Is Zen Meditation an Ascetic Practice or a Joyful Practice?

Question: Is meditative concentration a practice of asceticism or a practice of joy?

Answer: Those who have practiced meditative concentration themselves know whether it is painful or joyful during the practice, whether it is painful or joyful while walking, standing, sitting, or lying down in meditative concentration, and whether the mind is painful or joyful after emerging from concentration. They also know, even when seated cross-legged and enduring unbearable leg pain, whether the mind is painful or joyful. This question is very simple: once one practices concentration, one will know exactly how joyful, how comfortable, how pleasant, and how blissful it is. It is so profoundly rewarding that many people abandon other worldly pleasures to specifically pursue the joy of meditative concentration. The joy of meditative concentration is incomparable to any worldly pleasure, especially when one attains the first dhyāna. That joy is inexpressible and incomprehensible through words; only those who have experienced and enjoyed it can truly understand it personally. Because of this unique and special joyful feeling, one subdues and eradicates the pleasures of human desires, no longer craving worldly phenomena. When one reaches the third dhyāna, the joy of body and mind becomes so intense that it is difficult to relinquish, thus obstructing the arising of the fourth dhyāna. How joyful meditative concentration truly is—those who actually practice it have experienced and felt it; there is no need for me to elaborate further. 

Those who claim that meditative concentration is asceticism have never practiced it themselves. They imagine that practicing concentration must be painful, believing that it requires forcefully suppressing afflictions, thus feeling mental distress. In reality, subduing afflictions is not about deliberately suppressing them so they do not arise; rather, afflictions cease to arise naturally. This is because the body and mind become light, at ease, joyful, and comfortable; the mental state becomes open and bright, so afflictions no longer manifest. One views everything more favorably and harmoniously, becomes unwilling to quarrel or fuss over matters, the mind becomes increasingly vast, and the realm of thought grows ever higher. 

If meditative concentration were painful, those ancient non-Buddhists would not have renounced everything in the world to exclusively practice concentration, even progressing all the way to the four dhyānas, the eight concentrations, and the state of neither perception nor non-perception. Only joyful feelings can make people cling so tenaciously. Ancient sages also devoted themselves entirely to meditative concentration in deep mountains, seeking immortality and eternal life. Even in modern times, various practices and methods are forms of concentration cultivation, all of which contain joyful feelings that make people reluctant to let go. Therefore, meditative concentration is not asceticism but absolutely a practice of joy.