All Samādhi States Possess Profound Meditative Concentration

We should learn from Sudhana (the Youth Good Wealth) and carefully contemplate why Sudhana was able to achieve realization so quickly: upon hearing a single dharma, he would contemplate it deeply and practice contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), and before long he could attain the corresponding state of meditative concentration/meditative absorption (samādhi). The hallmark of his realization was that samādhi manifested before him, his body and mind experienced extraordinary feelings, and many realms of special significance and symbolism appeared, showing that Sudhana's level of wisdom was very high. If Sudhana had not cultivated meditative concentration (dhyāna) and did not possess the four dhyānas and eight samādhis, it would have been impossible for him to engage in such deep and subtle contemplative practice and deliberation (manasikāra/manana), impossible for him to manifest the various profound samādhis, revealing one state of meditative concentration and wisdom after another, along with all kinds of miraculous transformations.

If our cultivation has attained achievements at a corresponding level, there should be manifestations of various states of wisdom, such as seeing the mind at the seventh abode, seeing the nature at the tenth abode, the contemplation of mirages at the ten practices, the contemplation of dreams at the ten dedications, and so on—all of which have various states manifesting, with various feelings and changes in body and mind, to verify one's own level and stage of realization. This is the combination of meditative concentration and wisdom, and neither can be lacking. Otherwise, one would at most have an intellectual understanding of the dharma one has studied, and could absolutely never realize it.