the fruits. In fact, although there is no mind consciousness in the concentration of no-perception, there is still the manas and the material body; it is not empty of everything, so this is not the nirvāṇa state of attaining the fourth fruit.

When the non-Buddhist practitioners cultivate to the concentration of neither-perception-nor-non-perception of the formless realm, it seems within the concentration that there is no mind consciousness, but in fact an extremely subtle mind consciousness still exists; they themselves cannot detect it, and so they take this state to be the nirvāṇa state of attaining the fruit. As long as a person does not completely abandon the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) and the eighteen realms, even cultivating to the highest concentration in the three realms, one cannot attain the fruits. Therefore meditative concentration is only one of the conditions for attaining the fruits; there must also be the wisdom of the pure dharma eye that severs the view of self. Nirvāṇa cannot be attained by relying on meditative concentration alone. After cultivating concentration to the first dhyāna and beyond, as long as one confirms the illusory nature of the material body and the conscious mind, one can attain the fruits. And to have such confirmation requires complete wisdom of contemplative practice, with concentration and wisdom both complete, in order to attain the fruits.

11. The Bodily and Mental Experience After Realizing Emptiness

For a person without meditative concentration, after understanding the principle that the five aggregates are all empty and without self, there is almost no shocking experience of body and mind—only a feeling of emptiness, merely a feeling; in reality the mind cannot be emptied. Because without meditative concentration, the contemplative practice one does cannot touch the fundamental manas of the self, and thus there is no touching of body and mind, much less a sense of shock. Only a touching that comes from the manas deep within the mind can bring the body and mind a truly deep and immense experience; only then will one feel as if one has become a different person.

At present, because the general public's merit and meditative concentration are severely insufficient, contemplative practice cannot touch the manas; the contemplative practice done remains merely at the level of the mind consciousness, and the result of the contemplative practice is merely understanding that the five aggregates are all empty and feeling oneself to be empty, when in fact one is not empty. When encountering situations, one cannot get past them; principle is principle, phenomena are phenomena, the two have no intersection, and cannot be harmonized. This is the common condition of Buddhist practitioners today, that is, the common ailment.

The experience after truly realizing emptiness is also not suitable for public discussion; one may privately ask those who have been through it. If the genuine experience is spoken of publicly, some people, once they know of it, will go around hinting that they too have had such experiences—in fact hinting that they have attained the fruits—with the aim of obtaining certain things, such as fame, profit, and offerings. People's hearts are no longer as they were of old, naturally not simple; worldly minds are too severe, penetrating everywhere.

12. The Difference Between Realizing and Not Realizing

Question: When the hand touches an electric current and is shocked into numbness and trembling, does this count as having realized the electric current? When a blind person touches a light bulb with the hand, has he realized the lamp but cannot realize the lamplight?

Answer: Whether one has realized or not depends on the specific circumstances and varies from person to person. For example, when a scientist is electrocuted, he one hundred percent understands the principles of electric current—his realization is profound, comparable to the consciousness-only seed-wisdom in Buddhism. But when a small child is electrocuted, he may not necessarily know what happened; even if he knows he was shocked and will avoid electricity next time, he may not necessarily understand the principles of electric current or the workings of electric current, and therefore has not realized the electric current. When a blind person's hand touches a light bulb, he may not necessarily know it is a light bulb; first he must have the relevant concept of a light bulb—having seen light bulbs before becoming blind, or having been told by others what a light bulb looks like—only then can he know it is a light bulb. Otherwise, no matter how many times he touches the bulb, he will not know what it is.

By the same reasoning, sentient beings have been dealing with the tathāgatagarbha since beginningless kalpas, living within the tathāgatagarbha, using it at every moment, yet not knowing there is a tathāgatagarbha, nor knowing what the tathāgatagarbha is like. The Sixth Patriarch awakened upon hearing one sentence; others may hear a hundred sentences of explanation of that sentence and still remain far, far from awakening. Whether one realizes or not depends crucially on the person himself; wisdom and spiritual faculties (indriya) are extremely important. An arhat heard one sentence spoken by a worldly person studying Buddhism and attained the fourth fruit, while extremely many worldly people, even after studying the Āgama sūtras for a hundred years, do not even attain the direction of the first fruit. There is no comparability between people.

13. The Realm That Transcends Seeing, Hearing, Awareness, and Knowing

Question: Not following the six sense bases (ṣaḍāyatana), transcending seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing in an instant—is this breaking through beginningless ignorance?

Answer: Only after Mahāyāna bodhisattvas realize enlightenment and attain the samādhi of meditative concentration plus the consciousness-only prajñā wisdom can they break through beginningless ignorance. When Mahāyāna bodhisattvas realize the tathāgatagarbha, they can observe that the tathāgatagarbha does not follow the six sense bases, transcending the seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing of the seven consciousnesses; the ignorance of not knowing for beginningless kalpas that there is an ever-abiding, unextinguishable true mind within the body is then broken through and disappears.

Apart from the tathāgatagarbha not following the six sense bases, there are two kinds of states in which the seven consciousnesses also do not follow the six sense bases: one is within a purely meditative concentration state, a samādhi state of concentration alone; the other is the samādhi state of concentration plus wisdom in which the mind does not take the six sense bases as real and does not move or turn following them. The first kind of samādhi is not easy to maintain and easily disappears; the second kind of samādhi, once realized, the wisdom will endure forever. If one says one has transcended seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing, it must be inseparable from a profound meditative concentration state; otherwise one would remain within seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing.

Above the fourth dhyāna, although there is no seeing and hearing, there is still subtle awareness. In the concentration of no-perception there is no seeing, hearing, awareness, or knowing of the six consciousnesses; in the cessation attainment (nirodha-samāpatti) there is no seeing, hearing, awareness, or knowing of the six consciousnesses. Among these concentrations, only the cessation attainment is the true samādhi state of concentration plus liberating wisdom. In the cultivation and realization of the Mahāyāna dharma, bodhisattvas of the first bhūmi and above have realized the profound samādhi of consciousness-only seed-wisdom; within profound meditative concentration they can transcend seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing—although there is seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing, the mind does not move with respect to the dharmas of seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing.

14. The Relationship Between Meditative Concentration and Liberation

If it is said that before realization, the mind's nature is already similar to the tathāgatagarbha, and after realization the mind becomes purer—only then is it true practice. Without passing through the stage of neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā), one cannot attain the fruits, much less see the mind. During the stage of investigating the tathāgatagarbha, the mind is also in neutral feeling; otherwise the mind cannot be single-minded, and investigation and personal realization are impossible. Only in the state of complete preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi) and in the first dhyāna is one in the state of neutral feeling; in the stage of cultivating oneself, this is necessarily so. In the stage of receiving and guiding sentient beings, one may manifest wrathful vajra appearances and other fierce forms, yet at the same time remain unmoved in mind—this is the bodhisattva's resourcefulness and skillful means.

If one has not yet cultivated it oneself, one truly cannot deliver sentient beings. When the clay bodhisattva can barely save itself, how can it help sentient beings cross the river? The bodhisattva's mind should also be liberated; if one cannot even liberate oneself, what virtue or ability does one have to liberate sentient beings? The minds of Buddhas and bodhisattvas are all liberated and unbound; if one is oneself bound, how can one untie sentient beings? A person complete with afflictions is not a bodhisattva but a worldly being; how can a worldly being deliver sentient beings? One who corresponds with afflictions will condition sentient beings to equally possess afflictions—how can such a person deliver sentient beings and make their minds pure? If one's own greed is extremely heavy, how can one enable sentient beings to be free of greed? If one's own mind-ground is not pure, how can one make sentient beings' minds pure?

Some people say that the goal of Mahāyāna bodhisattva practice is not liberation, and therefore there is no need to cultivate concentration. This is quite wrong. For everyone, whether Mahāyāna or Hīnayāna, the goal of practice is liberation; it is only a matter of what degree of liberation, and whether the liberation is ultimate. Buddhas and bodhisattvas are all liberated ones; only when the Dharmakāya, liberation, and prajñā are all three complete and unified does one count as a noble one. The Buddha-way is the way of liberation; the only ultimately liberated one is the Buddha. The bodhisattva's liberation is not yet ultimate, and the arhat's and pratyekabuddha's is even less ultimate. Therefore do not set the way of liberation in opposition to the Buddha-way.

For example, if a person is bound hand and foot with ropes yet shouts to others: "Wait for me to come save you"—who would believe such words? A frail child who cannot stand steadily says to an adult: "Take my hand, let me support you as you walk." And there are those who fight armed gunmen empty-handed—is this not childish and laughable? The evil phenomena in the current Buddhist community are just like this—can everyone not see them, feel nothing, and not investigate the reasons within? The future demise of Buddhism will be brought about by the afflictions of sentient beings full of afflictions. Yet some people are actually proud of possessing all afflictions, and disdain to sever afflictions, believing that only by not severing afflictions are they true bodhisattvas—what folly is this?

For example, when dizzy, one sees black dots before the eyes—what we call seeing stars. These black dots and stars: if you say they exist, others cannot see them; if you say they do not exist, you yourself can see them. Neither existent nor nonexistent—phenomena of arising, ceasing, and change are all empty; only the tathāgatagarbha is not subject to arising, ceasing, and change, and is therefore not empty. The emptiness that is intellectually understood, or viewing all these dharmas as the emptiness of the tathāgatagarbha—these are all merely imagination. Nothing has been realized; one merely says through imagination that it is the tathāgatagarbha. This is all like a provisional statement, without the slightest practical use. Before realization, you have no way to truly understand it thoroughly; the mind cannot penetrate the emptiness (śūnyatā) of these dharmas. That is why one must, step by step, realize it through actual practice.

To personally realize, one must first cultivate meditative concentration. Understanding without meditative concentration is never thorough or accurate; even if the understanding is accurate and thorough, it is still not a conclusion obtained through personal realization. Conclusions imagined are useless. Therefore, after knowing and understanding the dharma one has studied in rough outline, one must cultivate meditative concentration; only by engaging in contemplative practice and perception within concentration can one understand thoroughly, and finally bring forth personal realization.

15. The Relationship Between Meditative Concentration and the Power of Logical Thinking

In studying Buddhism, cultivating the path, and contemplative practice, the power of logical thinking must be strong. To have strong logical thinking, one's train of thought must be good; to have a good train of thought, the mind must be clear; for the mind to be clear, there must be meditative concentration. Cultivating the power of logical thinking and possessing powerful reasoning ability is the greatest wealth of wholesome dharmas, the wellspring of wisdom, ever-flowing, never exhausted, until Buddhahood.

16. The Path Is Accomplished in Stillness

There is a conclusion: more than ninety percent of those who love to talk and express themselves have no meditative concentration; their thoughts are scattered, with many wandering thoughts and attachments. Those single-minded on the path focus on dharma meanings and their inner world, pay no attention to the external, have no scattered thoughts, and are silent and quiet. These two kinds of people cannot be together; together they will dislike and complain about each other, mutually dissatisfied. The one truly disturbed is the latter, so the latter likes solitude, likes quiet seclusion, dislikes crowds and gatherings, dislikes idle talk and trivial matters. If the two come into conflict, you cannot say the latter is at fault—cultivating the path is not wrong, and loving quiet is not wrong. All who achieve accomplishment do so in stillness; none achieve it in clamor and tumult. Those on the path are ultimately different from worldly people; being disliked by worldly people, not being understood and liked by them, is normal. And not being liked and entangled by worldly people is a good thing, saving immense time and energy for cultivating the path and accomplishing great matters.