What Is Practical Cultivation and Actual Realization?

The so-called actual practice, if it does not include the cultivation of meditative concentration (Samadhi), how can it be considered genuine? Without Samadhi, or with only very shallow concentration, one may attain wisdom, but this wisdom is merely intellectual understanding. It cannot be genuine experiential wisdom. Intellectual understanding remains at the level of the conscious mind's comprehension of the Dharma. In Chan Buddhism, this is called emotional thinking, intellectual conjecture, or mental calculation. One may ponder what the ultimate meaning is or why things are so, but without knowing or experiencing it directly. One only grasps the conclusion without the process of verification.

Actual realization is the process of verification, where the conclusion reached aligns with the established truth. This truth was given by the Buddha, and the process of verification is each individual’s journey of contemplative practice. Without Samadhi, how can one engage in contemplative practice? How can genuine wisdom be born? Although liberation depends on wisdom and Buddhahood depends on wisdom, without Samadhi, how can true wisdom arise? Some practitioners seek only the final wisdom while neglecting concentration, like being interested only in the last pancake and refusing to eat the ones before it. Wisdom without Samadhi is like that last pancake: merely talking about food won’t satisfy hunger—one speaks loftily while having an empty stomach.

Those lacking in wisdom often favor others’ lofty discourses and high-sounding theories, unable to discern whether they possess genuine substance within. This easily hinders one’s own path to enlightenment. They may assume that understanding all the teachings equates to realization, that they have attained wisdom and can achieve liberation, but in reality, they remain far from it.